Funded by the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to JFXD, Faculty of Health, York University and author SO has PhD funding by The Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre (OPGRC).

1. Before Entering the MRI Room
<ol>
	<li>Participants complete a consent form explaining all the experimental risks (e.g. pacemaker, claustrophobia, metallic implants, chance of pregnancy, etc), and benefits of their participation.</li>
	<li>All participants are required to fill out the MRI safety and screening questionnaire (brief medical history, previous surgical procedures etc.) Participants with contraindications must be excluded.</li>
</ol>
2. Task Overview and Training
<ol>
	<li>Provide training on task performance on anti-saccade.
	<ol>
		<li>Green fixation indicates a pro-saccade trial. Instruct participants to look to the target appearing in the periphery of the screen, at a visual angle of 8-10&deg;.</li>
		<li>Red fixation indicates an anti-saccade trial. Instruct participant to look to the mirror opposite of target appearing in the periphery of the screen, at a visual angle of 8-10&deg; (e.g. for right target, look to the left).</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Provide training on task performance for the emotional Stroop outside the scanner.
	<ol>
		<li>Include 15 practice trials with different combinations of face-word expressions on a computer outside the scanner. The purpose of the practice is for the participants to learn the task and what is expected of them in pressing the appropriate button in the MRI scanner. Instruct participants as to which buttons are pressed for reporting a happy expression/word, neutral expression/word and sad expression/word. Additionally, when inside the scanner, remind participants of which emotion each button represents.</li>
		<li>Descriptive words indicating the expressions (Happy, Neutral, Sad) are superimposed over the pictures of individual faces. These words are either congruent or incongruent with the emotion depicted by the face in the picture (Figure 1). Begin each scan with a written instruction on the screen reminding the participants to either report the "FACE EXPRESSION (happy, neutral, sad)" or the "WRITTEN WORD (happy, neutral, sad)" by pressing the corresponding button as quickly as possible.</li>
		<li>The instruction is displayed for 1 second, followed by a fixation cross, which the participants fixated on for another 1 sec. The fixation cross is followed by the face stimuli presented for 250 milliseconds and then followed by the response image for 2 seconds. The response image is used to give the participants time to report their responses by pressing the appropriate button. The next visual presentation of the fixation cross begins after the end of this response image. Each participant repeats the experimental scan in one of the two instruction groups (i.e. face expression OR written word). All stimuli were created and presented using Presentation 12.1 (<a href="http://www.neurobs.com" target="_blank">www.neurobs.com</a>).</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
</ol>
3. Scanner and Eye Tracking Setup
<ol>
	<li>To begin the set up of the experiment, start by projecting the computer stimulus as a focused image onto the screen in the MRI with a digital projector.</li>
	<li>Participants are asked to get up from their chair in the control room and walk into the scanner room. Earplugs and/or head phones are provided and subjects place them in their ears canals.
	<ol>
		<li>The subject lies supine with their head position to the centre of the head coil. We stabilize participant's body and head position with pillows or foam inserts to make them as comfortable as possible but also to aide in restricting their movement of the head since head motion during scanning causes loss of data. Especially if the head motion is greater than 1 mm in any direction.</li>
		<li>Slide/place the headcoil over the participant's head and have them tilt their head as comfortably as possible while looking straight ahead to view the mirror that reflects the projector's screen. The eyes must be as close to primary position as possible8 in order to maintain the participant's comfort over the scanning session which can last up to two hours.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>Ask the participant how the focus of the projected image is once they are in the scanner. If it is not sharp, re-adjust the lens to improve the image on the screen.</li>
	<li>The eyetracker is now tested by means of a calibration to ensure that the IRED camera is in the correct location. If the reflection on the cornea is not ideal or working properly, the IRED source must be adjusted, or the mirror reflecting the IRED source near the participant's head position must be realigned/adjusted. If the participant's head was adjusted, ask the subject if more padding/foam or pillows are needed to maintain this head/body position. During scanning monitor and record participants' horizontal and vertical eye positions using an infrared eye tracker (i.e. Sensomotoric Instruments, Needham/Boston, MA) and correlate these with the behavioral paradigm when analyzing brain activity.5,7</li>
</ol>
4. Scanning Procedures
<ol>
	<li>Place the emergency contact squeeze ball on the participant's abdomen in their left hand and the joystick/button box in the right hand. Place a vitamin E capsule on the right side near the head. This will be viewable on the anatomical scans which will make certain an error will not flip the images from left to right. Raise and slide the bed into the centre of the MRI.</li>
	<li>Ensure all of the experimenters leave the MRI room and close the door to the MRI.</li>
	<li>Communicate with the participant through the intercom in the control room and confirm that they are prepared to begin scanning and are as comfortable as possible. If not, readjust as needed.</li>
	<li>Remind the participant that the noises in the scanner will be loud and this is normal.
	<ol>
		<li>The first scan collects a few brain images along the sagittal region to be able to localize/prescribe the exact orientation of the slices for the full anatomical and functional data. The participants are told this scan will take a few minutes.</li>
		<li>Once the experimenters view the results of the localizer scan, we prescribe a series of anatomical slices that cover the whole brain. In our cases we typically scan axial oblique slices that encompass the whole brain (170 to 256 slices). Tell the participant that this scan will take around 6 to 10 minutes depending on the prescribed number of slices. In some cases the anatomical scan can be done after the functional scans. There are some advantages of the latter; usually in long experiments subjects will experience fatigue. Thus, the anatomical scan needs no attention by the subjects so they may close their eyes. It might be useful to do these scans at the end of the imaging session.</li>
		<li>Once anatomical scans are completed the participant is reminded of the specific instructions of the upcoming scan through communication via the microphone/speaker system.</li>
	</ol>
	</li>
	<li>In this example, a pseudo event-related design2 is used to identify the brain regions activated by the emotional stroop task but any sensory, internal perception9 or motor stimulus10 could be directed for use when needed. After these are scanned then we will instruct the subject that the anti-saccade paradigm will be scanned next. Depending on the imaging parameters chosen the scan will be close to 6 minutes long. We find that scans longer than this induce subjects to fall asleep.</li>
	<li>The total imaging session takes approximately 60 to 120 of minutes, depending on the total scans needed for the analysis.</li>
</ol>
5. fMRI Analysis
<ol>
	<li>Analyze the data using BrainVoyager QX software (or any analysis package such as AFNI or SPM).</li>
	<li>Begin by superimposing functional data statistical maps onto anatomical brain images. Functionally define the brain regions of interest (ROIs) using the general linear model (GLM), with separate predictors (i.e. congruent and incongruent, face instruction and word instruction, anti-saccade, pro-saccade) for each of the conditions in the task during the two types of scans2.</li>
	<li>Examine the signal intensity in all the activated frontal regions from the GLM contrasts (i.e. all incongruent versus all congruent to produce a map of areas), compute the standardized BOLD signal across all participants and compare the incongruent word/face expression with the congruent word/faces expressions for both conditions2.</li>
	<li>Correlate the reaction times collected on the trials that were used for the GLMs, then correlate brain activity across each individual with their own reaction times for the specific trials2 as in Figure 4.</li>
</ol>
6. Representative Results
After the analysis we show brain regions that correlate with the emotional stroop and anti-saccade tasks recorded during scanning. The results from the emotional stroop paradigm showed an interaction effect between all three factors of expression, instruction, and brain region but there was no main effect of expression and no main effect of instruction2. We found that when the expression of the face was incongruent to the superimposed emotional word, this incongruency produced from reporting the written word showed higher BOLD signal intensity in the left IFG2 (Figure 2). The larger signal intensity on the incongruent expressions compared to the congruent expressions was statistically significant, with happy congruent showing the largest difference2.
Most importantly the RTs for the three incongruent conditions tested (sad, happy and neutral) predicted an increased BOLD signal within left IFG compared to all the congruent conditions (Figure 3). For this analysis we specifically examined the reaction times and conducted a regression analysis to test whether RT for the incongruent and congruent conditions were predictive of the BOLD signal activity within this brain region (Figure 3). We found that RT accounts for 81% of the variation in left IFG activity when reporting the word expressions of Happy, Neutral, and Sad during the incongruent and congruent conditions2. Higher RT is predictive of larger left IFG activation, with the incongruent sad condition yielding the greatest RT/signal intensity ratio compared to all other expression conditions. We analyzed the anti-saccade paradigms using similar methods as above to be able to compare the two networks of activity. In this example, we found that there was no increased signal in left IFG for the anti-saccade compared to the pro-saccade task. For more details, we refer the readers to Ford et al. (2007).
<img alt="Figure 1" src="/files/ftp_upload/3237/3237fig1.jpg" /> 
Figure 1. An example of an incongruent trial (face with a happy expression superimposed by the word SAD). The experiment will begin with the fixation dot (1 second), proceeding by the face stimulus (250 ms) and the masked image (2 seconds) which requires the participant's button response.
<img alt="Figure 2" src="/files/ftp_upload/3237/3237fig2.jpg" /> 
Figure 2. All fixation volumes were used as the baseline. Error bars signify the standard error of mean (SEM). Incongruent expressions (Happy, Neutral, Sad) showed significantly larger BOLD signal change compared to congruent expressions2. The inset image shows left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) that was functionally localized using the contrast describe in section 5.2 for the incongruent emotional stroop versus the congruent condition during the attend to word instruction set.
<img alt="Figure 3" src="/files/ftp_upload/3237/3237fig3.jpg" /> 
Figure 3. During the "Attend to Word" instruction, incongruent-congruent contrast showed a positive correlation between the RTs and BOLD signal intensity. This graph is an average of all 10 subjects' RTs and BOLD signal during each of the six conditions. Error bars signify the standard error of mean (SEM)2 .
<img alt="Figure 4" src="/files/ftp_upload/3237/3237fig4.jpg" /> 
Figure 4. Two repetitions of each expression were displayed to the subjects. Top row is an schematic illustration of a trial sequence from one block of trials. Bottom section is a depiction of the Two-Gamma hemodynamic response function (HRF) used to discover brain regions involved in the emotional face expressions.

<ol>
	<li>Stroop, J. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Studies+of+interference+in+serial+verbal+reactions.">Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions.</a> Journal of Experimental Psychology. 18, 643-662 (1935).</li><li>Ovaysikia, S., Tahir, K. A., Chan, J. L., DeSouza, J. F. X. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Word+wins+over+face:+emotional+Stroop+effect+activates+the+frontal+cortical+network.">Word wins over face: emotional Stroop effect activates the frontal cortical network.</a> Front Hum. Neurosci. 4, 234 (2011).</li><li>Hallett, P. E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Primary+and+secondary+saccades+to+goals+defined+by+instructions.">Primary and secondary saccades to goals defined by instructions.</a> Vision Res. 18, 1279-1296 (1978).</li><li>Connolly, J. D., Goodale, M. A., DeSouza, J. F. X., Menon, R. S., Vilis, T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+comparison+of+frontoparietal+fMRI+activation+during+anti-saccades+and+anti-pointing.">A comparison of frontoparietal fMRI activation during anti-saccades and anti-pointing.</a> J. Neurophysiol. 84, 1645-1655 (2000).</li><li>DeSouza, J. F. X., Menon, R. S., Everling, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Preparatory+set+associated+with+pro-saccades+and+anti-saccades+in+humans+investigated+with+event-related+FMRI.">Preparatory set associated with pro-saccades and anti-saccades in humans investigated with event-related FMRI.</a> J. Neurophysiol. 89, 1016-1023 (2003).</li><li>Everling, S., DeSouza, J. F. X. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Rule-dependent+activity+for+prosaccades+and+antisaccades+in+the+primate+prefrontal+cortex.">Rule-dependent activity for prosaccades and antisaccades in the primate prefrontal cortex.</a> J. Cogn. Neurosci. 17, 1483-1496 (2005).</li><li>Ford, K. A., Goltz, H. C., Brown, M. R. G., Everling, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Neural+processes+associated+with+antisaccade+task+performance+investigated+with+event-related+fMRI.">Neural processes associated with antisaccade task performance investigated with event-related fMRI.</a> J. Neurophysiol. 94, 429-440 (2005).</li><li>DeSouza, J. F. X., Nicolle, D. A., Vilis, T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Task-dependent+changes+in+the+shape+and+thickness+of+Listing's+plane.">Task-dependent changes in the shape and thickness of Listing's plane.</a> Vision Res. 37, 2271-2282 (1997).</li><li>Hadjikhani, N. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Mechanisms+of+migraine+aura+revealed+by+functional+MRI+in+human+visual+cortex.">Mechanisms of migraine aura revealed by functional MRI in human visual cortex.</a> Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98, 4687-4692 (2001).</li><li>DeSouza, J. F. X. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Eye+position+signal+modulates+a+human+parietal+pointing+region+during+memory-guided+movements.">Eye position signal modulates a human parietal pointing region during memory-guided movements.</a> J. Neurosci. 20, 5835-5840 (2000).</li></ol>

We have nothing to disclose.

Identifying brain regions relies on creating an accurate contrast between the tasks scanned (i.e. in either the Stroop, incongruent versus congruent emotion and facial expression; or anti-saccade versus pro-saccade) in order to produce a map of activation related to the task. These functional maps can be more refined when behavior is collected in the scanner to remove trials where the subject made errors. These errors can be removed and if there was enough numbers of errors than functional maps could be made of these<sup...

A correction was made to <a href="http://http://www.jove.com/video/3237">Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis</a>. Joseph DeSouza and Laura Pynn middle initials were omitted at publication.
These have been corrected to:
Joseph F.X. DeSouza Laura K. Pynn

A correction was made to <a href="http://http://www.jove.com/video/3237">Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis</a>. Some of the authors middle initials were omitted.

Erratum: Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis

<table><tbody><tr><td>3-Tesla MRI machine</td><td>Siemens Magnetom Trio (Erlangen, Germany)</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>iViewX Eye Tracking </td><td>SensoMotoric Instruments, Inc.</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>BrainVoyager QX software </td><td>Brain Innovation, Maastricht, The Netherlands</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Four-button Joystick</td><td>Current Designs, Inc., Philadelphia, PA, USA</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan="4">&lt;strong&gt;Table 1. &lt;/strong&gt; Specific Reagents and Equipment.</td></tr></tbody></table>

correlating behavioral responses to fmri signals from human prefrontal cortex: examining cognitive processes using task analysis

The aim of this methods paper is to describe how to implement a neuroimaging technique to examine complementary brain processes engaged by two similar tasks. Participants' behavior during task performance in an fMRI scanner can then be correlated to the brain activity using the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal. We measure behavior to be able to sort correct trials, where the subject performed the task correctly and then be able to examine the brain signals related to correct performance. Conversely, if subjects do not perform the task correctly, and these trials are included in the same analysis with the correct trials we would introduce trials that were not only for correct performance. Thus, in many cases these errors can be used themselves to then correlate brain activity to them. We describe two complementary tasks that are used in our lab to examine the brain during suppression of an automatic responses: the stroop1 and anti-saccade tasks. The emotional stroop paradigm instructs participants to either report the superimposed emotional 'word' across the affective faces or the facial 'expressions' of the face stimuli1,2. When the word and the facial expression refer to different emotions, a conflict between what must be said and what is automatically read occurs. The participant has to resolve the conflict between two simultaneously competing processes of word reading and facial expression. Our urge to read out a word leads to strong 'stimulus-response (SR)' associations; hence inhibiting these strong SR's is difficult and participants are prone to making errors. Overcoming this conflict and directing attention away from the face or the word requires the subject to inhibit bottom up processes which typically directs attention to the more salient stimulus. Similarly, in the anti-saccade task3,4,5,6, where an instruction cue is used to direct only attention to a peripheral stimulus location but then the eye movement is made to the mirror opposite position. Yet again we measure behavior by recording the eye movements of participants which allows for the sorting of the behavioral responses into correct and error trials7 which then can be correlated to brain activity. Neuroimaging now allows researchers to measure different behaviors of correct and error trials that are indicative of different cognitive processes and pinpoint the different neural networks involved.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis at JoVE.com

Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis

The goal of our research is to correlate behavior to brain activity. Accurate behavioral measures and imaging techniques allow us to elucidate brain-behavior relationships.

The aim of this methods paper is to describe how to implement a neuroimaging technique to examine complementary brain processes engaged by two similar ...

correlating-behavioral-responses-to-fmri-signals-from-human

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

12.7K Views.  Centre for Vision Research, York University. The goal of our research is to correlate behavior to brain activity. Accurate behavioral measures and imaging techniques allow us to elucidate brain-behavior relationships.

Video: Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis

A Method for Investigating Age-related Differences in the Functional Connectivity of Cognitive Control Networks Associated with Dimensional Change Card Sort Performance

The ability to adjust behavior to sudden changes in the environment develops gradually in childhood and adolescence. For example, in the Dimensional Change Card Sort task, participants switch from sorting cards one way, such as shape, to sorting them a different way, such as color. Adjusting behavior in this way exacts a small performance cost, or switch cost, such that responses are typically slower and more error-prone on switch trials in which the sorting rule changes as compared to repeat trials in which the sorting rule remains the same. The ability to flexibly adjust behavior is often said to develop gradually, in part because behavioral costs such as switch costs typically decrease with increasing age. Why aspects of higher-order cognition, such as behavioral flexibility, develop so gradually remains an open question. One hypothesis is that these changes occur in association with functional changes in broad-scale cognitive control networks. On this view, complex mental operations, such as switching, involve rapid interactions between several distributed brain regions, including those that update and maintain task rules, re-orient attention, and select behaviors. With development, functional connections between these regions strengthen, leading to faster and more efficient switching operations. The current video describes a method of testing this hypothesis through the collection and multivariate analysis of fMRI data from participants of different ages.

This video presents a method of examining age-related changes in functional connectivity of cognitive control networks engaged by targeted tasks/processes. The technique is based on multi-variate analysis of fMRI data.

The ability to adjust behavior to sudden changes in the environment develops gradually in childhood and adolescence. For example, in the Dimensional ...

Behavior

Transferring Cognitive Tasks Between Brain Imaging Modalities: Implications for Task Design and Results Interpretation in fMRI Studies

As cognitive neuroscience methods develop, established experimental tasks are used with emerging brain imaging modalities. Here transferring a paradigm (the visual oddball task) with a long history of behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) experiments to a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment is considered. The aims of this paper are to briefly describe fMRI and when its use is appropriate in cognitive neuroscience; illustrate how task design can influence the results of an fMRI experiment, particularly when that task is borrowed from another imaging modality; explain the practical aspects of performing an fMRI experiment. It is demonstrated that manipulating the task demands in the visual oddball task results in different patterns of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activation. The nature of the fMRI BOLD measure means that many brain regions are found to be active in a particular task. Determining the functions of these areas of activation is very much dependent on task design and analysis. The complex nature of many fMRI tasks means that the details of the task and its requirements need careful consideration when interpreting data. The data show that this is particularly important in those tasks relying on a motor response as well as cognitive elements and that covert and overt responses should be considered where possible. Furthermore, the data show that transferring an EEG paradigm to an fMRI experiment needs careful consideration and it cannot be assumed that the same paradigm will work equally well across imaging modalities. It is therefore recommended that the design of an fMRI study is pilot tested behaviorally to establish the effects of interest and then pilot tested in the fMRI environment to ensure appropriate design, implementation and analysis for the effects of interest.

Transferring a paradigm with a history of use in EEG experiments to an fMRI experiment is considered. It is demonstrated that manipulating the task demands in the visual oddball task resulted in different patterns of BOLD activation and illustrated how task design is crucial in fMRI experiments.

As cognitive neuroscience methods develop, established experimental tasks are used with emerging brain imaging modalities. Here transferring a paradigm ...

Using Fiberless, Wearable fNIRS to Monitor Brain Activity in Real-world Cognitive Tasks

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a neuroimaging technique that uses near-infrared light to monitor brain activity. Based on neurovascular coupling, fNIRS is able to measure the haemoglobin concentration changes secondary to neuronal activity. Compared to other neuroimaging techniques, fNIRS represents a good compromise in terms of spatial and temporal resolution. Moreover, it is portable, lightweight, less sensitive to motion artifacts and does not impose significant physical restraints. It is therefore appropriate to monitor a wide range of cognitive tasks (e.g., auditory, gait analysis, social interaction) and different age populations (e.g., new-borns, adults, elderly people). The recent development of fiberless fNIRS devices has opened the way to new applications in neuroscience research. This represents a unique opportunity to study functional activity during real-world tests, which can be more sensitive and accurate in assessing cognitive function and dysfunction than lab-based tests. This study explored the use of fiberless fNIRS to monitor brain activity during a real-world prospective memory task. This protocol is performed outside the lab and brain haemoglobin concentration changes are continuously measured over the prefrontal cortex while the subject walks around in order to accomplish several different tasks.

Monitoring brain activity outside the lab without physical constraints presents methodological challenges. A fiberless, wearable functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) system was used to measure brain activity during an ecological prospective memory task. It was demonstrated that this system could be used to monitor brain activity during non-lab based experiments.

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a neuroimaging technique that uses near-infrared light to monitor brain activity. Based on neurovascular ...

Pipeline for Analyzing Behavioral Responses to External Cues in MRI Environments

Profiling Maternal Behavior Responses During Whole-Brain Imaging

Recent advancements in whole-brain imaging tools have enabled neuroscientists to investigate how coordinated brain activity processes external cues, influencing internal state changes and eliciting behavioral responses. For example, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a noninvasive technique that allows for the measurement of whole-brain activity in awake, behaving mice using the blood oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) response. However, to fully understand BOLD responses evoked by external stimuli, it is crucial that experimenters also assess behavioral responses during scans. The MRI environment poses challenges to this goal, rendering commonly employed methods of behavioral monitoring incompatible. These challenges include (1) a restricted field of view and (2) the limited availability of equipment without ferromagnetic components. Presented here is a behavioral video analysis pipeline that overcomes these limitations by extracting valuable information from videos acquired within these environmental constraints, enabling the evaluation of behavior during the acquisition of whole-brain neural data. Employing methods such as optical flow estimation and dimensionality reduction, robust differences can be detected in behavioral responses to stimuli presented during fMRI scans. For example, representative results suggest that mouse pup vocalizations, but not pure tones, evoke significantly different behavioral responses in maternal versus virgin female mice. Moving forward, this behavioral analysis pipeline, initially tailored to overcome challenges in fMRI experiments, can be extended to various neural recording methods, providing versatile behavioral monitoring in constrained environments. The coordinated evaluation of behavioral and neural responses will offer a more comprehensive understanding of how the perception of stimuli leads to the coordination of complex behavioral outputs.

Presented here is a video analysis pipeline that overcomes challenges in behavioral monitoring within MRI environments, allowing for the detection of uninstructed behavioral responses to external cues. This analysis will facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of evoked internal state changes and brain-wide activity.

Recent advancements in whole-brain imaging tools have enabled neuroscientists to investigate how coordinated brain activity processes external cues, ...

Conducting Concurrent Electroencephalography and Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Recordings with a Flanker Task

Concurrent EEG and fNIRS recordings offer an excellent opportunity to gain a full understanding of the neural mechanism of cognitive processing by inspecting the relationship between the neural and hemodynamic signals. EEG is an electrophysiological technology that can measure the rapid neuronal activity of the cortex, whereas fNIRS relies on the hemodynamic responses to infer brain activation. The combination of EEG and fNIRS neuroimaging techniques can identify more features and reveal more information associated with the functioning of the brain. In this protocol, fused EEG-fNIRS measurements were performed for concurrent recordings of evoked-electrical potentials and hemodynamic responses during a Flanker task. In addition, the critical steps for setting up the hardware and software system as well as the procedures for data acquisition and analysis were provided and discussed in detail. It is expected that the present protocol can pave a new avenue for improving the understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying various cognitive processes by using the EEG and fNIRS signals.

The present protocol describes how to perform concurrent EEG and fNIRS recordings and how to inspect the relationship between the EEG and fNIRS data.&#160;

Concurrent EEG and fNIRS recordings offer an excellent opportunity to gain a full understanding of the neural mechanism of cognitive processing by ...

A Visuospatial Planning Task Coupled with Eye-Tracker and Electroencephalogram Systems

The planning process, characterized by the capability to formulate an organized plan to reach a goal, is essential for human goal-directed behavior. Since planning is compromised in several neuropsychiatric disorders, the implementation of proper clinical and experimental tests to examine planning is critical. Due to the nature of the deployment of planning, in which several cognitive domains participate, the assessment of planning and the design of behavioral paradigms coupled with neuroimaging methods are current challenges in cognitive neuroscience. A planning task was evaluated in combination with an electroencephalogram (EEG) system and eye movement recordings in 27 healthy adult participants. Planning can be separated into two stages: a mental planning stage in which a sequence of steps is internally represented and an execution stage in which motor action is used to achieve a previously planned goal. Our protocol included a planning task and a control task. The planning task involved solving 36 maze trials, each representing a zoo map. The task had four periods: i) planning, where the subjects were instructed to plan a path to visit the locations of four animals according to a set of rules; ii) maintenance, where the subjects had to retain the planned path in their working memory; iii) execution, where the subjects used eye movements to trace the previously planned path as indicated by the eye-tracker system; and iv) response, where the subjects reported the order of the visited animals. The control task had a similar structure, but the cognitive planning component was removed by modifying the task goal. The spatial and temporal patterns of the EEG revealed that planning induces a gradual and lasting rise in frontal-midline theta activity (FM&#952;) over time. The source of this activity was identified within the prefrontal cortex by source analyses. Our results suggested that the experimental paradigm combining EEG and eye-tracker systems was optimal for evaluating cognitive planning.

The study of cognitive planning combining EEG and eye-tracking systems provides a multimodal approach to investigate the neural mechanisms that mediate cognitive control and goal-directed behavior in humans. Here, we describe a protocol for investigating the role of brain oscillations and eye movements in planning performance.

The planning process, characterized by the capability to formulate an organized plan to reach a goal, is essential for human goal-directed behavior. Since ...

Exploring the Neural Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using Task-based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show heightened brain activity in limbic and orbitofrontal regions when confronted with negative emotions, which could be associated with impairments in emotion regulation skills. The ability to regulate emotions is a necessary coping mechanism when facing emotionally distressing situations, and deliberate emotion regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal have been extensively studied in the general population. Despite this, little is known about potential deliberate emotion regulation deficits in OCD patients and the associated neural correlates. Here, we describe a protocol to investigate the neural correlates of deliberate emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in OCD patients in comparison to a matched control sample. This protocol follows current gold standards for neuroimaging studies and includes both task activation and connectivity analysis (as well as behavioral data) to allow a more complete investigation. Therefore, we expect it will contribute to expanding the knowledge of the neural correlates of emotion (dys)regulation in OCD, and it could also be applied to explore emotion regulation deficits in other psychiatric disorders.

We introduce a protocol for exploring the neural correlates of a cognitive emotion regulation task, namely cognitive reappraisal, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This protocol was used in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and healthy controls but can also be used in other clinical samples.

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show heightened brain activity in limbic and orbitofrontal regions when confronted with negative ...

Using fMRI to Dissect Moral Judgment

Source: William Brady &#38; Jay Van Bavel&#8212;New York University
In examining the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgments, psychologists and philosophers alike point to the trolley dilemma and the footbridge dilemma. With the trolley dilemma, most people say that it is appropriate to pull a switch to stop a train from hitting five people by diverting it to kill one person. However, with the footbridge dilemma, most people say it is inappropriate to push a large man off of a bridge in order to hit a train (killing him) and stop it from running into five people. Reason would dictate that in both of the foregoing dilemmas, one life should be sacrificed to save five lives. But to many people, pushing the large man just &#8220;feels wrong&#8221; because it triggers more negative emotions than pulling a switch. In this case, emotion seems to trump reason. &#160;
In recent years, psychology and neuroscience have entered the debate over the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgment. Researchers can scan brain activity as individuals make making moral judgments. Research shows that different brain areas associated are active during contemplation of the footbridge dilemma versus the trolley dilemma.
Inspired by Greene, Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley and Cohen, this video demonstrates how to design moral dilemma tasks and integrate them into experiments using using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology.1

Source: William Brady &#38; Jay Van Bavel&#8212;New York University
In examining the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgments, psychologists and ...

Education

JoVE Science Education

Psychology

Social Psychology

Motor Maps

Source: Laboratories of Jonas T. Kaplan and Sarah I. Gimbel&#8212;University of Southern California
One principle of brain organization is the topographic mapping of information. Especially in sensory and motor cortices, adjacent regions of the brain tend to represent information from adjacent parts of the body, resulting in maps of the body expressed on the surface of the brain. The primary sensory and motor maps in the brain surround a prominent sulcus known as the central sulcus. The cortex anterior to the central sulcus is known as the precentral gyrus and contains the primary motor cortex, while the cortex posterior to the central sulcus is known as the postcentral gyrus and contains the primary sensory cortex (Figure 1).
<img alt="Figure 1" src="/files/ftp_upload/10175/10175fig1.jpg" /> 
Figure 1: Sensory and motor maps around the central sulcus. The primary motor cortex, which contains a motor map of the body&#39;s effectors, is anterior to the central sulcus, in the precentral gyrus of the frontal lobe. The primary somesthetic (sensory) cortex, which receives touch, pain, and temperature information from the external parts of the body, is located posterior to the central sulcus, in the postcentral gyrus of the parietal lobe.
In this experiment, functional neuroimaging is used to demonstrate the motor map in the precentral gyrus. This map is often called the motor homunculus, which is Latin for &#34;little man,&#34; because it is as if there is a little version of one&#39;s self represented in this part of a person&#39;s brain. One interesting property of this map is that more cortical space is devoted to body parts requiring finer control, such as the hands and mouth, which results in disproportionate representation of those appendages in the cortex. Also, because of the anatomy of the motor system, the neurons that control the right side of the body are in the left primary motor cortex, and vice versa. Therefore, when a participant in the experiment is asked to move their right hand or foot, an increased activation on their left precentral gyrus is expected.
In this experiment, participants are asked to alternately move their hands and feet, on the left and right sides, while their brain activity is measured with fMRI. Since the fMRI signal relies on changes in blood oxygenation, which are slow in comparison to the movements the participants make, the periods of movement are separated with periods of stillness to ensure that the various conditions can be distinguished from each other and from the resting baseline. To achieve precise timing of the movements, participants are instructed on when to begin and end each movement with a visual cue. The methods in this video are similar to those used by several fMRI studies that have demonstrated somatotopy in primary motor cortex.1,2

Studying Brain Activation and Motor Maps Using fMRI

Source: Laboratories of Jonas T. Kaplan and Sarah I. Gimbel&#8212;University of Southern California
One principle of brain organization is the topographic ...

Neuropsychology

An Introduction to Cognition

Cognition encompasses mental processes such as memory, perception, decision-making reasoning and language. Cognitive scientists are using a combination of behavioral and neuropsychological techniques to investigate the underlying neural substrates of cognition. They are interested in understanding how information is perceived, processed and how does it affect the final execution of behaviors. With this knowledge, researchers hope to develop new treatments for individuals with cognitive impairments.
JoVE's introduction to cognition reviews several components of this phenomenon, such as perception, attention, language comprehension, etc. Key questions in the field of cognition will be discussed along with specific methods currently being used to answer these questions. Finally, specific studies that investigate different aspects of cognition using tools like functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) or Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) will be explained.

Cognitive Processes and Techniques to Study Cognition

Cognition encompasses mental processes such as memory, perception, decision-making reasoning and language. Cognitive scientists are using a combination of ...