Simultaneous EEG and fMRI Reveals a Causally Connected Subcortical-Cortical Network during Reward Anticipation

• DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0631-13.2013
• Publication Date: 2013-09-04T16:27:26Z
• Authors: Michael M. Plichta; Isabella Wolf; Sarah Hohmann; Sarah Baumeister; Regina Boecker; Adam J. Schwarz; Maria Zangl; Daniela Mier; Carsten Diener; Patric Meyer; Nathalie Holz; Matthias Ruf; Martin F. Gerchen; David Bernal-Casas; Vasil Kolev; Juliana Yordanova; Herta Flor; Manfred Laucht; Tobias Banaschewski; Peter Kirsch; Andreas Meyer-Lin...; Daniel Brandeis
• Keywords: EEG-fMRI; Anticipation (artificial intelligence); Supplementary motor area

Electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have been used to study the neural correlates of reward anticipation, but interrelation EEG fMRI measures remains unknown. The goal present was investigate this relationship in response a well established anticipation paradigm using simultaneous EEG-fMRI recording healthy human subjects. Analysis causal interactions between thalamus (THAL), ventral-striatum (VS), supplementary motor area (SMA), both mediator analysis dynamic modeling, revealed that (1) THAL blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) activity is mediating intermodal correlations contingent negative variation (CNV) signal BOLD SMA VS, (2) underlying connectivity network consists top-down regulation from VS along with an excitatory information flow through THAL→VS→SMA route during (3) CNV best predicted by combination strength THAL. Collectively, these findings represent likely neurobiological mechanism mapping primarily subcortical process, i.e., onto cortical signature.