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Objective: This study aims to investigate the potential of direct cortical stimulation (DCS) to modulate tactile categorization and decision-making, as well as to identify the specific locations where these cognitive functions occur., Methods: We analyzed behavioral changes in three epilepsy patients with implanted electrodes using electrocorticography (ECoG) and a vibrotactile discrimination task. DCS was applied to investigate its impact on tactile categorization and decision-making processes. We determined the precise location of the electrodes where each cognitive function was modulated., Results: This functional discrimination was related with gamma band activity from ECoG. DCS selectively affected either tactile categorization or decision-making processes. Tactile categorization was modulated by stimulating the rostral part of the supramarginal gyrus, while decision-making was modulated by stimulating the caudal part., Conclusions: DCS can enhance cognitive processes and map brain regions responsible for tactile categorization and decision-making within the supramarginal gyrus. This study also demonstrates that DCS and the gamma activity of ECoG can concordantly identify the detailed brain mapping in a tactile process compared to other functional neuroimaging., Significance: The combination of DCS and ECoG gamma activity provides a more nuanced and detailed understanding of brain function than traditional neuroimaging techniques alone., (Copyright © 2023 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To understand the underlying mechanism of consciousness, investigating spatiotemporal changes in the cortical activity during the induction phase of unconsciousness is important. Loss of consciousness induced by general anesthesia is not necessarily accompanied by a uniform inhibition of all cortical activities. We hypothesized that cortical regions involved in internal awareness would be suppressed after disruption of cortical regions involved in external awareness. Thus, we investigated temporal changes in cortex during induction of unconsciousness., Methods: We recorded electrocorticography data of 16 epilepsy patients and investigated power spectral changes during induction phase from awake state to unconsciousness. Temporal changes were assessed at 1) the start point and 2) the interval of normalized time between start and end of power change (Δ t normalized )., Results: We found that the power increased at frequencies < 46 Hz, and decreased in range of 62-150 Hz, in global channels. In temporal changes of power change, superior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex started to change early, but the changes were completed over a prolonged interval, whereas angular gyrus and associative visual cortex showed a delayed change and rapid completion., Conclusions: Loss of consciousness induced by general anesthesia results first from disrupted communication between self and external world, followed by disrupted communication within self, with decreased activities of superior parietal lobule and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and later, attenuated activities of angular gyrus., Significance: Our findings provided neurophysiological evidence for the temporal changes in consciousness components induced by general anesthesia., (Copyright © 2023 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite its potential to revolutionize the treatment of memory dysfunction, the efficacy of direct electrical hippocampal stimulation for memory performance has not yet been well characterized. One of the main challenges to cross-study comparison in this area of research is the diversity of the cognitive tasks used to measure memory performance., Objective: We hypothesized that the tasks that differentially engage the hippocampus may be differentially influenced by hippocampal stimulation and the behavioral effects would be related to the underlying hippocampal activity., Methods: To investigate this issue, we recorded intracranial EEG from and directly applied stimulation to the hippocampus of 10 epilepsy patients while they performed two different verbal memory tasks - a word pair associative memory task and a single item memory task., Results: Hippocampal stimulation modulated memory performance in a task-dependent manner, improving associative memory performance, while impairing item memory performance. In addition, subjects with poorer baseline cognitive function improved much more with stimulation. iEEG recordings from the hippocampus during non-stimulation encoding blocks revealed that the associative memory task elicited stronger theta oscillations than did item memory and that stronger theta power was related to memory performance., Conclusions: We show here for the first time that stimulation-induced associative memory enhancement was linked to increased theta power during retrieval. These results suggest that hippocampal stimulation enhances associative memory but not item memory because it engages more hippocampal theta activity and that, in general, increasing hippocampal theta may provide a neural mechanism for successful memory enhancement., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors have no conflict of interest to disclose. The authors declare no competing financial interests and there are no personal relationships with other people or organizations that could have inappropriately influenced the work., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Postoperative neurologic outcomes after primary somatosensory cortex (S1) resection have not been well documented. This study was designed to evaluate the neurologic deterioration that follows resection of the S1 areas and to assess the risk factors associated with these morbidities., Methods: We reviewed 48 consecutive patients with medically intractable epilepsy who underwent resection of the S1 and/or the adjacent cortex. The 48 patients were categorized into 4 groups according to the resected area as seen on postoperative magnetic resonance images: group 1 (resection of S1 only; n = 4), 2 (the posterior parietal cortex [PPC] only; n = 24), 3 (S1 and PPC; n = 10), and 4 (S1 and precentral gyrus; n = 10)., Results: After the resection of S1 areas, 19 patients (40%) experienced neurologic worsening, including 6 (13%) with permanent and 13 (27%) with transient deficits. Patients with permanent deficits included 2 with motor dysphasia, 1 with dysesthesia, 2 with equilibrium impairments, and 1 with fine movement disturbance of the hand. The overall and permanent neurologic risks were 25% and 0% in group 1, 17% and 4% in group 2, 80% and 20% in group 3, and 60% and 30% in group 4, respectively. Multivariate analysis determined that the resection of both S1 and PPC was the only significant risk factor for neurologic deficits (P = 0.002)., Conclusions: The neurologic risk of the resection of S1 and/or its adjacent cortical areas was 40%. The additional resection of the PPC was significantly associated with the development of postoperative neurologic impairments., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: We evaluated the diagnostic value of multiple frequency band MEG source localization within a wide time window during the preictal period., Methods: Data for 13 epilepsy patients who showed an ictal event during MEG were analyzed. Several seconds of preictal data were localized in the theta, alpha, beta, and gamma bands by using wavelet transformation and the sLORETA algorithm. The same analysis was performed with narrow time and frequency band. Localization concordances to the surgically resected area were compared., Results: Source localization in the gamma band for a 10s window before ictal onset showed best concordance to the resection cavity. Eight of 13 patients showed sub-lobar concordance in the 10s gamma band localization, whereas 3 showed concordance in the narrow time and frequency analysis. Four of 7 patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) achieved seizure-free outcome, and all 4 showed sub-lobar concordance., Conclusions: A 10s time window gamma source localization method can be used to delineate the epileptogenic zone., Significance: The use of a long period during preictal gamma source localization has the potential to become a localizing biomarker of the epileptogenic zone in candidates for surgical intervention, especially in MRI-suspected FCD., (Copyright © 2015 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Fibromyalgia (FM) patients often show deficits in cognitive functions such as attention and working memory. We assumed that pre-attentive information processing, a crucial element in human perception and cognition, would be altered in FM patients. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine whether FM patients exhibit alterations in pre-attentive processing as assessed by auditory mismatch negativity (MMN)., Methods: Auditory evoked magnetic fields were recorded in FM patients (n=18) and healthy control subjects (n=21) during a duration-deviant auditory oddball paradigm. The magnetic mismatch negativity (MMNm) was obtained by subtracting responses to standard tones from responses to deviant tones. Pressure pain thresholds over the thenar and trapezius muscles were determined using an algometer., Results: MMNm peak amplitudes in right hemispheres were attenuated, and the directional asymmetry coefficient of the MMNm amplitude was lower in FM patients, indicating a more leftward asymmetry than in healthy control subjects. Smaller right MMNm amplitude was associated with lower pressure pain thresholds of thenar muscles in FM patients., Conclusions: Our results suggested that pre-attentive processing of auditory information is impaired in FM patients., Significance: This study provided neurophysiological evidence of impaired pre-attentive sensory change detection in FM., (Copyright © 2014 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: β-Band corticomuscular coherence is suggested as an electrophysiological mechanism that contributes to sensorimotor functioning in the maintenance of steady-state contractions. Converging evidence suggests that not only the descending corticospinal pathway but the ascending sensory feedback pathway is involved in the generation of β-band corticomuscular coherence. The present study aimed to investigate which pathway, descending vs. ascending, contributes more to the stability of muscle contraction, especially for human intrinsic hand muscles., Methods: In this study, we assessed directed transfer function (DTF) between magnetoencephalography signals over the sensorimotor cortex (SMC) and rectified electromyographic (EMG) signals recorded during steady-state isometric contraction of the right thumb muscle (flexor pollicis brevis, FPB) or right little finger muscle (flexor digiti minimi brevis, FDMB) in 15 right-handed healthy subjects., Results: β-Band DTF was statistically significant in both descending (SMC→EMG) and ascending (EMG→SMC) directions, and mean phase delays for each direction were in agreement with the conduction time for the descending corticospinal and ascending sensory feedback pathways. The strengths of the β-band DTF (EMG→SMC direction) were greater in the FPB muscle than in the FDMB muscle, while the strengths of the β-band DTF (SMC→EMG direction) were not different between the two muscles. Moreover, the β-band DTF (EMG→SMC direction) was greater in the "Stable" period than in the "Less Stable" period within the FDMB muscle. Greater DTF (EMG→SMC direction) was positively associated with the stability of muscle contraction., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that ascending β-band oscillatory activity may promote a steady-state isometric contraction by efficiently transmitting sensory feedback from finger muscles to the sensorimotor cortex., Significance: The results show the differential contribution of the ascending part of the corticomuscular network depending on the functional organization., (Copyright © 2014 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We aimed to evaluate the clinical value of gamma oscillations in MEG for intractable neocortical epilepsy patients with cortical dysplasia by comparing gamma and interictal spike events. A retrospective analysis of MEG recordings of 30 adult neocortical epilepsy patients was performed. Gamma (30-70 Hz) and interictal spike events were independently identified, their independent or concurrent presence determined, and their source localization rates compared. Of 30 patients, gamma activities were detected in 28 patients and interictal spikes in 24 patients. Gamma events alone appeared in 5 patients, interictal spikes alone in 1 patient, and no events in 1 patient. Gamma co-occurred with interictal spikes in 20.1 ± 22.1% and interictal spikes co-occurred with gamma in 15.0 ± 19.2%. Rates of event localization within the resection cavity were significantly different (p = 0.042) between gamma (63.3 ± 32.6%) and interictal spike (47.0 ± 41.3%) events. In 4 of the 5 gamma-only patients the mean localization rate was 42.5%. Compared with the interictal spike localization rate, 4 of 9 seizure-free patients had higher gamma localization rates, 4 had the same rate, and 1 had a lower rate. Individual gamma events can be detected independently from interictal spike presence. Gamma can be localized to the resection cavity at least comparably to or more frequently than that from interictal spikes. Even when interictal spikes were undetected, gamma sources were localized to the resection cavity. Gamma oscillations may be a useful indicator of epileptogenic focus.

Objective: To compare the magnitudes of β-band coherence between the primary motor cortex (M1) and electromyogram (EMG) for finger muscles, and to determine whether M1-EMG coherence is related to the stability of muscle contraction., Methods: Cortical signals and EMG during steady-state isometric contraction of right thumb muscle (flexor pollicis brevis (FPB)) or right little finger muscle (flexor digiti minimi brevis (FDMB)) were recorded simultaneously with magnetoencephalography system from 13 right-handed healthy subjects., Results: The magnitudes of β-band M1-EMG coherence and spectral power in the M1 for the FPB muscle were greater than that for the FDMB muscle (P < 0.001 and P < 0.005, respectively). The stability of EMG for the FPB was higher than that for FDMB (P < 0.001). Greater levels of β-band M1-EMG coherence were associated with higher levels of EMG stability (P < 0.05). The mean dipole sources of the FPB muscle were located more laterally, inferiorly and anteriorly than that of FDMB in the M1 hand area (P < 0.005)., Conclusions: The strength of β-band M1-EMG coherence would play an important role in the stability level of finger-muscle contraction., Significance: The β-band M1-EMG coherence may reflect effective oscillatory interaction between the M1 and finger muscle during steady-state motor output., (Copyright © 2011 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The language pathways consist of ventral and dorsal systems connected via the uncinate fasciculus and arcuate fasciculus, respectively. Seizures in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) affect both tracts. Previous studies, however, have focused on the arcuate fasciculus to explain the language disturbance in mTLE. In contrast, we compared changes in both the uncinate and arcuate fasciculi using diffusion tensor imaging., Methods: Thirteen patients with left mTLE and 12 with right mTLE were studied. The Wada test showed left dominance for language in all these patients. Sixteen healthy right-handed subjects were also studied. The mean fractional anisotropy and mean apparent diffusion coefficient with their lateralization index of two fasciculi were compared between hemispheres and between subjects., Results: The mean apparent diffusion coefficient of the arcuate and uncinate fasciculi in both left- and right-mTLE patients increased bilaterally compared with that in healthy subjects. In left mTLE, the fractional anisotropy of the uncinate fasciculus was lower ipsilaterally (P = 0.002) and was significantly lateralized contralaterally (P < 0.001) compared with control subjects, whereas the fractional anisotropy of the arcuate fasciculus showed no lateralization (P = 0.577). In right mTLE, such a difference was not prominent., Conclusion: The seizure network affects both arcuate and uncinate fasciculi bilaterally in both left- and right-mTLE patients. The change is most prominent in the left uncinate fasciculus in left mTLE., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: It is uncertain whether the neurobiological abnormalities in schizophrenia emerge at the first episode of the disorder or are present during the prodromal phase. Recent neuroimaging studies indicate that some brain abnormalities are present in subjects at ultra-high-risk (UHR) for schizophrenia. Pre-attentive auditory deficits, which represent a core feature of schizophrenia, were investigated in individuals at UHR for schizophrenia., Methods: We assessed early auditory processing indexed by the magnetoencephalographic mismatch negativity magnetic counterpart (MMNm) component elicited during a passive oddball paradigm in UHR individuals. Sixteen individuals at UHR for schizophrenia on the basis of clinical criteria and 18 healthy control subjects matched for age, gender, and education participated. A duration-deviant oddball paradigm was used to obtain MMNm dipole moment, which was measured with cortical source modeling., Results: The UHR group showed a smaller right MMNm dipole moment than those of the control group. Group difference was observed in MMNm dipole latency, suggestive of slowed processing. The left MMNm dipole moment was negatively correlated with clinical symptoms measured by the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States positive symptom score., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that deficits in the early stage of auditory processing in individuals at UHR for schizophrenia exist before the onset of psychosis. The MMNm dipole moment might reflect the functional decline at the prodromal stage of schizophrenia.

The goal of this study is to develop a source imaging method for electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography by analyzing a distance measure based on a Euclidean norm of difference between pre- and post-stimulus brain activities. Conventional source imaging techniques generally detect evoked responses by averaging multiple trials at each source point. These methods are limited in their ability to fully analyze complex brain signals with a mixture of evoked and induced activities because they compare means or variances. In this article, we propose a novel approach for eliciting significant evoked and induced activity. To this aim, response and baseline ranges from each trial are separately mapped in an anatomically constrained source space by minimum-norm estimation. The extent within a distribution and the distance between distributions of brain activities at each source point are estimated from the set of trials. Then, this distance analysis determines the degree of difference between the response and baseline activities. The statistical significance of the distance comparison was computed using a nonparametric permutation test. In the evaluation of simulated data sets, the proposed method provided robust images of the simulated location (p<0.05), whereas the average method did not detect the perturbed source. A total of 200 randomly selected locations were tested with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 2dB, and the error between simulated points and the maximum-value-points analyzed using this method was 9+/-15 mm.

This paper presents a new spatial normalization with affine transformation. The quantitative comparison of brain architecture across different subjects requires a common coordinate system. For the analysis of a specific brain area, it is required to normalize and compare a region of interest and global brain. Intensity based registration method matches the global brain well. But a region of interest may not be locally normalized compared to feature based method. The method of this paper uses feature similarities of local region as well as intensity similarities. The lateral ventricle and the central gray nuclei of brain including the corpus callosum, which is used for features in Schizophrenia detection, is appropriately normalized. In the results section, our method reduces the difference of feature area such as corpus callosum (7.7%, 2.4%) and lateral ventricle (8.2%, 13.5%) compared with mutual information and Talairach methods., (Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd.)