Effects of central vs. peripheral attentional-oculomotor exercise on lexical processing.

Past research from our lab has suggested visual demands in video games serve to exercise attentional-oculomotor (A-O) processing in a manner beneficial to reading. However, testing the effect of video games on reading typically requires long timeframes (e.g.

Activity in the pontine reticular nuclei scales with handgrip force in humans.

The neural pathways that contribute to force production in humans are currently poorly understood, as the relative roles of the corticospinal tract and brainstem pathways, such as the reticulospinal tract (RST), vary substantially across species. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we aimed to measure activation in the pontine reticular nuclei (PRN) during different submaximal handgrip contractions to determine the potential role of the PRN in force modulation. Thirteen neurologically intact participants (age: 28 ± 6 yr) performed unilateral handgrip contractions at 25%, 50%, 75% of maximum voluntary contraction during brain scans.

Comparing models of information transfer in the structural brain network and their relationship to functional connectivity: diffusion versus shortest path routing.

The relationship between structural and functional connectivity in the human brain is a core question in network neuroscience, and a topic of paramount importance to our ability to meaningfully describe and predict functional outcomes. Graph theory has been used to produce measures based on the structural connectivity network that are related to functional connectivity. These measures are commonly based on either the shortest path routing model or the diffusion model, which carry distinct assumptions about how information is transferred through the network.

What's in a game: Video game visual-spatial demand location exhibits a double dissociation with reading speed.

This research sought to clarify the nature of the relationship between video game experience, attention, and reading. Previous studies have suggested playing action video games can improve reading ability in children with dyslexia. Other research has linked video game experience with visual-spatial attention, and visual-spatial attention with reading.

Ipsilesional Motor Cortex Activation with High-force Unimanual Handgrip Contractions of the Less-affected Limb in Participants with Stroke.

Stroke is a leading cause of severe disability that often presents with unilateral motor impairment. Conventional rehabilitation approaches focus on motor practice of the affected limb and aim to suppress brain activity in the contralesional hemisphere. Conversely, exercise of the less-affected limb promotes contralesional brain activity which is typically viewed as contraindicated in stroke recovery due to the interhemispheric inhibitory influence onto the ipsilesional hemisphere.

Unique, Shared, and Dominant Brain Activation in Visual Word Form Area and Lateral Occipital Complex during Reading and Picture Naming.

Identifying printed words and pictures concurrently is ubiquitous in daily tasks, and so it is important to consider the extent to which reading words and naming pictures may share a cognitive-neurophysiological functional architecture. Two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments examined whether reading along the left ventral occipitotemporal region (vOT; often referred to as a visual word form area, VWFA) has activation that is overlapping with referent pictures (i.e.

Structure can predict function in the human brain: a graph neural network deep learning model of functional connectivity and centrality based on structural connectivity.

Although functional connectivity and associated graph theory measures (e.g., centrality; how centrally important to the network a region is) are widely used in brain research, the full extent to which these functional measures are related to the underlying structural connectivity is not yet fully understood.

An fMRI, DTI and Neurophysiological Examination of Atypical Organization of Motor Cortex in Ipsilesional Hemisphere Following Post-Stroke Recovery.

Objectives: We report a 61-year-old woman who developed left hemiparesis following a right frontal stroke. She underwent rehabilitation and regained function of the left side of her body. Three years after her first stroke, she developed a large left subdural hematoma and again presented with left hemiparesis.

High Force Unimanual Handgrip Contractions Increase Ipsilateral Sensorimotor Activation and Functional Connectivity.

Imaging and brain stimulation studies seem to correct the classical understanding of how brain networks, rather than contralateral focal areas, control the generation of unimanual voluntary force. However, the scaling and hemispheric-specificity of network activation remain less understood. Using fMRI, we examined the effects of parametrically increasing right-handgrip force on activation and functional connectivity among the sensorimotor network bilaterally with 25%, 50%, and 75% maximal voluntary contractions (MVC).

Language lateralization differences between left and right temporal lobe epilepsy as measured by overt word reading fMRI activation and DTI structural connectivity.

In cases of brain disease such as temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), damage may lead to functional reorganization and a shift in language dominance to homolog regions in the other hemisphere. If the effects of TLE on language dominance are hemisphere-focused, then brain regions and connections involved in word reading should be less left-lateralized in left temporal lobe epilepsy (lTLE) than right temporal lobe epilepsy (rTLE) or healthy controls, and the opposite effect should be observed in patients with rTLE. In our study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) showed that patients with rTLE had more strongly lateralized left hemisphere (LH) activation than patients with lTLE and healthy controls in language-related brain regions (pars opercularis and fusiform gyrus (FuG)).

The Concept of an Epilepsy Brain Bank.

Epilepsy comprises more than 40 clinical syndromes affecting millions of patients and families worldwide. To decode the molecular and pathological framework of epilepsy researchers, need reliable human epilepsy and control brain samples. Brain bank organizations collecting and supplying well-documented clinically and pathophysiologically tissue specimens are important for high-quality neurophysiology and neuropharmacology studies for epilepsy and other neurological diseases.

Structural connectivity predicts functional activation during lexical and sublexical reading.

A critical question in neuroscience is the extent to which structural connectivity of the brain predicts localization of brain function. Recent research has suggested that anatomical connectivity can predict functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses in several cognitive domains, including face, object, scene, and body processing, and development of word recognition skills (Osher et al., 2016; Saygin et al.

Atypical language localization in right temporal lobe epilepsy: An fMRI case report.

We report a 41- year-old, left-handed patient with drug-resistant right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Presurgical fMRI was conducted to examine whether the patient had language functioning in the right hemisphere given that left-handedness is associated with a higher prevalence of right hemisphere dominance for language. The fMRI results revealed bilateral activation in Broca's and Wernicke's areas and activation of eloquent cortex near the region of planned resection in the right temporal lobe.

Brain Structural Connectivity Predicts Brain Functional Complexity: Diffusion Tensor Imaging Derived Centrality Accounts for Variance in Fractal Properties of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Signal.

The complexity of brain activity has recently been investigated using the Hurst exponent (H), which describes the extent to which functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) activity is simple vs. complex. For example, research has demonstrated that fMRI activity is more complex before than after consumption of alcohol and during task than resting state.

How words and space collide: Lexical and sublexical reading are reliant on separable reflexive and voluntary attention regions in hybrid tasks.

Reading ability requires the coordination of many cognitive processes to be effective, including spatial attention. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) evidence from Ekstrand et al. (2019) suggests that lexical reading is more associated with reflexive attentional orienting regions, whereas sublexical reading is more associated with voluntary attentional orienting regions.

FMRI of shared-stream priming of lexical identification by object semantics along the ventral visual processing stream.

Distributed sub-systems of the brain's semantic network have been shown to process semantics associated with visual features of objects (e.g., shape, colour) in the ventral visual processing stream, whereas semantics associated with actions are processed in the dorsal stream.

Where words and space collide: The overlapping neural activation of lexical and sublexical reading with voluntary and reflexive spatial attention.

Recent research has shown a relationship between reading and attention, however the neuroanatomical overlap of these two processes has remained relatively unexplored. Therefore, we sought to investigate the overlapping neural mechanisms of spatial attention and reading using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants performed two attentional orienting tasks (reflexive and voluntary), and two overt word-reading tasks (lexical and sublexical).

The Effect of Tumor Neovasculature on Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent Activation.

Background: We report the case of a 40-year-old patient with a large, World Health Organization grade III oligodendroglioma in the left parietal lobe.

Case Description: Presurgical planning included functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) localization of language, motor, and somatosensory processing. fMRI results for motor and somatosensory tasks revealed activation in perilesional regions near the surgical resection as well as deactivation in the tumor for the sensory task, suggesting decreased autoregulation in the region owing to the glioma.

Reorganized neural activation in motor cortex following subdural fluid collection: an fMRI and DTI study.

We report a patient with a cavernous malformation involving the right lentiform nucleus. Pre-surgical planning included fMRI localization of language, motor, and sensory processing, and DTI of white matter tracts. fMRI results revealed no activation near the planned resection zone.

More than a feeling: The bidirectional convergence of semantic visual object and somatosensory processing.

Prevalent theories of semantic processing assert that the sensorimotor system plays a functional role in the semantic processing of manipulable objects. While motor execution has been shown to impact object processing, involvement of the somatosensory system has remained relatively unexplored. Therefore, we developed two novel priming paradigms.

Presurgical language mapping in epilepsy: Using fMRI of reading to identify functional reorganization in a patient with long-standing temporal lobe epilepsy.

We report a 55-year-old, right-handed patient with intractable left temporal lobe epilepsy, who previously had a partial left temporal lobectomy. The patient could talk during seizures, suggesting that he might have language dominance in the right hemisphere. Presurgical fMRI localization of language processing including reading of exception and regular words, pseudohomophones, and dual meaning words confirmed the clinical hypothesis of right language dominance, with only small amounts of activation near the planned surgical resection and, thus, minimal eloquent cortex to avoid during surgery.

Disentangling Genuine Semantic Stroop Effects in Reading from Contingency Effects: On the Need for Two Neutral Baselines.

The automaticity of reading is often explored through the Stroop effect, whereby color-naming is affected by color words. Color associates (e.g.

Pre-Surgical Integration of fMRI and DTI of the Sensorimotor System in Transcortical Resection of a High-Grade Insular Astrocytoma.

Herein we report on a patient with a WHO Grade III astrocytoma in the right insular region in close proximity to the internal capsule who underwent a right frontotemporal craniotomy. Total gross resection of insular gliomas remains surgically challenging based on the possibility of damage to the corticospinal tracts. However, maximizing the extent of resection has been shown to decrease future adverse outcomes.

Attentional Network Differences Between Migraineurs and Non-migraine Controls: fMRI Evidence.

Migraine is a headache disorder characterized by sensitivity to light and sound. Recent research has revealed abnormal visual-spatial attention in migraineurs in between headache attacks. Here, we ask whether these attentional abnormalities can be attributed to specific regions of the known attentional network to help characterize the abnormalities in migraine.