Increased Resting-State Interhemispheric Functional Connectivity of Posterior Superior Temporal Gyrus and Posterior Cingulate Cortex in Congenital Amusia

Abstract

Interhemispheric connectivity of the two cerebral hemispheres is crucial for a broad repertoire of cognitive functions including music and language. Congenital amusia has been reported as a neurodevelopment disorder characterized by impaired music perception and production. However, little is known about the characteristics of the interhemispheric functional connectivity (FC) in amusia. In the present study, we used a newly developed voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) method to investigate the interhemispheric FC of the whole brain in amusia at resting-state. Thirty amusics and 29 matched participants underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. An automated VMHC approach was used to analyze the fMRI data. Compared to the control group, amusics showed increased VMHC within the posterior part of the default mode network (DMN) mainly in the posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Correlation analyses revealed negative correlations between the VMHC value in pSTG/PCC and the music perception ability among amusics. Further ROC analyses showed that the VMHC value of pSTG/PCC showed a good sensibility/specificity to differentiate the amusics from the controls. These findings provide a new perspective for understanding the neural basis of congenital amusia and imply the immature state of DMN may be a credible neural marker of amusia.

Reduced homotopic interhemispheric connectivity in psychiatric disorders: evidence for both transdiagnostic and disorder specific features

“…The first is under circumstances where individuals are actively attempting to compensate for problems caused by the disorder, which has been proposed in the case of insomnia (Dai et al ., 2020 ) but could easily additionally be applied in the case of MCI. A study has also reported increased homotopic rsFC in several brain regions (STG and PCC) in individuals with congenital amusia (a neurodevelopmental disorder with impaired perception of music) (Jin et al ., 2021 ) might also reflect attempts at compensation for impairment. In the case of epilepsy, increased homotopic rsFC may reflect the consequence of increased neural activity during seizures and in ADHD it is possible that increases might be contributed to by a proportion of participants taking stimulant medications such as methylphenidate (Ritalin).…”

Elevated Activity in Left Homologous Music Circuits is Maladaptive for Music Perception but Mediated by Decoupled Structure and Function

“…Aphasia is a disease with similar neural mechanism and pattern of symptoms to amusia, these findings are of certain reference value for music and amusia. Increased inter-hemisphere connectivity was also reported in amusia (Albouy et al, 2013;Jin et al, 2021a). MFG_IFS is adjacent to IFG, and it was demonstrated right (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder.…”

“…All MRI data were collected using a 3T Siemens Skyra scanner at the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University. Resting-state functional MRI images and T1-weighted structural images were obtained by echo-planar imaging and magnetization-prepared rapid gradient echo sequence, detailed scanning parameters were reported in our published articles (Jin et al, 2021a;Jin et al, 2021b). Diffusion MRI was acquired along 64 directions (b = 1000s/mm 2 ) together with non-diffusion weighting (b = 0s/mm 2 ) with following parameters: repetition time = 7 7000 ms, echo time = 86 ms, slices = 60, slice thickness = 2 mm, acquisition matrix = 128 × 128, flip angle = 90° and voxel size = 2 × 2 × 2.5 mm 3 .…”

“…In which, right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) are core regions, other regions such as the right insula and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) located on both circuits also play a role in music processing. Altered function or structure in both circuits were reported (Albouy et al, 2019; Albouy et al, 2013; Chen and Yuan, 2016; Hyde et al, 2007; Jin et al, 2021a; Liao et al, 2022; Norman-Haignere et al, 2016; Sihvonen et al, 2016; Sihvonen et al, 2017a; Sihvonen et al, 2021; Sihvonen et al, 2017b; Sun et al, 2021). There is an acknowledged cognition-related interaction between structure and function, however, current studies only explored musical neural processes via multiple unimodal features separately to date.…”

The decreased connectivity in middle temporal gyrus can be used as a potential neuroimaging biomarker for left temporal lobe epilepsy

“…VMHC values can be used to gain quantitative insight regarding functional connections based on time series correlations between mirrored voxels on either side of the brain. Abnormal VMHC values have been observed in the context of diseases including depression ( 16 ), schizophrenia ( 17 ), congenital amusia ( 18 ), diabetes mellitus ( 19 ), hyperthyroidism ( 20 ), and Parkinson’s disease ( 21 ). As such, measuring VMHC represents a sensitive strategy that can be leveraged to evaluate altered interhemispheric coordination in physiological and pathological contexts.…”