Sensorimotor Mapping With MEG: An Update on the Current State of Clinical Research and Practice With Considerations for Clinical Practice Guidelines

Published: November 2020In this article, we present the clinical indications and advances in the use of magnetoencephalography to map the primary sensorimotor (SM1) cortex in neurosurgical patients noninvasively. We emphasize the advantages of magnetoencephalography over sensorimotor mapping using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Recommendations to the referring physicians and the clinical magnetoencephalographers to achieve appropriate sensorimotor cortex mapping using magnetoencephalography are proposed. We finally provide some practical advice for the use of corticomuscular coherence, corticokinematic coherence, and mu rhythm suppression in this indication. Magnetoencephalography should now be considered as a method of reference for presurgical functional mapping of the sensorimotor cortex.X. De Ti ege is Post-doctorate Clinical Master Specialist at the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS, Brussels, Belgium). M. Bourguignon has been supported by the program Attract of Innoviris (Grant 2015-BB2B-10), by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant PSI2016- 77175-P), and by the Marie Sk1odowska-Curie Action of the European Commission (Grant 743562). H. Piitulainen has been supported by the Academy of Finland (Grants #266133 and #296240), the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, and the Emil Aaltonen Foundation. The authors thank Professor Riitta Hari for her support in most of the research works published by the authors and presented in this article. The MEG project at the CUB H^opital Erasme is financially supported by the Fonds Erasme (Research convention “Les Voies du Savoir,” Fonds Erasme, Brussels, Belgium)

Speech‑derived haptic stimulation enhances speech recognition in a multi‑talker background

Published: 03 October 2023Speech understanding, while effortless in quiet conditions, is challenging in noisy environments. Previous studies have revealed that a feasible approach to supplement speech-in-noise (SiN) perception consists in presenting speech-derived signals as haptic input. In the current study, we investigated whether the presentation of a vibrotactile signal derived from the speech temporal envelope can improve SiN intelligibility in a multi-talker background for untrained, normal-hearing listeners. We also determined if vibrotactile sensitivity, evaluated using vibrotactile detection thresholds, modulates the extent of audio-tactile SiN improvement. In practice, we measured participants’ speech recognition in a multi-talker noise without (audio-only) and with (audio-tactile) concurrent vibrotactile stimulation delivered in three schemes: to the left or right palm, or to both. Averaged across the three stimulation delivery schemes, the vibrotactile stimulation led to a significant improvement of 0.41 dB in SiN recognition when compared to the audio-only condition. Notably, there were no significant differences observed between the improvements in these delivery schemes. In addition, audio-tactile SiN benefit was significantly predicted by participants’ vibrotactile threshold levels and unimodal (audio-only) SiN performance. The extent of the improvement afforded by speech-envelope-derived vibrotactile stimulation was in line with previously uncovered vibrotactile enhancements of SiN perception in untrained listeners with no known hearing impairment. Overall, these results highlight the potential of concurrent vibrotactile stimulation to improve SiN recognition, especially in individuals with poor SiN perception abilities, and tentatively more so with increasing tactile sensitivity. Moreover, they lend support to the multimodal accounts of speech perception and research on tactile speech aid devices.I. Sabina Răutu is supported by the Fonds pour la formation à la recherche dans l’industrie et l’agriculture (FRIA), Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS), Brussels, Belgium. Xavier De Tiège is Clinical Researcher at the FRS-FNRS. This research project has been supported by the Fonds Erasme (Research convention “Les Voies du Savoir 2”, Brussels, Belgium)

Altered neocortical tactile but preserved auditory early change detection responses in Friedreich ataxia

Available online 11 May 2019Objective: To study using magnetoencephalography (MEG) the spatio-temporal dynamics of neocortical responses involved in sensory processing and early change detection in Friedreich ataxia (FRDA). Methods: Tactile (TERs) and auditory (AERs) evoked responses, and early neocortical change detection responses indexed by the mismatch negativity (MMN) were recorded using tactile and auditory oddballs in sixteen FRDA patients and matched healthy subjects. Correlations between the maximal amplitude of each response, genotype and clinical parameters were investigated. Results: Evoked responses were detectable in all FRDA patients but one. In patients, TERs were delayed and reduced in amplitude, while AERs were only delayed. Only tactile MMN responses at the contralateral secondary somatosensory cortex were altered in FRDA patients. Maximal amplitudes of TERs, AERs and tactile MMN correlated with genotype, but did not correlate with clinical parameters. Conclusions: In FRDA, the amplitude of tactile MMN responses at SII cortex are reduced and correlate with the genotype, while auditory MMN responses are not altered. Significance: Somatosensory pathways and tactile early change detection are selectively impaired in FRDAThis study was financially supported by (i) the research grant ‘‘Les Voies du Savoir” from the Fonds Erasme (Brussels, Belgium) and (ii) the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS, Brussels, Belgium; research credit: J.0095.16.F). Gilles Naeije was supported by a research grant from the Fonds Erasme (Brussels, Belgium). Mathieu Bourguignon was supported by the program Attract of Innoviris (grant 2015-BB2B-10), by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant PSI2016-77175-P), and by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission (grant 743562). Xavier De Tiège is Postdoctorate Clinical Master Specialist at the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS, Brussels, Belgium). The MEG project at the CUB Hôpital Erasme is financially supported by the Fonds Erasme (Research grant ‘‘Les Voies du Savoir”, Brussels, Belgium). The authors would like to thank Brice Marty for his help in MEG data acquisition

Cortical tracking of lexical speech units in a multi-talker background is immature in school-aged children

Available online 1 December 2022Children have more difficulty perceiving speech in noise than adults. Whether this difficulty relates to an immature processing of prosodic or linguistic elements of the attended speech is still unclear. To address the impact of noise on linguistic processing per se, we assessed how babble noise impacts the cortical tracking of intelligible speech devoid of prosody in school-aged children and adults. Twenty adults and twenty children (7-9 years) listened to synthesized French monosyllabic words presented at 2.5 Hz, either randomly or in 4-word hierarchical structures wherein 2 words formed a phrase at 1.25 Hz, and 2 phrases formed a sentence at 0.625 Hz, with or without babble noise. Neuromagnetic responses to words, phrases and sentences were identified and source-localized. Children and adults displayed significant cortical tracking of words in all conditions, and of phrases and sentences only when words formed meaningful sentences. In children compared with adults, the cortical tracking was lower for all linguistic units in conditions without noise. In the presence of noise, the cortical tracking was similarly reduced for sentence units in both groups, but remained stable for phrase units. Critically, when there was noise, adults increased the cortical tracking of monosyllabic words in the inferior frontal gyri and supratemporal auditory cortices but children did not. This study demonstrates that the difficulties of school-aged children in understanding speech in a multi-talker background might be partly due to an immature tracking of lexical but not supra-lexical linguistic units.Maxime Niesen and Marc Vander Ghinst were supported by the Fonds Erasme (Brussels, Belgium). Mathieu Bourguignon and Julie Ber- tels have been supported by the program Attract of Innoviris (grants 2015-BB2B-10 and 2019-BFB-110). Julie Bertels has been supported by a research grant from the Fonds de Soutien Marguerite-Marie Delacroix (Brussels, Belgium). Xavier De Tiège is Clinical Researcher at the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS, Brussels, Belgium). We warmly thank Mélina Houinsou Hans for her statistical support during the re- view process

The role of reading experience in atypical cortical tracking of speech and speech-in-noise in dyslexia

Available online 5 March 2022Dyslexia is a frequent developmental disorder in which reading acquisition is delayed and that is usually associ- ated with difficulties understanding speech in noise. At the neuronal level, children with dyslexia were reported to display abnormal cortical tracking of speech (CTS) at phrasal rate. Here, we aimed to determine if abnormal tracking relates to reduced reading experience, and if it is modulated by the severity of dyslexia or the presence of acoustic noise. We included 26 school-age children with dyslexia, 26 age-matched controls and 26 reading-level matched controls. All were native French speakers. Children’s brain activity was recorded with magnetoencephalography while they listened to continuous speech in noiseless and multiple noise conditions. CTS values were compared between groups, conditions and hemispheres, and also within groups, between children with mild and severe dyslexia. Syllabic CTS was significantly reduced in the right superior temporal gyrus in children with dyslexia com- pared with controls matched for age but not for reading level. Severe dyslexia was characterized by lower rapid automatized naming (RAN) abilities compared with mild dyslexia, and phrasal CTS lateralized to the right hemi- sphere in children with mild dyslexia and all control groups but not in children with severe dyslexia. Finally, an alteration in phrasal CTS was uncovered in children with dyslexia compared with age-matched controls in babble noise conditions but not in other less challenging listening conditions (non-speech noise or noiseless conditions); no such effect was seen in comparison with reading-level matched controls. Overall, our results confirmed the finding of altered neuronal basis of speech perception in noiseless and babble noise conditions in dyslexia compared with age-matched peers. However, the absence of alteration in comparison with reading-level matched controls demonstrates that such alterations are associated with reduced reading level, suggesting they are merely driven by reduced reading experience rather than a cause of dyslexia. Finally, our result of altered hemispheric lateralization of phrasal CTS in relation with altered RAN abilities in severe dyslexia is in line with a temporal sampling deficit of speech at phrasal rate in dyslexia.Florian Destoky, Julie Bertels and Mathieu Bourguignon have been supported by the program Attract of Innoviris (Grants 2015-BB2B-10 and 2019-BFB-110). Julie Bertels has been supported by a research grant from the Fonds de Soutien Marguerite-Marie Delacroix (Brussels, Bel- gium). Xavier De Tiège is Post-doctorate Clinical Master Specialist at the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S.-FNRS, Brussels, Belgium). Mathieu Bourguignon has been supported by the Marie Sk ł odowska- Curie Action of the European Commission (Grant 743562). The MEG project at the CUB Hôpital Erasme and this study were financially supported by the Fonds Erasme (Research convention “Les Voies du Savoir ”, Brussels, Belgium). The PET-MR project at the CUB Hôpital Erasme is supported by the Association Vinçotte Nuclear (AVN, Brussels, Belgium)

Synchrony, metastability, dynamic integration, and competition in the spontaneous functional connectivity of the human brain

Available online 3 June 2019.The human brain is functionally organized into large-scale neural networks that are dynamically interconnected. Multiple short-lived states of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) identified transiently synchronized networks and cross-network integration. However, little is known about the way brain couplings covary as rsFC states wax and wane. In this magnetoencephalography study, we explore the synchronization structure among the spontaneous interactions of well-known resting-state networks (RSNs). To do so, we extracted modes of dynamic coupling that reflect rsFC synchrony and analyzed their spatio-temporal features. These modes identified transient, sporadic rsFC changes characterized by the widespread integration of RSNs across the brain, most prominently in the β band. This is in line with the metastable rsFC state model of resting-state dynamics, wherein our modes fit as state transition processes. Furthermore, the default-mode network (DMN) stood out as being structured into competitive cross-network couplings with widespread DMN-RSN interactions, especially among the β-band modes. These results substantiate the theory that the DMN is a core network enabling dynamic global brain integration in the β band.This work was supported by the Action de Recherche Concert ee (ARC Consolidation 2015–2019, “Characterization of the electrophysiological bases, the temporal dynamics and the functional relevance of resting state network” attributed to X.D.T.) and by the research convention “Les Voies du Savoir” (Fonds Erasme, Brussels, Belgium). M.B. benefited from the program Attract of Innoviris (grant 2015-BB2B-10), the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant PSI2016-77175-P), and theMarie Skłodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission (grant 743562). M.V.G. and G.N.were supported by the Fonds Erasme. N.C. benefited from a research grant from the ARC Consolidation (2014–2017, “Characterization of the electrophysiological bases, the temporal dynamics and the functional relevance of resting state network” attributed to X.D.T.) and from the Fonds Erasme (research convention “Les Voies du Savoir”). X.D.T. is Post-doctorate Clinical Master Specialist at the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (F.R.S.-FNRS, Brussels, Belgium). The MEG project at the CUB – H^opital Erasme is financially supported by the Fonds Erasme (research convention “Les Voies du Savoir”)

Inaccurate cortical tracking of speech in adults with impaired speech perception in noise

Published:10 September 2021Impaired speech perception in noise despite normal peripheral auditory function is a common problem in young adults. Despite a growing body of research, the pathophysiology of this impairment remains unknown. This magnetoencephalography study characterizes the cortical tracking of speech in a multi-talker background in a group of highly selected adult subjects with impaired speech perception in noise without peripheral auditory dysfunction. Magnetoencephalographic signals were recorded from 13 subjects with impaired speech perception in noise (six females, mean age: 30 years) and matched healthy subjects while they were listening to 5 different recordings of stories merged with a multi-talker background at different signal to noise ratios (No Noise, þ10, þ5, 0 and 5dB). The cortical tracking of speech was quantified with coherence between magnetoencephalographic signals and the temporal envelope of (i) the global auditory scene (i.e. the attended speech stream and the multi-talker background noise), (ii) the attended speech stream only and (iii) the multi-talker background noise. Functional connectivity was then estimated between brain areas showing altered cortical tracking of speech in noise in subjects with impaired speech perception in noise and the rest of the brain. All participants demonstrated a selective cortical representation of the attended speech stream in noisy conditions, but subjects with impaired speech perception in noise displayed reduced cortical tracking of speech at the syllable rate (i.e. 4–8Hz) in all noisy conditions. Increased functional connectivity was observed in subjects with impaired speech perception in noise in Noiseless and speech in noise conditions between supratemporal auditory cortices and left-dominant brain areas involved in semantic and attention processes. The difficulty to understand speech in a multi-talker background in subjects with impaired speech perception in noise appears to be related to an inaccurate auditory cortex tracking of speech at the syllable rate. The increased functional connectivity between supratemporal auditory cortices and language/attention-related neocortical areas probably aims at supporting speech perception and subsequent recognition in adverse auditory scenes. Overall, this study argues for a central origin of impaired speech perception in noise in the absence of any peripheral auditory dysfunction.Marc Vander Ghinst, Gilles Naeije and Maxime Niesen were supported by a research grant from the Fonds Erasme (Brussels, Belgium). Mathieu Bourguignon was supported by the Program Attract of Innoviris (grant 2015-BB2B-10), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant PSI2016-77175-P) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action of the European Commission (grant 743562). Gilles Naeije and Xavier De Tie`ge are Post-doctorate Clinical Master Specialist at the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FRS-FNRS, Brussels, Belgium). This study and the MEG project at the CUB Hoˆpital Erasme were financially supported by the Fonds Erasme (Research Convention ‘Les Voies du Savoir’, Fonds Erasme, Brussels, Belgium)

Cortical tracking of speech in noise accounts for reading strategies in children

Humans’ propensity to acquire literacy relates to several factors, including the ability to understand speech in noise (SiN). Still, the nature of the relation between reading and SiN perception abilities remains poorly understood. Here, we dissect the interplay between (1) reading abilities, (2) classical behavioral predictors of reading (phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming), and (3) electrophysiological markers of SiN perception in 99 elementary school children (26 with dyslexia). We demonstrate that, in typical readers, cortical representation of the phrasal content of SiN relates to the degree of development of the lexical (but not sublexical) reading strategy. In contrast, classical behavioral predictors of reading abilities and the ability to benefit from visual speech to represent the syllabic content of SiN account for global reading performance (i.e., speed and accuracy of lexical and sublexical reading). In individuals with dyslexia, we found preserved integration of visual speech information to optimize processing of syntactic information but not to sustain acoustic/phonemic processing. Finally, within children with dyslexia, measures of cortical representation of the phrasal content of SiN were negatively related to reading speed and positively related to the compromise between reading precision and reading speed, potentially owing to compensatory attentional mechanisms. These results clarify the nature of the relation between SiN perception and reading abilities in typical child readers and children with dyslexia and identify novel electrophysiological markers of emergent literacy

Measuring the cortical tracking of speech with optically-pumped magnetometers

During continuous speech listening, brain activity tracks speech rhythmicity at frequencies matching with the repetition rate of phrases (0.2-1.5 Hz), words (2-4 Hz) and syllables (4-8 Hz). Here, we evaluated the applicability of wearable MEG based on optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs) to measure such cortical tracking of speech (CTS). Measuring CTS with OPMs is a priori challenging given the complications associated with OPM measurements at frequencies below 4 Hz, due to increased intrinsic interference and head movement artifacts. Still, this represents an important development as OPM-MEG provides lifespan compliance and substantially improved spatial resolution compared with classical MEG. In this study, four healthy right-handed adults listened to continuous speech for 9 min. The radial component of the magnetic field was recorded simultaneously with 45-46 OPMs evenly covering the scalp surface and fixed to an additively manufactured helmet which fitted all 4 participants. We estimated CTS with reconstruction accuracy and coherence, and determined the number of dominant principal components (PCs) to remove from the data (as a preprocessing step) for optimal estimation. We also identified the dominant source of CTS using a minimum norm estimate. CTS estimated with reconstruction accuracy and coherence was significant in all 4 participants at phrasal and word rates, and in 3 participants (reconstruction accuracy) or 2 (coherence) at syllabic rate. Overall, close-to-optimal CTS estimation was obtained when the 3 (reconstruction accuracy) or 10 (coherence) first PCs were removed from the data. Importantly, values of reconstruction accuracy (~0.4 for 0.2-1.5-Hz CTS and ~0.1 for 2-8-Hz CTS) were remarkably close to those previously reported in classical MEG studies. Finally, source reconstruction localized the main sources of CTS to bilateral auditory cortices. In conclusion, t his study demonstrates that OPMs can be used for the purpose of CTS assessment. This finding opens new research avenues to unravel the neural network involved in CTS across the lifespan and potential alterations in, e.g. language developmental disorders. Data also suggest that OPMs are generally suitable for recording neural activity at frequencies below 4 Hz provided PCA is used as a preprocessing step; 0.2-1.5-Hz being the lowest frequency range successfully investigated here.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Brief Communication External globus pallidus stimulation modulates brain connectivity in Huntington's disease

Positron emission tomography with O-15-labeled water was used to study at rest the neurophysiological effects of bilateral external globus pallidus (GPe) deep brain stimulation in patients with Huntington's disease (HD). Five patients were compared with a control group in the on and off states of the stimulator. External globus pallidus stimulation decreased neuronal activity and modulated cerebral connectivity within the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuitry, the sensorimotor, and the default-mode networks. These data indicate that GPe stimulation modulates functional integration in HD patients in accordance with the basal ganglia-thalamocortical circuit model