Motor imagery (MI) has been considered effective in learning and practicing movements in many fields. However, when evaluating the effectiveness of this technique, the examiner has no way of assessing the participant's motor imagery process. As an alternative, we have been exploring a mental body-part rotation task, in which the examiner can estimate the participant's motivation and ability to sustain attention through the scored results. In this study, we aimed to investigate the possible application of a mental rotation (MRot) task and used fMRI to compare the brain activity during the MRot task with that during an MI task in healthy volunteers. Increased blood oxygenation level-dependent signals were observed bilaterally in the premotor areas and supplementary motor area during performance of both MI and MRot tasks. Our findings suggest that MRot could be an alternative to MI.

The cholinergic innervation of the cortex originates almost entirely from populations of neurons in the basal forebrain. Structurally, the ascending basal forebrain cholinergic projections are highly branched, with individual cells targeting multiple different cortical regions. However, it is not known whether the structural organization of basal forebrain projections reflects their functional integration with the cortex. We therefore used high resolution 7T diffusion and resting state functional MRI in humans to examine multimodal gradients of forebrain cholinergic connectivity with the neocortex. Moving from anteromedial to posterolateral BF, structural and functional gradients became progressively detethered, with the most pronounced dissimilarity localized in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NbM). Structure-function tethering was shaped in part by the distance of cortical parcels from the BF and their myelin content. Functional but not structural connectivity with the BF grew stronger at shorter geodesic distances, with weakly myelinated transmodal cortical areas most strongly expressing this divergence. We then used an in vivo cell type-specific marker of the presynaptic cholinergic nerve terminals, [18F] FEOBV PET, to demonstrate that the transmodal cortical areas exhibiting highest structure-function detethering with BF gradients are also among the most densely innervated by its cholinergic projections. Altogether, multimodal gradients of basal forebrain connectivity reveal inhomogeneity in structure-function tethering which becomes most pronounced in the transition from anteromedial to posterolateral BF. Cortical cholinergic projections emanating from the NbM in particular may exhibit a broad repertoire of connections with key transmodal cortical areas associated with the ventral attention network.

No abstract

Cognitive restructuring is a fundamental method within cognitive behavioural therapy of changing dysfunctional beliefs into flexible beliefs and learning to react appropriately to the reality of an anxiety-causing situation. To clarify the neural mechanisms of cognitive restructuring, we designed a unique task that replicated psychotherapy during a brain scan. The brain activities of healthy male participants were analysed using functional magnetic resonance imaging. During the brain scan, participants underwent Socratic questioning aimed at cognitive restructuring regarding the necessity of handwashing after using the restroom. The behavioural result indicated that the Socratic questioning effectively decreased the participants' degree of belief (DOB) that they must wash their hands. Alterations in the DOB showed a positive correlation with activity in the left posterior parietal cortex (PPC) while the subject thought about and rated own belief. The involvement of the left PPC not only in planning and decision-making but also in conceptualization may play a pivotal role in cognitive restructuring.