TY - JOUR
T1 - Pan-cortical coordination underlying mental effort
AU - Lesser, Ronald P.
AU - Webber, W. R.S.
AU - Miglioretti, Diana L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Rebecca Fisher, Karen George, Viktar Kanasevich, and Noelle Stewart performed clinical stimulation testing, Cameron Davis, Amy Wright, and Mel Gross in the Argye Hillis lab performed neglect testing. Nathan Crone directed clinical CT/MRI reconstructions and provided suggestions regarding the manuscript. Portions of this study were supported by the Dr. Charles R. Fields Epilepsy and Neuroscience Fund and by gifts from patients and their families. Dr. Lesser or his wife has stock in the following companies which sell health care products: 3 M, Abbott Labs, Abbvie, Apple, Avanos, Celgene, Express Scripts, Johnson and Johnson, Merck & Company, Organon, Pfizer, Viatris. These have been disclosed to and approved by The Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies. The other authors report no conflicts.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - Objective: It is well known that activity in, or coordination among, brain regions, can underlie movement, sensation, language, and cognition but there are observations that tasks unrelated to specific brain regions can nonetheless alter activity in those regions. These tasks might invoke activity in multiregional networks, but it also is possible that they are associated with changes beyond these networks. We therefore evaluated the possibility that more widespread, or even whole-cortical, mechanisms might complement or alter focal or multifocal cortical activity. Methods: We assessed the extent of electroencephalographic changes occurring outside areas with epileptiform activity, but that were associated with termination of the epileptiform activity. To do this, we measured the distribution of wavelet cross-coherence changes based on electrocorticography from 15 patients who showed regional afterdischarges in response to electrical brain stimulation prior to epilepsy surgery and in whom cognitive tasks were used in attempts to end the afterdischarges. There were 1276 electrodes implanted in these patients, and we analyzed a total of 55,494 electrode combinations. We compared recordings when cognitive effort was versus when it was not successful in ending afterdischarges. Results: We found that when afterdischarges were suppressed there were changes in electrocorticographic coherence that were similar throughout cortex, regardless of the distance between sites. Conclusions: The similarity implies coordination of the changes, and the similarity regardless of distance or location implies a pan-cortical effect. Significance: Our results provide physical support for hypotheses that pan-cortical processes complement the well-known regional and multiregional networks. These processes may participate in, be recruited by, modify, or underlie the conative experiences of waking life.
AB - Objective: It is well known that activity in, or coordination among, brain regions, can underlie movement, sensation, language, and cognition but there are observations that tasks unrelated to specific brain regions can nonetheless alter activity in those regions. These tasks might invoke activity in multiregional networks, but it also is possible that they are associated with changes beyond these networks. We therefore evaluated the possibility that more widespread, or even whole-cortical, mechanisms might complement or alter focal or multifocal cortical activity. Methods: We assessed the extent of electroencephalographic changes occurring outside areas with epileptiform activity, but that were associated with termination of the epileptiform activity. To do this, we measured the distribution of wavelet cross-coherence changes based on electrocorticography from 15 patients who showed regional afterdischarges in response to electrical brain stimulation prior to epilepsy surgery and in whom cognitive tasks were used in attempts to end the afterdischarges. There were 1276 electrodes implanted in these patients, and we analyzed a total of 55,494 electrode combinations. We compared recordings when cognitive effort was versus when it was not successful in ending afterdischarges. Results: We found that when afterdischarges were suppressed there were changes in electrocorticographic coherence that were similar throughout cortex, regardless of the distance between sites. Conclusions: The similarity implies coordination of the changes, and the similarity regardless of distance or location implies a pan-cortical effect. Significance: Our results provide physical support for hypotheses that pan-cortical processes complement the well-known regional and multiregional networks. These processes may participate in, be recruited by, modify, or underlie the conative experiences of waking life.
KW - Afterdischarges
KW - Attention
KW - Cognition
KW - Coherence
KW - Electrocorticography
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124291136&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85124291136&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.12.021
DO - 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.12.021
M3 - Article
C2 - 35151965
AN - SCOPUS:85124291136
SN - 1388-2457
VL - 136
SP - 130
EP - 137
JO - Clinical Neurophysiology
JF - Clinical Neurophysiology
ER -