Inscapes : A movie paradigm to improve compliance in functional magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

The examination of functional connectivity in fMRI data collected during task-free “rest” has provided a powerful tool for studying functional brain organization. Limitations of this approach include susceptibility to head motion artifacts and participant drowsiness or sleep. These issues are especially relevant when studying young children or clinical populations. Here we introduce a movie paradigm, Inscapes, that features abstract shapes without a narrative or scene-cuts. The movie was designed to provide enough stimulation to improve compliance related to motion and wakefulness while minimizing cognitive load during the collection of functional imaging data. We compare Inscapes to eyes-open rest and to age-appropriate movie clips in healthy adults (Ocean's Eleven, n = 22) and a pilot sample of typically developing children ages 3-7 (Fantasia, n = 13). Head motion was significantly lower during both movies relative to rest for both groups. In adults, movies decreased the number of participants who self-reported sleep. Intersubject correlations, used to quantify synchronized, task-evoked activity across movie and rest conditions in adults, involved less cortex during Inscapes than Ocean's Eleven. To evaluate the effect of movie-watching on intrinsic functional connectivity networks, we examined mean functional connectivity using both whole-brain functional parcellation and network-based approaches. Both inter- and intra-network metrics were more similar between Inscapes and Rest than between Ocean's Eleven and Rest, particularly in comparisons involving the default network. When comparing movies to Rest, the mean functional connectivity of somatomotor, visual and ventral attention networks differed significantly across various analyses. We conclude that low-demand movies like Inscapes may represent a useful intermediate condition between task-free rest and typical narrative movies while still improving participant compliance. Inscapes is publicly available for download at headspacestudios.org/inscapes.

Activity and Connectivity Differences Underlying Inhibitory Control Across the Adult Life Span

“…Head motion was significantly lower during movie watching (Campbell et al, 2015) relative to resting state, SNG, and Cattell tasks ( F = 14.44, p < 0.001), which is consistent with previous reports showing that individuals are more compliant during movie watching (Vanderwal et al, 2015). Moreover, head motion across the three cognitive states (resting state, movie watching, and Cattell task) was highly correlated with head motion during SNG ( r = 0.81, p < 0.001) and did not interact with age ( F = 1.84, p = 0.139).…”

Children’s head motion during fMRI tasks is heritable and stable over time

“…Previous publications supply many other recommendations relevant for scanning children (Church et al, 2010; Greene et al, 2016), including the use of mock scanners to familiarize participants with the scanning environment and presentation of movies during anatomical scans. Recent studies investigating network connectivity during movie watching suggest that showing movies during functional scans can significantly reduce motion and increase data retention (e.g., Cantlon & Li, 2013; Emerson, Short, Lin, Gilmore, & Gao, 2015; Vanderwal, Kelly, Eilbott, May, & Castellanos, 2015). Future studies should investigate the impact of different types of exposure or mock scanner training on participant anxiety, engagement, and movement.…”

Development of hippocampal functional connectivity during childhood

“…In adults, this method does not elicit significant differences in hippocampal connectivity in comparison to a standard fixation resting-state scan, providing preliminary evidence that a non-canonical resting-state scan may be used to tap the hippocampal network without eliciting significantly altered connectivity [see Supporting Information; Greicius et al, 2003;Riggins et al, 2016;Vanderwal et al, 2015]. 2 There were no significant differences in results when left-handed participants were excluded.…”