Frontotemporal correlates of impulsivity and machine learning in retired professional athletes with a history of multiple concussions.
Brain Struct Funct
; 221(4): 1911-25, 2016 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25721800
ABSTRACT
The frontotemporal cortical network is associated with behaviours such as impulsivity and aggression. The health of the uncinate fasciculus (UF) that connects the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) with the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) may be a crucial determinant of behavioural regulation. Behavioural changes can emerge after repeated concussion and thus we used MRI to examine the UF and connected gray matter as it relates to impulsivity and aggression in retired professional football players who had sustained multiple concussions. Behaviourally, athletes had faster reaction times and an increased error rate on a go/no-go task, and increased aggression and mania compared to controls. MRI revealed that the athletes had (1) cortical thinning of the ATL, (2) negative correlations of OFC thickness with aggression and task errors, indicative of impulsivity, (3) negative correlations of UF axial diffusivity with error rates and aggression, and (4) elevated resting-state functional connectivity between the ATL and OFC. Using machine learning, we found that UF diffusion imaging differentiates athletes from healthy controls with significant classifiers based on UF mean and radial diffusivity showing 79-84 % sensitivity and specificity, and 0.8 areas under the ROC curves. The spatial pattern of classifier weights revealed hot spots at the orbitofrontal and temporal ends of the UF. These data implicate the UF system in the pathological outcomes of repeated concussion as they relate to impulsive behaviour. Furthermore, a support vector machine has potential utility in the general assessment and diagnosis of brain abnormalities following concussion.
Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Temporal Lobe
/
Brain Concussion
/
Frontal Lobe
/
Impulsive Behavior
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Brain Struct Funct
Journal subject:
CEREBRO
Year:
2016
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Canada