• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.65-74
• /
• 2019

Extant research has proposed that the Object-Spatial-Verbal cognitive style can elucidate individual differences in the preference for modality-specific information. However, no studies have yet ascertained whether this type of information processing evinces structural correlations in the brain. Therefore, the current study used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analyses to investigate individual differences in gray matter volumes based on the Object-Spatial-Verbal cognitive style. For this purpose, ninety healthy young adults were recruited to participate in the study. They were administered the Korean version of the Object-Spatial-Verbal cognitive style questionnaire, and their anatomical brain images were scanned. The VBM results demonstrated that the participants' verbal scores were positively correlated with regional gray matter volumes (rGMVs) in the right superior temporal sulcus/superior temporal gyrus, the bilateral parahippocampal gyrus/fusiform gyrus, and the left inferior temporal gyrus. In addition, the rGMVs in these regions were negatively correlated with the relative spatial preference scores obtained by individual participants. The findings of the investigation provide anatomical evidence that the verbal cognitive style could be decidedly relevant to higher-level language processing, but not to basic language processing.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.10-18
• /
• 2015

Background and Purpose: The association between the low emotional regulation and the brain structural change of major depressive disorder (MDD) has been proposed, but the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies on female MDD are rare. The purpose of the present study was to show the regional volume changes of gray matter (GM) in female patients with MDD by optimized VBM. Methods: To control subjects homogeneity, twenty female MDD patients and age, sex matched 21 normal controls were included for the VBM analysis. To identify the change of regional gray matter volume (GMV), the optimized VBM was performed with T1 MRIs. The amounts of gray/white matter and intracranial cavity volumes (ICV) were measured. The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and partial correlation analyses covariate with age and ICV were applied for VBM. Results: The age and ICV distributions were similar between the two groups. In the ANCOVA, the total GMV of MDD was smaller than that of normal controls. In the VBM, regional GMV was relatively decreased in the limbic system (amygdalae, ambient gyri, hippocampi heads, subiculum, posterior parahippocampal gyri, pulvinar nuclei, dorsal posterior cingulate gyri, and left pregenual cingulate gyrus). The lingual gyri, short insular gyri, right fusiform gyrus, and right inferior frontal gyrus were also showed decreased regional GMV. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the female MDD is mainly associated with the structural deficits of the limbic system and limbic system related cortices, which were known to the center of emotions.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2015

Purpose: Several morphometric studies have been performed to investigate brain abnormalities in congenitally deaf people. But no report exists concerning structural brain abnormalities in congenitally deaf adolescents. We evaluated the regional volume changes in gray matter (GM) using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in congenitally deaf adolescents. Materials and Methods: A VBM8 methodology was applied to the T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of eight congenitally deaf adolescents (mean age, 15.6 years) and nine adolescents with normal hearing. All MRI scans were normalized to a template and then segmented, modulated, and smoothed. Smoothed GM data were tested statistically using analysis of covariance (controlled for age, gender, and intracranial cavity volume). Results: The mean values of age, gender, total volumes of GM, and total intracranial volume did not differ between the two groups. In the auditory centers, the left anterior Heschl's gyrus and both inferior colliculi showed decreased regional GM volume in the congenitally deaf adolescents. The GM volumes of the lingual gyri, nuclei accumbens, and left posterior thalamic reticular nucleus in the midbrain were also decreased. Conclusions: The results of the present study suggest that early deprivation of auditory stimulation in congenitally deaf adolescents might have caused significant underdevelopment of the auditory cortex (left Heschl's gyrus), subcortical auditory structures (inferior colliculi), auditory gain controllers (nucleus accumbens and thalamic reticular nucleus), and multisensory integration areas (inferior colliculi and lingual gyri). These defects might be related to the absence of general auditory perception, the auditory gating system of thalamocortical transmission, and failure in the maturation of the auditory-to-limbic connection and the auditorysomatosensory-visual interconnection.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.232-238
• /
• 2011

Objectives Optimized voxel based morphometry (VBM) has been increasingly applied to investigate differences in the brain morphology between a group of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and control subjects. Optimized VBM permits comparison of gray matter (GM) volume at voxel-level from the entire brain. The purpose of this study was to assess the regional GM volume change measured by optimized VBM in MCI subjects compared to controls. Methods Twenty patients with MCI and 20 control subjects with normal cognition were recruited for this study. We applied the optimized VBM protocol to the image data including study-specific template and the modulation of the data with the Jacobian determinants. GM volume differences between the MCI subjects and the control subjects and their correlations with the neuropsychological performances were investigated. Results Optimized VBM analysis revealed GM volume reduction in hippocampus, precentral gyrus, insula and parietal operculum in the MCI group compared to the control group (family wise error corrected p < 0.05). Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease (CERAD-K) word list recall scores were significantly correlated with the GM volumes of hippocampus, precuneus and posterior cingulate in the MCI group (FWE corrected p < 0.05). Conclusions The results confirm previous findings of atrophic changes in medial temporal lobe and parietal lobe in the MCI group and suggest that these abnormalities may be related with cognitive decline and prognosis in patients with MCI.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
• /
• v.24 no.11
• /
• pp.1131-1141
• /
• 2023

Objective: Cortical iron deposition has recently been shown to occur in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we aimed to evaluate how cortical gray matter iron, measured using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), differs in the clinical cognitive impairment spectrum. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study evaluated 73 participants (mean age ± standard deviation, 66.7 ± 7.6 years; 52 females and 21 males) with normal cognition (NC), 158 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 48 patients with AD dementia. The participants underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging using a three-dimensional multi-dynamic multi-echo sequence on a 3-T scanner. We employed a deep neural network (QSMnet+) and used automatic segmentation software based on FreeSurfer v6.0 to extract anatomical labels and volumes of interest in the cortex. We used analysis of covariance to investigate the differences in susceptibility among the clinical diagnostic groups in each brain region. Multivariable linear regression analysis was performed to study the association between susceptibility values and cognitive scores including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results: Among the three groups, the frontal (P < 0.001), temporal (P = 0.004), parietal (P = 0.001), occipital (P < 0.001), and cingulate cortices (P < 0.001) showed a higher mean susceptibility in patients with MCI and AD than in NC subjects. In the combined MCI and AD group, the mean susceptibility in the cingulate cortex (β = -216.21, P = 0.019) and insular cortex (β = -276.65, P = 0.001) were significant independent predictors of MMSE scores after correcting for age, sex, education, regional volume, and APOE4 carrier status. Conclusion: Iron deposition in the cortex, as measured by QSMnet+, was higher in patients with AD and MCI than in NC participants. Iron deposition in the cingulate and insular cortices may be an early imaging marker of cognitive impairment related neurodegeneration.