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Schoffelen JM, Pesci UG, Noppeney U. Alpha Oscillations and Temporal Binding Windows in Perception-A Critical Review and Best Practice Guidelines. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:655-690. [PMID: 38330177 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
An intriguing question in cognitive neuroscience is whether alpha oscillations shape how the brain transforms the continuous sensory inputs into distinct percepts. According to the alpha temporal resolution hypothesis, sensory signals arriving within a single alpha cycle are integrated, whereas those in separate cycles are segregated. Consequently, shorter alpha cycles should be associated with smaller temporal binding windows and higher temporal resolution. However, the evidence supporting this hypothesis is contentious, and the neural mechanisms remain unclear. In this review, we first elucidate the alpha temporal resolution hypothesis and the neural circuitries that generate alpha oscillations. We then critically evaluate study designs, experimental paradigms, psychophysics, and neurophysiological analyses that have been employed to investigate the role of alpha frequency in temporal binding. Through the lens of this methodological framework, we then review evidence from between-subject, within-subject, and causal perturbation studies. Our review highlights the inherent interpretational ambiguities posed by previous study designs and experimental paradigms and the extensive variability in analysis choices across studies. We also suggest best practice recommendations that may help to guide future research. To establish a mechanistic role of alpha frequency in temporal parsing, future research is needed that demonstrates its causal effects on the temporal binding window with consistent, experimenter-independent methods.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Uta Noppeney
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition & Behaviour, Radboud University
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2
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Samaha J, Romei V. Alpha-Band Frequency and Temporal Windows in Perception: A Review and Living Meta-analysis of 27 Experiments (and Counting). J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:640-654. [PMID: 37856149 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2023]
Abstract
Temporal windows in perception refer to windows of time within which distinct stimuli interact to influence perception. A simple example is two temporally proximal stimuli fusing into a single percept. It has long been hypothesized that the human alpha rhythm (an 8- to 13-Hz neural oscillation maximal over posterior cortex) is linked to temporal windows, with higher frequencies corresponding to shorter windows and finer-grained temporal resolution. This hypothesis has garnered support from studies demonstrating a correlation between individual differences in alpha-band frequency (IAF) and behavioral measures of temporal processing. However, nonsignificant effects have also been reported. Here, we review and meta-analyze 27 experiments correlating IAF with measures of visual and audiovisual temporal processing. Our results estimate the true correlation in the population to be between .39 and .53, a medium-to-large effect. The effect held when considering visual or audiovisual experiments separately, when examining different IAF estimation protocols (i.e., eyes open and eyes closed), and when using analysis choices that favor a null result. Our review shows that (1) effects have been internally and independently replicated, (2) several positive effects are based on larger sample sizes than the null effects, and (3) many reported null effects are actually in the direction predicted by the hypothesis. A free interactive web app was developed to allow users to replicate our meta-analysis and change or update the study selection at will, making this a "living" meta-analysis (randfxmeta.streamlit.app). We discuss possible factors underlying null reports, design recommendations, and open questions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Università di Bologna
- Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Spain
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3
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Häussinger D, Dhiman RK, Felipo V, Görg B, Jalan R, Kircheis G, Merli M, Montagnese S, Romero-Gomez M, Schnitzler A, Taylor-Robinson SD, Vilstrup H. Hepatic encephalopathy. Nat Rev Dis Primers 2022; 8:43. [PMID: 35739133 DOI: 10.1038/s41572-022-00366-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a prognostically relevant neuropsychiatric syndrome that occurs in the course of acute or chronic liver disease. Besides ascites and variceal bleeding, it is the most serious complication of decompensated liver cirrhosis. Ammonia and inflammation are major triggers for the appearance of HE, which in patients with liver cirrhosis involves pathophysiologically low-grade cerebral oedema with oxidative/nitrosative stress, inflammation and disturbances of oscillatory networks in the brain. Severity classification and diagnostic approaches regarding mild forms of HE are still a matter of debate. Current medical treatment predominantly involves lactulose and rifaximin following rigorous treatment of so-called known HE precipitating factors. New treatments based on an improved pathophysiological understanding are emerging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dieter Häussinger
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Radha K Dhiman
- Department of Hepatology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, (Uttar Pradesh), India
| | - Vicente Felipo
- Laboratory of Neurobiology, Centro de Investigación Principe Felipe, Valencia, Spain
| | - Boris Görg
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty and University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Rajiv Jalan
- Liver Failure Group ILDH, Division of Medicine, UCL Medical School, Royal Free Campus, London, UK.,European Foundation for the Study of Chronic Liver Failure, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gerald Kircheis
- Department of Gastroenterology, Diabetology and Hepatology, University Hospital Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg Medical School, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany
| | - Manuela Merli
- Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Universita' degli Studi di Roma - Sapienza, Roma, Italy
| | | | - Manuel Romero-Gomez
- UCM Digestive Diseases, Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (HUVR/CSIC/US), University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Alfons Schnitzler
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Simon D Taylor-Robinson
- Department of Surgery and Cancer, St. Mary's Hospital Campus, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Hendrik Vilstrup
- Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
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4
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Samaha J, Cohen MX. Power spectrum slope confounds estimation of instantaneous oscillatory frequency. Neuroimage 2022; 250:118929. [PMID: 35077852 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.118929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2021] [Revised: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Oscillatory neural dynamics are highly non-stationary and require methods capable of quantifying time-resolved changes in oscillatory activity in order to understand neural function. Recently, a method termed 'frequency sliding' was introduced to estimate the instantaneous frequency of oscillatory activity, providing a means of tracking temporal changes in the dominant frequency within a sub-band of field potential recordings. Here, the ability of frequency sliding to recover ground-truth oscillatory frequency in simulated data is tested while the exponent (slope) of the 1/fx component of the signal power spectrum is systematically varied, mimicking real electrophysiological data. The results show that 1) in the presence of 1/f activity, frequency sliding systematically underestimates the true frequency of the signal, 2) the magnitude of underestimation is correlated with the steepness of the slope, suggesting that, if unaccounted for, slope changes could be misinterpreted as frequency changes, 3) the impact of slope on frequency estimates interacts with oscillation amplitude, indicating that changes in oscillation amplitude alone may also influence instantaneous frequency estimates in the presence of strong 1/f activity; and 4) analysis parameters such as filter bandwidth and location also mediate the influence of slope on estimated frequency, indicating that these settings should be considered when interpreting estimates obtained via frequency sliding. The origin of these biases resides in the output of the filtering step of frequency sliding, whose energy is biased towards lower frequencies precisely because of the 1/f structure of the data. We discuss several strategies to mitigate these biases and provide a proof-of-principle for a 1/f normalization strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason Samaha
- Psychology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz.
| | - Michael X Cohen
- Donders Centre for Medical Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Centre
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5
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Altered motor cortical plasticity in patients with hepatic encephalopathy: A paired associative stimulation study. Clin Neurophysiol 2021; 132:2332-2341. [PMID: 34454259 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.07.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/03/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a potentially reversible brain dysfunction caused by liver failure. Altered synaptic plasticity is supposed to play a major role in the pathophysiology of HE. Here, we used paired associative stimulation with an inter-stimulus interval of 25 ms (PAS25), a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol, to test synaptic plasticity of the motor cortex in patients with manifest HE. METHODS 23 HE-patients and 23 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes were assessed as measure for cortical excitability. Time courses of MEP amplitude changes after the PAS25 intervention were compared between both groups. RESULTS MEP-amplitudes increased after PAS25 in the control group, indicating PAS25-induced synaptic plasticity in healthy controls, as expected. In contrast, MEP-amplitudes within the HE group did not change and were lower than in the control group, indicating no induction of plasticity. CONCLUSIONS Our study revealed reduced synaptic plasticity of the primary motor cortex in HE. SIGNIFICANCE Reduced synaptic plasticity in HE provides a link between pathological changes on the molecular level and early clinical symptoms of the disease. This decrease may be caused by disturbances in the glutamatergic neurotransmission due to the known hyperammonemia in HE patients.
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6
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Häussinger D, Butz M, Schnitzler A, Görg B. Pathomechanisms in hepatic encephalopathy. Biol Chem 2021; 402:1087-1102. [PMID: 34049427 DOI: 10.1515/hsz-2021-0168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a frequent neuropsychiatric complication in patients with acute or chronic liver failure. Symptoms of HE in particular include disturbances of sensory and motor functions and cognition. HE is triggered by heterogeneous factors such as ammonia being a main toxin, benzodiazepines, proinflammatory cytokines and hyponatremia. HE in patients with liver cirrhosis is triggered by a low-grade cerebral edema and cerebral oxidative/nitrosative stress which bring about a number of functionally relevant alterations including posttranslational protein modifications, oxidation of RNA, gene expression changes and senescence. These alterations are suggested to impair astrocyte/neuronal functions and communication. On the system level, a global slowing of oscillatory brain activity and networks can be observed paralleling behavioral perceptual and motor impairments. Moreover, these changes are related to increased cerebral ammonia, alterations in neurometabolite and neurotransmitter concentrations and cortical excitability in HE patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dieter Häussinger
- Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Infectious Diseases, Heinrich Heine University, Moorenstr. 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Markus Butz
- Department of Neurology/Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Moorenstr. 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Alfons Schnitzler
- Department of Neurology/Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University, Moorenstr. 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Boris Görg
- Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Infectious Diseases, Heinrich Heine University, Moorenstr. 5, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
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7
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Groiss SJ, Butz M, Baumgarten TJ, Füllenbach ND, Häussinger D, Schnitzler A. GABA-ergic tone hypothesis in hepatic encephalopathy – Revisited. Clin Neurophysiol 2019; 130:911-916. [DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2019.03.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2017] [Revised: 02/27/2019] [Accepted: 03/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
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8
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Lazar M, Butz M, Baumgarten TJ, Füllenbach ND, Jördens MS, Häussinger D, Schnitzler A, Lange J. Impaired Tactile Temporal Discrimination in Patients With Hepatic Encephalopathy. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2059. [PMID: 30425672 PMCID: PMC6218607 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2018] [Accepted: 10/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The sensory system constantly receives stimuli from the external world. To discriminate two stimuli correctly as two temporally distinct events, the temporal distance or stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the two stimuli has to exceed a specific threshold. If the SOA between two stimuli is shorter than this specific threshold, the two stimuli will be perceptually fused and perceived as one single stimulus. Patients with hepatic encephalopathy (HE) are known to show manifold perceptual impairments, including slowed visual temporal discrimination abilities as measured by the critical flicker frequency (CFF). Here, we hypothesized that HE patients are also impaired in their tactile temporal discrimination abilities and, thus, require a longer SOA between two tactile stimuli to perceive the stimuli as two temporally distinct events. To test this hypothesis, patients with varying grades of HE and age-matched healthy individuals performed a tactile temporal discrimination task. All participants received two tactile stimuli with varying SOA applied to their left index finger and reported how many distinct stimuli they perceived ("1" vs. "2"). HE patients needed a significantly longer SOA (138.0 ± 11.3 ms) between two tactile stimuli to perceive the stimuli as two temporally distinct events than healthy controls (78.6 ± 13.1 ms; p < 0.01). In addition, we found that the temporal discrimination ability in the tactile modality correlated positively with the temporal discrimination ability in the visual domain across all participants (i.e., negative correlation between tactile SOA and visual CFF: r = -0.37, p = 0.033). Our findings provide evidence that temporal tactile perception is substantially impaired in HE patients. In addition, the results suggest that tactile and visual discrimination abilities are affected in HE in parallel. This finding might argue for a common underlying pathophysiological mechanism. We argue that the known global slowing of neuronal oscillations in HE might represent such a common mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Moritz Lazar
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Markus Butz
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Thomas J Baumgarten
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.,Neuroscience Institute, Langone Medical Center, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Nur-Deniz Füllenbach
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Markus S Jördens
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Dieter Häussinger
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Alfons Schnitzler
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Joachim Lange
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
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9
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Baumgarten TJ, Neugebauer J, Oeltzschner G, Füllenbach ND, Kircheis G, Häussinger D, Lange J, Wittsack HJ, Butz M, Schnitzler A. Connecting occipital alpha band peak frequency, visual temporal resolution, and occipital GABA levels in healthy participants and hepatic encephalopathy patients. Neuroimage Clin 2018; 20:347-356. [PMID: 30109194 PMCID: PMC6090010 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2018] [Revised: 07/24/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies have proposed a connection between the individual alpha band peak frequency and the temporal resolution of visual perception in healthy human participants. This connection rests on animal studies describing oscillations in the alpha band as a mode of phasic thalamocortical information transfer for low-level visual stimuli, which critically relies on GABAergic interneurons. Here, we investigated the interplay of these parameters by measuring occipital alpha band peak frequency by means of magnetoencephalography, visual temporal resolution by means of behavioral testing, and occipital GABA levels by means of magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Importantly, we investigated a sample of healthy participants and patients with varying grades of hepatic encephalopathy, which are known to exhibit decreases in the investigated parameters, thus providing an increased parameter space. We found that occipital alpha band peak frequency and visual temporal resolution were positively correlated, i.e., higher occipital alpha band peak frequencies were on average related to a higher temporal resolution. Likewise, occipital alpha band peak frequency correlated positively with occipital GABA levels. However, correlations were significant only when both healthy participants and patients were included in the analysis, thereby indicating a connection of the measures on group level (instead of the individual level). These findings provide new insights into neurophysiological and neurochemical underpinnings of visual perception.
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Key Words
- Alpha oscillations
- CFF, Critical flicker frequency
- CSD, Cross-spectral density
- EC, Eyes-closed
- ECG, Electro-cardiogram
- EO, Eyes-open
- EOG, Electro-oculogram
- GABA
- GABA+/Cr, GABA-to creatine -ratio
- GABA, γ-aminobutyric acid
- HE, Hepatic encephalopathy
- HE1, Clinically manifest HE grade 1
- HPI, Head position indication
- Hepatic encephalopathy
- ICA, Independent component analysis
- MEG, Magnetoencephalography
- MNI, Montreal Neurological Institute
- MRS, Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
- Magnetoencephalography
- Peak frequency
- mHE, Minimal HE
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas J Baumgarten
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; Neuroscience Institute, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Julia Neugebauer
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Georg Oeltzschner
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; F.M. Kirby Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Nur-Deniz Füllenbach
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Gerald Kircheis
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Dieter Häussinger
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectiology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Joachim Lange
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Hans-Jörg Wittsack
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Markus Butz
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Alfons Schnitzler
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany
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10
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Benedetto A, Lozano-Soldevilla D, VanRullen R. Different responses of spontaneous and stimulus-related alpha activity to ambient luminance changes. Eur J Neurosci 2017; 48:2599-2608. [PMID: 29205618 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.13791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2017] [Revised: 11/28/2017] [Accepted: 11/28/2017] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Alpha oscillations are particularly important in determining our percepts and have been implicated in fundamental brain functions. Oscillatory activity can be spontaneous or stimulus-related. Furthermore, stimulus-related responses can be phase- or non-phase-locked to the stimulus. Non-phase-locked (induced) activity can be identified as the average amplitude changes in response to a stimulation, while phase-locked activity can be measured via reverse-correlation techniques (echo function). However, the mechanisms and the functional roles of these oscillations are far from clear. Here, we investigated the effect of ambient luminance changes, known to dramatically modulate neural oscillations, on spontaneous and stimulus-related alpha. We investigated the effect of ambient luminance on EEG alpha during spontaneous human brain activity at rest (experiment 1) and during visual stimulation (experiment 2). Results show that spontaneous alpha amplitude increased by decreasing ambient luminance, while alpha frequency remained unaffected. In the second experiment, we found that under low-luminance viewing, the stimulus-related alpha amplitude was lower, and its frequency was slightly faster. These effects were evident in the phase-locked part of the alpha response (echo function), but weaker or absent in the induced (non-phase-locked) alpha responses. Finally, we explored the possible behavioural correlates of these modulations in a monocular critical flicker frequency task (experiment 3), finding that dark adaptation in the left eye decreased the temporal threshold of the right eye. Overall, we found that ambient luminance changes impact differently on spontaneous and stimulus-related alpha expression. We suggest that stimulus-related alpha activity is crucial in determining human temporal segmentation abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Benedetto
- Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicines and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.,Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Diego Lozano-Soldevilla
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité Mixte de Recherche 5549, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, Toulouse, France.,Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université Paul Sabatier, Place du Dr. Baylac, 31052, Toulouse, France
| | - Rufin VanRullen
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Unité Mixte de Recherche 5549, Faculté de Médecine Purpan, Toulouse, France.,Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université Paul Sabatier, Place du Dr. Baylac, 31052, Toulouse, France
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11
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Gaetz W, Jurkiewicz MT, Kessler SK, Blaskey L, Schwartz ES, Roberts TP. Neuromagnetic responses to tactile stimulation of the fingers: Evidence for reduced cortical inhibition for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and children with epilepsy. Neuroimage Clin 2017; 16:624-633. [PMID: 28971012 PMCID: PMC5619996 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.06.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2016] [Revised: 05/30/2017] [Accepted: 06/16/2017] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare somatosensory responses from a group of children with epilepsy and a group of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with age matched TD controls. We hypothesized that the magnitude of the tactile "P50m" somatosensory response would be reduced in both patient groups, possibly due to reduced GABAergic signaling as has been implicated in a variety of previous animal models and in vivo human MRS studies. We observed significant (~ 25%) decreases in tactile P50m dipole moment values from the source localized tactile P50m response, both for children with epilepsy and for children with ASD. In addition, the latency of the tactile P50m peak was observed to be equivalent between TD and ASD groups but was significantly delayed in children with epilepsy by ~ 6 ms. Our data support the hypothesis of impaired GABAergic signaling in both children with ASD and children with epilepsy. Further work is needed to replicate these findings and directly relate them to both in vivo measures of GABA via e.g. magnetic resonance spectroscopy and psychophysical assessments of somatosensory function, and behavioral indices.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Gaetz
- Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, United States
- Department of Radiology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Michael T. Jurkiewicz
- Department of Radiology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Sudha Kilaru Kessler
- Department of Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Lisa Blaskey
- Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, United States
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Department of Radiology and Center for Autism Research, United States
| | - Erin S. Schwartz
- Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, United States
- Department of Radiology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Timothy P.L. Roberts
- Lurie Family Foundations MEG Imaging Center, Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, United States
- Department of Radiology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, United States
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12
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Peng W, Tang D. Pain Related Cortical Oscillations: Methodological Advances and Potential Applications. Front Comput Neurosci 2016; 10:9. [PMID: 26869915 PMCID: PMC4740361 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2016.00009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2015] [Accepted: 01/18/2016] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Alongside the time-locked event-related potentials (ERPs), nociceptive somatosensory inputs can induce modulations of ongoing oscillations, appeared as event-related synchronization or desynchronization (ERS/ERD) in different frequency bands. These ERD/ERS activities are suggested to reflect various aspects of pain perception, including the representation, encoding, assessment, and integration of the nociceptive sensory inputs, as well as behavioral responses to pain, even the precise details of their roles remain unclear. Previous studies investigating the functional relevance of ERD/ERS activities in pain perception were normally done by assessing their latencies, frequencies, magnitudes, and scalp distributions, which would be then correlated with subjective pain perception or stimulus intensity. Nevertheless, these temporal, spectral, and spatial profiles of stimulus induced ERD/ERS could only partly reveal the dynamics of brain oscillatory activities. Indeed, additional parameters, including but not limited to, phase, neural generator, and cross frequency couplings, should be paid attention to comprehensively and systemically evaluate the dynamics of oscillatory activities associated with pain perception and behavior. This would be crucial in exploring the psychophysiological mechanisms of neural oscillation, and in understanding the neural functions of cortical oscillations involved in pain perception and behavior. Notably, some chronic pain (e.g., neurogenic pain and complex regional pain syndrome) patients are often associated with the occurrence of abnormal synchronized oscillatory brain activities, and selectively modulating cortical oscillatory activities has been showed to be a potential therapy strategy to relieve pain with the application of neurostimulation techniques, e.g., repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Thus, the investigation of the oscillatory activities proceeding from phenomenology to function, opens new perspectives to address questions in human pain psychophysiology and pathophysiology, thereby promoting the establishment of rational therapeutic strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiwei Peng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University Chongqing, China
| | - Dandan Tang
- School of Education Science, Zunyi Normal College Guizhou, China
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Milewski K, Hilgier W, Fręśko I, Polowy R, Podsiadłowska A, Zołocińska E, Grymanowska AW, Filipkowski RK, Albrecht J, Zielińska M. Carnosine Reduces Oxidative Stress and Reverses Attenuation of Righting and Postural Reflexes in Rats with Thioacetamide-Induced Liver Failure. Neurochem Res 2016; 41:376-84. [PMID: 26801175 PMCID: PMC4773466 DOI: 10.1007/s11064-015-1821-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2015] [Revised: 12/28/2015] [Accepted: 12/29/2015] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Cerebral oxidative stress (OS) contributes to the pathogenesis of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Existing evidence suggests that systemic administration of l-histidine (His) attenuates OS in brain of HE animal models, but the underlying mechanism is complex and not sufficiently understood. Here we tested the hypothesis that dipeptide carnosine (β-alanyl-l-histidine, Car) may be neuroprotective in thioacetamide (TAA)-induced liver failure in rats and that, being His metabolite, may mediate the well documented anti-OS activity of His. Amino acids [His or Car (100 mg/kg)] were administrated 2 h before TAA (i.p., 300 mg/kg 3× in 24 h intervals) injection into Sprague–Dawley rats. The animals were thus tested for: (i) brain prefrontal cortex and blood contents of Car and His, (ii) amount of reactive oxygen species (ROS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), GSSG/GSH ratio and thioredoxin reductase (TRx) activity, and (iii) behavioral changes (several models were used, i.e. tests for reflexes, open field, grip test, Rotarod). Brain level of Car was reduced in TAA rats, and His administration significantly elevated Car levels in control and TAA rats. Car partly attenuated TAA-induced ROS production and reduced GSH/GSSG ratio, whereas the increase of TRx activity in TAA brain was not significantly modulated by Car. Further, Car improved TAA-affected behavioral functions in rats, as was shown by the tests of righting and postural reflexes. Collectively, the results support the hypothesis that (i) Car may be added to the list of neuroprotective compounds of therapeutic potential on HE and that (ii) Car mediates at least a portion of the OS-attenuating activity of His in the setting of TAA-induced liver failure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Krzysztof Milewski
- Department of Neurotoxicology, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Wojciech Hilgier
- Department of Neurotoxicology, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Inez Fręśko
- Department of Neurotoxicology, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Rafał Polowy
- Behavior and Metabolism Research Laboratory, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Podsiadłowska
- Department of Neurotoxicology, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Ewa Zołocińska
- Department of Neurotoxicology, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Aneta W Grymanowska
- Behavior and Metabolism Research Laboratory, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Robert K Filipkowski
- Behavior and Metabolism Research Laboratory, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jan Albrecht
- Department of Neurotoxicology, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Magdalena Zielińska
- Department of Neurotoxicology, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawińskiego 5 Str, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland.
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Brenner M, Butz M, May ES, Kahlbrock N, Kircheis G, Häussinger D, Schnitzler A. Patients with manifest hepatic encephalopathy can reveal impaired thermal perception. Acta Neurol Scand 2015; 132:156-63. [PMID: 25630844 DOI: 10.1111/ane.12376] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/16/2014] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Previous evoked potential studies indicated central impairments of somatosensory function in patients suffering from hepatic encephalopathy (HE). The aim of this study was to quantify the somatosensory perception in patients with minimal and overt HE. MATERIALS AND METHODS Forty-two patients with liver cirrhosis and HE up to grade 2 and 12 age-matched healthy controls underwent a comprehensive graduation of HE including the West Haven criteria, the critical flicker frequency (CFF), and neuropsychometric testing. Quantitative sensory testing, standardized by the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain, was performed on both hands. RESULTS Pain and mechanical detection thresholds were unchanged in HE. Tests of thermal processing revealed that patients with HE of grade 2 perceive cold at lower temperatures (cold detection threshold) and need a higher temperature difference to distinguish between warm and cold (thermal sensory limen). These impairments correlated with the CFF. A correction for attention deficits by performing partial correlations using neuropsychometric test results canceled these correlations. CONCLUSIONS The present findings demonstrate an impairment of temperature perception in HE. The extent of this impairment correlates with HE severity as quantified by the CFF. The attenuation of the correlations after correction for attention deficits suggests a strong role of attention deficits for the impaired thermal perception. Thus, it provides initial evidence for a central impairment of thermal processing in HE due to alterations in high-level processes rather than due to peripheral neuropathic processes, which are a frequent complication in patients with liver cirrhosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Brenner
- Medical Faculty; Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
- Department of Neurology; Medical Faculty; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
| | - M. Butz
- Medical Faculty; Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
| | - E. S. May
- Medical Faculty; Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
| | - N. Kahlbrock
- Medical Faculty; Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
| | - G. Kircheis
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Disease; Medical Faculty; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
| | - D. Häussinger
- Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Disease; Medical Faculty; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
| | - A. Schnitzler
- Medical Faculty; Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
- Department of Neurology; Medical Faculty; Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
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Peng W, Babiloni C, Mao Y, Hu Y. Subjective pain perception mediated by alpha rhythms. Biol Psychol 2015; 109:141-50. [PMID: 26026894 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2014] [Revised: 05/23/2015] [Accepted: 05/23/2015] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Suppression of spontaneous alpha oscillatory activities, interpreted as cortical excitability, was observed in response to both transient and tonic painful stimuli. The changes of alpha rhythms induced by pain could be modulated by painful sensory inputs, experimental tasks, and top-down cognitive regulations such as attention. The temporal and spatial characteristics, as well as neural functions of pain induced alpha responses, depend much on how these factors contribute to the observed alpha event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS). How sensory-, task-, and cognitive-related changes of alpha oscillatory activities interact in pain perception process is reviewed in the current study, and the following conclusions are made: (1) the functional inhibition hypothesis that has been proposed in auditory and visual modalities could be applied also in pain modality; (2) the neural functions of pain induced alpha ERD/ERS were highly dependent on the cortical regions where it is observed, e.g., somatosensory cortex alpha ERD/ERS in pain perception for painful stimulus processing; (3) the attention modulation of pain perception, i.e., influences on the sensory and affective dimensions of pain experience, could be mediated by changes of alpha rhythms. Finally, we propose a model regarding the determinants of pain related alpha oscillatory activity, i.e., sensory-discriminative, affective-motivational, and cognitive-modulative aspects of pain experience, would affect and determine pain related alpha oscillatory activities in an integrated way within the distributed alpha system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiwei Peng
- Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Claudio Babiloni
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy; IRCCS San Raffaele Pisana, Rome, Italy
| | - Yanhui Mao
- Department of Developmental and Social Process Psychology, University of Rome "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy
| | - Yong Hu
- Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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