NeuroImage最新文献

{"title":"Synthetizing SWI from 3T to 7T by generative diffusion network for deep medullary veins visualization","authors":"Sui Li ,&nbsp;Xingguang Deng ,&nbsp;Qiwei Li ,&nbsp;Zhiming Zhen ,&nbsp;Luyi Han ,&nbsp;Kang Chen ,&nbsp;Chaoyang Zhou ,&nbsp;Fengxi Chen ,&nbsp;Peiyu Huang ,&nbsp;Ruiting Zhang ,&nbsp;Hao Chen ,&nbsp;Tianyu Zhang ,&nbsp;Wei Chen ,&nbsp;Tao Tan ,&nbsp;Chen Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121475","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121475","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ultrahigh-field susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) provides excellent tissue contrast and anatomical details of brain. However, ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance (MR) scanner often expensive and provides uncomfortable noise experience for patient. Therefore, some deep learning approaches have been proposed to synthesis high-field MR images from low-filed MR images, most existing methods rely on generative adversarial network (GAN) and achieve acceptable results. While the dilemma in train process of GAN, generally recognized, limits the synthesis performance in SWI images for its microvascular structure. Diffusion models, as a promising alternative, indirectly characterize the gaussian noise to the target image with a slow sampling through a considerable number of steps. To address this limitation, we presented a generative diffusion-based deep learning imaging model, named conditional denoising diffusion probabilistic model (CDDPM), for synthesizing high-field (7 Tesla) SWI images form low-field (3 Tesla) SWI images and assess clinical applicability. Crucially, the experiment results demonstrate that the diffusion-based model that synthesizes 7T SWI from 3T SWI images is potentially to providing an alternative way to achieve the advantages of ultra-high field 7T MR images for deep medullary veins visualization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121475"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145113983","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":"Cortical aperiodic dynamics in hearing impairments predicts neural tracking of speech","authors":"Hangze Mao ,&nbsp;Yuhan Lu ,&nbsp;Zhuang Jiang ,&nbsp;Difei Hu ,&nbsp;Shuihong Zhou ,&nbsp;Xing Tian ,&nbsp;Yan Han ,&nbsp;Yongtao Xiao ,&nbsp;Zhili Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121477","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121477","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Excitation–inhibition balance is a fundamental property of cortical circuits, reflecting homeostatic plasticity that stabilizes neural activity in the face of functional disruption. This framework has been widely implicated in sensory deprivation and psychiatric disorders. In the auditory domain, it remains unclear how long-term bilateral and unilateral hearing loss reorganizes cortical E-I balance and how such reorganization affects speech processing. Here, we recorded resting-state EEG and measured spectral exponents as a noninvasive proxy for cortical E-I balance in individuals with bilateral hearing loss, single-sided deafness, and normal hearing. We found that spectral exponents differed systematically across hearing loss types. Participants with bilateral hearing loss exhibited reduced exponents, primarily in central-parietal regions, relative to normal-hearing controls, with a gradual increase with prolonged hearing-loss duration. In contrast, left- and right-sided deafness showed distinct patterns of hemispheric lateralization in spectral exponents. Participants also performed a naturalistic speech listening task, allowing quantification of neural tracking of speech. It showed stronger envelope tracking response for bilateral hearing loss group than normal control. Importantly, resting-state exponents across all hearing-impaired groups robustly predicted the strength of speech envelope tracking in noisy environments. These findings reveal dissociable patterns of aperiodic cortical dynamics following bilateral and unilateral auditory deprivation and highlight the homeostatic plasticity in supporting speech perception under challenging listening conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121477"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145107826","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":"Bifocal alpha-band tACS modulates temporal sampling in visual perception","authors":"Alessia Santoni ,&nbsp;Giuseppe Di Dona ,&nbsp;Riccardo Gironi ,&nbsp;Sara Stottmeier ,&nbsp;Luca Battaglini ,&nbsp;Luca Ronconi","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121474","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121474","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Alpha oscillations (7–13 Hz) have been historically considered to shape temporal sampling processes in the visual modality, with faster alpha frequencies linked to finer temporal resolution. However, evidence is mostly correlational, and findings are not always replicated. Here, we investigated the role of alpha oscillations in temporal sampling using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and electroencephalography (EEG). Over three consecutive blocks, bilateral high-definition tACS was applied over extra-striate visual areas including V5/MT at either the individual alpha frequency (IAF), IAF+2, or IAF-2 Hz while participants performed a two flash fusion task. In line with previous findings, baseline resting-state IAF correlated with temporal segregation accuracy, with higher IAF predicting better segregation ability. Importantly, stimulation at IAF+2 Hz improved temporal segregation accuracy, whereas IAF-2 Hz decreased performance. This effect was specific for stimuli in the right hemifield, highlighting important hemispheric differences in alpha-mediated visual temporal sampling. Following stimulation, EEG data revealed no shift in the IAF and a decrease of alpha power independently from stimulation condition. Nonetheless, specifically for the IAF+2 stimulation, we observed a modulation of the aperiodic exponent of the power spectrum, indicating possible changes in cortical excitability as a short-term plasticity mechanism that persists beyond online tACS effects. Taken together, these results corroborate the role of alpha oscillations in defining temporal sampling processes and add novel evidence on the neurophysiological effects of tACS.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121474"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145113959","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":"Developing and validating an elderly brain template: A comprehensive comparison with MNI152 for age-specific neuroimaging analyses","authors":"Kazumichi Ota,&nbsp;Yoshihiko Nakazato,&nbsp;Genko Oyama","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121473","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121473","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The Montreal Neurological Institute 152 (MNI152) brain template, constructed from young adult brains, may not accurately represent older age–specific morphological changes. Accordingly, we developed and validated the new Elderly template.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>MRI scans from 90 OASIS-1 participants, matching Japanese census demographics, were used to construct the Elderly template. Spatial normalization accuracy was compared with that of the MNI152 in the IXI dataset. Following UK Biobank–based intracranial volume quality control (±2 SD; 1232–1850 mL), 282 of 313 scans from individuals aged 20–80+ years were included. Whole-brain similarity was assessed with cross-correlation (CC), mean-squared error (MSE), and 3D structural similarity index measure (3D-SSIM). Dice coefficients were computed for white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and seven subcortical regions. Generalized linear models were used to test the Age × Template interactions (β₃).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Significant Age × Template interactions were observed for CC and MSE (<em>p</em> &lt; 0.001); 3D-SSIM showed a positive but non-significant trend. Dice analyses mirrored this pattern: WM and GM showed minor differences between templates, and the Dice coefficient was parallel. CSF showed a sharp difference at the age ≥60 years. The largest interaction effects (≈1–4 % gain) occurred in the caudate, thalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala, whereas the brainstem, pallidum, and putamen showed minimal differences between templates.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The Elderly template more accurately reflects older age–specific morphological changes and enhances spatial normalization accuracy, compared with the MNI152 template. This improvement suggests advancements in age-specific analyses and neurodegenerative disease research, enabling clinical applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121473"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145102969","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":"Multiparametric mapping of brain oxygen consumption with resting state calibrated functional MRI","authors":"Antonio M. Chiarelli ,&nbsp;Michael Germuska ,&nbsp;Davide Di Censo ,&nbsp;Ian Driver ,&nbsp;Maria Eugenia Caligiuri ,&nbsp;Hannah Thomas ,&nbsp;Svetla Manolova ,&nbsp;Hannah L Chandler ,&nbsp;Alessandra Caporale ,&nbsp;Emma Biondetti ,&nbsp;Richard G. Wise","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121465","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121465","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>BOLD and cerebral blood flow (CBF) signal perturbations induced by isometabolic vasodilation enable the estimation of BOLD and CBF cerebrovascular reactivities (CVRs) and calibration of the BOLD signal through inference of its maximum change (M). We developed a BOLD and oxygen-transport modelling approach that uses a hypercapnic estimate of M to map the oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO₂). Inducing hypercapnia requires CO₂ inhalation or volitional breath-holding (BH). We present a calibrated fMRI framework aiming to overcome the limitations of induced hypercapnia that exploits endogenous resting-state (RS) modulations in brain hemodynamics. This approach was compared against BH. We derived a fitting regressor representing a non-metabolically demanding vascular signal from the average grey matter (GM) BOLD obtaining similar parametric maps between BH and a 10-min RS. Associations between average GM values were M: r=0.70, OEF: r=0.88, CMRO₂: r=0.94 (p-values&lt;10⁻⁴) with slight underestimation of parameters derived from RS (∼10%) compared to BH. The most informative frequency range to extract a vascular regressor was in the high-frequency portion of the RS spectrum (oscillation times &lt;20 s), where modulations in systemic pressure induced by breathing occur. RS fMRI estimation of CMRO₂ appears feasible, and it holds promise for research and clinical application.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121465"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145103008","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":"Motor-cognitive aging: The role of motor cortex and its pathways","authors":"Jiaqi Wen ,&nbsp;Zifei Liang ,&nbsp;Chenyang Li ,&nbsp;Huize Pang ,&nbsp;Li Jiang ,&nbsp;Jiayi Li ,&nbsp;Xiaojun Guan ,&nbsp;Jiangyang Zhang ,&nbsp;Henry Rusinek ,&nbsp;Xiaojun Xu ,&nbsp;Yulin Ge","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121472","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121472","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Motor and cognitive decline are hallmark features of aging. In the primary motor cortex (M1), pyramidal neurons project to the corticospinal tract (CST), a well-established motor pathway, and send collaterals to the ipsilateral striatum, forming the corticostriatal tract (CStrT). While the CST has been extensively studied, the role of the CStrT in motor and cognitive aging remains poorly understood.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We analyzed T1- and T2-weighted MRI, multi-delay arterial spin labeling, and multi-shell diffusion MRI data from 339 right-handed healthy adults (aged 36–90 years) in the Human Connectome Project–Aging dataset. Age-related trajectories of M1 structure and hemodynamics, as well as CST and CStrT microstructure, were assessed. Segment-wise along-tract analyses were conducted to identify localized tract degeneration. Mediation analyses were performed to examine whether tract integrity linked M1 atrophy to motor and cognitive performance.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>With age, M1 exhibited reduced volume and hemodynamics, altered T1/T2 ratio, and increased cortical curvature, reflecting structural and hemodynamic alterations. Along-tract analyses revealed localized microstructural degeneration in the CST adjacent to M1, whereas the CStrT showed more extensive degeneration along its trajectory. These tract changes were associated with structural and hemodynamic alterations in M1. Furthermore, integrity of the dominant (left) CST and CStrT mediated the relationship between ipsilateral M1 atrophy and motor decline. Notably, CStrT integrity also mediated the association between M1 atrophy and motor cognition decline.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>These findings establish age-related structural and functional degeneration of M1 and its pathways, highlighting the CStrT as a critical mediator between motor cortical atrophy and both motor and cognitive decline. These normative imaging markers of healthy aging may help inform the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121472"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145092168","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":"From perceiving words to reading: Neural multivariate representations of sublexical vs. lexico-semantic processing during word-reading","authors":"Abraham Sánchez ,&nbsp;Pedro M. Paz-Alonso ,&nbsp;Manuel Carreiras","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121467","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121467","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>While the neural underpinnings of semantic cognition have been extensively studied, the brain mechanisms that allow the extraction of meaning from the initially perceptual visual linguistic input are less understood. These mechanisms have typically been explored through the analysis of psycholinguistic properties that reflect key aspects of semantic processing (e.g., word frequency, familiarity or concreteness), and more recently, through natural language processing (NLP) models. However, both approaches lack a direct comparison of sublexical (i.e., phonological and orthographic) and lexico-semantic aspects of words, with NLP models. Understanding how sublexical and lexico-semantic systems interact and/or overlap is a current challenge in the field of neurobiology of language. In this fMRI study, 30 participants performed a lexical decision task in the MRI, where all aforementioned sublexical and lexico-semantic properties were carefully controlled. The resulting models reflected either sublexical, semantic, or NLP (word vector) relations, which were compared to multivariate brain patterns in representational similarity analysis. Our findings reveal that sublexical and lexico-semantic representations recruit different areas of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOTC). The anterior IFG and vOTC represented semantic models, while regions posterior to the IFG, like supplementary motor area (SMA), or to the vOTC, like areas V3-V4, showed representations of sublexical models. Importantly, both semantic and NLP models converged in <em>semantic hubs,</em> including the inferior anterior temporal lobe (ATL), parahippocampal gyrus, or anterior IFG<em>.</em> The implications of these results are discussed in line with the most recent neuroscientific evidence.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121467"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145086489","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 the contribution of gray matter microstructure to R1 contrast via multi-compartment diffusion modelling in the healthy brain","authors":"E. Bliakharskaia ,&nbsp;A.M. Chiarelli ,&nbsp;E. Patitucci ,&nbsp;M. Carriero ,&nbsp;D. Di Censo ,&nbsp;E. Biondetti ,&nbsp;C. Del Gratta ,&nbsp;S. Capuani ,&nbsp;M. Palombo ,&nbsp;V. Tomassini ,&nbsp;R.G. Wise ,&nbsp;A. Caporale","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121466","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121466","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Soma And Neurite Density Imaging (SANDI) model enhances MRI-derived water diffusion metrics sensitivity to gray matter (GM) microstructural complexity. We investigated the hypothesis that the diffusion metrics derived from the SANDI three-compartment model contributed to the longitudinal relaxation rate R1(=1/T1) contrast in brain tissue. To this aim, twenty healthy volunteers underwent diffusion-weighted imaging and R1 mapping via MP2RAGE at 3 T. The diffusion metrics included intra-neurite signal fraction (fneurite), intra-soma signal fraction (fsoma), extra-neurite fraction (fextra), soma radii (Rsoma), and intra-neurite and extra-neurite diffusivities (D_in and D_e).</div><div>In GM, a moderate negative spatial correlation was observed between R1 and soma-related metrics (fsoma and Rsoma, with <em>r</em> = -0.47, -0.35, respectively), indicating that GM microstructure contributes to R1 contrast. These findings align with evidence suggesting structural heterogeneity in the cortex, where a different degree of cortical myelination modulates neuroplasticity. Notably, similar effects and trends were identified when evaluating across subjects’ correlations of the metrics of interest (fsoma and Rsoma, with <em>r</em> = -0.56, -0.48, respectively). In WM, moderate to strong positive spatial correlations were observed between R1 and intra-neurite metrics (D_in and fneurite, with <em>r</em> = 0.53, 0.30, respectively), where myelinated axons host the pool of intra-neurite water.</div><div>These results suggest that WM and GM microstructural characteristics contribute to the R1 contrast, where R1 depends, among other factors, to the degree of myelination within brain tissues, thus contributing to the understanding of the emerging relaxation differences across the brain parenchyma. Future research should explore these relationships in clinical populations with demyelination and neurodegeneration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121466"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145086494","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":"Repeatability and reproducibility of joint T1-T2 transient-state relaxometry across multiple vendors and implementations at 3T in phantom and human brain","authors":"Marta Lancione ,&nbsp;Matteo Cencini ,&nbsp;Domenico Aquino ,&nbsp;Cristina Baldoli ,&nbsp;Maurizio Elia ,&nbsp;Francesco Ghielmetti ,&nbsp;Domenico Montanaro ,&nbsp;Ilaria Neri ,&nbsp;Anna Nigri ,&nbsp;Rosa Pasquariello ,&nbsp;Salvatore Pettinato ,&nbsp;Salvatore Romano ,&nbsp;Alessandro Sbrizzi ,&nbsp;Paola Scifo ,&nbsp;Oscar van der Heide ,&nbsp;Edwin Versteeg ,&nbsp;Laura Biagi ,&nbsp;Michela Tosetti","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121471","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121471","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Transient-state relaxometry (TSR) enables rapid estimation of T1 and T2 relaxation times. To support its broader adoption in multi-center studies, it is essential to assess the consistency of its implementation across different MRI vendors.</div><div>This work aimed to assess accuracy, repeatability, and inter-vendor reproducibility of jointly measured T1 and T2 maps based on TSR at 3T. To achieve this goal, a phantom and five volunteers were scanned in a traveling-brain study at four 3T MRI systems from three manufacturers.</div><div>In the phantom study, Bland-Altman analysis and coefficients of variation (CV) were used to assess accuracy, and repeatability and reproducibility, respectively. Subsequently, <em>in-vivo</em> inter-site variability was evaluated via ANOVA and by computing voxelwise CVs and biases associated with sites were measured via a general linear model (GLM).</div><div>Excellent accuracy, repeatability, and reproducibility were obtained for the phantom. <em>In-vivo</em>, we found excellent repeatability (CV &lt; 4.5%) and generally good inter-site and inter-vendor reproducibility, though significant variability was found across different TSR implementations. The GLM analysis revealed site-related biases of approximately 100 ms for T1 and 2 ms for T2 in solid brain tissues. These differences may be attributable to different magnetization transfer effects and residual B1+ inhomogeneities due to imperfect calibration.</div><div>Our findings demonstrate that the bias introduced by the use of different TSR implementations needs to be considered carefully in order to perform <em>in-vivo</em> multi-center studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121471"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145086630","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":"Tasting emotions: An in-depth fmri study exploring gustatory and visual cross-modal associations across various spatio-temporal regions of the human brain","authors":"Jie Chen ,&nbsp;Yuansheng Liu ,&nbsp;Lina Huang ,&nbsp;Luming Hu ,&nbsp;Xueying Li ,&nbsp;Liuqing Wei ,&nbsp;Weiping Yang ,&nbsp;Simin Zhao ,&nbsp;Xize Jia ,&nbsp;Soumyajit Roy ,&nbsp;Qingguo Ding ,&nbsp;Pei Liang","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121468","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121468","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates how taste influences emotional face recognition, focusing on the cross-modal interaction between gustatory and visual stimuli. While prior research has primarily examined how visual cues modulate taste perception, the reverse direction—how taste shapes visual processing in emotional contexts—remains underexplored. Using a combination of task-based functional MRI (task-fMRI) and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI), we examined the neural mechanisms by which taste modulates the perception of emotional faces. Behaviorally, sour tastes facilitated faster recognition of disgusted faces, while sweet tastes enhanced the detection of pleasant expressions. Neuroimaging results revealed that these emotionally congruent taste–face pairings elicited distinct activation patterns in the early visual cortex, including a significant interaction effect in the right calcarine gyrus (primary visual cortex, V1). Task-fMRI also showed modulation in the medial cingulate gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and superior frontal regions depending on emotional congruency. Resting-state fMRI revealed sustained alterations in intrinsic connectivity within the medial cingulate and paracingulate cortex following cross-modal dissonance, suggesting lasting neural effects beyond stimulus presentation. Together, these findings demonstrate the dynamic and enduring influence of taste on emotional face processing and offer novel insights into the neural basis of multisensory affective integration. By integrating task-based and resting-state fMRI, this study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how affectively salient gustatory inputs shape social perception through both early perceptual and sustained neural mechanisms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"320 ","pages":"Article 121468"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145081274","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}