Biology subjects

Malvaso, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Malvaso, C..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

FREQ-NESS reveals age-related differences in frequency-resolved brain networks during auditory recognition and resting state

Understanding how brain networks operate across different frequencies during cognitive tasks, and how these dynamics change with age, remains a central challenge in cognitive neuroscience. While previous studies have focused on resting-state activity and passive listening, less is known about frequency-specific brain dynamics during event-related tasks that require active memory engagement. In this study, we extend the recently developed FREQ-NESS analytical pipeline by adapting it to event-related task and resting state source-reconstructed magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from 70 healthy participants. This method quantified the variance explained by frequency-specific brain networks, their spatial organization, and associated time-resolved power estimates. We found significant effects of age, condition, and their interaction in the variance explained by leading components at 1.07 Hz, 2.86 Hz, and 10.00 Hz. Younger adults exhibited stronger peaks at 1.07 and 2.86 Hz during the task and a more pronounced 10.00 Hz peak at rest, whereas older adults showed the opposite pattern. Time-frequency analysis revealed age- and condition-dependent desynchronization in the alpha and beta bands (7.10-22.90 Hz). These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the adapted FREQ-NESS pipeline for event-related tasks and highlight the importance of frequency-resolved network analysis for characterizing age-related changes in active auditory memory processing.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

BROADband brain Network Estimation via Source Separation (BROAD-NESS)

Auditory memory enables the recognition of sound sequences by integrating sensory input with memory traces and predictive mechanisms. While predictive coding has been proposed as a key framework for this process, the large-scale brain networks supporting it remain poorly understood. Using BROADband brain Network Estimation via Source Separation (BROAD-NESS), we provide three fundamental insights into the neural organisation of auditory memory and predictive coding. First, auditory cortices participate in two distinct, orthogonal whole-brain networks, expanding on the conventional view focused on forward and backward information flow between single brain regions. One network involves the medial cingulate gyrus, while the other integrates prefrontal and hippocampal regions, inferior temporal cortex, and insula. Second, we present evidence for a dual-stream mechanism in auditory memory recognition, which both parallels and diverges from the well-established dual-stream hypothesis in vision. Third, predictive coding in conscious auditory memory is supported by large-scale networks generating confirmed predictions and prediction errors. While previous studies examined predictive coding in isolated regions or pairwise connections, our findings reveal how whole-brain networks coordinate these processes, highlighting fine-grained spatial gradients and distinct temporal dynamics. These findings enhance our understanding of auditory perception, memory, and prediction, as well as their underlying basis in whole-brain dynamical networks.

neuroscience↗