Biology subjects

Woodward, T. S.

Publications and source records attributed to Woodward, T. S..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Cognitive modes involved in emotion regulation identified using Constrained Principal Component Analysis for fMRI (fMRI-CPCA)

Meta-analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified networks of widely distributed brain regions supporting emotion regulation. These overlap with attentional or cognitive control brain networks. The literature is short on data speaking to specific neurocognitive functions of these broad brain networks in reappraisal - a key emotion regulatory strategy involving the reframing of an event according to a goal to increase or decrease experienced emotion. We address this gap by examining both the spatial configuration and temporal profile of event-related blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) responses during a task requiring reappraisal. We analysed fMRI datasets obtained from 84 participants (51% female) who were instructed to increase or decrease their emotional response to unpleasant images. We extracted spatial maps and their estimated temporal event-related BOLD signal changes of four components with the highest loadings. Neurocognitive functions were derived by mapping each component onto templates of previously identified task-based cognitive modes. This analysis yielded four cognitive modes: 1) "multiple demand" 2) "response", 3) "re-evaluation", and 4) "default mode". The temporal profiles showed particularly prominent patterns for the increase and decrease conditions in "multiple demand" (mode 1) and "re-evaluation" (mode 3) respectively. These findings highlight a central role for specific neurocognitive processes linked to attentional control ("multiple demand") and switching ("re-evaluation"), as part of the broad brain networks supporting reappraisal. Moreover, the level of neural engagement of these cognitive modes varies depending on the regulatory goal. These findings provide tangible targets for neurocognitive interventions such as neurostimulation when emotion regulation is compromised.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2025

Cognitive Mode Detectable with Task-Based fMRI: Default Mode B (DMB)

In the context of task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), cognitive modes can be defined as task-general cognitive/sensory/motor processes which reliably elicit specific blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal pattern configurations. A number of cognitive modes are detectable with task-based fMRI, and here we focus on Default Mode B (DMB), a task-negative and late-trial peaking cognitive mode. The BOLD signal configurations associated with DMB are modulated by a range of tasks, and here we present eight. For each task, we report: (1) specific pattern-based (as opposed to coordinate-based) anatomical details essential for distinguishing DMB from other BOLD-based cognitive modes, and (2) task-induced BOLD signal changes associated with DMB over a range of task conditions. In order to facilitate recognition, we nick-named the anatomical patterns specific to DMB as follows: (1) In Flight, (2) Medial Temporal Dots, (3) Snowman Nose, (4) Angel Wings, and (5) Tripod. Evidence for DMB was derived from the timing and magnitude of task-induced BOLD signal changes induced by the following tasks: working memory, spatial capacity, semantic association, evidence integration, Ravens matrices, autobiographical event simulation, meditation and social perception. It was observed that deactivations in DMB were sensitive to cognitive load during attention to specific features of the external environment, based on evidence from working memory, spatial capacity, semantic association, evidence integration, and Ravens matrices. It was also observed that activations in DMB involved a cognitive process for engaging in mental projection into self-relevant social narratives, based on evidence from autobiographical event simulation, meditation, and social perception. Future research may explore DMB activation over a wider range of tasks in larger samples.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Brain Networks Detectable by fMRI during On-Line Self Report of Hallucinations in Schizophrenia

An analysis of an internationally shared functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data involving healthy participants and schizophrenia patients extracted brain networks involved in listening to radio speech and capture hallucination experiences. A multidimensional analysis technique demonstrated that for radio-speech sound files, a brain network matching known auditory perception networks emerged, and importantly, displayed speech-duration-dependent hemodynamic responses (HDRs), confirming fMRI detection of these speech events. In the hallucination-capture data, although a sensorimotor (response) network emerged, it did not show hallucination-duration-dependent HDRs. We conclude that although fMRI retrieved the brain network involved in generating the motor responses indicating the start and end of an experienced hallucination, the hallucination event itself was not detected. Previous reports on brain networks detected by fMRI during hallucination capture is reviewed in this context.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Stability and similarity of the pediatric connectome as developmental outcomes

Patterns of functional connectivity are unique at the individual level, enabling test-retest matching algorithms to identify a subject from among a group using only their functional connectome. Recent findings show that accuracies of these algorithms in children increase with age. Relatedly, the persistence of functional connectivity (FC) patterns across tasks and rest also increases with age. This study investigated the hypothesis that within-subject stability and between-subject similarity of the whole-brain pediatric connectome are developmentally relevant outcomes. Using data from 210 help-seeking children and adolescents, ages 6-21 years (Healthy Brain Network Biobank), we computed whole-brain FC matrices for each participant during two different movies (MovieDM and MovieTP) and two runs of task-free rest (all from a single scan session) and fed these matrices to a test-retest matching algorithm. We replicated the finding that matching accuracies for children and youth (ages 6-21 years) are low (18-44%), and that cross-state and cross-movie accuracies were the lowest. Results also showed that parcellation resolution and the number of volumes used in each matrix affect fingerprinting accuracies. Next, we calculated three measures of whole-connectome stability for each subject: cross-rest (Rest1-Rest2), crossstate (MovieDM-Rest1), and cross-movie (MovieDM-MovieTP), and three measures of within-state between-subject connectome similarity for Rest1, MovieDM, and MovieTP. We show that stability and similarity were correlated, but that these measures were not related to age. A principal component analysis of these measures yielded two components that we used to test for brain-behavior correlations with IQ, general psychopathology, and social skills measures (n=119). The first component was significantly correlated with the social skills measure (r=-0.26, p=0.005). Post hoc correlations showed that the social skills measure correlated with both cross-rest stability (r=-0.29, p=0.001) and with connectome similarity during MovieDM (r=-0.28, p=0.002). These findings suggest that the stability and similarity of the whole-brain connectome relate to overall brain development, and in particular, to those regions that support social skills. We infer that the development of the functional connectome simultaneously achieves patterns of FC that are distinct at the individual subject level, that are shared across individuals, and that are persistent across states and across runs--features which presumably combine to optimize neural processing during development. Future longitudinal work could reveal the developmental trajectories of stability and similarity of the connectome. Highlights- Identification algorithms yielded low accuracies in this developmental sample. - Individual differences in FC were not as persistent across states or movies. - Connectome within-subject stability and between-subject similarity were interrelated. - Stability during rest and similarity during a movie correlate with social skills scores.

neuroscience↗