Authors:

MURPHY, F.C., DERMODY, N., WATSON, P., Scott, S.K., CALDER, A.J., PEERS, P.V., MANLY, T.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9166

Abstract:

Frontal lobe lesions have been associated with executive impairments and changes in emotional/social function. Empirical studies using emotion recognition tasks in people with frontal lesions have indeed reported impairments that are predominantly associated with medial lesions. However, work has also identified a fronto-parietal 'multiple demand' (MD) network that is engaged in a wide variety of cognitive tasks. Previous studies have shown that fluid intelligence (IQ) scores, treated as a marker of MD function, completely account for deficits in some, but not all, tests of putatively separate executive functions. Here, a group of 39 participants with frontal lesions showed significant impairments (relative to age, sex and premorbid IQ-matched controls) on a measure of fluid IQ and 4 emotion recognition tasks. They also had higher levels of depression symptoms. Depression symptoms did not account for emotion task impairment. Fluid IQ completely accounted for the impairments in one 'emotion task' of inferring the emotion likely to be experienced in each of a series of vignettes. However, whilst fluid IQ was correlated with the other emotion measures (tests of categorising emotional expression from faces, eyes, and non-verbal vocalisations), significant variance was left unexplained. The significant intercorrelations between these residual scores was suggestive of a common 'non-fluid IQ' factor that may have an association with left lateral frontal lesions. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of identifying common general cognitive influences on tests of ostensibly specific functions in clinical assessments and research studies.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

Zhou, A.X., Rajimehr, R., Firoozi, A.,, DUNCAN, J, MITCHELL, D.J.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9165

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

Zhao, S., Scholcz, A., ROUSE, MA., Klar, V.S., Ganse-Dumrath, A., Toniolo, S., Roulidakis, M.J., LAMBON RALPH, M.A., ROWE, J.B., Garrard, P., Thompson, S. Irani, S.R., Manohar, S.J., Husain, M.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9161

Abstract:

Apathy is a prevalent and persistent neuropsychiatric syndrome across many neurological disorders, significantly impacting both patients and caregivers. We systematically quantified discrepancies between self- and caregiver-reported apathy in 335 patients with a variety of diagnoses, frontotemporal dementia (behavioural variant and semantic dementia subtypes), Parkinson’s disease, Parkinson’s disease dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer’s disease dementia, mild cognitive impairment, small vessel cerebrovascular disease, subjective cognitive decline and autoimmune encephalitis. Using the Apathy-Motivation Index (AMI) and its analogous caregiver version (AMI-CG), we found that caregiver-reported apathy consistently exceeded self-reported levels across all conditions. Moreover, self-reported apathy accounted for only 14.1% of the variance in caregiver ratings. This apathy reporting discrepancy was most pronounced in conditions associated with impaired insight, such as behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, and was significantly correlated with cognitive impairment. Deficits in memory and fluency explained an additional 11.2% of the variance in caregiver-reported apathy. Specifically, executive function deficits (e.g., indexed by fluency) and memory impairments may contribute to behavioural inertia or recall of it. These findings highlight the need to integrate patient and caregiver perspectives in apathy assessments, especially for conditions with prominent cognitive impairment. To improve diagnostic accuracy and deepen our understanding of apathy across neurological disorders, we highlight the need of adapted apathy assessment strategies that account for cognitive impairment particularly in individuals with insight or memory deficits. Understanding the cognitive mechanisms underpinning discordant apathy reporting in dementia might help to inform targeted clinical interventions and reduce caregiver burden.

URL:

Data for this project is held by an external institution. Please contact the authors to request a copy.

Authors:

SHALEV, I., Waller, R., Wagner, N.J., Uzefovsky, F.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9160

Abstract:

Empathy, a socioemotional capacity with emotional and cognitive components, develops from infancy onward. An imbalance between these components, termed empathic disequilibrium, is related to socioemotional difficulties in adulthood, but how empathic disequilibrium changes across development and whether these changes relate to socioemotional difficulties, remain to be discovered. This study investigated changes in empathic disequilibrium with age in children aged 3 to 12 years and its associations with socioemotional outcomes. 303 children from the general population were assessed at three timepoints, four months apart. Parent-reported measures of cognitive and emotional empathy, along with socioemotional outcomes (conduct and emotional problems, callous-unemotional traits, and prosocial behavior), were analyzed. Considering within and between participant variability in age, we characterized empathic disequilibrium development, and examined whether socioemotional outcomes at the last timepoint moderated this trajectory. Empathic disequilibrium typically shifted from emotional-empathy dominance at age 3 years to equilibrium between ages 4.7 and 6.9. Afterwards, a trend toward cognitive-empathy dominance emerged, which declined during early adolescence. Children with socioemotional difficulties at the final timepoint showed distinct developmental patterns of empathic disequilibrium. Specifically, children with high emotional problems, callous-unemotional traits, and low prosocial behavior were less likely to achieve empathic equilibrium by age 12, with those showing high conduct problems reaching equilibrium later than their peers. This study illustrates how empathic disequilibrium develops from early childhood to adolescence and its links with socioemotional outcomes. These findings suggest that tracking empathic disequilibrium could help identify children who may benefit from tailored interventions.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

Vidal-Piñeiro, D., Sørensen, O., Strømstad, M., Amlien, I., Anderson, M., Baaré, W.F.C., Bartrés-Faz, D., Brandmaier, A.M., Bråthen, A.C., Garrido, P., Ghisletta P.; Grydeland, H., Henson, R.N., Rogier K.A., Kormacher, M., Kühn, S., Lindenberger, U., Mowinckel, A.M., Nyberg, L., Roe, J.M., Sneve, M.H., Sole-Padulles, C., Watne, L-O., Walhovd, K.B. & Fjell, A.M.

Reference:

Year of publication:

In Press

CBU number:

9156

Abstract:

In neuroimaging research, tracking individuals over time is key to understanding the interplay between brain changes and genetic, environmental, or cognitive factors across the lifespan. Yet, the extent to which we can estimate the individual trajectories of brain change over time with precision remains uncertain. In this study, we estimated the reliability of structural brain change in cognitively healthy adults from multiple samples and assessed the influence of follow-up time and number of observations. Estimates of cross-sectional measurement error and brain change variance were obtained using the longitudinal FreeSurfer processing stream. Our findings showed, on average, modest longitudinal reliability with 2 years of follow-up. Increasing the follow-up time was associated with a substantial increase in longitudinal reliability, while the impact of increasing the number of observations was comparatively minor. On average, 2-year follow-up studies require ≈2.7 and ≈4.0 times more individuals than designs with follow-ups of 4 and 6 years to achieve comparable statistical power. Subcortical volume exhibited higher longitudinal reliability than cortical area, thickness, and volume. The reliability estimates were comparable with those estimated from empirical data. The reliability estimates were affected by both the cohort’s age where younger adults had lower reliability of change and the preprocessing pipeline where the FreeSurfer’s longitudinal stream was notably superior than the cross-sectional stream. Suboptimal reliability inflated sample size requirements and compromised the ability to distinguish individual trajectories of brain aging. This study underscores the importance of long-term follow-ups and the need to consider reliability in longitudinal neuroimaging research.

URL:

Data for this project is available at: https://github.com/LCBC-UiO/Long_Brain_Reliability

Authors:

MONAGHAN, A., AKARCA, D., ASTLE, D.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9155

Abstract:

What role do our genes play in shaping the structural organisation of the living human brain? Across a sample of 2,153 children (9–11 years old), we address this question, focusing on common genetic variants associated with cognitive ability and diffusion-based structural neuroimaging. Using polygenic scores, we test how variability in the genetic signal associated with cognitive ability is linked to simulated structural network properties, such as network efficiency. We fit a computational model to each connectome that simulates the emergence of high-level network properties. Central to the model is an economic trade-off between the “cost” of forming a given connection (a distance penalty) and the topological “value” that connection brings to the network. To simulate the network properties of those with the highest genetic propensity for cognitive ability, we had to use a significantly weaker wiring cost penalty. This softer distance penalty produces more stochastic, diverse, and efficient simulated networks. Further, those with a high genetic propensity for cognitive ability exhibited a more randomised simulated topology. Finally, we took a different approach to exploring the relationships between genes and model parameters by linking the distribution of those parameters with post-mortem gene expression data, with a comparative pathway enrichment analysis. Across the sample, overlapping biological and cellular pathways between polygenic scores and each child’s optimal cost-value trade-off emerged. Together, the generative wiring distance term, which varied maximally across participants but minimally across the cortex, was enriched for more ontologies than the wiring value term, which varied maximally across the cortex. However, the overlap in enriched ontologies between polygenic scores and the wiring value term was greater than that of polygenic scores and the wiring distance term. This application of computational modelling demonstrates that the underlying economic trade-offs needed to simulate the higher-order topological properties of networks vary according to genetic propensity for cognitive ability.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

GARCIA, C., CARLYON, R.P.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9154

Abstract:

Objectives: Cochlear implant companies manufacture devices with different electrode array types. Some arrays have a straight geometry designed for minimal neuronal trauma, while others are precurved and designed to position the electrodes closer to the cochlear neurons. Due to their differing geometries, it is possible that the arrays are not only positioned differently inside the cochlea but also produce different patterns of the spread of current and of neural excitation. The panoramic electrically evoked compound action potential method (PECAP) provides detailed estimates of peripheral neural responsiveness and current spread for individual patients along the length of the cochlea. These estimates were assessed as a function of electrode position and array type, providing a normative dataset useful for identifying unusual patterns in individual patients. Design: ECAPs were collected from cochlear implant users using the forward-masking artifact-reduction technique for every combination of masker and probe electrode at the most comfortable level. Data were available for 91 ears using Cochlear devices, and 53 ears using Advanced Bionics devices. The Cochlear users had straight arrays (Slim Straight, CI-22 series, n = 35), or 1 of 2 precurved arrays (Contour Advance, CI-12 series, n = 43, or Slim Modiolar, CI-32 series, n = 13). Computed tomography scans were also available for 41 of them, and electrode-modiolus distances were calculated. The Advanced Bionics users had 1 of 2 straight arrays (1J, n = 9 or SlimJ, n = 20), or precurved arrays (Helix, n = 4 or Mid-Scala, n = 20). The ECAPs were submitted to the PECAP algorithm to estimate current spread and neural responsiveness along the length of the electrode array for each user. A linear mixed-effects model was used to determine whether there were statistically significant differences between different array types and/or for different electrodes, both for the PECAP estimates of current spread and neural responsiveness, as well as for the available electrode-modiolus distances. Correlations were also conducted between PECAP’s estimate of current spread and the electrode-modiolus distances. Results: For Cochlear users, significant effects of array type (p = 0.001) and of electrode (p < 0.001) were found on the PECAP’s current-spread estimate, as well as a significant interaction (p = 0.006). Slim Straight arrays had a wider overall current spread than both the precurved arrays (Contour Advance and Slim Modiolar). The interaction revealed the strongest effect at the apex. A significant correlation between PECAP’s current-spread estimate and the electrode-modiolus distances was also found across subjects (r = 0.516, p < 0.001). No effect of array type was found on PECAP’s estimate of current spread for the Advanced Bionics users (p = 0.979). Conclusions: These results suggest that for users of the Cochlear device, precurved electrode arrays show narrower current spread within the cochlea than those with lateral-wall electrode arrays, with the strongest effect present at the apex. No corresponding effects of array type were found in the Advanced Bionics device. This could have implications for device selection in clinical settings, although the authors underscore that this is a post-hoc analysis and does not demonstrate a causal link wherein device selection can be expected to give rise to specific neural excitation patterns.

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

JACKSON, J.B., Scrivener, C.L., CORREIA, M., MADA, M., & Woolgar, A.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9153

Abstract:

Background Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) concurrent with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can provide insights into the causal relationships between brain activity and behaviour. However, TMS pulses can cause artifacts in fMRI data, but these can be avoided if they are presented in short gaps between MRI slice acquisitions (interslice TMS-fMRI). New method We collected TMS-fMRI data to provide 1) guidance on the gap required and 2) a higher-level framework and code for researchers to test their own protocols. We quantified signal dropout and temporal signal-to-noise ratio in fMRI data (spherical phantom) for TMS pulses presented from up to 100ms before and after slice excitation. We delivered up to 3 pulses per volume with interslice gaps of 37.5ms/100ms (slice time 62.5ms), two 7-channel TMS-dedicated surface coils, and a multiband sequence (factor=2), on a Siemens 3T Prismafit scanner. We repeated a subset of parameters with a human participant. Results We observed minimal data contamination when pulses were applied at least -20ms/+50ms from slice excitation, and confirmed this approach can be used with 10Hz TMS. Comparison with existing methods Compared to other strategies that avoid TMS pulse-related artifacts, interslice allows for greater flexibility in terms of timing of the TMS pulse, MRI read out and any stimulus presentation. Conclusion A stimulation frequency faster than 10Hz would require a shorter gap or shorter slice acquisition times. Further, stimulator intensity, slice orientation, and the number of TMS pulses affected data quality and are important considerations for researchers when setting up their own protocol. Data on OSF (https://osf.io/tf5wj/

URL:

Data for this project is held by an external institution. Please contact the authors to request a copy.

Authors:

DERMODY, N., Lorenz, R., Goddard, E., Villringer, A., WOOLGAR, A.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2025

CBU number:

9147

Abstract:

Attention enables the selective processing of relevant information. Two types of selective attention, spatial and feature-selective attention, have separable neural effects but in real life are often used together. Here, we asked how these types of attention interact to affect information coding in a frontoparietal ‘multiple-demand’ (MD) network, essential for attentional control. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with multivariate pattern analysis, we examined how covert attention to object features (colour or shape) and spatial locations (left or right) influences coding of task-related stimulus information. We found that spatial and feature-selective attention interacted multiplicatively on information coding in MD and visual regions, such that there was above-chance decoding of the attended feature of the attended object and no detectable coding of visually equivalent but behaviourally irrelevant aspects of the visual display. The attended information had a multidimensional neural representation, with stimulus information (e.g., colour) and discrimination difficulty (distance from the categorical decision boundary) reflected in separate dimensions. Rather than boosting processing of whole objects or relevant features across space, our results suggest neural activity reflects precise tuning to relevant information, indicating a highly selective control process that codes behaviourally relevant information across multiple dimensions. 

URL:

Data available, click to request

Authors:

JACKSON, J., Rich, A., Moerel, D., Teichman, L., DUNCAN, J., WOOLGAR, A.

Reference:

Year of publication:

In Press

CBU number:

9144

Abstract:

A defining feature of human cognition is our ability to respond flexibly to what we see and hear, changing how we respond depending on our current goals. In fact, we can rapidly associate almost any input stimulus with any arbitrary behavioural response. This remarkable ability is thought to depend on a frontoparietal “multiple demand” circuit which is engaged by many types of cognitive demand and widely referred to as domain general. However, it is not clear how responses to multiple input modalities are structured within this system. Domain generality could be achieved by holding information in an abstract form that generalises over input modality, or in a modality-tagged form, which uses similar resources but produces unique codes to represent the information in each modality. We used a stimulusresponse task, with conceptually identical rules in two sensory modalities (visual and auditory), to distinguish between these possibilities. Multivariate decoding of functional magnetic resonance imaging data showed that representations of visual and auditory rules recruited overlapping neural resources but were expressed in modality-tagged nongeneralisable neural codes. Our data suggest that this frontoparietal system may draw on the same or similar resources to solve multiple tasks, but does not create modality-general representations of task rules, even when those rules are conceptually identical between domains. The ethical approval for this study does not allow us to share raw data openly. Source data for main report Figs. 2-5 and supplementary Figs. 1-3 is available on Open Science Framework (OSF) (osf.io/hcpku) and in the zip file above. Template regions of interest and the code used to analyse the current study are publicly available on OSF (osf.io/hcpku).

Data for this project is available at: osf.io/hcpku