Neurovascular coupling during auditory stimulation: event-related potentials and fNIRS hemodynamic

Abstract

Intensity-dependent amplitude changes (IDAP) have been extensively studied using event-related potentials (ERPs) and have been linked to several psychiatric disorders. This study aims to explore the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in IDAP paradigms, which related to ERPs could indicate the existence of neurovascular coupling. Thirty-three and thirty-one subjects participated in two experiments, respectively. The first experiment consisted of the presentation of three-tone intensities (77.9 dB, 84.5 dB, and 89.5 dB) lasting 500 ms, each type randomly presented 54 times, while the second experiment consisted of the presentation of five-tone intensities (70.9 dB, 77.9 dB, 84.5 dB, 89.5 dB, and 94.5 dB) in trains of 8 tones lasting 70 ms each tone, the trains were presented 20 times. EEG was used to measure ERP components: N1, P2, and N1–P2 peak-to-peak amplitude. fNIRS allowed the analysis of the hemodynamic activity in the auditory, visual, and prefrontal cortices. The results showed an increase in N1, P2, and N1–P2 peak-to-peak amplitude with auditory intensity. Similarly, oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin concentrations showed amplitude increases and decreases, respectively, with auditory intensity in the auditory and prefrontal cortices. Spearman correlation analysis showed a relationship between the left auditory cortex with N1 amplitude, and the right dorsolateral cortex with P2 amplitude, specifically for deoxyhemoglobin concentrations. These findings suggest that there is a brain response to auditory intensity changes that can be obtained by EEG and fNIRS, supporting the neurovascular coupling process. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of fNIRS application in auditory paradigms and highlights its potential as a complementary technique to ERPs.

Neural correlates of response to joint attention in 2‐to‐5‐year‐olds in relation to ASD and social‐communicative abilities: An fNIRS and behavioral study

“…hemodynamic neuroimaging methods. In a recent study (Muñoz et al, 2023), the signal elicited by short stimuli like the attentional cues described here appeared to be three orders of magnitude smaller (10 À9 M) than the one we expected to measure in response to the video stimuli in either condition based on literature (10 À6 M).The condition order was pseudo-random, with the experimenter assigning each trial to one of the two conditions by The proposed registration is based on Koessler et al (2009), which is referred to the adult brain. The applicability of the estimates to 2/4-year-olds is supported by Fu and Richards (2022).…”