Preferential activation for emotional Western classical music versus emotional environmental sounds in motor, interoceptive, and language brain areas.

Recent meta analyses suggest there is a common brain network involved in processing emotion in music and sounds. However, no studies have directly compared the neural substrates of equivalent emotional Western classical music and emotional environmental sounds. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we investigated whether brain activation in motor cortex, interoceptive cortex, and Broca's language area during an auditory emotional appraisal task differed as a function of stimulus type. Activation was relatively greater to music in motor and interoceptive cortex - areas associated with movement and internal physical feelings - and relatively greater to emotional environmental sounds in Broca's area. We conclude that emotional environmental sounds are appraised through verbal identification of the source, and that emotional Western classical music is appraised through evaluation of bodily feelings. While there is clearly a common core emotion-processing network underlying all emotional appraisal, modality-specific contextual information may be important for understanding the contribution of voluntary versus automatic appraisal mechanisms.

Concussion-Related Disruptions to Hub Connectivity in the Default Mode Network Are Related to Symptoms and Cognition.

Concussions present with a myriad of symptomatic and cognitive concerns; however, the relationship between these functional disruptions and the underlying changes in the brain are not yet well understood. Hubs, or brain regions that are connected to many different functional networks, may be specifically disrupted after concussion. Given the implications in concussion research, we quantified hub disruption within the default mode network (DMN) and between the DMN and other brain networks. We collected resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from collegiate student-athletes (n = 44) at three time points: baseline (before beginning their athletic season), acute post-injury (approximately 48h after a diagnosed concussion), and recovery (after starting return-to-play progression, but before returning to contact). We used self-reported symptoms and computerized cognitive assessments collected across similar time points to link these functional connectivity changes to clinical outcomes. Concussion resulted in increased connectivity between regions within the DMN compared with baseline and recovery, and this post-injury connectivity was more positively related to symptoms and more negatively related to visual memory performance compared with baseline and recovery. Further, concussion led to decreased connectivity between DMN hubs and visual network non-hubs relative to baseline and recovery, and this post-injury connectivity was more negatively related to somatic symptoms and more positively related to visual memory performance compared with baseline and recovery. Relationships between functional connectivity, symptoms, and cognition were not significantly different at baseline versus recovery. These results highlight a unique relationship between self-reported symptoms, visual memory performance, and acute functional connectivity changes involving DMN hubs after concussion in athletes. This may provide evidence for a disrupted balance of within- and between-network communication highlighting possible network inefficiencies after concussion. These results aid in our understanding of the pathophysiological disruptions after concussion and inform our understanding of the associations between disruptions in brain connectivity and specific clinical presentations acutely post-injury.

Brain responses to food logos in obese and healthy weight children.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate brain activation in response to common food and nonfood logos in healthy weight and obese children. STUDY DESIGN: Ten healthy weight children (mean body mass index in the 50th percentile) and 10 obese children (mean body mass index in the 97.9th percentile) completed self-report measures of self-control. They then underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while viewing food and nonfood logos. RESULTS: Compared with the healthy weight children, obese children showed significantly less brain activation to food logos in the bilateral middle/inferior prefrontal cortex, an area involved in cognitive control. CONCLUSION: When shown food logos, obese children showed significantly less brain activation than the healthy weight children in regions associated with cognitive control. This provides initial neuroimaging evidence that obese children may be more vulnerable to the effects of food advertising.

Pre-post intervention exploring cognitive function and relationships with weight loss, intervention adherence and dropout.

Objective: To evaluate the association between baseline cognitive function, intervention dropout, adherence and 3-month weight loss (WL) when controlling for confounding demographic variables. Methods: 107 (Mage = 40.9 yrs.), BMI in the overweight and obese range (BMI = 35.6 kg/m2), men (N = 17) and women (N = 90) completed a 3-month WL intervention. Participants attended weekly behavioral sessions, comply with a reduced calorie diet, and complete 100 min of physical activity (PA)/wk. Cognitive function tasks at baseline included Flanker (attention), Stroop (executive control) and working memory, demographics, body weight and cardiovascular fitness were assessed at baseline. Session attendance, adherence to PA and diet were recorded weekly. Results: Baseline attention was positively correlated with age (p < .05), education (p < .05), attendance (p < .05), diet (p < .05) and PA (p < .05). Baseline executive control (p < .05) and working memory (p < .05) were each associated with % WL. Baseline executive control (p < .01) and working memory (p < .001) were also each associated with education. ANOVA indicated that baseline attention (p < .01) was associated with WL, specifically for comparing those who achieved 5-10% WL (p < .01) and those who achieved greater than 10% WL (p < .01) to those who dropped. Significance: Results suggest that stronger baseline attention is associated with completion of a 3-mo. WL intervention. Executive control and working memory are associated with amount of WL achieved. NCT registration: US NIH Clinical Trials, NCT01664715.

The neuroanatomy of genetic subtype differences in Prader-Willi syndrome.

Despite behavioral differences between genetic subtypes of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), no studies have been published characterizing brain structure in these subgroups. Our goal was to examine differences in the brain structure phenotype of common subtypes of PWS [chromosome 15q deletions and maternal uniparental disomy 15 (UPD)]. Fifteen individuals with PWS due to a typical deletion [(DEL) type I; n = 5, type II; n = 10], eight with PWS due to UPD, and 25 age-matched healthy-weight individuals (HWC) participated in structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. A custom voxel-based morphometry processing stream was used to examine regional differences in gray and white matter volume (WMV) between groups, covarying for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Overall, compared to HWC, PWS individuals had lower gray matter volumes (GMV) that encompassed the prefrontal, orbitofrontal and temporal cortices, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, and lower WMVs in the brain stem, cerebellum, medial temporal, and frontal cortex. Compared to UPD, the DEL subtypes had lower GMV primarily in the prefrontal and temporal cortices, and lower white matter in the parietal cortex. The UPD subtype had more extensive lower gray and WMVs in the orbitofrontal and limbic cortices compared to HWC. These preliminary findings are the first structural neuroimaging findings to support potentially separate neural mechanisms mediating the behavioral differences seen in these genetic subtypes.

Primary motor cortex in stroke: a functional MRI-guided proton MR spectroscopic study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Our goal was to investigate whether certain metabolites, specific to neurons, glial cells, or the neuronal-glial neurotransmission system, in primary motor cortices (M1), are altered and correlated with clinical motor severity in chronic stroke. METHODS: Fourteen survivors of a single ischemic stroke located outside the M1 and 14 age-matched healthy control subjects were included. At >6 months after stroke, N-acetylaspartate, myo-inositol, and glutamate/glutamine were measured using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (in-plane resolution=5×5 mm(2)) in radiologically normal-appearing gray matter of the hand representation area, identified by functional MRI, in each M1. Metabolite concentrations and analyses of metabolite correlations within M1 were determined. Relationships between metabolite concentrations and arm motor impairment were also evaluated. RESULTS: The stroke survivors showed lower N-acetylaspartate and higher myo-inositol across ipsilesional and contralesional M1 compared with control subjects. Significant correlations between N-acetylaspartate and glutamate/glutamine were found in either M1. Ipsilesional N-acetylaspartate and glutamate/glutamine were positively correlated with arm motor impairment and contralesional N-acetylaspartate with time after stroke. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary data demonstrated significant alterations of neuronal-glial interactions in spared M1 with the ipsilesional alterations related to stroke severity and contralesional alterations to stroke duration. Thus, MR spectroscopy might be a sensitive method to quantify relevant metabolite changes after stroke and consequently increase our knowledge of the factors leading from these changes in spared motor cortex to motor impairment after stroke.

Neural correlates of pediatric obesity.

OBJECTIVE: Childhood obesity rates have increased over the last 40 years and have a detrimental impact on public health. While the causes of the obesity epidemic are complex, obesity ultimately arises from chronic imbalances between energy intake and expenditure. An emerging area of research in obesity has focused on the role of the brain in evaluating the rewarding properties of food and making decisions about what and how much to eat. METHOD: This article reviews recent scientific literature regarding the brain's role in pediatric food motivation and childhood obesity. RESULTS: The article will begin by reviewing some of the recent literature discussing challenges associated with neuroimaging in children and the relevant developmental brain changes that occur in childhood and adolescence. The article will then review studies regarding neural mechanisms of food motivation and the ability to delay gratification in children and how these responses differ in obese compared to healthy weight children. CONCLUSION: Increasing our understanding about how brain function and behavior may differ in children will inform future research, obesity prevention, and interventions targeting childhood obesity.

Much Ado About Missingness: A Demonstration of Full Information Maximum Likelihood Estimation to Address Missingness in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data.

The current paper leveraged a large multi-study functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) dataset (N = 363) and a generated missingness paradigm to demonstrate different approaches for handling missing fMRI data under a variety of conditions. The performance of full information maximum likelihood (FIML) estimation, both with and without auxiliary variables, and listwise deletion were compared under different conditions of generated missing data volumes (i.e., 20, 35, and 50%). FIML generally performed better than listwise deletion in replicating results from the full dataset, but differences were small in the absence of auxiliary variables that correlated strongly with fMRI task data. However, when an auxiliary variable created to correlate r = 0.5 with fMRI task data was included, the performance of the FIML model improved, suggesting the potential value of FIML-based approaches for missing fMRI data when a strong auxiliary variable is available. In addition to primary methodological insights, the current study also makes an important contribution to the literature on neural vulnerability factors for obesity. Specifically, results from the full data model show that greater activation in regions implicated in reward processing (caudate and putamen) in response to tastes of milkshake significantly predicted weight gain over the following year. Implications of both methodological and substantive findings are discussed.

Neural correlates of strategic processes underlying episodic memory in women with major depression: A 15O-PET study.

To evaluate the functional integrity of brain regions underlying strategic mnemonic processing in patients with major depressive disorder, the authors administered a modified version of the California Verbal Learning Test to depressed patients during presentation of lists of unrelated words and, conversely, during presentation of lists of related words with and without orientation regarding the relatedness of the words (eight healthy females, IQ=122, and eight depressed females, IQ=107). Brain function evaluated across all three conditions showed that patients with major depressive disorder revealed activation of the right anterior cingulate cortex, left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, both hippocampi, and the left orbitofrontal cortex. Further analysis showed that patients with major depressive disorder had greater activation of the right anterior cingulate cortex during semantic organization and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex during strategy initiation.

A controlled treatment study of internal memory strategies (I-MEMS) following traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of participation in a memory group intervention focusing on internal strategy use on persons with traumatic brain injury-related memory impairment. PARTICIPANTS: Ninety-four adults with traumatic brain injury (54 in the experimental group and 40 controls) and resulting memory impairment, with severities ranging from mild to severe. All participants were at least 18 years of age at the time of injury and at least 1 year post injury at the time of study. DESIGN: Non randomized pre/posttest group comparison design. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised and Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test II. RESULTS: Participation in the memory group intervention was associated with improved memory performance immediately postintervention, and improvements were maintained 1 month postintervention. Severe injury was associated with less improvement in memory outcomes than mild and moderate injuries. Age and preinjury education were not related to outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with traumatic brain injury may benefit from memory group intervention focusing on internal strategy use. Study hypotheses should be retested using a randomized, controlled design, and further research is needed to better delineate influences on intervention candidacy and outcomes.

Corrigendum: Core Neuropsychological Measures for Obesity and Diabetes Trials: Initial Report.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.554127.].

Core Neuropsychological Measures for Obesity and Diabetes Trials: Initial Report.

Obesity and diabetes are known to be related to cognitive abilities. The Core Neuropsychological Measures for Obesity and Diabetes Trials Project aimed to identify the key cognitive and perceptual domains in which performance can influence treatment outcomes, including predicting, mediating, and moderating treatment outcome and to generate neuropsychological batteries comprised of well-validated, easy-to-administer tests that best measure these key domains. The ultimate goal is to facilitate inclusion of neuropsychological measures in clinical studies and trials so that we can gather more information on potential mediators of obesity and diabetes treatment outcomes. We will present the rationale for the project and three options for the neuropsychological batteries to satisfy varying time and other administration constraints. Future directions are discussed. Preprint version of the document is available at https://osf.io/preprints/nutrixiv/7jygx/.

Effects of semantic categorization strategy training on episodic memory in children and adolescents.

Episodic memory is the ability to learn, store and recall new information. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a crucial area engaged in this ability. Cognitive training has been demonstrated to improve episodic memory in adults and older subjects. However, there are no studies examining the effects of cognitive training on episodic memory encoding in typically developing children and adolescents. This study investigated the behavioral effects and neural correlates of semantic categorization strategy training in children and adolescents during verbal episodic memory encoding using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants with age range: 7-18 years were scanned before and after semantic categorization training during encoding of word lists. Results showed improved memory performance in adolescents, but not in children. Deactivation of the anterior medial PFC/anterior cingulate and higher activation of the right anterior and lateral orbital gyri, right frontal pole and right middle frontal gyrus activation were found after training in adolescents when compared to children. These findings suggest different maturational paths of brain regions, especially in the PFC, and deactivation of default mode network areas, which are involved in successful memory and executive processes in the developing brain.

Modeling interactions between brain function, diet adherence behaviors, and weight loss success.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is linked to altered activation in reward and control brain circuitry; however, the associated brain activity related to successful or unsuccessful weight loss (WL) is unclear. METHODS: Adults with obesity (N = 75) completed a baseline functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan before entering a WL intervention (ie,3-month diet and physical activity [PA] program). We conducted an exploratory analysis to identify the contributions of baseline brain activation, adherence behavior patterns, and the associated connections to WL at the conclusion of a 3-month WL intervention. Food cue-reactivity brain regions were functionally identified using fMRI to index brain activation to food vs nonfood cues. Food consumption, PA, and class attendance were collected weekly during the 3-month intervention. RESULTS: The left middle frontal gyrus (L-MFG, BA 46) and right middle frontal gyrus (R-MFG; BA 9) were positively activated when viewing food compared with nonfood images. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was used to investigate a hypothesized path model and revealed the following significant paths: (1) attendance to 3-month WL, (2) R-MFG to attendance, and (3) indirect effects of R-MFG through attendance on WL. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that brain activation to appetitive food cues predicts future WL through mediating session attendance, diet, and PA. This study contributes to the growing evidence of the importance of food cue reactivity and self-regulation brain regions and their impact on WL outcomes.

Neurophysiological alterations during strategy-based verbal learning in traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND: Verbal learning and strategic processing deficits are common sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying such deficits remain poorly understood. METHODS: We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 25 individuals with chronic TBI (>1 year after injury) and 20 matched healthy controls. Subjects were scanned while encoding word lists, with free recall and recognition assessed after each scanning run. To vary the strategic processing load, participants learned semantically unrelated words (Unrelated condition), semantically related words under null instruction conditions (Spontaneous condition), and semantically related words following training on the use of a semantic clustering strategy (Directed condition). RESULTS: Behavioral performance on recall, recognition, and semantic clustering improved significantly as follows: Unrelated < Spontaneous < Directed. Individuals with TBI exhibited impaired yet parallel behavioral performance relative to control participants. The fMRI measures of brain activity during verbal encoding revealed decreased activity in participants with TBI relative to controls in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA 9) and in a region spanning the left angular and supramarginal gyri (BA 39/40). Functional connectivity analysis revealed evidence of a functional-but not anatomical-breakdown in the connectivity between the DLPFC and other regions specifically when participants with TBI were directed to use the semantic encoding strategy. CONCLUSION: After TBI, the DLPFC appears to be decoupled from other active brain regions specifically when strategic control is required. We hypothesize that approaches designed to help re-couple DLPFC under such conditions may aid TBI cognitive rehabilitation.

Neuropsychological outcome of ventral capsular/ventral striatal gamma capsulotomy for refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder: a pilot study.

Five refractory obsessive-compulsive patients were assessed using a neuropsychological battery after a modified gamma knife capsulotomy. The surgical technique was not associated with profound cognitive deficits. The authors found improvements in attention, vocabulary, learning, abstract reasoning, and memory.

An fMRI study examining effects of acute D-cycloserine during symptom provocation in spider phobia.

BACKGROUND: Exposure-based therapy for anxiety disorders is believed to operate on the basis of fear extinction. Studies have shown acute administration of D-cycloserine (DCS) enhances fear extinction in animals and facilitates exposure therapy in humans, but the neural mechanisms are not completely understood. To date, no study has examined neural effects of acute DCS in anxiety-disordered populations. METHODS: Two hours prior to functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning, 23 spider-phobic and 23 non-phobic participants were randomized to receive DCS 100 mg or placebo. During scanning, participants viewed spider, butterfly, and Gaussian-blurred baseline images in a block-design paradigm. Diagnostic and treatment groups were compared regarding differential activations to spider versus butterfly stimuli. RESULTS: In the phobic group, DCS enhanced prefrontal (PFC), dorsal anterior cingulate (ACC), and insula activations. For controls, DCS enhanced ventral ACC and caudate activations. There was a positive correlation between lateral PFC and amygdala activation for the placebo-phobic group. Reported distress during symptom provocation was correlated with amygdala activation in the placebo-phobic group and orbitofrontal cortex activation in the DCS-phobic group. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that during initial phobic symptom provocation DCS enhances activation in regions involved in cognitive control and interoceptive integration, including the PFC, ACC, and insular cortices for phobic participants.

Motor inhibition in trichotillomania and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

We investigated motor inhibition abilities in trichotillomania (TTM) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), two disorders characterized by repetitive, intentionally performed behaviors. Performance in a GoNogo experiment of 25 TTM and 21 OCD participants was compared to the performance of 26 HC participants. In contrast to OCD and HC participants, TTM participants tended to perform either 'fast and inaccurate' (indicating poor motor inhibition) or 'slow and accurate'. TTM participants with poor motor inhibition reported a significantly earlier age of TTM onset than those TTM participants who performed well. There was no evidence for motor inhibition deficits in OCD. Based on our data, a subgroup of TTM sufferers seems to be characterized by motor inhibition deficits.