{"title":"Neuroticism and openness exhibit an anti-correlation pattern to dissociable default mode network: using resting connectivity and structural equation modeling analysis.","authors":"Shengwen Zhi, Wentao Zhao, Yifei Huang, Yue Li, Xiao Wang, Jing Li, Sha Liu, Yong Xu","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00869-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11682-024-00869-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The default mode network (DMN) can be subdivided into ventral and dorsal subsystems, which serve affective cognition and mental sense construction, respectively. An internally dissociated pattern of anti-correlations was observed between these two subsystems. Although numerous studies on neuroticism and openness have demonstrated the neurological functions of the DMN, little is known about whether different subsystems and hubs regions within the network are engaged in different functions in response to the two traits. We recruited 223 healthy volunteers in this study and collected their resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory scores. We used independent component analysis (ICA) to obtain the DMN, before further decomposing it into the ventral and dorsal subsystems. Then, the network coherence of hubs regions within subsystems was extracted to construct two structural equation models (SEM) to explore the relationship between neuroticism and openness traits and DMN. We observed that the ventral DMN could significantly predict positive openness and negative neuroticism. The dorsal DMN was diametrically opposed. Additionally, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG), both of which are core hubs of the subnetworks within the DMN, are significantly positively correlated with neuroticism and openness. These findings may point to a biological basis that neuroticism and openness are engaged in opposite mechanisms and support the hypothesis about the functional dissociation of the DMN.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139970930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yusha Tang, Huaiqiang Sun, Chris Plummer, Simon J Vogrin, Hua Li, Yajiao Li, Lei Chen
{"title":"Association between patent foramen ovale and migraine: evidence from a resting-state fMRI study.","authors":"Yusha Tang, Huaiqiang Sun, Chris Plummer, Simon J Vogrin, Hua Li, Yajiao Li, Lei Chen","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00868-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11682-024-00868-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A relationship between migraine without aura (MO) and patent foramen ovale (PFO) has been observed, but the neural basis underlying this relationship remains elusive. Utilizing independent component analysis via functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined functional connectivity (FC) within and across networks in 146 patients with MO (75 patients with and 71 patients without PFO) and 70 healthy controls (35 patients each with and without PFO) to elucidate the individual effects of MO and PFO, as well as their interaction, on brain functional networks. The main effect of PFO manifested exclusively in the FC among the visual, auditory, default mode, dorsal attention and salience networks. Furthermore, the interaction effect between MO and PFO was discerned in brain clusters of the left frontoparietal network and lingual gyrus network, as well as the internetwork FC between the left frontoparietal network and the default mode network (DMN), the occipital pole and medial visual networks, and the dorsal attention and salience networks. Our findings suggest that the presence of a PFO shunt in patients with MO is accompanied by various FC changes within and across networks. These changes elucidate the intricate mechanisms linked to PFO-associated migraines and provide a basis for identifying novel noninvasive biomarkers.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11364569/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139912052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Grace McIlvain, Emily M Magoon, Rebecca G Clements, Alexis Merritt, Lucy V Hiscox, Hillary Schwarb, Curtis L Johnson
{"title":"Acute effects of high-intensity exercise on brain mechanical properties and cognitive function.","authors":"Grace McIlvain, Emily M Magoon, Rebecca G Clements, Alexis Merritt, Lucy V Hiscox, Hillary Schwarb, Curtis L Johnson","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00873-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11682-024-00873-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous studies have shown that engagement in even a single session of exercise can improve cognitive performance in the short term. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms contributing to this effect are still being studied. Recently, with improvements to advanced quantitative neuroimaging techniques, brain tissue mechanical properties can be sensitively and noninvasively measured with magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and regional brain mechanical properties have been shown to reflect individual cognitive performance. Here we assess brain mechanical properties before and immediately after engagement in a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) regimen, as well as one-hour post-exercise. We find that immediately after exercise, subjects in the HIIT group had an average global brain stiffness decrease of 4.2% (p < 0.001), and an average brain damping ratio increase of 3.1% (p = 0.002). In contrast, control participants who did not engage in exercise showed no significant change over time in either stiffness or damping ratio. Changes in brain mechanical properties with exercise appeared to be regionally dependent, with the hippocampus decreasing in stiffness by 10.4%. We also found that one-hour after exercise, brain mechanical properties returned to initial baseline values. The magnitude of changes to brain mechanical properties also correlated with improvements in reaction time on executive control tasks (Eriksen Flanker and Stroop) with exercise. Understanding the neural changes that arise in response to exercise may inform potential mechanisms behind improvements to cognitive performance with acute exercise.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11364612/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140304908","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Structural and functional changes following brain surgery in pediatric patients with intracranial space-occupying lesions.","authors":"Xueyi Guan, Wenjian Zheng, Kaiyu Fan, Xu Han, Bohan Hu, Xiang Li, Zihan Yan, Zheng Lu, Jian Gong","doi":"10.1007/s11682-023-00799-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11682-023-00799-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We explored the structural and functional changes of the healthy hemisphere of the brain after surgery in children with intracranial space-occupying lesions. We enrolled 32 patients with unilateral intracranial space-occupying lesions for brain imaging and cognitive assessment. Voxel-based morphometry and surface-based morphometry analyses were used to investigate the structural images of the healthy hemisphere. Functional images were analyzed using regional homogeneity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, and fractional-amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations. Voxel-based morphometry and surface-based morphometry analysis used the statistical model built into the CAT 12 toolbox. Paired t-tests were used for functional image and cognitive test scores. For structural image analysis, we used family-wise error correction of peak level (p < 0.05), and for functional image analysis, we use Gaussian random-field theory correction (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05). We found an increase in gray matter volume in the healthy hemisphere within six months postoperatively, mainly in the frontal lobe. Regional homogeneity and fractional-amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations also showed greater functional activity in the frontal lobe. The results of cognitive tests showed that psychomotor speed and motor speed decreased significantly after surgery, and reasoning increased significantly after surgery. We concluded that in children with intracranial space-occupying lesions, the healthy hemisphere exhibits compensatory structural and functional effects within six months after surgery. This effect occurs mainly in the frontal lobe and is responsible for some higher cognitive compensation. This may provide some guidance for the rehabilitation of children after brain surgery.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139905099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lack of effects of eight-week left dorsolateral prefrontal theta burst stimulation on white matter macro/microstructure and connection in autism.","authors":"Chun-Hung Yeh, Po-Chun Lin, Rung-Yu Tseng, Yi-Ping Chao, Chen-Te Wu, Tai-Li Chou, Rou-Shayn Chen, Susan Shur-Fen Gau, Hsing-Chang Ni, Hsiang-Yuan Lin","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00874-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11682-024-00874-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Whether brain stimulation could modulate brain structure in autism remains unknown. This study explored the impact of continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on white matter macro/microstructure in intellectually able children and emerging adults with autism. Sixty autistic participants were randomized (30 active) and received active or sham cTBS for eight weeks twice per week, 16 total sessions using a double-blind (participant-, rater-, analyst-blinded) design. All participants received high-angular resolution diffusion MR imaging at baseline and week 8. Twenty-eight participants in the active group and twenty-seven in the sham group with good imaging quality entered the final analysis. With longitudinal fixel-based analysis and network-based statistics, we found no significant difference between the active and sham groups in changes of white matter macro/microstructure and connections following cTBS. In addition, we found no association between baseline white matter macro/microstructure and autistic symptom changes from baseline to week 8 in the active group. In conclusion, we did not find a significant impact of left DLPFC cTBS on white matter macro/microstructure and connections in children and emerging adults with autism. These findings need to be interpreted in the context that the current intellectually able cohort in a single university hospital site limits the generalizability. Future studies are required to investigate if higher stimulation intensities and/or doses, other personal factors, or rTMS parameters might confer significant brain structural changes visible on MRI in ASD.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140139940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maryam Rahmani, Donna Dierker, Lauren Yaeger, Andrew Saykin, Patrick H Luckett, Andrei G Vlassenko, Christopher Owens, Hussain Jafri, Kyle Womack, Jurgen Fripp, Ying Xia, Duygu Tosun, Tammie L S Benzinger, Colin L Masters, Jin-Moo Lee, John C Morris, Manu S Goyal, Jeremy F Strain, Walter Kukull, Michael Weiner, Samantha Burnham, Tim James CoxDoecke, Victor Fedyashov, Jurgen Fripp, Rosita Shishegar, Chengjie Xiong, Daniel Marcus, Parnesh Raniga, Shenpeng Li, Andrew Aschenbrenner, Jason Hassenstab, Yen Ying Lim, Paul Maruff, Hamid Sohrabi, Jo Robertson, Shaun Markovic, Pierrick Bourgeat, Vincent Doré, Clifford Jack Mayo, Parinaz Mussoumzadeh, Chris Rowe, Victor Villemagne, Randy Bateman, Chris Fowler, Qiao-Xin Li, Ralph Martins, Suzanne Schindler, Les Shaw, Carlos Cruchaga, Oscar Harari, Simon Laws, Tenielle Porter, Eleanor O'Brien, Richard Perrin, Walter Kukull, Randy Bateman, Eric McDade, Clifford Jack, John Morris, Nawaf Yassi, Pierrick Bourgeat, Richard Perrin, Blaine Roberts, Victor Villemagne, Victor Fedyashov, Benjamin Goudey
{"title":"Evolution of white matter hyperintensity segmentation methods and implementation over the past two decades; an incomplete shift towards deep learning.","authors":"Maryam Rahmani, Donna Dierker, Lauren Yaeger, Andrew Saykin, Patrick H Luckett, Andrei G Vlassenko, Christopher Owens, Hussain Jafri, Kyle Womack, Jurgen Fripp, Ying Xia, Duygu Tosun, Tammie L S Benzinger, Colin L Masters, Jin-Moo Lee, John C Morris, Manu S Goyal, Jeremy F Strain, Walter Kukull, Michael Weiner, Samantha Burnham, Tim James CoxDoecke, Victor Fedyashov, Jurgen Fripp, Rosita Shishegar, Chengjie Xiong, Daniel Marcus, Parnesh Raniga, Shenpeng Li, Andrew Aschenbrenner, Jason Hassenstab, Yen Ying Lim, Paul Maruff, Hamid Sohrabi, Jo Robertson, Shaun Markovic, Pierrick Bourgeat, Vincent Doré, Clifford Jack Mayo, Parinaz Mussoumzadeh, Chris Rowe, Victor Villemagne, Randy Bateman, Chris Fowler, Qiao-Xin Li, Ralph Martins, Suzanne Schindler, Les Shaw, Carlos Cruchaga, Oscar Harari, Simon Laws, Tenielle Porter, Eleanor O'Brien, Richard Perrin, Walter Kukull, Randy Bateman, Eric McDade, Clifford Jack, John Morris, Nawaf Yassi, Pierrick Bourgeat, Richard Perrin, Blaine Roberts, Victor Villemagne, Victor Fedyashov, Benjamin Goudey","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00902-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11682-024-00902-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This systematic review examines the prevalence, underlying mechanisms, cohort characteristics, evaluation criteria, and cohort types in white matter hyperintensity (WMH) pipeline and implementation literature spanning the last two decades. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, we categorized WMH segmentation tools based on their methodologies from January 1, 2000, to November 18, 2022. Inclusion criteria involved articles using openly available techniques with detailed descriptions, focusing on WMH as a primary outcome. Our analysis identified 1007 visual rating scales, 118 pipeline development articles, and 509 implementation articles. These studies predominantly explored aging, dementia, psychiatric disorders, and small vessel disease, with aging and dementia being the most prevalent cohorts. Deep learning emerged as the most frequently developed segmentation technique, indicative of a heightened scrutiny in new technique development over the past two decades. We illustrate observed patterns and discrepancies between published and implemented WMH techniques. Despite increasingly sophisticated quantitative segmentation options, visual rating scales persist, with the SPM technique being the most utilized among quantitative methods and potentially serving as a reference standard for newer techniques. Our findings highlight the need for future standards in WMH segmentation, and we provide recommendations based on these observations.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141854827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chenxi Wang, Juan He, Xinyue Feng, Xingang Qi, Zilong Hong, Wanghuan Dun, Ming Zhang, Jixin Liu
{"title":"Characteristics of pain empathic networks in healthy and primary dysmenorrhea women: an fMRI study.","authors":"Chenxi Wang, Juan He, Xinyue Feng, Xingang Qi, Zilong Hong, Wanghuan Dun, Ming Zhang, Jixin Liu","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00901-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-024-00901-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Pain empathy enables us to understand and share how others feel pain. Few studies have investigated pain empathy-related functional interactions at the whole-brain level across all networks. Additionally, women with primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) have abnormal pain empathy, and the association among the whole-brain functional network, pain, and pain empathy remain unclear. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and machine learning analysis, we identified the brain functional network connectivity (FNC)-based features that are associated with pain empathy in two studies. Specifically, Study 1 examined 41 healthy controls (HCs), while Study 2 investigated 45 women with PDM. Additionally, in Study 3, a classification analysis was performed to examine the differences in FNC between HCs and women with PDM. Pain empathy was evaluated using a visual stimuli experiment, and trait and state of menstrual pain were recorded. In Study 1, the results showed that pain empathy in HCs relied on dynamic interactions across whole-brain networks and was not concentrated in a single or two brain networks, suggesting the dynamic cooperation of networks for pain empathy in HCs. In Study 2, PDM exhibited a distinctive network for pain empathy. The features associated with pain empathy were concentrated in the sensorimotor network (SMN). In Study 3, the SMN-related dynamic FNC could accurately distinguish women with PDM from HCs and exhibited a significant association with trait menstrual pain. This study may deepen our understanding of the neural mechanisms underpinning pain empathy and suggest that menstrual pain may affect pain empathy through maladaptive dynamic interaction between brain networks.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141490892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Association between sleep problems and impulsivity mediated through regional homogeneity abnormalities in male methamphetamine abstainers.","authors":"Qianjin Wang, Tieqiao Liu, Yanan Zhou","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00900-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-024-00900-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sleep problems and impulsivity frequently occur in methamphetamine (MA) abstainers and are linked to aberrant brain function. However, the interplay between these factors remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep, impulsivity, and regional homogeneity (ReHo) through mediation analysis in MA abstainers. 46 MA abstainers and 44 healthy controls were included. Impulsivity and sleep problems were evaluated using the Barratt Impulsivity Scale and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Scale, respectively. ReHo, indicative of local brain spontaneous neural activity, was assessed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results unveiled correlations between different dimensions of impulsivity and ReHo values in specific brain regions. Motor impulsivity correlated with ReHo values in the left postcentral gyrus and left precentral gyrus, while non-planning impulsivity was only associated with ReHo values in the left precentral gyrus. Additionally, the need for sleep medications correlated with ReHo values in the left precentral gyrus and bilateral postcentral gyrus. Also, the need for sleep medications was positively correlated with cognitive impulsivity and motor impulsivity. Mediation analysis indicated that reduced ReHo values in the left precentral gyrus mediated the association between impulsivity and the need for sleep medications. These findings imply that addressing sleep problems, especially the need for sleep medications, might augment spontaneous neural activity in specific brain regions linked to impulsivity among MA abstainers. This underscores the importance of integrating sleep interventions into comprehensive treatment strategies for MA abstainers.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141445095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhimei Niu, Andreana P Haley, Alexandra L Clark, Audrey Duarte
{"title":"Age exacerbates the negative effect of depression on executive functioning in racial and ethnic minorities.","authors":"Zhimei Niu, Andreana P Haley, Alexandra L Clark, Audrey Duarte","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00898-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11682-024-00898-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Age and depression may interact to produce a \"double jeopardy\" for cognitive impairment, and executive functioning, in cognitively unimpaired aging. Few studies have considered middle age or the ethnoracial diversity of subjects, despite evidence of more severe cognitive outcomes in historically minoritized people. In this pilot study, we investigated the impact of age on depression-related cognitive impairment and the underlying brain volumes in middle-aged non-Hispanic White adults (116), and Hispanic and Black adults (60), with a total number of 176 adults. The result shows a significant interaction between age and depression for executive functioning, specifically for middle-aged Hispanic and Black adults, but not non-Hispanic White adults. Prefrontal cortex volumes, which were reduced in the Black and Hispanic compared to the non-Hispanic White adults, partially mediated the relationship between depression level and executive functioning, across age and ethnoracial group. Collectively, these results suggest that the negative impact of depression on executive functioning and Prefrontal cortex volumes integrity may be exacerbated by age and that historically minoritized people may be particularly sensitive to this double jeopardy.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2024-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141293175","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How the intrinsic functional connectivity patterns of the semantic network support semantic processing.","authors":"Chengmei Huang, Aqian Li, Yingdan Pang, Jiayi Yang, Jingxian Zhang, Xiaoyan Wu, Leilei Mei","doi":"10.1007/s11682-024-00849-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11682-024-00849-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Semantic processing, a core of language comprehension, involves the activation of brain regions dispersed extensively across the frontal, temporal, and parietal cortices that compose the semantic network. To comprehend the functional structure of this semantic network and how it prepares for semantic processing, we investigated its intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) and the relation between this pattern and semantic processing ability in a large sample from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) dataset. We first defined a well-studied brain network for semantic processing, and then we characterized the within-network connectivity (WNC) and the between-network connectivity (BNC) within this network using a voxel-based global brain connectivity (GBC) method based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results showed that 97.73% of the voxels in the semantic network displayed considerably greater WNC than BNC, demonstrating that the semantic network is a fairly encapsulated network. Moreover, multiple connector hubs in the semantic network were identified after applying the criterion of WNC > 1 SD above the mean WNC of the semantic network. More importantly, three of these connector hubs (i.e., the left anterior temporal lobe, angular gyrus, and orbital part of the inferior frontal gyrus) were reliably associated with semantic processing ability. Our findings suggest that the three identified regions use WNC as the central mechanism for supporting semantic processing and that task-independent spontaneous connectivity in the semantic network is essential for semantic processing.</p>","PeriodicalId":9192,"journal":{"name":"Brain Imaging and Behavior","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139519974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}