PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M D'Esposito

Publications and source records attributed to M D'Esposito.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

The roles of prefrontal brain regions in components of working memory: effects of memory load and individual differences.

Using an event-related functional MRI design, we explored the relative roles of dorsal and ventral prefrontal cortex (PFC) regions during specific components (Encoding, Delay, Response) of a working memory task under different memory-load conditions. In a group analysis, effects of increased memory load were observed only in dorsal PFC in the encoding period. Activity was lateralized to the right hemisphere in the high but not the low memory-load condition. Individual analyses revealed variability in activation patterns across subjects. Regression analyses indicated that one source of variability was subjects' memory retrieval rate. It was observed that dorsal PFC plays a differentially greater role in information retrieval for slower subjects, possibly because of inefficient retrieval processes or a reduced quality of mnemonic representations. This study supports the idea that dorsal and ventral PFC play different roles in component processes of working memory.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

DNA methylation in transcriptional repression of two differentially expressed X-linked genes, GPC3 and SYBL1.

Methylation of CpG islands is an established transcriptional repressive mechanism and is a feature of silencing in X chromosome inactivation. Housekeeping genes that are subject to X inactivation exhibit differential methylation of their CpG islands such that the inactive alleles are hypermethylated. In this report, we examine two contrasting X-linked genes with CpG islands for regulation by DNA methylation: SYBL1, a housekeeping gene in the Xq pseudoautosomal region, and GPC3, a tissue-specific gene in Xq26 that is implicated in the etiology of the Simpson-Golabi-Behmel overgrowth syndrome. We observed that in vitro methylation of either the SYBL1 or the GPC3 promoter resulted in repression of reporter constructs. In normal contexts, we found that both the Y and inactive X alleles of SYBL1 are repressed and hypermethylated, whereas the active X allele is expressed and unmethylated. Furthermore, the Y and inactive X alleles of SYBL1 were derepressed by treatment with the demethylating agent azadeoxycytidine. GPC3 is also subject to X inactivation, and the active X allele is unmethylated in nonexpressing leukocytes as well as in an expressing cell line, suggesting that methylation is not involved in the tissue-specific repression of this allele. The inactive X allele, however, is hypermethylated in leukocytes, presumably reflecting early X inactivation events that become important for gene dosage in expressing lineages. These and other data suggest that all CpG islands on Xq, including the pseudoautosomal region, are subject to X inactivation-induced methylation. Additionally, methylation of SYBL1 on Yq may derive from a process related to X inactivation that targets large chromatin domains for transcriptional repression.

Aza Compounds↗
PubMed1999

Stimulus inversion and the responses of face and object-sensitive cortical areas.

Behavioral and neuropsychological studies suggest that upright and inverted face stimuli are processed by computationally and anatomically distinct systems. Specifically, inverted faces seem to be addressed by general object perception systems, avoiding face-specific processes. We tested this model by examining the fMRI signal response of a functionally defined fusiform face area and bilateral object-responsive cortical areas during the perception of upright and inverted stimuli (faces and cars). While inversion of face stimuli had no effect upon the magnitude of responses in the fusiform face area, inverted faces evoked greater neural responses compared to upright faces within object regions. This finding supports the assertion that object areas are involved to a greater degree in the perception of inverted vs upright faces.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Temporal isolation of the neural correlates of spatial mnemonic processing with fMRI.

The use of cognitive subtraction to study the neural substrates of the maintenance component of spatial working memory in humans relies upon the assumptions of the pure insertion of cognitive processes and a linear transform of neural activity to neuroimaging signal. Here, functional changes attributable to the memory requiring phase (referred to as the retention delay) of a spatial working memory task were temporally discriminated from those attributable to other behavioral subcomponents within trials using an experimental design that is argued to obviate these assumptions, as well as permit a joint test of their validity. The hypothesis that the assumptions of cognitive subtraction (as applied to neuroimaging) hold in general was not supported. Functional changes attributable to the retention delay were detected in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as well as in other cortical regions in a subset of the subjects, and in the right frontal eye field and right superior parietal lobule of all subjects (n=5). These results support models in which these regions are involved in maintaining spatial representations in humans. In addition, nearly all regions that evidenced such functional changes during the retention delay also evidenced functional changes during behaviors that did not require spatial working memory. This result tends to dispute models which posit the existence of gross neuroanatomical regions involved in solely mnemonic function.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Event-related functional MRI: implications for cognitive psychology.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has rapidly emerged as a powerful technique in cognitive neuroscience. We describe and critique a new class of imaging experimental designs called event-related fMRI that exploit the temporal resolution of fMRI by modeling fMRI signal changes associated with behavioral trials as opposed to blocks of behavioral trials. Advantages of this method over block designs include the ability to (a) randomize trial presentations, (b) test for functional correlates of behavioral measures with greater power, (c) directly examine the neural correlates of temporally dissociable components of behavioral trials (e.g., the delay period of a working memory task), and (d) test for differences in the onset time of neural activity evoked by different trial types. Consequently, event-related fMRI has the potential to address a number of cognitive psychology questions with a degree of inferential and statistical power not previously available.

Arousal↗
PubMed1998

Verb generation in patients with focal frontal lesions: a neuropsychological test of neuroimaging findings.

What are the neural bases of semantic memory? Traditional beliefs that the temporal lobes subserve the retrieval of semantic knowledge, arising from lesion studies, have been recently called into question by functional neuroimaging studies finding correlations between semantic retrieval and activity in left prefrontal cortex. Has neuroimaging taught us something new about the neural bases of cognition that older methods could not reveal or has it merely identified brain activity that is correlated with but not causally related to the process of semantic retrieval? We examined the ability of patients with focal frontal lesions to perform a task commonly used in neuroimaging experiments, the generation of semantically appropriate action words for concrete nouns, and found evidence of the necessity of the left inferior frontal gyrus for certain components of the verb generation task. Notably, these components did not include semantic retrieval per se.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Left prefrontal activation during episodic remembering: an event-related fMRI study.

The major current theory relating brain mechanisms in prefrontal cortex (PFC) to memory for discrete events (episodic memory) emphasizes the role of right PFC during retrieval. Using event-related fMRI, we found both right and left PFC activity during episodic remembering, but only the left PFC activity was related to the amount of episodic detail required at test. We suggest that right PFC subserves relatively simple, heuristic, cognitive processes and that left PFC is recruited for more reflectively demanding, systematic, processes. Episodic remembering often requires such systematic processes and, under those circumstances, recruits left, as well as right, PFC.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1998

Neural components of topographical representation.

Studies of patients with focal brain damage suggest that topographical representation is subserved by dissociable neural subcomponents. This article offers a condensed review of the literature of "topographical disorientation" and describes several functional MRI studies designed to test hypotheses generated by that review. Three hypotheses are considered: (i) The parahippocampal cortex is critically involved in the acquisition of exocentric spatial information in humans; (ii) separable, posterior, dorsal, and ventral cortical regions subserve the perception and long term representation of position and identity, respectively, of landmarks; and (iii) there is a distinct area of the ventral occipitotemporal cortex that responds maximally to building stimuli and may play a role in the perception of salient landmarks. We conclude with a discussion of the inferential limitations of neuroimaging and lesion studies. It is proposed that combining these two approaches allows for inferences regarding the computational involvement of a neuroanatomical substrate in a given cognitive process although neither method can strictly support this conclusion alone.

Agnosia↗
PubMed1998

A critique of the use of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) statistic for the analysis of BOLD fMRI data.

The use of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) statistic for testing hypotheses regarding activation in blood oxygenation level-dependent functional MRI data is critiqued on both theoretical and empirical grounds. Theoretically, it is argued that the KS test is formally unable to support inferences of interest to most neuro-imaging studies and has reduced sensitivity compared with parametric alternatives. Empirically, false-positive rates yielded by the KS test in human data collected under the null hypothesis were significantly in excess of tabular values. These excessive false-positive rates could be explained by the presence of temporal autocorrelation. We also present evidence that the distribution of blood oxygenation level-dependent functional MRI data is only slightly nonnormal, questioning the initial impetus for the use of the KS test in this context. Finally, it is noted that parametric alternatives exist that do provide adequate control of the false-positive rate and can support inferences of interest.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1998

Human prefrontal cortex is not specific for working memory: a functional MRI study.

Lesion studies in monkeys have provided evidence that lateral prefrontal cortex is necessary for working memory, the cognitive processes involved in the temporary maintenance and manipulation of information. Monkey electrophysiological studies, however, have also observed prefrontal neuronal activity associated with cognitive processes that are nonmnemonic. We tested the hypothesis that the same regions of human prefrontal cortex that demonstrate activity during working memory tasks would also demonstrate activity during tasks without working memory demands. During echoplanar fMRI imaging, subjects performed a three-condition experiment (working memory task, nonworking memory task, rest). In the working memory task, subjects observed serially presented stimuli and determined if each stimulus was the same as that presented two stimuli back. The nonworking memory task in Experiment 1 required subjects to identify a single predetermined stimulus; in Experiment 2, subjects were required to make a button press to every stimulus. In all subjects in both experiments, the working memory task exhibited greater prefrontal cortical activity compared to either nonworking memory task. In these same prefrontal regions, greater activation was also observed during both nonworking memory tasks compared to rest. We conclude that human lateral prefrontal cortex supports processes in addition to working memory. Thus, reverse inference of the form "if prefrontal cortex is active, working memory is engaged" is not supported.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

An area within human ventral cortex sensitive to "building" stimuli: evidence and implications.

Isolated, ventral brain lesions in humans occasionally produce specific impairments in the ability to use landmarks, particularly buildings, for way-finding. Using functional MRI, we tested the hypothesis that there exists a cortical region specialized for the perception of buildings. Across subjects, a region straddling the right lingual sulcus was identified that possessed the functional correlates predicted for a specialized building area. A series of experiments discounted several alternative explanations for the behavior of this site. These results are discussed in terms of their impact upon our understanding of the functional structure of visual processing, disorders of topographical disorientation, and the influence of environmental conditions upon neural organization.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Functional MRI studies of spatial and nonspatial working memory.

Single-unit recordings in monkeys have revealed neurons in the lateral prefrontal cortex that increase their firing during a delay between the presentation of information and its later use in behavior. Based on monkey lesion and neurophysiology studies, it has been proposed that a dorsal region of lateral prefrontal cortex is necessary for temporary storage of spatial information whereas a more ventral region is necessary for the maintenance of nonspatial information. Functional neuroimaging studies, however, have not clearly demonstrated such a division in humans. We present here an analysis of all reported human functional neuroimaging studies plotted onto a standardized brain. This analysis did not find evidence for a dorsal/ventral subdivision of prefrontal cortex depending on the type of material held in working memory, but a hemispheric organization was suggested (i.e., left-nonspatial; right-spatial). We also performed functional MRI studies in 16 normal subjects during two tasks designed to probe either nonspatial or spatial working memory, respectively. A group and subgroup analysis revealed similarly located activation in right middle frontal gyrus (Brodmann's area 46) in both spatial and nonspatial [working memory-control] subtractions. Based on another model of prefrontal organization [M. Petrides, Frontal lobes and behavior, Cur. Opin. Neurobiol., 4 (1994) 207-211], a reconsideration of the previous imaging literature data suggested that a dorsal/ventral subdivision of prefrontal cortex may depend upon the type of processing performed upon the information held in working memory.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Semantic memory in Alzheimer's disease: representativeness, ontologic category, and material.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with semantic memory difficulty and AD patients with relatively preserved semantic memory named pictures and judged the category membership of words and pictures of natural kinds and manufactured artifacts that varied in their representativeness. Only semantically impaired patients were insensitive to representativeness in their category judgments. AD subgroup judgments did not differ for natural kinds compared to manufactured artifacts nor for words compared to pictures. AD subgroup differences could not be explained by dementia severity, memory, reading, and visuoperception. The similarity process for relating coordinate members of a taxonomic category contributes to the normal appreciation of word and picture meaning, and this process is compromised in AD patients with semantic difficulty.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Differential effect of a dopaminergic agonist on prefrontal function in traumatic brain injury patients.

We examined the effects of low-dose bromocriptine, a D2 dopamine receptor agonist, on processes thought to be subserved by the prefrontal cortex, including working memory and executive function, in individuals with traumatic brain injury. A group of 24 subjects was tested using a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, counterbalanced for order. Bromocriptine was found to improve performance on some tasks thought to be subserved by prefrontal function, but not others. Specifically, there was improvement in performance on clinical measures of executive function and in dual-task performance, but not measures that tap the ability to maintain information in working memory without significant executive demands. Also, on control tasks not thought to be dependent on the prefrontal cortex, no improvement on bromocriptine was noted. These results demonstrate a selective effect of bromocriptine on cognitive processes which involve executive control, and provide a foundation for potential therapies for patients with prefrontal damage causing dysexecutive syndromes.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Language comprehension and regional cerebral defects in frontotemporal degeneration and Alzheimer's disease.

We related profiles of language comprehension difficulty to patterns of reduced cerebral functioning obtained with high-resolution single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in patients with neurodegenerative conditions. We found different patterns of reduced relative cerebral perfusion in patients with frontotemporal degeneration (FD) and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Cognitive assessments also showed different patterns of impaired comprehension in patients with FD and patients with AD. Grammatical comprehension difficulty in FD correlated with relative cerebral perfusion in left frontal and anterior temporal brain regions; impaired semantic processing in AD correlated with relative cerebral perfusion in inferior parietal and superior temporal regions of the left hemisphere. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that a neural network distributed throughout the left hemisphere subserving different aspects of language comprehension, rather than a single brain region, is responsible for understanding language.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Functional MRI lateralization of memory in temporal lobe epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the feasibility of using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to detect asymmetries in the lateralization of memory activation in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). BACKGROUND: Assessment of mesial temporal lobe function is a critical aspect of the preoperative evaluation for epilepsy surgery, both for predicting postoperative memory deficits and for seizure lateralization. fMRI offers several potential advantages over the current gold standard, intracarotid amobarbital testing (IAT). fMRI has already been successfully applied to language lateralization in TLE. METHODS: fMRI was carried out in eight normal subjects and 10 consecutively recruited patients with TLE undergoing preoperative evaluation for epilepsy surgery. A complex visual scene encoding task known to activate mesial temporal structures was used during fMRI. Asymmetry ratios for mesial temporal activation were calculated, using regions of interest defined in normals. Patient findings were compared with the results of IAT performed as part of routine clinical evaluation. RESULTS: Task activation was nearly symmetric in normal subjects, whereas in patients with TLE, significant asymmetries were observed. In all nine patients in whom the IAT result was interpretable, memory asymmetry by fMRI concurred with the findings of IAT including two patients with paradoxical IAT memory lateralization ipsilateral to seizure focus. CONCLUSIONS: fMRI can be used to detect asymmetries in memory activation in patients with TLE. Because fMRI studies are noninvasive and provide excellent spatial resolution for functional activation, these preliminary results suggest a promising role for fMRI in improving the preoperative evaluation for epilepsy surgery.

Adolescent↗