2 research outputs found

    Theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling: physiological basics, analysis methods, and perspectives of translation into clinical practice

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    Studying rhythmic neural synchronization (cross-frequency coupling in various ranges) is an emerging topic in present-day neurophysiology. One of the best-studied cross-frequency couplings is theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling that contributes to the cognitive function and may vary in patients with several conditions associated with cognitive impairment. Changes in theta-gamma coupling can be registered in a wide range of diseases associated with cognitive decline. The review covers the physiological basics of theta-gamma coupling, its registration and calculation, correlation with cognitive test results in healthy volunteers, and changes in patients. We have discussed the results of the preliminary studies of frequency-dependent non-invasive brain stimulation based on theta-gamma coupling

    Brain Activations and Functional Connectivity Patterns Associated with Insight-Based and Analytical Anagram Solving

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    Insight is one of the most mysterious problem-solving phenomena involving the sudden emergence of a solution, often preceded by long unproductive attempts to find it. This seemingly unexplainable generation of the answer, together with the role attributed to insight in the advancement of science, technology and culture, stimulate active research interest in discovering its neuronal underpinnings. The present study employs functional Magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to probe and compare the brain activations occurring in the course of solving anagrams by insight or analytically, as judged by the subjects. A number of regions were activated in both strategies, including the left premotor cortex, left claustrum, and bilateral clusters in the precuneus and middle temporal gyrus. The activated areas span the majority of the clusters reported in a recent meta-analysis of insight-related fMRI studies. At the same time, the activation patterns were very similar between the insight and analytical solutions, with the only difference in the right sensorimotor region probably explainable by subject motion related to the study design. Additionally, we applied resting-state fMRI to study functional connectivity patterns correlated with the individual frequency of insight anagram solutions. Significant correlations were found for the seed-based connectivity of areas in the left premotor cortex, left claustrum, and left frontal eye field. The results stress the need for optimizing insight paradigms with respect to the accuracy and reliability of the subjective insight/analytical solution classification. Furthermore, the short-lived nature of the insight phenomenon makes it difficult to capture the associated neural events with the current experimental techniques and motivates complementing such studies by the investigation of the structural and functional brain features related to the individual differences in the frequency of insight-based decisions
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