Dataset Information

A tool for functional brain imaging with lifespan compliance.

ABSTRACT: The human brain undergoes significant functional and structural changes in the first decades of life, as the foundations for human cognition are laid down. However, non-invasive imaging techniques to investigate brain function throughout neurodevelopment are limited due to growth in head-size with age and substantial head movement in young participants. Experimental designs to probe brain function are also limited by the unnatural environment typical brain imaging systems impose. However, developments in quantum technology allowed fabrication of a new generation of wearable magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology with the potential to revolutionise electrophysiological measures of brain activity. Here we demonstrate a lifespan-compliant MEG system, showing recordings of high fidelity data in toddlers, young children, teenagers and adults. We show how this system can support new types of experimental paradigm involving naturalistic learning. This work reveals a new approach to functional imaging, providing a robust platform for investigation of neurodevelopment in health and disease.

SUBMITTER: Hill RM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6831615 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A tool for functional brain imaging with lifespan compliance.

Hill Ryan M RM Boto Elena E Holmes Niall N Hartley Caroline C Seedat Zelekha A ZA Leggett James J Roberts Gillian G Shah Vishal V Tierney Tim M TM Woolrich Mark W MW Stagg Charlotte J CJ Barnes Gareth R GR Bowtell Richard R Slater Rebeccah R Brookes Matthew J MJ

Nature communications 20191105 1

The human brain undergoes significant functional and structural changes in the first decades of life, as the foundations for human cognition are laid down. However, non-invasive imaging techniques to investigate brain function throughout neurodevelopment are limited due to growth in head-size with age and substantial head movement in young participants. Experimental designs to probe brain function are also limited by the unnatural environment typical brain imaging systems impose. However, develo ...[more]

PMID: 31690797

Similar Datasets

Project description:Cerebrovascular health is important for maintaining a high level of cognitive performance, not only in old age, but also throughout the lifespan. Recently, it was first demonstrated that diffuse optical imaging measures of pulse amplitude and arterial compliance can provide estimates of cerebral arterial health throughout the cortex, and were associated with age, estimated cardiorespiratory fitness (eCRF), neuroanatomy and cognitive function in older adults (aged 55-87). The current study replicates and extends the original findings using a broader age range (a new adult sample aged 18-75), longer recording periods (360 s), and a more extensive optical montage (1536 channels). These methodological improvements represent a 5-fold increase in recording time and a 4-fold increase in coverage compared to the initial study. Results show that reliability for both pulse amplitude and compliance measures across recording blocks was very high (r(45) = .99 and .75, respectively). Pulse amplitude and pulse pressure were shown to correlate with age across the broader age range. We also found correlations between arterial health and both cortical and subcortical gray matter volumes. Additionally, we replicated the correlations between arterial compliance and age, eCRF, global brain atrophy, and cognitive flexibility. New regional analyses revealed that higher performance on the operation span (OSPAN) working memory task was associated with greater localized arterial compliance in frontoparietal cortex, but not with global arterial compliance. Further, greater arterial compliance in frontoparietal regions was associated with younger age and higher eCRF. These associations were not present in the visual cortex. The current study not only replicates the initial one in a sample including a much wider age range, but also provides new evidence showing that frontoparietal regions may be especially vulnerable to vascular degeneration during brain aging, with potential functional consequences in cognition.

Project description:The examination of functional connectivity in fMRI data collected during task-free "rest" has provided a powerful tool for studying functional brain organization. Limitations of this approach include susceptibility to head motion artifacts and participant drowsiness or sleep. These issues are especially relevant when studying young children or clinical populations. Here we introduce a movie paradigm, Inscapes, that features abstract shapes without a narrative or scene-cuts. The movie was designed to provide enough stimulation to improve compliance related to motion and wakefulness while minimizing cognitive load during the collection of functional imaging data. We compare Inscapes to eyes-open rest and to age-appropriate movie clips in healthy adults (Ocean's Eleven, n=22) and a pilot sample of typically developing children ages 3-7 (Fantasia, n=13). Head motion was significantly lower during both movies relative to rest for both groups. In adults, movies decreased the number of participants who self-reported sleep. Intersubject correlations, used to quantify synchronized, task-evoked activity across movie and rest conditions in adults, involved less cortex during Inscapes than Ocean's Eleven. To evaluate the effect of movie-watching on intrinsic functional connectivity networks, we examined mean functional connectivity using both whole-brain functional parcellation and network-based approaches. Both inter- and intra-network metrics were more similar between Inscapes and Rest than between Ocean's Eleven and Rest, particularly in comparisons involving the default network. When comparing movies to Rest, the mean functional connectivity of somatomotor, visual and ventral attention networks differed significantly across various analyses. We conclude that low-demand movies like Inscapes may represent a useful intermediate condition between task-free rest and typical narrative movies while still improving participant compliance. Inscapes is publicly available for download at headspacestudios.org/inscapes.

Dataset Information

A tool for functional brain imaging with lifespan compliance.

Publications

A tool for functional brain imaging with lifespan compliance.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure