Search Results (92)

Background: Neurological networks involved in bilingual language control have been extensively investigated. Among the factors that influence bilingual language control, language balance has recently been proposed as a critical one. Nevertheless, it remains understudied how the neural basis of bilingual language control is affected by language balance. Methods: To address this gap, we conducted a meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies on bilingual language control using Ginger ALE, with language balance as a moderating factor. Results: Conjunction analyses revealed a domain-general pattern of neural activities shared by balanced and unbalanced bilinguals, with convergent activation observed in the left precentral gyrus and left medial frontal gyrus. Regarding domain-specificity, contrast analyses did not identify stronger activation convergence in balanced bilinguals compared to unbalanced bilinguals. However, unbalanced bilinguals exhibited significantly stronger convergence of activation in the left middle frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left precuneus. Conclusions: These findings suggest that language balance can modify the neural mechanisms of bilingual language control, with unbalanced bilinguals relying on more domain-general cognitive control resources during bilingual language control. Full article

Major depressive disorder is a mental illness characterized by persistent sadness or loss of interest that affects a person’s daily life. Early detection of this disorder is crucial for providing timely and effective treatment. Neuroimaging modalities, namely, functional magnetic resonance imaging, can be used to identify changes in brain regions related to major depressive disorder. In this study, regional homogeneity images, one of the derivative of functional magnetic resonance imaging is employed to detect major depressive disorder using the proposed feature/sample evolving voting ensemble approach. A total of 2380 subjects consisting of 1104 healthy controls and 1276 patients with major depressive disorder from Rest-meta-MDD consortium are studied. Regional homogeneity features from 90 regions are extracted using automated anatomical labeling template. These regional homogeneity features are then fed as an input to the proposed feature/sample selective evolving voting ensemble for classification. The proposed approach achieves an accuracy of 91.93%, and discriminative features obtained from the classifier are used to identify brain regions which may be responsible for major depressive disorder. A total of nine brain regions, namely, left superior temporal gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, left anterior cingulate gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, right superior medial frontal gyrus, left lingual gyrus, right putamen, left fusiform gyrus, and left middle temporal gyrus, are identified. This study clearly indicates that these brain regions play a critical role in detecting major depressive disorder. Full article

Background/Objectives: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with interpersonal synchrony (IPS). While creative movement (CM) interventions have shown benefits for social, cognitive, and motor skills in children with ASD, the neural mechanisms underlying these improvements remain unclear. This pilot randomized control trial examined the behavioral and neural effects of CM, general movement (GM), and sedentary play (SP) interventions. Methods: Twenty-two children with ASD (Mean Age ± SE = 8.7 ± 1.9) participated. Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure cortical activation during a drumming synchrony task before and after 8 weeks of intervention. Results: The CM group demonstrated significant improvements in IPS and the most widespread increases in socially enhanced activation across the left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and superior temporal sulcus (STS). The GM group showed increased activation in the left IFG, while the SP group showed enhanced activation in the left STS. Children with lower baseline adaptive functioning and social responsiveness showed greater IPS improvement. Conclusions: These findings provide preliminary evidence for the efficacy of CM in improving IPS in children with ASD and support the use of fNIRS to capture neural effects following interventions. Full article

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive neurodegeneration and connectivity deterioration. While resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides critical insights into brain network abnormalities, traditional mutual information-based methods exhibit inherent limitations in characterizing the dynamic synergistic mechanisms between cerebral regions. Method: This study pioneered the application of an Integrated Information Decomposition (ΦID) framework in AD brain network analysis, constructing single-sample network models based on ΦID-derived synergy metrics to systematically compare their differences with mutual information-based methods in pathological sensitivity, computational robustness, and network representation capability, while detecting brain regions with declining dynamic synergy during AD progression through intergroup t-tests. Result: The key finding are as follows: (1) synergy metrics exhibited lower intra-group coefficient of variation than mutual information metrics, indicating higher computational stability; (2) single-sample reconstruction significantly enhanced the statistical power in intergroup difference detection; (3) synergy metrics captured brain network features that are undetectable by traditional mutual information methods, with more pronounced differences between networks; (4) key node analysis demonstrated spatiotemporal degradation patterns progressing from initial dysfunction in orbitofrontal–striatal–temporoparietal pathways accompanied by multi-regional impairments during prodromal stages, through moderate-phase decline located in the right middle frontal and postcentral gyri, to advanced-stage degeneration of the right supramarginal gyrus and left inferior parietal lobule. ΦID-driven dynamic synergy network analysis provides novel information integration theory-based biomarkers for AD progression diagnosis and potentially lays the foundation for pathological understanding and subsequent targeted therapy development. Full article

Background/Objectives: Breast cancer chemotherapy patients and survivors face cognitive side effects that are not fully understood. Neuroimaging can provide a unique way to study these effects; however, it can be difficult to recruit large numbers of subjects. Our meta-analysis aims to synthesize volumetric neuroimaging data to highlight consistent findings in regional brain volume changes to further advance our understanding of the chemotherapy-related cognitive impairments faced by breast cancer patients and survivors. Methods: An Activation Likelihood Estimation analysis was conducted across the data from eight voxel-based morphometry experiments examining changes in the brains of breast cancer patients and survivors exposed to chemotherapy over time and three voxel-based morphometry experiments comparing chemotherapy-exposed subjects to controls with and without breast cancer. Results: There were consistent volume reductions across the whole brain in both experiment groups. The subjects’ over-time analysis showed peak consistency among the studies in the right inferior frontal gyrus and the left insula. Conclusions: Chemotherapy for non-central nervous system cancers such as breast cancer can cause physical changes throughout the brain that can be quantitatively measured by neuroimaging methodologies and may underlie persistent cognitive deficits in some individuals. Full article

Background/Objectives: Recent theories of the neurocognitive architecture of semantic memory have included a distinction between semantic control in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and semantic representation in the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL). Support for this distinction has been found both in tasks in which high semantic selection demands have been instantiated and in tasks in which previous presentations of semantic information that compete with target information have been instantiated. Methods: In the current study, these manipulations were combined in a novel manner into a single task in which brand-name product pictures were used. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure hemodynamic activity and tensor decomposition, in addition to grand averaging, was used to analyze the fNIRS output. Results: Both analytic methods converged on the same set of findings. That is, in line with past studies, greater activity in the LIFG was observed in the competitive condition than in a repeated condition. However, unlike past studies, greater activity in the competitive condition was also observed in both the left and right anterior temporal lobes (ATLs). Conclusions: While it was possible that the novel combination of high selection and competition into a single task unlocked a semantic selection mechanism in the bilateral ATL, a number of other post-hoc explanations were offered for this unusual finding, including a re-interpretation of the high-selection task as an ad hoc categorization task. Finally, the convergence of the tensor decomposition and grand averaging approaches on the same set of findings supported tensor decomposition as a viable approach to the analysis of fNIRS data. Full article

Background/Objectives: A neurobiological framework of bi- or multilingual neurocognitive development must consider the following: (i) longitudinal behavioral and neural measures; (ii) brain developmental constraints across structure and function; and (iii) the development of global multilingual competence in a homogeneous social environment. In this study, we investigated whether multilingual competence yields early changes in executive attention control mechanisms and their underlying neural structures in the frontal–striatal system, such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/pre-supplemental area and the left caudate. Methods: We employed longitudinal neuroimaging and functional connectivity methods in a small group of multilingual children over two years. Results: We found that the dACC/preSMA is functionally influenced by changes in multilingual competence but not yet structurally adapted, while the left caudate, in a developmental stage, is influenced, adapts, and specializes due to multilingual experience. Furthermore, increases in multilingual competence strengthen connections between the dACC/preSMA, left caudate, and other structures of the cognitive control network, such as the right inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral inferior parietal lobules. Conclusions: These findings suggest that multilingual competence impacts brain “adaptation” and “specialization” during childhood. The results may provide insights and guide future research on experience-expectant and experience-dependent brain plasticity to explain the “interaction” between multilingualism and neurodevelopment. Full article

Background/Objectives: Opting to perform emotion regulation when facing high-arousal stimuli enhances the reduction in negative emotions. Previous research has indicated that self-choice, that is, personally choosing from multiple alternatives, can improve performance. However, it is unclear whether the emotion regulation strategy chosen among multiple alternatives in daily life enhances stress reduction compared to a forced strategy. This study aimed to reveal the effects of self-choice emotion regulation and its underlying neural basis. Methods: Participants were 40 healthy adults who met the inclusion criteria; they performed self-choice emotion regulation, forced emotion regulation, and no emotion regulation (the control condition) while their brain activity was captured using a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. First, the participants were shown a stressful scenario. Secondly, they rated the stress they experienced. Thirdly, they performed self-choice or forced emotion regulation or did nothing. Finally, participants rated their stress level again. Results: Self-choice emotion regulation reduced stress better than forced-choice emotion regulation. The stress reduction was associated with decreases in the activation of the left opercular part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Conclusions: Self-choice can improve emotion regulation, and this effect is likely mediated by the neural efficiency of the left inferior frontal gyrus. Full article

(1) Background: This study investigates the resting-state brain characteristics of skeleton athletes compared to healthy age-matched non-athletes, using resting-state fMRI to investigate long-term skeleton-training-related changes in the brain. (2) Methods: Eleven skeleton athletes and twenty-three matched novices with no prior experience with skeleton were recruited. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and seed-based functional connectivity analyses were explored to investigate resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data, aiming to elucidate differences in resting-state brain function between the two groups. (3) Results: Compared to the control group, skeleton athletes exhibited significantly higher ALFF in the left fusiform, left inferior temporal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, left and right insula, left Rolandic operculum, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left superior temporal gyrus. Skeleton athletes exhibit stronger functional connectivity in brain regions associated with cognitive and motor control (superior frontal gyrus, insula), as well as those related to reward learning (putamen), visual processing (precuneus), spatial cognition (inferior parietal), and emotional processing (amygdala), during resting-state brain function. (4) Conclusions: The study contributes to understanding how motor training history shapes skeleton athletes’ brains, which have distinct neural characteristics compared to the control population, indicating potential adaptations in brain function related to their specialized training and expertise in the sport. Full article

Our study aimed to identify the mechanisms of stress-induced and post-stress recovery states by evaluating voxel type and the total number of voxels activated based on Perceived Stress Scale scores. Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to measure the brain activation patterns in participants grouped into moderate- and high-stress categories. The number of activation voxels in the parahippocampal gyrus of the limbic lobe was greater in the high-stress group than in the moderate-stress group. Moreover, only the high-stress group showed the characteristic activation of the left precuneus. The moderate-stress group showed a greater number of activation voxels than the high-stress group for the occipital, frontal, and limbic lobes, while the reverse was true for the parietal lobe. In the post-stress recovery phase, the left lingual, inferior frontal, and middle frontal gyri were activated, and the number of activation voxels in these areas was greater in the high-stress group than in the moderate-stress group. The characteristic activation of the declive in the left cerebellum was observed in the moderate-stress group, whereas the activation of the right cuneus was dominant in the high-stress group. Our findings suggest that perceived stress may play an important role in determining the neural mechanisms underlying stress and post-stress recovery, providing insights into the complex interplay between the psychological and neural processes occurring in response to stress. Full article

Background/Objectives: Functional MRI (fMRI) is widely used to assess language lateralization, but its application in patients with brain tumors can be hindered by cognitive impairments, compensatory neuroplasticity, and artifacts due to patient movement or severe aphasia. Gray matter volume (GMV) analysis via voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in language-related brain regions may offer a stable complementary approach. This study investigates the relationship between GMV and fMRI-derived language lateralization in healthy individuals and patients with left-hemisphere brain tumors, aiming to enhance accuracy in complex cases. Methods: The MRI data from 22 healthy participants and 28 individuals with left-hemisphere brain tumors were analyzed. Structural T1-weighted and functional images were obtained during three language tasks. Language lateralization was assessed based on activation in predefined regions of interest (ROIs), categorized as typical (left) or atypical (right or bilateral). The GMV in these ROIs was measured using VBM. Linear regressions explored GMV-lateralization associations, and logistic regressions predicted the lateralization based on the GMV. Results: In the healthy participants, typical left-hemispheric language dominance correlated with higher GMV in the left pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus. The brain tumor participants with atypical lateralization showed increased GMV in six right-hemisphere ROIs. The GMV in the language ROIs predicted the fMRI language lateralization, with AUCs from 80.1% to 94.2% in the healthy participants and 78.3% to 92.6% in the tumor patients. Conclusions: GMV analysis in language-related ROIs effectively complements fMRI for assessing language dominance, particularly when fMRI is challenging. It correlates with language lateralization in both healthy individuals and brain tumor patients, highlighting its potential in preoperative language mapping. Further research with larger samples is needed to refine its clinical utility. Full article

The present study aimed to elucidate the neural mechanisms underpinning the visual recognition of morphologically complex verbs in Korean, a morphologically rich, agglutinative language with inherent polymorphemic characteristics. In an fMRI experiment with a lexical decision paradigm, we investigated whether verb inflection types (base, regular, and irregular) are processed through separate mechanisms or a single system. Furthermore, we explored the semantic influence in processing inflectional morphology by manipulating the semantic ambiguity (homonymous vs. unambiguous) of inflected verbs. The results showed equivalent activation levels in the left inferior frontal gyrus for both regular and irregular verbs, challenging the dichotomy between the two. Graded effects of verb regularity were observed in the occipitotemporal regions, with regular inflections eliciting increased activation in the fusiform and lingual gyri. In the middle occipital gyrus, homonyms showed decreased activation relative to that of unambiguous words, specifically for base and irregular forms. Furthermore, the angular gyrus exhibited significant modulation with all verb types, indicating a semantic influence during morphological processing. These findings support single-system theories and the connectionist framework, challenging the assumptions of purely orthographic morphological decomposition and dual-mechanism accounts. Furthermore, they provide evidence for a semantic influence during morphological processing, with differential reliance on semantic activation for regular and irregular inflections. Full article

Background: Humans perceive and interpret the world through the lens of self-reference processes, typically facilitating enhanced performance for the task at hand. However, this research has predominantly emphasized the automatic facet of self-reference processing, overlooking how it interacts with control processes affecting everyday situations. Methods: We investigated this relationship between automatic and control self-reference processing in neuropsychological patients performing self-face perception tasks and the Birmingham frontal task measuring executive functions. Results: Principal component analysis across tasks revealed two components: one loaded on familiarity/orientation judgments reflecting automatic self-reference processing, and the other linked to the cross task and executive function indicating control processing requirements. Voxel-based morphometry and track-wise lesion-mapping analyses showed that impairments in automatic self-reference were associated with reduced grey matter in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and right inferior temporal gyrus, and white matter damage in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus. Deficits in executive control were linked to reduced grey matter in the bilateral inferior parietal lobule and left anterior insula, and white matter disconnections in the left superior longitudinal fasciculus and arcuate fasciculus. Conclusions: The causal evidence suggests that automatic and control facets of self-reference processes are subserved by distinct yet integrated ventral prefrontal–temporal and dorsal frontal–parietal networks, respectively. Full article

Late-life depression (LLD) is a relatively common and debilitating mental disorder, also associated with cognitive dysfunctions and an increased risk of mortality. Considering the growing elderly population worldwide, LLD is increasingly emerging as a significant public health issue, also due to the rise in direct and indirect costs borne by healthcare systems. Understanding the neuroanatomical and neurofunctional correlates of LLD is crucial for developing more targeted and effective interventions, both from a preventive and therapeutic standpoint. This ALE meta-analysis aims to evaluate the involvement of specific neurofunctional changes in the neurophysiopathology of LLD by analysing functional neuroimaging studies conducted on patients with LLD compared to healthy subjects (HCs). We included 19 studies conducted on 844 subjects, divided into 439 patients with LLD and 405 HCs. Patients with LLD, compared to HCs, showed significant hypoactivation of the right superior and medial frontal gyri (Brodmann areas (Bas) 8, 9), left cingulate cortex (BA 24), left putamen, and left caudate body. The same patients exhibited significant hyperactivation of the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 42), left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45), right anterior cingulate cortex (BA 24), right cerebellar culmen, and left cerebellar declive. In summary, we found significant changes in activation patterns and brain functioning in areas encompassed in the cortico–limbic–striatal network in LLD. Furthermore, our results suggest a potential role for areas within the cortico–striatal–cerebellar network in the neurophysiopathology of LLD. Full article

Background: Understanding the behavioral and neural underpinnings of the post-concussion recovery of working memory function is critically important for improving clinical outcomes and adequately planning return-to-activity decisions. Previous studies provided inconsistent results due to small sample sizes and the use of a mixed population of participants who were at different post-injury time points. We aimed to examine working memory recovery during the first 6 months post-concussion in adolescents. Methods: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan 45 concussed adolescents [CONCs] at baseline (<10 days post-concussion) and at 6 months post-concussion. Healthy control adolescents [HCs; n = 32] without a history of concussion were scanned once. During the scans, participants performed one-back and two-back working memory tasks with letters as the stimuli and angry, happy, neutral, and sad faces as distractors. Results: All affected adolescents were asymptomatic and cleared to return to activity 6 months after concussion. Working memory recovery was associated with faster and more accurate responses at 6 months vs. baseline (p-values < 0.05). It was also characterized by significant difficulty-related activation increases in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and the left orbitofrontal cortex (LOFC) at 6 months vs. baseline. Although the activation differences between one-back and two-back were comparable between HCs and CONCs at 6 months, HCs had more pronounced activation in the LIFG than concussed adolescents. Conclusions: Post-concussion recovery is associated with significant performance improvements in speed and accuracy, as well as the normalization of brain responses in the LIFG and LOFC during the n-back task. The observed patterns of LOFC activation might reflect compensatory strategies to distribute neural processing and reduce neural fatigue post-concussion. Full article