{"title":"Hardware-enabled low latency rhythmic brain state tracking for brain stimulation applications","authors":"Milana Makarova , Nikita Fedosov , Julia Nekrasova , Alexey Ossadtchi","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121437","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121437","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Objective:</h3><div>Upcoming neuroscientific research will require bidirectional and context dependent interaction with nervous tissue. To facilitate the future neuroscientific discoveries we have created HarPULL, a genuinely real-time system for tracking oscillatory brain state.</div></div><div><h3>Approach:</h3><div>The HarPULL technology ensures reliable, accurate and affordable real-time phase and amplitude tracking based on the state-space estimation framework operationalized by Kalman filtering. To avoid data transfer delays and to obtain a truly real-time system the algorithm is implemented on the computational core of an EEG amplifier controlled by a real-time operating system. Systems performance is tested with simulated and real data both online and offline and within a real-time state dependent TMS using a phantom and human subjects.</div></div><div><h3>Main results:</h3><div>We show that taking into account the <span><math><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>/</mo><mi>f</mi></mrow></math></span> nature of the brain noise and the use of the steady state colored Kalman filter further improves phase tracking performance in both simulated and real data. We use HarPULL to trigger the TMS device contingent upon the target phase and amplitude combination and demonstrate minimal delay (2 ms) between the occurrence of the predetermined rhythm phase in the cortex and the corresponding magnetic stimulus. Using this setup in the real-time setting we observe a significant modulation of the motor evoked potentials (MEP) by the sensorimotor rhythm’s state. Finally, we use HarPULL and for the first time obtain phase-dependent muscle cortical representation (MCR) maps in real-time. We show better delineation between the representations of several muscles when the stimulation is performed in the excitation state.</div></div><div><h3>Significance:</h3><div>HarPULL is the first truly real-time technology for the instantaneous tracking of the brain’s rhythmic activity. Our technological solution establishes a nearly instantaneous non-invasive contact with a living brain which has a broad range of clinical, diagnostic and scientific applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"319 ","pages":"Article 121437"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145006364","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}
NeuroImagePub Date : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121442
Sungmin You , Andrea Gondova , Carlos Simon Amador Izaguirre , Guillermo Tafoya Milo , Seungyoon Jeong , Han-Jui Lee , Tomo Tarui , Caitlin K. Rollins , Hyuk Jin Yun , P. Ellen Grant , Kiho Im
{"title":"Conditional deep generative normative modeling for structural and developmental anomaly detection in the fetal brain","authors":"Sungmin You , Andrea Gondova , Carlos Simon Amador Izaguirre , Guillermo Tafoya Milo , Seungyoon Jeong , Han-Jui Lee , Tomo Tarui , Caitlin K. Rollins , Hyuk Jin Yun , P. Ellen Grant , Kiho Im","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121442","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121442","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fetal brain development is a complex and dynamic process, and its disruption can lead to significant neurological disorders. Early detection of brain aberrations during pregnancy is critical for optimizing postnatal medical intervention. We propose a deep generative anomaly detection framework, conditional cyclic variational autoencoding generative adversarial network (CCVAEGAN), that can identify structural brain anomalies using fetal brain magnetic resonance imaging. CCVAEGAN leverages covariate conditioning on gestational age and cyclic consistency training to generate high-fidelity normative fetal brain images to enhance anomaly detection across various neurodevelopmental stages and diagnoses. Using MRI data from typically developing and clinically abnormal fetuses across multiple sites, CCVAEGAN achieves superior image generation quality and anomaly detection accuracy than other comparable models, consistently producing anatomically precise images with lower reconstruction errors and higher structural similarities. Anomaly detection experiments yielded near-perfect AUROC values (>0.99) across various anomaly score metrics, and visual assessments confirmed the model's ability to localize and characterize structural abnormalities. Additionally, external validation on separated-site cohorts demonstrated the generalizability of the CCVAEGAN framework, showing robust detection performance despite data variations. These findings demonstrate CCVAEGAN's potential as a powerful tool for automated, objective anomaly screening, that could significantly enhance the efficiency of clinical workflows for early diagnosis of fetal brain anomalies. Furthermore, this approach has the potential universality to apply to other medical imaging not limited to specific organs or imaging modalities in the future.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"319 ","pages":"Article 121442"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145006380","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}
NeuroImagePub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121411
Marianna Boros, Dorottya S Rácz, Attila Andics
{"title":"Action instruction word processing in the dog brain entails both auditory form identification and meaning representation.","authors":"Marianna Boros, Dorottya S Rácz, Attila Andics","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121411","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121411","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dogs often show adequate behaviour to words directed to them. In humans, spoken word understanding requires both auditory word form identification and meaning attribution to that form. But how these contribute to lexical processing in dogs remains unknown. Auditory word form identification should take place in the auditory cortex and, if human-like, should not tolerate speech sound changes. Meaning attribution, in contrast, may also engage non-auditory, semantically relevant brain regions, and should evoke semantic representations. To seek evidence for both processes in dogs, here we used fMRI, comparing their neural responses to (1) instruction words for actions requiring locomotion (come, go) or not (stay, lay), (2) phonetically similar pseudowords (generated from words by altering a single speech sound), and (3) dissimilar non-words. Lexical responsivity, stronger activity to words relative to non-words, was identified not only in bilateral auditory but also in right motor and motor control regions. Semantic distances of action instruction words were reflected in representational dissimilarities in the bilateral auditory cortices. In most lexically responsive areas, responses to pseudowords were also stronger than to non-words but did not differ from those to words. The engagement of motor and motor control regions in response to action instruction words and the presence of auditory cortical semantic representations suggest that lexical processing in the dog brain goes beyond auditory word form identification and entails meaning attribution as well. The word-like processing of pseudowords shows that auditory word form representations in dogs are coarser-grained than in humans.</p>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":" ","pages":"121411"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144784888","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}
NeuroImagePub Date : 2025-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121441
Degong Meng , Cong Zhang , Jiamin Pei , Xiao Zhang , Hanna Lu , Hui Ji , Xiangjian Zhang , Yi Yuan
{"title":"Low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation promotes the extinction of fear memory through the BDNF-TrkB signaling pathway","authors":"Degong Meng , Cong Zhang , Jiamin Pei , Xiao Zhang , Hanna Lu , Hui Ji , Xiangjian Zhang , Yi Yuan","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121441","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121441","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Synaptic plasticity plays a crucial role in the extinction of fearful memories. Low-intensity transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) can modulate synaptic plasticity and promote the extinction of fear memories. However, the mechanism by which TUS promotes the extinction of fear memory remains unclear. This study aimed to explore whether and how synaptic plasticity under TUS is involved in modulating fear memory and the role of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-the tropomyosin-related kinase B (TrkB) signaling pathway in this process. We used behavioral tests and two-photon fluorescence imaging to investigate the modulatory effects of TUS on fear memory and examined the formation/elimination of dendritic spines and the calcium activity of pyramidal neurons in the prefrontal cortex in mice in vivo. We found that TUS of the prefrontal cortex can promote fear memory extinction in mice while promoting dendritic spine formation, reducing dendritic spine elimination, increasing pyramidal neuron activity, and enhancing the expression of BDNF and its receptor TrkB. Conversely, inhibiting the BDNF-TrkB signaling pathway weakened these effects of ultrasound stimulation. Our study demonstrated that TUS could promote the extinction of fear memories, indicating that TUS has the potential to be used in the clinical treatment of patients with fear memory.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"319 ","pages":"Article 121441"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144993158","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}
NeuroImagePub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-07-15DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121372
Haiying Lyu, Naying He, Bo Wu, Paula Trujillo, Fuhua Yan, Yong Lu, E Mark Haacke
{"title":"Optimizing the visualization of the locus coeruleus using magnetization transfer contrast 3D imaging.","authors":"Haiying Lyu, Naying He, Bo Wu, Paula Trujillo, Fuhua Yan, Yong Lu, E Mark Haacke","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121372","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121372","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The locus coeruleus (LC) is a key noradrenergic nucleus of the brain. Its dysfunction is implicated in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as in psychiatric disorders. However, imaging the LC with sufficient contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) is challenging due to its small size and deep location in the brainstem. This study optimizes a 3D gradient echo (GRE) sequence with magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) to enable rapid, high-resolution LC imaging in under five minutes.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A high-resolution 3D-GRE-MTC sequence was optimized on a 3T scanner in 11 healthy volunteers (6 young and 5 older adults). Tissue properties were measured using in vivo MRI data, and simulations were performed to identify the optimal flip angle. LC visualization was evaluated by two independent raters using relative contrast ratio (rCR) and CNR. The diameter and the length of the LC were also evaluated. Each volunteer underwent MRI sessions over three days to assess test-retest reliability. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) for inter-rater reliability and the mean ± standard deviation of LC rCR across sessions for test-retest reproducibility were calculated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>A total of 98 scans were collected. The optimized protocol achieved 0.67 × 0.73 × 2 mm³ resolution with an 18° flip angle, 6.18 ms first echo, 52 ms repetition time, flow compensation, arterial suppression, and strict head immobilization. The LC exhibited a CNR of 8.27 ± 1.03, and rCR of 16.70% ± 1.77% (left) and 13.97% ± 2.19% (right), with good inter-rater reliability (ICC = 88.51%). Contrast stability between scans had a variability of 4%-11%. The bilateral LC was visible across 3-6 slices (6-12 mm). Using the full width at quarter maximum measure, the LC diameter was 1.94 ± 0.40 mm for the left side and 1.67 ± 0.34 mm for the right side.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The optimized protocol enabled reliable, high-resolution LC imaging in under five minutes, providing a valuable tool for clinical and research applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":" ","pages":"121372"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144659722","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":"Accelerating multi-directional diffusion MRI through patch-based joint reconstruction.","authors":"Zhongbiao Xu, Rongli Zhang, Wei Huang, Guanhua Deng, Xiaoyun Liang, Li Guo, Junying Cheng, Yaohui Wang, Feng Liu, Zhaolin Chen, Zhifeng Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121413","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121413","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) is a valuable technique for studying tissue microstructure and connectivity in the brain. However, acquiring high-resolution dMRI data is time-consuming, limiting its clinical applicability. Traditional parallel imaging techniques can accelerate the acquisition of dMRI, but they are constrained by the geometry factor. In this study, we propose a novel patch-based multiple diffusion directions joint reconstruction method that simultaneously capitalizes on the intra- and inter-image correlation across multiple diffusion directions by grouping similar 3D image patches and then enforces the sparsity of these groups in sensitivity encoding (SENSE) reconstruction, termed PB-SENSE. The simulation and in vivo experiments demonstrated that the proposed method can achieve high-quality images comparable to those obtained from fully sampled data, even with an acceleration of 5. This suggests that the proposed method has the potential to enhance the practical application of high-resolution diffusion imaging.</p>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":" ","pages":"121413"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144784887","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}
NeuroImagePub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-07-31DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121408
Valarie Ivey, Han Yuan, Lei Ding
{"title":"Time-resolved large-scale neural coactivations in macaque monkey.","authors":"Valarie Ivey, Han Yuan, Lei Ding","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121408","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121408","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Large-scale distributed activations in various modes of spatiotemporal organizations have been extensively reported in both hemodynamic and electrical/magnetic human brain signals, which provides knowledge on how information is being hierarchically processed and integrated among functionally linked brain regions. These large-scale distributed activations have also been identified in brain signals from animals, indicating that they are preserved brain organizations in species evolution. Recent studies using human electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) have further revealed that large-scale distributed activations are frequency-specific and of fast dynamics (tens of milliseconds), while these phenomena have not been investigated in animals. The present study used electrocorticography (ECoG) data recorded with the coverage of nearly entire hemisphere(s) to investigate the existence of time-resolved large-scale coactivation patterns (CAPs) in monkey brains and compare them to CAPs from whole-head human EEG data both at resting states. The present results reveal brain-wide patterns of CAPs in monkey ECoG data, which share significant similarities to human EEG CAPs, both in the alpha band, on spatial and temporal patterns not only in individual CAPs but also on relative differences among different CAPs. The transition patterns among all monkey ECoG CAPs further reveal a similar superstructure as in human EEG CAPs that controls the dynamics of brain state transitions at rest and their spatial expressions. These findings suggest that large-scale brain events of fast dynamics exist in non-human primates and they are of functional importance cross species, similar as time-averaged ones that have been well reported in literature.</p>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":" ","pages":"121408"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12450554/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144768819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
NeuroImagePub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121410
A Zappa, P León-Cabrera, N Ramos-Escobar, M Laine, A Rodriguez-Fornells, C François
{"title":"Alpha and beta desynchronization during consolidation of newly learned words.","authors":"A Zappa, P León-Cabrera, N Ramos-Escobar, M Laine, A Rodriguez-Fornells, C François","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121410","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121410","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>While a growing body of literature exists on initial word-to-meaning mapping and retrieval of fully lexicalized words, our understanding on the consolidation that occurs between these two stages remains limited. The current study investigated the neural correlates of retrieving newly learned word using oscillatory brain dynamics. Participants learned to associate new words with unknown objects and performed overt and covert naming tasks during the first and last days of a five-day training period. Behavioral results showed improved overt naming on Day 5 compared to Day 1. Selecting only words that were successfully produced in the overt naming task, we examined oscillatory activity associated with word retrieval while participants produced new words covertly, both pre- (Day 1) and post (Day 5) learning. The results showed a robust alpha (8-12 Hz) and lower beta (13-25 Hz) power decrease during covert naming after learning. We hypothesize that this alpha-beta power decrease indexes successful word retrieval following consolidation.</p>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":" ","pages":"121410"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144768818","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}
NeuroImagePub Date : 2025-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121241
Su Yan , Jun Lu , Bingfang Duan , Shun Zhang , Dong Liu , Yuanyuan Qin , Alexey V. Dimov , Junghun Cho , Yuanhao Li , Wenzhen Zhu , Yi Wang
{"title":"Potential separation of multiple system atrophy and Parkinson’s disease by susceptibility-derived components","authors":"Su Yan , Jun Lu , Bingfang Duan , Shun Zhang , Dong Liu , Yuanyuan Qin , Alexey V. Dimov , Junghun Cho , Yuanhao Li , Wenzhen Zhu , Yi Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121241","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121241","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Substantial evidence emphasizes the dysregulation of iron homeostasis, demyelination and oxidative stress in the neurodegenerative process of multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), although its clinical implications remain unclear. Recent MRI post-processing techniques leveraging magnetic susceptibility properties provide a noninvasive means to characterize iron, myelin content and oxygen metabolism alterations. This study aims to investigate subcortical alterations of susceptibility-derived metrics in these two synucleinopathies.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>A cohort comprising 180 patients (122 with PD and 58 with MSA) and 77 healthy controls (HCs) underwent clinical evaluation and multi-echo gradient echo MRI scans. Susceptibility source separation, susceptibility-based oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) mapping and semiautomatic subcortical nuclei segmentation were utilized to derive parametric values of deep gray matter in all subjects.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>MSA patients showed markedly elevated paramagnetic susceptibility values in the putamen, globus pallidus (GP) and thalamus; increased diamagnetic susceptibility values in the putamen and dentate nucleus; and reduced OEF values across all nuclei compared with PD patients and HCs. Whereas PD exhibited increased positive susceptibility values in the substantia nigra and enhancing negative values in the GP, similar to MSA. Notably, age-related reductions in OEF were evident in HCs, which was altered by the MSA pathology. Paramagnetic susceptibility was correlated with disease severity. Moreover, the susceptibility-derived metrics of striatum and midbrain nuclei proved to be effective predictors to distinguish PD from MSA (AUC = 0.833).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Susceptibility-derived metrics could detect pathological involvement distinct to each disease, offering significant potential for differentiating between MSA and PD in clinical settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":"318 ","pages":"Article 121241"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144029741","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}
NeuroImagePub Date : 2025-09-01Epub Date: 2025-08-05DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121404
Chloé Bryche, Mathieu Lesourd, Arthur Seye, Alexandre Bluet, Natalie Uomini, Yves Rossetti, Emanuelle Reynaud, Giovanni Federico, François Osiurak
{"title":"Lithic industries, modern tools, and language: An evolutionary perspective through fMRI.","authors":"Chloé Bryche, Mathieu Lesourd, Arthur Seye, Alexandre Bluet, Natalie Uomini, Yves Rossetti, Emanuelle Reynaud, Giovanni Federico, François Osiurak","doi":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121404","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121404","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tool use is a defining cognitive ability of the human species, relying on technical reasoning-a causal and analogical understanding of physical principles. Neuroarchaeological studies suggest that lithic tool use engaged a specialized frontoparietal network, which evolved into the left-lateralized network observed for modern tools. This network includes the left inferior parietal lobule, particularly the area PF, linked to technical reasoning, and the left inferior frontal gyrus, which is both involved in tool use and language. Since these latter two domains are based on hierarchical structuring, organizing embedded constraints, the common involvement of the left inferior frontal gyrus has been proposed as evidence of a co-evolutionary trajectory. Using fMRI, we investigated whether increasing mechanical complexity modulates frontoparietal activity and whether lithic and modern tools engage a common neural network. Participants performed a tool evaluation task, in which they assessed the functionality of both tool types across three levels of complexity designed to reflect embedded constraints. Our results revealed stronger functional connectivity between the left area PF and the left pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus as mechanical complexity increased. The results also confirmed common activation for both tool types. By demonstrating that frontoparietal connectivity scales with complexity in tool evaluation, our study provides new insights into the neurocognitive foundations of tool use. These findings contribute to the broader discussion of a co-evolutionary relationship involving technical reasoning, tool making, and language, highlighting the role of hierarchical processing as a potentially shared computational principle.</p>","PeriodicalId":19299,"journal":{"name":"NeuroImage","volume":" ","pages":"121404"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144775823","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}