NeuroImage最新文献

{"title":"Facial expressions selectively modulate P300 somatosensory evoked-potential, but emotional scenes do not: Electrophysiological evidence for sensorimotor simulation","authors":"Sara Costa ,&nbsp;Arianna Schiano Lomoriello ,&nbsp;Thomas Quettier ,&nbsp;Fausto Caruana ,&nbsp;Pier Francesco Ferrari ,&nbsp;Paola Sessa","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121322","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121322","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The role of the sensorimotor cortices in processing facial expressions remains a topic of debate. While substantial evidence supports their involvement via simulation and mirroring mechanisms, an alternative view argues that sensorimotor activation reflects a general emotional tuning to affective content. To clarify these competing hypotheses, we examined sensorimotor responses to emotional (disgusting) scenes—which evoke affect without requiring simulation—and emotional (disgusted) facial expressions. In one-third of trials, gentle tactile stimulation was applied to the left levator labii superioris muscle at two time points to elicit somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). A subtraction approach was used to isolate pure somatosensory activity by removing visual-only responses (VEP) from combined visual-tactile responses (SEP+VEP), with a blank-screen condition as an additional baseline.</div><div>We observed a small but significant reduction in P300 SEP amplitude at right central, centro-frontal, and centro-parietal electrodes when tactile stimulation followed disgusted facial expressions compared to disgusting scenes. This effect was independent of subjective ratings of arousal and valence. Importantly, only SEPs following facial expressions differed significantly from those following tactile stimulation alone, suggesting a specific modulation by facial expression processing. Despite the relatively small amplitude of the observed effects, and the somewhat preliminary nature of the results, these findings provide novel evidence that facial expressions engage the sensorimotor system in a specific and privileged manner, consistent with the simulation hypothesis.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 121322"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144294165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Functional ultrasound as a quantitative approach for measuring functional hyperemia in aging models","authors":"Jessica Pinckard ,&nbsp;Sharon Negri ,&nbsp;Cade A Huston ,&nbsp;Marisa A Bickel ,&nbsp;Michaela L Vance ,&nbsp;Madison Milan ,&nbsp;Clara L Hibbs ,&nbsp;Madeline Budda ,&nbsp;Siva Sai Chandragiri ,&nbsp;Kaitlyn Pipkin ,&nbsp;Stefano Tarantini ,&nbsp;Shannon M Conley","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121313","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121313","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Backgrounds and Objectives: Aging is associated with impaired cerebrovascular function, including reduced functional hyperemia (FH), which contributes to cognitive decline and dementia. Unraveling the mechanisms responsible for FH decline during aging is crucial for developing interventions to promote healthy brain aging and mitigate cognitive impairment. Currently, laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) serves as the standard method for assessing FH in mouse models of cognitive dysfunction and aging. However, as a terminal procedure, long-term monitoring of changes in FH using LSCI is not possible. Functional ultrasound imaging (fUS) has improved spatial and temporal resolution compared to LSCI and is a promising alternative, but surgical manipulation of the mouse model is necessary to assess FH using fUS. Research Design and Methods: Here, we validated fUS as a novel method for assessing FH and vascular density in mice using a chronological aging model and compared different surgical paradigms. Young and aged mice underwent consecutive imaging with fUS and LSCI following surgical placement of a cranial window. Mice were imaged either acutely or 14 days post window placement. Results: Our findings revealed a robust correlation between the FH measurements obtained from fUS and LSCI in mice allowed to recover for 14 days post window-implantation, underscoring the reliability of fUS as a measurement tool. Similarly, the ability of fUS ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM) to detect age-related vascular rarefaction was improved by the 14-day recovery time after window implantation. Discussion and Implications: This study not only highlights the potential of fUS in FH assessment but also suggests the importance of recovery time post-surgery for optimal cerebrovascular imaging results.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"316 ","pages":"Article 121313"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144263039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the geometry of somatosensory representations in the Cortex","authors":"Noam Saadon-Grosman ,&nbsp;Tsahi Asher ,&nbsp;Yonatan Loewenstein","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121321","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121321","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The processing of somatosensory information in the cortex is often described using body maps, where adjacent cortical regions correspond to adjacent body parts. Additionally, the somatosensory cortex follows a hierarchical structure, which extends from the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) to higher cortical regions. While previous studies have identified multiple body maps and various hierarchy relations, the large-scale organization of these maps and their interactions have been less explored. Using functional MRI with full-body light touch stimulation, we discovered that in S1, body and hierarchy maps are orthogonal, but this orthogonality does not extend to other regions. On a larger scale, both body representation and hierarchy exhibit a radial organization, with a few central extrema governing numerous cortical regions. Similar patterns of radial organization in the visual and auditory systems suggest that radial topography may be a general organizational feature across sensory systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 121321"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144294167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neurovascular coupling of inhibitory control in late-onset depression: a simultaneous EEG-fMRI study","authors":"Elena Bondi ,&nbsp;Alessandro Pigoni ,&nbsp;Adele Ferro ,&nbsp;Maria Pia Marra ,&nbsp;Guido Nosari ,&nbsp;Giandomenico Schiena ,&nbsp;Fabio M. Triulzi ,&nbsp;Anna M. Bianchi ,&nbsp;Paolo Brambilla ,&nbsp;Eleonora Maggioni","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121320","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121320","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Depression is a leading cause of disability that exerts an impact on neurocognitive functions. Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) have shown alterations of processes underlying response inhibition, which is the cognitive process that permits the suppression of habitual or natural behavioural responses to stimuli to select a more appropriate response that is coherent with the goal; these alterations have been correlated with cognitive deficits, especially in older adults. Electrophysiological (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated the neuronal and hemodynamic process underlying inhibition through tasks measuring the ability to suppress a dominant response when non-target stimuli are shown and reported differences between healthy controls (HCs) and MDD subjects. However, these were unimodal studies that provided an incomplete picture of the phenomenon, due to the single technique sensitivity and limited by the characteristics of each technique itself.</div><div>In this study, we performed an EEG-driven fMRI analysis to explore the different hemodynamic correlates of specific event-related potentials (ERPs) of inhibitory control in late-onset MDD during a visuomotor Go/No-Go task. The dataset was composed of 18 older adult HCs and 18 late-onset MDD patients.</div><div>Behavioral analysis showed higher response time to target stimuli in inhibitory blocks and lower percentage of correct answers for target stimuli in MDD compared to HCs. ERP analysis revealed the inhibitory effect for both N2 and P3 in both groups. Moreover, EEG-driven fMRI analysis showed alterations in the MDD group in the superior temporal gyrus and cerebellar areas for N2 correlates, whereas in the supramarginal, left rolandic, and Heschl’s areas for P3 correlates.</div><div>The study showed the potentiality of the EEG-fMRI integration for investigating complex cognitive processes. Specifically, the EEG-driven fMRI analyses showed different correlates for separate cognitive processing steps, N2 and P3, highlighting differences between MDD and HC.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 121320"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144294166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Quantifying task-locked information transmission between cortical areas with TMS-EEG","authors":"Zhaohuan Ding ,&nbsp;Wenbo Ma ,&nbsp;Leixiao Feng ,&nbsp;Mingsha Zhang ,&nbsp;Xiaoli Li","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121323","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121323","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This study aims to develop TMS-EEG (Transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with EEG) technology to detect task-locked neural network activation and dynamically quantify information transmission.</div></div><div><h3>Approach</h3><div>30 participants performed visually guided gap saccade tasks while TMS-EEG data were recorded, with the TMS pulses delivered to prefrontal cortex (PFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) at different task stages. The directed transfer function (DTF) method was applied to TMS-EEG data to indicate the information flow. By analyzing the channel combinations associated with the PFC and PPC, we calculated differences in information flow within the alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands to determine whether TMS-EEG could quantitatively characterize the direction of information flow between cortical areas.</div></div><div><h3>Main results</h3><div>Analysis of eye tracker data revealed that all participants successfully performed the saccade task, with a correct rate exceeding 90 %. The mean saccade latency was 132.25 ± 22.59 ms after target appearance. Stimulation of the PFC and PPC revealed significant differences in information flow in the gamma bands at different time points. Specifically, during the preparatory period, the C3 electrode acts as a hub for incoming information from O1, later transitioning to send information towards F4 and O1 post-target. Then, P3 emerges as a hub, sending data towards P4, with connectivity between them intensifying post 100 ms from the target's appearance.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>This study utilized DTF values derived from TMS-EEG to characterize information flow between cortical areas during the gap saccade task. This approach provides a novel method for quantifying dynamic changes in connectivity and causality between cortical areas during task processing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 121323"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144294168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring multidimensional brain mechanisms in robot-assisted surgical simulation","authors":"Haoxin Cui ,&nbsp;Yujing Liang ,&nbsp;Fankai Sun ,&nbsp;Desheng Li ,&nbsp;Xiangqing Wang ,&nbsp;Rong Wang ,&nbsp;Nan Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121294","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121294","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The introduction of robotic-assisted surgical systems has revolutionized surgical procedures; however, current training programs often overlook the role of brain activity during surgery, making it challenging to detect cognitive differences between surgeons. To address this gap, this paper designed an experimental task closely resembling real surgical scenarios using a robotic surgical simulation system. The study introduced Principal Component Analysis (PCA) weights and Mahalanobis distance as metrics for identifying cognitive differences, with a focus on investigating the brain mechanisms underlying varying levels of surgical proficiency in terms of frequency domain, neural connectivity, and graph theory. Frequency domain analyses revealed that experienced surgeons exhibited greater activation in the alpha bands of the prefrontal cortex (Fp1, Fp2), occipital cortex (O1, O2), and midline parietal cortex (Pz) during task execution, compared to less experienced surgeons. Connectivity analysis indicated that high-level surgeons demonstrated superior neural efficiency, characterized by weaker localized activity but enhanced global integration of brain regions. Graph theoretical analyses further highlighted differences in network organization, with higher-level surgeons achieving a balanced interplay between local specialization and global integration of brain networks. Finally, classification and ablation experiments confirmed that the EEG features identified in this study effectively differentiate surgeons based on their operational expertise. These findings provide valuable insights into the underlying brain mechanisms involved in surgical proficiency and offer potential applications for supporting surgeon training and objective assessment of surgical skills. This research paves the way for the development of more targeted training programs for robotic surgery, ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of skill development and performance evaluation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 121294"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144275477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ultrafast complex-valued 4D fMRI reveals sleep-induced brain respiratory pulsation changes in both magnitude and phase signals","authors":"Saara Sofia Syväoja ,&nbsp;Lauri Raitamaa ,&nbsp;Heta Helakari ,&nbsp;Jussi Kantola ,&nbsp;Matti Järvelä ,&nbsp;Janne Kananen ,&nbsp;Ville Isokoski ,&nbsp;Vesa Korhonen ,&nbsp;Tommi Väyrynen ,&nbsp;Timo Tuovinen ,&nbsp;Jürgen Hennig ,&nbsp;Vesa Kiviniemi","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121290","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121290","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Physiological brain pulsations play a critical role in sleep physiology, but their underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. To study these pulsations more deeply, we employed ultrafast magnetic resonance encephalography (MREG) to capture complex-valued 4D fMRI brain data at a critical 10 Hz sampling rate in healthy volunteers during wakefulness and sleep. We compared the phase and magnitude components of the MREG signal, as the phase component is known to be particularly sensitive to subtle flow and susceptibility changes, offering insights beyond magnitude-only analysis. This approach enabled whole-brain mapping of the amplitudes of all three physiological pulsations - very low frequency (VLF), cardiac, and respiratory - using an extended amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) method. We identified significant increases in respiratory amplitudes during sleep compared to wakefulness in both phase and magnitude signals, while the VLF and cardiac phase amplitudes did not show significant differences. Phase respiration map showed increase especially in default mode network regions, while additional patterns were observed in the cerebellum, ventricles, cerebral aqueduct, and subarachnoid cisterns. In contrast, the magnitude maps showed increased amplitudes more widespread across the cerebrum. These findings highlight the complementary nature of phase and magnitude data in fMRI and suggest that combining these signals provides a more comprehensive understanding of brain physiological dynamics during sleep than conventional magnitude-only analyses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 121290"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144266913","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Unraveling the effects of selective auditory attention in ERPs: From the brainstem to the cortex","authors":"Daniel J. Strauss ,&nbsp;Farah I. Corona–Strauss ,&nbsp;Adrian Mai ,&nbsp;Steven A. Hillyard","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121295","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121295","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A little over fifty years ago, it was reported that selectively attending to one of two dichotically presented tone sequences enhances the major N1 component of the cortical event-related potential (ERP) to the attended tones. The present study revisited this classic experiment but replaced the tones in one ear with frequency-modulated “chirps” that were designed to activate the entire cochlea simultaneously and thereby elicit robust ERPs in the auditory brainstem pathways. Participants attended selectively to the sounds in one ear at a time with the task of reporting occasional targets of lower intensity. When chirps were attended, they elicited enhanced ERPs at multiple levels of the auditory pathways (0–<span><math><mrow><mn>250</mn><mspace></mspace><mi>ms</mi></mrow></math></span>), including a brainstem response at the level of the inferior colliculus. These results help to resolve a long-standing question of whether selective attention exerts top-down control over the initial transmission of competing auditory inputs in the brainstem pathways.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"316 ","pages":"Article 121295"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144258568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spatiotemporal dynamics of reading Kana (syllabograms) and Kanji (morphograms)","authors":"Kazuto Katsuse ,&nbsp;Kazuo Kakinuma ,&nbsp;Shin-Ichiro Osawa ,&nbsp;Shoko Ota ,&nbsp;Hana Kikuchi ,&nbsp;Ai Kawamura ,&nbsp;Kazushi Ukishiro ,&nbsp;Kazuyo Tanji ,&nbsp;Nobuko Kawakami ,&nbsp;Chifumi Iseki ,&nbsp;Shigenori Kanno ,&nbsp;Yuichiro Shirota ,&nbsp;Masashi Hamada ,&nbsp;Tatsushi Toda ,&nbsp;Hidenori Endo ,&nbsp;Nobukazu Nakasato ,&nbsp;Kyoko Suzuki","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121316","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121316","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reading engages complex neural networks integrating visual, phonological, and semantic information. The dual-stream model posits ventral and dorsal pathways for lexical and sublexical processing in the left hemisphere and is well-supported in alphabetic languages. However, its applicability to non-alphabetic scripts remains unclear. The Japanese writing system, comprising Kana (syllabograms) and Kanji (morphograms) with distinct orthographic, phonological, and semantic properties, provides a unique framework to investigate neural dissociation between phonological and orthographic-semantic processing. Previous studies suggest that Kanji relies on the ventral route for whole-word recognition and semantic processing, whereas Kana depends mainly on the dorsal route for phonological decoding via grapheme-to-phoneme conversion; however, their spatiotemporal dynamics remain unknown. Using high-gamma power analysis from electrocorticography recordings in 14 patients with epilepsy and subdural implants, we examined the spatiotemporal neural dynamics of Kana and Kanji reading. Participants completed a visual lexical decision task with Kana and Kanji words and pseudowords. Across 912 electrodes, differential high-gamma power analysis showed that Kanji activated bilateral occipitotemporal fusiform regions early (120–550 ms) and the left inferior temporal gyrus (150–240 ms). Conversely, Kana showed prolonged late activation (270–750 ms) in the left-lateralised superior temporal, supramarginal, and inferior frontal gyri, especially during pseudoword processing. These findings indicate that Kanji relies on bilateral ventral stream earlier, while Kana depends on the left dorsal stream, with slower processing reflecting the extra grapheme-to-phoneme conversion. This underscores the value of non-alphabetic languages in elucidating both universal and script-specific neural mechanisms, advancing a cross-linguistic understanding of the reading network.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"317 ","pages":"Article 121316"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144258567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of antagonistic network-targeted tDCS on brain co-activation patterns depends on the networks’ electric field: a simultaneous tDCS-fMRI study","authors":"Hechun Li ,&nbsp;Hongru Shi ,&nbsp;Sisi Jiang ,&nbsp;Changyue Hou ,&nbsp;Haonan Pei ,&nbsp;Hanxi Wu ,&nbsp;María Luisa Bringas Vega ,&nbsp;Gang Yao ,&nbsp;Dezhong Yao ,&nbsp;Cheng Luo","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121318","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121318","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Brain networks should be ideal targets for non-invasive brain stimulation, as network dysfunction is a common feature of various neuropsychiatric disorders. Understanding the mechanisms of network-targeted stimulation is essential for advancing its clinical applications.</div></div><div><h3>Material and method</h3><div>The current study utilized simultaneous network-targeted transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effects of tDCS targeting antagonistic networks on brain dynamics. A total of 143 healthy participants were recruited and assigned to receive central executive network (CEN)-targeted tDCS (C-targeted group), default mode network (DMN)-targeted tDCS (D-targeted group), or sham tDCS (sham group). fMRI data with three sections (pre-stimulation, during-stimulation, post-stimulation) were collected across all subjects. Individual electric field (EF) strength was simulated using individual head model. Six recurring brain patterns (co-activation patterns, CAPs) were identified. The temporal indices of these CAPs (occurrence, fraction time, persistence time) and their transition probabilities were calculated. This study first examined the effects of C-targeted / D-targeted / sham tDCS on temporal indices and further explored the contribution of brain networks’ EF strength on the altered temporal indices.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>C-targeted tDCS significantly increased the temporal indices of CAPs dominated by DMN and the transition probabilities from other CAPs to DMN-dominated CAPs during stimulation. Meanwhile, the decreased temporal indices of CAP dominated by CEN, and its transition probabilities to these CAPs were also found during C-targeted tDCS. In contrast, the d-targeted tDCS had only a slight effect on brain dynamics, while sham tDCS showed no significant impact. Further fusion analyses revealed that the EF strength in the salience network made a large contribution to the temporal indices of CAPs during stimulation, highlighting tight interactions within the triple networks. Moreover, integrating the EF strength of networks with large contributions and the pre-stimulation temporal indices effectively predicted the temporal indices of CAPs during stimulation. These findings suggest that C-targeted tDCS can modulate brain dynamics and emphasize the critical role of networks’ EF during stimulation.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>This study demonstrates the effectiveness and feasibility of network-targeted tDCS in modulating brain dynamics, providing a new choice for treating neuropsychiatric disorders characterized by aberrant brain dynamics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"316 ","pages":"Article 121318"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144239363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}