Reward prediction errors arising from switches between major and minor modes in music: An fMRI study

Evidence has accumulated that prediction error processing plays a role in the enjoyment of music listening. The present study examined listeners' neural responses to the signed reward prediction errors (RPEs) arising from switches between major and minor modes in music. We manipulated the final chord of J. S. Bach's keyboard pieces so that each major-mode passage ended with either the major (Major-Major) or minor (Major-Minor) tonic chord, and each minor-mode passage ended with either the minor (Minor-Minor) or major (Minor-Major) tonic chord. In Western music, the major and minor modes have positive and negative connotations, respectively. Therefore, the outcome of the final chord in Major-Minor stimuli was associated with negative RPE, whereas that in Minor-Major was associated with positive RPE. Twenty-three musically experienced adults underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while listening to Major-Major, Major-Minor, Minor-Minor, and Minor-Major stimuli. We found that activity in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (extending into the ventromedial prefrontal cortex) during the final chord for Major-Major was significantly higher than that for Major-Minor. Conversely, a frontoparietal network for Major-Minor exhibited significantly increased activity compared to Major-Major. The contrasts between Minor-Minor and Minor-Major yielded regions implicated in interoception. We discuss our results in relation to executive functions and the emotional connotations of major versus minor mode.Comment: submitted to Psychophysiolog

How Acute and Chronic Alcohol Consumption Affects Brain Networks: Insights from Multimodal Neuroimaging

Background— Multimodal imaging combining 2 or more techniques is becoming increasingly important because no single imaging approach has the capacity to elucidate all clinically relevant characteristics of a network. Methods— This review highlights recent advances in multimodal neuroimaging (i.e., combined use and interpretation of data collected through magnetic resonance imaging [MRI], functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, positron emission tomography, magnetoencephalography, MR perfusion, and MR spectroscopy methods) that leads to a more comprehensive understanding of how acute and chronic alcohol consumption affect neural networks underlying cognition, emotion, reward processing, and drinking behavior. Results— Several innovative investigators have started utilizing multiple imaging approaches within the same individual to better understand how alcohol influences brain systems, both during intoxication and after years of chronic heavy use. Conclusions— Their findings can help identify mechanism-based therapeutic and pharmacological treatment options, and they may increase the efficacy and cost effectiveness of such treatments by predicting those at greatest risk for relapse

Niezależność czy współpraca? Zagadnienie interakcji wzbudzeniowego i wykonawczego systemu uwagi

Independence or cooperation? On the issue of interaction between alerting and executive attention systemsAccording to Posner and colleagues, mechanism of attention consists of three systems: alerting, orienting and executive. Here, we focus on relationship between two of them, namely,  on the interactions between alerting and executive attention in tasks involving cognitive or motor conflicts. Previous studies suggest that the impact of alerting on the efficiency of conflict resolution may depend on various factors, including the presence of established stimulus-response associations, speed of the reaction selection process, characteristics of the allocation of spatial attention, and a stage of processing at which conflict occurs i.e., either perceptual analysis or response selection.  However, the available results are to some extent contradictory and no single hypothesis is sufficient to explain all cases of the interactions between alerting and executive attention observed so far. The present paper provides a comprehensive review of these results and hypothetical mechanisms underlying the relationship between alerting and executive attentio

Independence or cooperation? : on the issue of interaction between alerting and executive attention systems

According to Posner and colleagues, mechanism of attention consists of three systems: alerting, orienting and executive. Here, we focus on relationship between two of them, namely, on the interactions between alerting and executive attention in tasks involving cognitive or motor conflicts. Previous studies suggest that the impact of alerting on the efficiency of conflict resolution may depend on various factors, including the presence of established stimulus-response associations, speed of the reaction selection process, characteristics of the allocation of spatial attention, and a stage of processing at which conflict occurs i.e., either perceptual analysis or response selection. However, the available results are to some extent contradictory and no single hypothesis is sufficient to explain all cases of the interactions between alerting and executive attention observed so far. The present paper provides a comprehensive review of these results and hypothetical mechanisms underlying the relationship between alerting and executive attentio

Divisions Within the Posterior Parietal Cortex Help Touch Meet Vision

The parietal cortex is divided into two major functional regions: the anterior parietal cortex that includes primary somatosensory cortex, and the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) that includes the rest of the parietal lobe. The PPC contains multiple representations of space. In Dijkerman and de Haan’s (see record 2007-13802-022) model, higher spatial representations are separate from PPC functions. This model should be developed further so that the functions of the somatosensory system are integrated with specific functions within the PPC and higher spatial representations. Through this further specification of the model, one can make better predictions regarding functional interactions between somatosensory and visual systems

Central role of somatosensory processes in sexual arousal as identified by neuroimaging techniques

Research on the neural correlates of sexual arousal is a growing field of research in affective neuroscience. A new approach studying the correlation between the hemodynamic cerebral response and autonomic genital response has enabled distinct brain areas to be identified according to their role in inducing penile erection, on the one hand, and in representing penile sensation, on the othe