INTRODUCTION Understanding the mental states of others entails a number of cognitive processes known as Theory of Mind (ToM). Behavioural and functional neuroimaging evidence suggests that prefrontal and temporo-parietal cortices are involved in these abilities. The present study was aimed at investigating the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and temporo-parietal junction in ToM by us...

1. Introduction 63 1.1 Outline 63 1.2 Universals versus realizations in the study of learning and memory 64 2. Large random cortical networks developing ex vivo 65 2.1 Preparation 65 2.2 Measuring electrical activity 67 3. Spontaneous development 69 3.1 Activity 69 3.2 Connectivity 70 4. Consequences of spontaneous activity : pharmacological manipulations 72 4.1 Structural consequences 72 4.2 F...

BACKGROUND Functional acupoint specificity is crucial to the clinical efficacy of acupuncture treatment, such as pain relief. Whether acupuncture needling at a peripheral acupoint produces distinct patterns of brain responses remains controversial. RESULTS This fMRI study employed the complex network analysis (CNA) to test the hypothesis that acupuncture stimulation at an acupoint correspondi...

High-frequency deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the thalamus or basal ganglia represents an effective clinical technique for the treatment of several medically refractory movement disorders. However, understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the therapeutic action of DBS remains elusive. The goal of this review is to address our present knowledge of the effects of high-frequency stimulatio...

Abstract Among other electrophysiological biomarkers, power reduction in the alpha frequency band (8-12 Hz) is characteristic of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Restoring this could help improve performance related functional networks and cognitive state AD patients. Transcranial alternate current stimulation (tACS) stands as a promising tool regard, given its capacity to entrain neural activity at p...

PURPOSE To explore the use of noninvasive functional imaging and "virtual" lesion techniques to study the neural mechanisms underlying motor speech disorders in Parkinson's disease. Here, we report the use of positron emission tomography (PET) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to explain exacerbated speech impairment following subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) in a ...

A primary aim in the neuroscientific study of depression is to identify the brain areas involved in the pathogenesis of symptoms. In this review, we describe evidence from studies employing various experimental approaches in humans (functional imaging, lesion method, and brain stimulation) that converge to implicate the ventromedial and dorsolateral sectors of prefrontal cortex as critical neur...

background: an imbalance of the cerebrovascular response during functional activation of the brain has been postulated as a factor in the pathophysiology of migraine. the purpose of this study was to determine the transcranial doppler sonography (tds) diagnostic value for the cerebral flow velocity changes in the interictal phase of classic migraine. methods: this study was carried out on 46 pa...

Functional brain imaging techniques depend on the relationship between regional hemodynamic responses and neural activity. The positive hemodynamic response (PHR) has widely been discussed and has generally been associated with an increase in neuronal signals. In contrast, the negative hemodynamic response (NHR) has not been investigated extensively, and its underlying nature is highly controve...

BACKGROUND Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique able to localize neural activity in the brain by detecting associated changes in blood flow. It is an essential tool for studying human functional neuroanatomy including the auditory system. There are only a few studies, however, using fMRI to study canine brain functions. In the current study ten anesthetized dogs were scan...