Jennifer B. Swettenham

The relationship between BOLD-fMRI (blood oxygenation level dependent-functional magnetic resonance imaging) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) metrics were explored using low-level visual stimuli known to elicit a rich variety of neural responses. Stimuli were either perceptually isoluminant red/green or luminance-modulated black/yellow square-wave gratings with spatial frequencies of 0.5, 3 and 6 cycles per degree. Neural responses were measured with BOLD-fMRI (3-tesla) and whole head MEG. For all stimuli, the BOLD response showed bilateral activation of early visual cortex that was greater in the contralateral hemisphere. There was variation between individuals but weak, or no evidence, of amplitude dependence on either spatial frequency or the presence of luminance contrast. In contrast, beamformer analysis of MEG data showed activation in contralateral early visual cortex and revealed: i) evoked responses with stimulus-dependent amplitude and latency; ii) gamma and high-beta oscillations, with spatial frequency dependent peaks at approximately 30 and 50 Hz, but only for luminance-modulated gratings; iii) The gamma and beta oscillations appeared to show different spatial-frequency tuning profiles; iv) much weaker gamma and beta responses, and at higher oscillation frequencies, for isoluminant compared to luminance-modulated gratings. The results provide further evidence that the relationship between the fMRI-BOLD response and cortical neural activity is complex, with BOLD-fMRI being insensitive to substantial changes in neural activity. All stimuli were clearly visible to participants and so the paucity of gamma oscillations to isoluminant stimuli is inconsistent with theories of their role in conscious visual perception.

The perception of global form requires integration of local visual cues across space and is the foundation for object recognition. Here we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to study the location and time course of neuronal activity associated with the perception of global structure from local image features. To minimize neuronal activity to low-level stimulus properties, such as luminance and contrast, the local image features were held constant during all phases of the MEG recording. This allowed us to assess the relative importance of striate (V1) versus extrastriate cortex in global form perception. Stimuli were horizontal, rotational and radial Glass patterns. Glass patterns without coherent structure were viewed during the baseline period to ensure neuronal responses reflected perception of structure and not changes in local image features. The spatial distribution of task-related changes in source power was mapped using Synthetic Aperture Magnetometry (SAM), and the time course of activity within areas of maximal power change was determined by calculating time-frequency plots using a Hilbert transform. For six out of eight observers, passive viewing of global structure was associated with a reduction in 10–20 Hz cortical oscillatory power within extrastriate occipital cortex. The location of greatest power change was the same for each pattern type, being close to or within visual area V3a. No peaks of activity were observed in area V1. Time-frequency analyses indicated that neural activity was least for horizontal patterns. We conclude: (i) visual area V3a is involved in the analysis of global form; (ii) the neural signature for perception of structure, as assessed using MEG, is a reduction in 10–20 Hz oscillatory power; (iii) different neural processes may underlie the perception of horizontal as opposed to radial or rotational structure; and (iv) area V1 is not strongly activated by global form in Glass patterns.

In two experiments, magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to investigate the effects of motion on gamma oscillations in human early visual cortex. When presented centrally, but not peripherally, stationary and moving gratings elicited several evoked and induced response components in early visual cortex. Time-frequency analysis revealed two nonphase locked gamma power increases—an initial, rapidly adapting response and one sustained throughout stimulus presentation and varying in frequency across observers from 28 to 64 Hz. Stimulus motion raised the sustained gamma oscillation frequency by a mean of ∼10 Hz. The largest motion-induced frequency increases were in those observers with the lowest gamma response frequencies for stationary stimuli, suggesting a possible saturation mechanism. Moderate gamma amplitude increases to moving versus stationary stimuli were also observed but were not correlated with the magnitude of the frequency increase. At the same site in visual cortex, sustained alpha/beta power reductions and an onset evoked response were observed, but these effects did not change significantly with the presence of motion and did not correlate with the magnitude of gamma power changes. These findings suggest that early visual areas encode moving and stationary percepts via activity at higher and lower gamma frequencies, respectively.

Functional imaging of the human brain is an increasingly important technique for clinical and cognitive neuroscience research, with functional MRI (fMRI) of the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response and electroencephalography or magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings of neural oscillations being 2 of the most popular approaches. However, the neural and physiological mechanisms that generate these responses are only partially understood and sources of interparticipant variability in these measures are rarely investigated. Here, we test the hypothesis that the properties of these neuroimaging metrics are related to individual levels of cortical inhibition by combining magnetic resonance spectroscopy to quantify resting GABA concentration in the visual cortex, MEG to measure stimulus-induced visual gamma oscillations and fMRI to measure the BOLD response to a simple visual grating stimulus. Our results demonstrate that across individuals gamma oscillation frequency is positively correlated with resting GABA concentration in visual cortex (R = 0.68; P < 0.02), BOLD magnitude is inversely correlated with resting GABA (R = −0.64; P < 0.05) and that gamma oscillation frequency is strongly inversely correlated with the magnitude of the BOLD response (R = −0.88; P < 0.001). Our results are therefore supportive of recent theories suggesting that these functional neuroimaging metrics are dependent on the excitation/inhibition balance in an individual's cortex and have important implications for the interpretation of functional imaging results, particularly when making between-group comparisons in clinical research.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) have been the principal neuroimaging tools used to assess the site and nature of cortical deficits in human amblyopia. A review of this growing body of work is presented here with particular reference to various controversial issues, including whether or not the primary visual cortex is dysfunctional, the involvement of higher-order visual areas, neural differences between strabismic and anisometropic amblyopes, and the effects of modern-day drug treatments. We also present our own recent MEG work in which we used the analysis technique of synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) to examine the effects of strabismic amblyopia on cortical function. Our results provide evidence that the neuronal assembly associated with form perception in the extrastriate cortex may be dysfunctional in amblyopia, and that the nature of this dysfunction may relate to a change in the normal temporal pattern of neuronal discharges. Based on these results and existing literature, we conclude that a number of cortical areas show reduced levels of activation in amblyopia, including primary and secondary visual areas and regions within the parieto-occipital cortex and ventral temporal cortex.

Rationale: MDMA is a popular drug of abuse in adolescents which causes serotonergic neurotoxicity in adult but not young rodents. However, few studies have examined the long-term behavioural consequence of MDMA and it is unclear whether such changes occur in the absence of neurotoxicity. Objectives: The present study examined whether treatment of young rats with MDMA produced long-term behavioural alterations without accompanying serotonergic neurotoxicity. Method: Male Lister hooded rats (n=36, postnatal day (PND) 39) received MDMA (7.5 mg/kg IP, twice daily for 3 days) or saline (l ml/kg IP) and the acute effect on open field behaviour and body temperature was monitored. Following drug withdrawal, social interaction in pre-treatment- and weight-matched rat pairs, cortical [³H]paroxetine binding and hippocampal and frontal cortical serotonin and dopamine levels (PND 53, n=12) and conditioned place preference (PND 70, n=24) to cocaine (5 mg/kg IP) were analysed. Results: MDMA elicited the expected immediate serotonin syndrome with significant hyperlocomotion, decreased rearing and hypothermia. Twelve to 29 days after the last MDMA injection social interaction was significantly attenuated (by 41%) and the sub-threshold conditioned place preference to cocaine was significantly enhanced compared with that in saline controls, although no significant side preference to cocaine occurred in the latter. MDMA pre-treatment did not alter 5-HT levels or cortical [³H]paroxetine binding. Conclusion: MDMA administration to adolescent rats reduced social interaction and enhanced the sub-threshold rewarding effect of cocaine at adulthood, despite an absence of accompanying serotonergic and dopaminergic neurotoxicity.