On the synchronization of transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional echo-planar imaging

Purpose: To minimize artifacts in echo-planar imaging (EPI) of human brain function introduced by simultaneous transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Materials and Methods: Distortions due to TMS pulses (0.25 msec, 2.0 T) were studied at 2.0 T before and during EPI. Results: Best results were obtained if both the EPI section orientation and the frequency-encoding gradient were parallel to the plane of the TMS coil. Under these conditions, a TMS pulse caused image distortions when preceding the EPI sequence by less than 100 msec. Recordings with a magnetic field gradient pick-up coil revealed transient magnetic fields after TMS, which are generated by eddy currents in the TMS coil. TMS during image acquisition completely spoiled all transverse magnetizations and induced disturbances ranging from image corruption to mild image blurring, depending on the affected low and high spatial frequencies. Simultaneous TMS and radio-frequency (RF) excitation gave rise to T1- dependent signal changes that lasted for several seconds and yielded pronounced false-positive activations during functional brain mapping. Conclusion: To ensure reliable and robust combinations, TMS should be applied at least 100 msec before EPI while completely avoiding any pulses during imaging

Relationship between Personality Traits and Brain Reward Responses when Playing on a Team

Cooperation is an integral part of human social life and we often build teams to achieve certain goals. However, very little is currently understood about emotions with regard to cooperation. Here, we investigated the impact of social context (playing alone versus playing on a team) on emotions while winning or losing a game. We hypothesized that activity in the reward network is modulated by the social context and that personality characteristics might impact team play. We conducted an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment that involved a simple game of dice. In the team condition, the participant played with a partner against another two-person team. In the single-player condition, the participant played alone against another player. Our results revealed that reward processing in the right amygdala was modulated by the social context. The main effect of outcome (gains versus losses) was associated with increased responses in the reward network. We also found that differences in the reward-related neural response due to social context were associated with specific personality traits. When playing on a team, increased activity in the amygdala during winning was a unique function of openness, while decreased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum during losing was associated with extraversion and conscientiousness, respectively. In conclusion, we provide evidence that working on a team influences the affective value of a negative outcome by attenuating the negative response associated with it in the amygdala. Our results also show that brain reward responses in a social context are affected by personality traits related to teamwork

Image Artifacts in Concurrent Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and fMRI Caused by Leakage Currents: Modeling and Compensation

Purpose: To characterize and eliminate a new type of image artifact in concurrent transcranial magnetic stimulation and functional MRI (TMS-fMRI) caused by small leakage currents originating from the high-voltage capacitors in the TMS stimulator system.Materials and Methods: The artifacts in echo-planar images (EPI) caused by leakage currents were characterized and quantified in numerical simulations and phantom studies with different phantom-coil geometries. A relay-diode combination was devised and inserted in the TMS circuit that shorts the leakage current. Its effectiveness for artifact reduction was assessed in a phantom scan resembling a realistic TMS-fMRI experiment.Results: The leakage-current-induced signal changes exhibited a multipolar spatial pattern and the maxima exceeded 1% at realistic coil-cortex distances. The relay-diode combination effectively reduced the artifact to a negligible level.Conclusion: The leakage-current artifacts potentially obscure effects of interest or lead to false-positives. Since the artifact depends on the experimental setup and design (eg. amplitude of the leakage current, coil orientation, paradigm. EPI parameters), we recommend its assessment for each experiment. The relay-diode combination can eliminate the artifacts if necessary

New approaches to the study of human brain networks underlying spatial attention and related processes

Cognitive processes, such as spatial attention, are thought to rely on extended networks in the human brain. Both clinical data from lesioned patients and fMRI data acquired when healthy subjects perform particular cognitive tasks typically implicate a wide expanse of potentially contributing areas, rather than just a single brain area. Conversely, evidence from more targeted interventions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or invasive microstimulation of the brain, or selective study of patients with highly focal brain damage, can sometimes indicate that a single brain area may make a key contribution to a particular cognitive process. But this in turn raises questions about how such a brain area may interface with other interconnected areas within a more extended network to support cognitive processes. Here, we provide a brief overview of new approaches that seek to characterise the causal role of particular brain areas within networks of several interacting areas, by measuring the effects of manipulations for a targeted area on function in remote interconnected areas. In human participants, these approaches include concurrent TMS-fMRI and TMS-EEG, as well as combination of the focal lesion method in selected patients with fMRI and/or EEG measures of the functional impact from the lesion on interconnected intact brain areas. Such approaches shed new light on how frontal cortex and parietal cortex modulate sensory areas in the service of attention and cognition, for the normal and damaged human brain