The pulse: transient fMRI signal increases in subcortical arousal systems during transitions in attention

Li, Rong; Ryu, Jun Hwan; Vincent, Peter; Springer, Max; Kluger, Dan; Levinsohn, Erik; Chen, Yu; Chen, Huafu; Blumenfeld, Hal

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117873

Cited by 21 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 91 publications

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“…Theoretically, these events could correspond to periods associated with particularly high meaningfulness (Li et al, 2021), with concomitant release of neuromodulators influencing the relative dominance of different functional networks (Conio et al, 2020;Shine et al, 2018). Perhaps even more intriguingly, these brain areas associated with particularly high flexibility also tend to emerge later in phylogeny, mature later in ontogeny, and exhibit reduced degrees of structure-function tethering, implying greater degrees of freedom (Baum et al, 2020;Oligschläger et al, 2019;Vázquez-Rodríguez et al, 2019).…”

Section: Future Directions For Understanding Flexibility In Brains and Mindsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the importance of being flexible: dynamic brain networks and their potential functional significances

Safron¹,

Klimaj²,

Hipólito³

2021

Preprint

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In this theoretical review, we begin by discussing brains and minds from a dynamical systems perspective, and then go on to describe methods for characterizing the flexibility of dynamic networks. We discuss how varying degrees and kinds of flexibility may be adaptive (or maladaptive) in different contexts, specifically focusing on measures related to either more disjoint or cohesive dynamics. While disjointed flexibility may be useful for assessing neural entropy, cohesive flexibility may potentially serve as a proxy for self-organized criticality as a fundamental property enabling adaptive behavior in complex systems. Particular attention is given to recent studies in which flexibility methods have been used to investigate neurological and cognitive maturation, as well as the breakdown of conscious processing under varying levels of anesthesia. We further discuss how these findings and methods might be contextualized within the Free Energy Principle as a fundamental principle of brain organization, and describe potential methodological advances from this paradigm. Finally, with relevance to computational psychiatry, we propose a research program for obtaining a better understanding of ways that dynamic networks may relate to different forms of psychological flexibility, which may be the single most important factor for ensuring human flourishing.

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Section: Future Directions For Understanding Flexibility In Brains and Mindsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the importance of being flexible: dynamic brain networks and their potential functional significances

Safron¹,

Klimaj²,

Hipólito³

2021

Preprint

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“…We did not directly test whether TAP was report-dependent because of limited recording time with the patient participants. However, because we hypothesized that TAP is one node in a broad subcortical arousal and salience network participating in attention state dynamics and consciousness (23,24), we next used fMRI in a large cohort of healthy participants to investigate cortical and subcortical conscious perception-linked dynamics, with and without overt report.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, (1) Detection/arousal/salience (DAS): when a visual stimulus appears, activation of V1 interacts with FG, FEF, and other regions for signal detection (25)(26)(27)(28). A dynamic transient pulse in subcortical arousal (e.g., MT and Th) and emotional/motivational systems (e.g., NA) facilitates bottom-up attentional salience and top-down attentional control (23,29,30). Next, (2) Default-mode network (DMN): switching off the DMN and related circuits can reduce competing signals to prevent interference with conscious perception (9,(31)(32)(33).…”

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confidence: 99%

Brain networks in human conscious visual perception

Kronemer

Aksen

Ding

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Consciousness is not explained by a single mechanism, rather it involves multiple specialized neural systems overlapping in space and time. We hypothesize that synergistic, large-scale subcortical and cortical attention and signal processing networks encode conscious experiences. To identify brain activity in conscious perception without overt report, we classified visual stimuli as perceived or not using eye measurements. Report-independent event-related potentials and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals both occurred at early times after stimuli. Direct recordings revealed a novel thalamic awareness potential linked to conscious visual perception based on report. fMRI showed thalamic and cortical detection, arousal, attentional salience, task-positive, and default mode networks were involved independent of overt report. These findings identify a specific sequence of neural mechanisms in human conscious visual perception.

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“…We found that while activity in most of cortex declined at arousal, the ACC and PCC notably diverged and instead mirrored the thalamus, with a large increase in activity before arousal. Prior studies have shown that these regions are linked to state-switching and attentional modulation within the awake state: the ACC is involved in sustained arousal in complex, novel environments 102 and attentional-state switching 103 , and the dorsal ACC is active during moments of surprise 104 . The PCC supports internally directed cognition 105 , regulation of the focus of attention 106,107 , and is a component of the default mode network, which is more active in the task-negative state 108,109 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A temporal sequence of thalamic activity unfolds at transitions in behavioral arousal state

Setzer

Fultz

Gomez

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The moment of awakening from sleep reflects a profound transformation in neural activity and behavior. The thalamus is a key controller of arousal state, but whether its diverse nuclei exhibit coordinated or distinct activity at transitions in behavioral arousal state is not known. Using fast fMRI at ultra-high field (7 Tesla), we measured sub-second activity across thalamocortical networks and within nine thalamic nuclei to delineate these dynamics during spontaneous transitions in behavioral arousal state. We discovered a stereotyped sequence of activity across thalamic nuclei that preceded behavioral arousal after a period of inactivity, followed by widespread cortical deactivation. These thalamic dynamics were linked to whether participants remained awake or fell back asleep, with unified thalamic activation reflecting subsequent maintenance of awake behavior. These results provide an outline of the complex interactions across thalamocortical circuits that orchestrate arousal state transitions, and additionally, demonstrate that fast fMRI can resolve sub-second subcortical dynamics in the human brain.

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The pulse: transient fMRI signal increases in subcortical arousal systems during transitions in attention

Cited by 21 publications

References 91 publications

On the importance of being flexible: dynamic brain networks and their potential functional significances

On the importance of being flexible: dynamic brain networks and their potential functional significances

Brain networks in human conscious visual perception

A temporal sequence of thalamic activity unfolds at transitions in behavioral arousal state

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