online-repetitive-transcranial-magnetic-stimulation-dorsomedial

Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a powerful method for revealing causal links between specific brain regions and cognitive functions. While ...

National Research University Higher School of Economics

While variability of the motor responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is widely acknowledged, little is known about its central origin. One plausible explanation for such variability may relate to different neuronal states defining the reactivity of the cortex to TMS. In this study intrinsic spatio-temporal neuronal dynamics were estimated with Long-Range Temporal Correlations (LRTC) in order to predict the inter-individual differences in the strength of intra-cortical facilitation (ICF) and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) produced by paired-pulse TMS (ppTMS) of the left primary motor cortex. LRTC in the alpha frequency range were assessed from multichannel electroencephalography (EEG) obtained at rest before and after the application of and single-pulse TMS (spTMS) and ppTMS protocols. For the EEG session, preceding TMS application, we showed a positive correlation across subjects between the strength of ICF and LRTC in the fronto-central and parietal areas. This in turn attests to the existence of subject-specific neuronal phenotypes defining the reactivity of the brain to ppTMS. In addition, we also showed that ICF was associated with the changes in neuronal dynamics in the EEG session after the application of the stimulation. This result provides a complementary evidence for the recent findings demonstrating that the cortical stimulation with sparse non-regular stimuli might have considerable long-lasting effects on the cortical activity.

Long-Range Temporal Correlations in the amplitude of alpha oscillations predict and reflect strength of intracortical facilitation: Combined TMS and EEG study.

Humans often adjust their opinions to the perceived opinions of others. Neural responses to a perceived match or mismatch between individual and group opinions have been investigated previously, but some findings are inconsistent. In this study, we used magnetoencephalographic source imaging to investigate further neural responses to the perceived opinions of others. We found that group opinions mismatching with individual opinions evoked responses in the anterior and posterior medial prefrontal cortices, as well as in the temporoparietal junction and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the 220-320 and 380-530 ms time windows. Evoked responses were accompanied by an increase in the power of theta oscillations (4-8 Hz) over a number of frontal cortical sites. Group opinions matching with individual opinions evoked an increase in amplitude of beta oscillations (13-30 Hz) in the anterior cingulate and ventral medial prefrontal cortices. Based on these results, we argue that distinct valuation and performance-monitoring neural circuits in the medial cortices of the brain may monitor compliance of individual behavior to the perceived group norms.

MEG Signatures of a Perceived Match or Mismatch between Individual and Group Opinions.

Although the first experiments on alpha-neurofeedback date back nearly six decades ago, when Joseph Kamiya reported successful operant conditioning of alpha-rhythm in humans, the effectiveness of this paradigm in various experimental and clinical settings is still a matter of debate. Here, we investigated the changes in EEG patterns during a continuously administered neurofeedback of P4 alpha activity. Two days of neurofeedback training were sufficient for a significant increase in the alpha power to occur. A detailed analysis of these EEG changes showed that the alpha power rose because of an increase in the incidence rate of alpha episodes, whereas the amplitude and the duration of alpha oscillations remained unchanged. These findings suggest that neurofeedback facilitates volitional control of alpha activity onset, but alpha episodes themselves appear to be maintained automatically with no volitional control - a property overlooked by previous studies that employed continuous alpha-power neurofeedback. We propose that future research on alpha neurofeedback should explore reinforcement schedules based on detection of onsets and offsets of alpha waves, and employ these statistics for exploration and quantification of neurofeedback induced effects.

Neurofeedback learning modifies the incidence rate of alpha spindles, but not their duration and amplitude.

Dopamine (DA) neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are thought to encode reward prediction errors (RPE) by comparing actual and expected rewards. In recent years, much work has been done to identify how the brain uses and computes this signal. While several lines of evidence suggest the interplay of the DA and the inhibitory interneurons in the VTA implements the RPE computation, it still remains unclear how the DA neurons learn key quantities, for example the amplitude and the timing of primary rewards during conditioning tasks. Furthermore, endogenous acetylcholine and exogenous nicotine, also likely affect these computations by acting on both VTA DA and GABA (γ -aminobutyric acid) neurons via nicotinic-acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). To explore the potential circuit-level mechanisms for RPE computations during classical-conditioning tasks, we developed a minimal computational model of the VTA circuitry. The model was designed to account for several reward-related properties of VTA afferents and recent findings on VTA GABA neuron dynamics during conditioning. With our minimal model, we showed that the RPE can be learned by a two-speed process computing reward timing and magnitude. By including models of nAChR-mediated currents in the VTA DA-GABA circuit, we showed that nicotine should reduce the acetylcholine action on the VTA GABA neurons by receptor desensitization and potentially boost DA responses to reward-related signals in a non-trivial manner. Together, our results delineate the mechanisms by which RPE are computed in the brain, and suggest a hypothesis on nicotine-mediated effects on reward-related perception and decision-making.

Minimal Circuit Model of Reward Prediction Error Computations and Effects of Nicotinic Modulations.

Numerous cognitive studies have demonstrated experience-induced plasticity in the primary sensory cortex, indicating that repeated decisions could modulate sensory processing. In this context, we investigated whether an auditory version of the monetary incentive delay (MID) task could change the neural processing of the incentive cues that code expected monetary outcomes. To study sensory plasticity, we presented the incentive cues as deviants during oddball sessions recorded before and after training in the two MID task sessions. We found that after 2 days of training in the MID task, incentive cues evoked a larger P3a (compared with the baseline condition), indicating there was an enhancement of the involuntary attention to the stimuli that predict rewards. At the individual level, the training-induced change of mismatch-related negativity was correlated with the amplitude of the feedback-related negativity (FRN) recorded during the first MID task session. Our results show that the MID task evokes plasticity changes in the auditory system associated with better passive discrimination of incentive cues and with enhanced involuntary attention switching towards these cues. Thus, the sensory processing of incentive cues is dynamically modulated by previous outcomes.

The Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) Task Induces Changes in Sensory Processing: ERP Evidence.

Both human and animal studies have demonstrated remarkable findings of experience-induced plasticity in the cortex. Here, we investigated whether the widely used monetary incentive delay (MID) task changes the neural processing of incentive cues that code expected monetary outcomes. We used a novel auditory version of the MID task, where participants responded to acoustic cues that coded expected monetary losses. To investigate task-induced brain plasticity, we presented incentive cues as deviants during passive oddball tasks before and after two sessions of the MID task. During the oddball task, we recorded the mismatch-related negativity (MMN) as an index of cortical plasticity. We found that two sessions of the MID task evoked a significant enhancement of MMN for incentive cues that predicted large monetary losses, specifically when monetary cue discrimination was essential for maximising monetary outcomes. The task-induced plasticity correlated with the learning-related neural activity recorded during the MID task. Thus, our results confirm that the processing of (loss)incentive auditory cues is dynamically modulated by previously learned monetary outcomes.

Cortical plasticity elicited by acoustically cued monetary losses: an ERP study.

Setting the right price is crucial for effectively positioning products in the market. Conversely, setting a "non-optimal price"-one that is perceived as much lower or higher than the product's true market value-can negatively influence consumer decisions and business results.

Neural correlates of the non-optimal price: an MEG/EEG study.

The hippocampus plays a crucial role in episodic memory. Given its complexity, the hippocampus participates in multiple aspects of higher cognitive functions, among which are semantics-based encoding and retrieval. However, the "where," "when" and "how" of distinct aspects of memory processing in the hippocampus are still under debate.

Functional segregation of rostral and caudal hippocampus in associative memory.

Non-invasive Brain-Computer Interfaces provide accurate classification of hand movement lateralization. However, distinguishing activation patterns of individual fingers within the same hand remains challenging due to their overlapping representations in the motor cortex. Here, we validated a compact convolutional neural network for fast and reliable decoding of finger movements from non-invasive magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings.

Convolutional neural networks decode finger movements in motor sequence learning from MEG data.

Emotions play a crucial role in shaping consumer experiences and decisions. Neurophysiological tools offer objective markers of emotional reactions in multisensory environments, where positive valence promotes approach behavior and negative valence fosters avoidance.

Neurophysiological study of consumer emotional reactions in a simulated multisensory retail environment.

Previous studies have demonstrated that people focus on fewer specific features of natural environments compared to built environments. This may imply that neural activity stronger converge across individuals in green environments than in built environments, where people may focus very differently on diverse and often overloading urban stimulation. We hypothesized that the similarity of mental states across individuals should increase during exposure to green environments compared to built environments. Thus, we conducted an electroencephalography study in which we measured the correlation of neural responses among 30 participants using the inter-subject correlation (ISC). Using the ISC method, we calculated the similarity of the brain activity of a group of people as they were exposed to videos of 5-minute walks through parks, boulevards, or busy roads. The behavioral results showed that on average, participants rated the videos of parks as 39 and 65% more relaxing than boulevards and busy roads, correspondingly. Our electrophysiological results showed that the average similarity in brain activity, as measured by ISCs, was significantly stronger during the observation of parks compared to boulevards and busy roads. On average, ISCs for parks were 26 and 40% higher compared to boulevards and busy roads, respectively. We also found that parks increase the similarity of brain activity, particularly in the delta band, which reflects the most evolutionary old and phylogenetically preserved cortical activity. Our results further confirm that during urban walks in busy boulevards and highways, people's attention is distracted, as indicated by weaker brain synchronization between individuals.

Article	Year
Long-Range Temporal Correlations in the amplitude of alpha oscillations predict and reflect strength of intracortical facilitation: Combined TMS and EEG study. Neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 27318302	2016
MEG Signatures of a Perceived Match or Mismatch between Individual and Group Opinions. Frontiers in neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 28167897	2017
Neurofeedback learning modifies the incidence rate of alpha spindles, but not their duration and amplitude. Scientific reports\| PubMed ID: 28630468	2017
Minimal Circuit Model of Reward Prediction Error Computations and Effects of Nicotinic Modulations. Frontiers in neural circuits\| PubMed ID: 30687021	2018
The Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) Task Induces Changes in Sensory Processing: ERP Evidence. Frontiers in human neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 31736730	2019
Cortical plasticity elicited by acoustically cued monetary losses: an ERP study. Scientific reports\| PubMed ID: 33273646	2020
Neural correlates of the non-optimal price: an MEG/EEG study. Frontiers in human neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 39935680	2025
Functional segregation of rostral and caudal hippocampus in associative memory. Frontiers in human neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 39996022	2025
Convolutional neural networks decode finger movements in motor sequence learning from MEG data. Frontiers in neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 40995145	2025
Neurophysiological study of consumer emotional reactions in a simulated multisensory retail environment. Frontiers in human neuroscience\| PubMed ID: 41209399	2025
Green urban environments enhance brain-to-brain synchrony. Scientific reports\| PubMed ID: 41310373	2025

Victoria Moiseeva

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