Both the pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA) and the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) are important for stopping action outright. These regions are also engaged when preparing to stop. We aimed to elucidate the roles of these regions by harnessing the high spatio-temporal resolution of electrocorticography (ECoG), and by using a task that engages both preparing to stop and stopping outright. First, we validated the task using fMRI in 16 healthy control participants to confirm that both the preSMA and the rIFG were active. Next, we studied a rare patient with intracranial grid coverage of both these regions, using macrostimulation, diffusion tractography, cortico-cortical evoked potentials (CCEPs) and task-based ECoG. Macrostimulation of the preSMA induced behavioral motor arrest. Diffusion tractography revealed a structural connection between the preSMA and rIFG. CCEP analysis showed that stimulation of the preSMA evoked strong potentials within 30 ms in rIFG. During the task, when preparing to stop, there was increased high gamma amplitude (~70–250 Hz) in both regions, with preSMA preceding rIFG by ~750 ms. For outright stopping there was also a high gamma amplitude increase in both regions, again with preSMA preceding rIFG. Further, at the time of stopping, there was an increase in beta band activity (~16 Hz) in both regions, with significantly stronger long-range coherence for successful vs. unsuccessful stop trials. The results complement earlier reports of a structural/functional action control network between the preSMA and rIFG. They go further by revealing between-region timing differences in the high gamma band when preparing to stop and stopping outright. They also reveal strong between-region coherence in the beta band when stopping is successful. Implications for theories of action control are discussed.

The superposition of quantum states is one of the hallmarks of quantum physics, and clear demonstrations of superposition have been achieved in a number of quantum systems. However, mechanical systems have remained a challenge, with only indirect demonstrations of mechanical state superpositions, in spite of the intellectual appeal and technical utility such a capability would bring 1,2 . This is due in part to the highly linear response of most mechanical systems, making quantum operation difficult, as well as their characteristically low frequencies, making it difficult to reach the quantum ground state [3][4][5][6][7][8] . In this work, we demonstrate full quantum control of the mechanical state of a macroscopic mechanical resonator. We strongly couple a surface acoustic wave 9 resonator to a superconducting qubit, using the qubit to control and measure quantum states in the mechanical resonator. Most notably, we generate a quantum superposition of the zero and one phonon states and map this and other states using Wigner tomography 10-15 . This precise, programmable quantum control is essential to a range of applications of surface acoustic waves in the quantum limit, including using surface acoustic waves to couple disparate quantum systems 16,17 .Linear resonant systems are traditionally challenging to control at the level of single quanta, as they are always in the correspondence limit 18 . The recent advent of engineered quantum devices in the form of qubits has enabled full quantum control over some linear systems, in particular electromagnetic resonators 14,15 . A number of experiments have demonstrated that qubits may provide similar control over mechanical degrees of freedom, including qubits coupled to bulk acoustic modes 3,8 , surface acoustic waves 19,20 , and flexural modes in suspended beams [21][22][23][24] . Of particular note are experiments in which a superconducting qubit is coupled via a piezoelectric material to a microwave-frequency bulk acoustic mode 25 , where the ground state can be achieved at moderate cryogenic temperatures, and demonstrations include controlled vacuum Rabi swaps between the qubit and the mechanical mode 3,8 . However, the level of quantum control and measurement has been limited by the difficulty of engineer-ing a single mechanical mode with sufficient coupling and quantum state lifetime. More advanced operations, such as synthesizing arbitrary acoustic quantum states and measuring those states using Wigner tomography, remain a challenge. Here we report a significant advance in the level of quantum control of a mechanical device, where we couple a superconducting qubit to a microwave-frequency surface acoustic wave resonance, demonstrating groundstate operation, vacuum Rabi swaps between the qubit and the acoustic mode, and the synthesis of mechanical Fock states as well as a Fock state superposition. We map out the Wigner function for these mechanical states using qubit-based Wigner tomography. We note that a similar achievement has recently been reported with an ex...

The relationship between blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) signal and the underlying neural electrical activity in humans is a topic of intense interest to systems neuroscience. This relationship has generally been assumed to be invariant regardless of the brain region and the cognitive task being studied. We critically evaluated these assumptions by comparing the BOLD-fMRI response with local field potential (LFP) measurements during visually cued common noun and verb generation in 11 humans in whom 1210 subdural electrodes were implanted. As expected, power in the mid-gamma band (60 –120 Hz) correlated positively (r2 = 0.16, p < 10−16) and power in the beta band (13–30 Hz) correlated negatively (r2 = 0.09, p < 10−16) with the BOLD signal change. Beta and mid-gamma band activity independently explain different components of the observed BOLD signal. Importantly, we found that the location (i.e., lobe) of the recording site modulates the relationship between the electrocorticographic (ECoG) signal and the observed fMRI response (p < 10−16, F21,1830 = 52.7), while the type of language task does not. Across all brain regions, ECoG activity in the gamma and beta bands explains 22% of the fMRI response, but if the lobar location is considered, 28% of the variance can be explained. Further evaluation of this relationship at the level of individual gyri provides additional evidence of differences in the BOLD-LFP relationship by cortical locus. This spatial variability in the relationship between the fMRI signal and neural activity carries implications for modeling of the hemodynamic response function, an essential step for interregional fMRI comparisons.

Phonons, and in particular surface acoustic wave phonons, have been proposed as a means to coherently couple distant solid-state quantum systems. Recent experiments have shown that superconducting qubits can control and detect individual phonons in a resonant structure, enabling the coherent generation and measurement of complex stationary phonon states. Here, we report the deterministic emission and capture of itinerant surface acoustic wave phonons, enabling the quantum entanglement of two superconducting qubits. Using a 2 mmlong acoustic quantum communication channel, equivalent to a 500 ns delay line, we demonstrate the emission and re-capture of a phonon by one qubit; quantum state transfer between two qubits with a 67% efficiency; and, by partial transfer of a phonon between two qubits, generation of an entangled Bell pair with a fidelity of FB = 84 ± 1%.

Semantic memory underpins our understanding of objects, people, places, and ideas. Anomia, a disruption of semantic memory access, is the most common residual language disturbance and is seen in dementia and following injury to temporal cortex. While such anomia has been well characterized by lesion symptom mapping studies, its pathophysiology is not well understood. We hypothesize that inputs to the semantic memory system engage a specific heteromodal network hub that integrates lexical retrieval with the appropriate semantic content. Such a network hub has been proposed by others, but has thus far eluded precise spatiotemporal delineation. This limitation in our understanding of semantic memory has impeded progress in the treatment of anomia. We evaluated the cortical structure and dynamics of the lexical semantic network in driving speech production in a large cohort of patients with epilepsy using electrocorticography (n = 64), functional MRI (n = 36), and direct cortical stimulation (n = 30) during two generative language processes that rely on semantic knowledge: visual picture naming and auditory naming to definition. Each task also featured a non-semantic control condition: scrambled pictures and reversed speech, respectively. These large-scale data of the left, language-dominant hemisphere uniquely enable convergent, high-resolution analyses of neural mechanisms characterized by rapid, transient dynamics with strong interactions between distributed cortical substrates. We observed three stages of activity during both visual picture naming and auditory naming to definition that were serially organized: sensory processing, lexical semantic processing, and articulation. Critically, the second stage was absent in both the visual and auditory control conditions. Group activity maps from both electrocorticography and functional MRI identified heteromodal responses in middle fusiform gyrus, intraparietal sulcus, and inferior frontal gyrus; furthermore, the spectrotemporal profiles of these three regions revealed coincident activity preceding articulation. Only in the middle fusiform gyrus did direct cortical stimulation disrupt both naming tasks while still preserving the ability to repeat sentences. These convergent data strongly support a model in which a distinct neuroanatomical substrate in middle fusiform gyrus provides access to object semantic information. This under-appreciated locus of semantic processing is at risk in resections for temporal lobe epilepsy as well as in trauma and strokes that affect the inferior temporal cortex-it may explain the range of anomic states seen in these conditions. Further characterization of brain network behaviour engaging this region in both healthy and diseased states will expand our understanding of semantic memory and further development of therapies directed at anomia.