EEG and fMRI agree: Mental arithmetic is the easiest form of imagery to detect

Amabilis H Harrison; Michael D Noseworthy; James P Reilly; Weiguang Guan; John F Connolly

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2016.10.006

EEG and fMRI agree: Mental arithmetic is the easiest form of imagery to detect

Conscious Cogn. 2017 Feb:48:104-116. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.10.006. Epub 2016 Nov 14.

Authors

Amabilis H Harrison¹, Michael D Noseworthy², James P Reilly³, Weiguang Guan⁴, John F Connolly⁵

Affiliations

¹ McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study (MiNDS), McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada. Electronic address: harriah@mcmaster.ca.
² McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study (MiNDS), McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Imaging Research Centre, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, 50 Charlton Ave. E., Hamilton, Ontario L8N 4A6, Canada.
³ McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study (MiNDS), McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
⁴ Research and High Performance Computing, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8, Canada; Department of Linguistics and Languages, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M2, Canada.
⁵ McMaster Integrative Neuroscience Discovery and Study (MiNDS), McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; McMaster School of Biomedical Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada; Department of Linguistics and Languages, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M2, Canada.

PMID: 27855346
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2016.10.006

Abstract

fMRI and EEG during mental imagery provide alternative methods of detecting awareness in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) without reliance on behaviour. Because using fMRI in patients with DOC is difficult, studies increasingly employ EEG. However, there has been no verification that these modalities provide converging information at the individual subject level. The present study examined simultaneous EEG and fMRI in healthy volunteers during six mental imagery tasks to determine whether one mental imagery task generates more robust activation across subjects; whether activation can be predicted from familiarity with the imagined activity; and whether EEG and fMRI converge upon the same conclusions about individual imagery performance. Mental arithmetic generated the most robust activation in the majority of subjects for both EEG and fMRI, and level of activation could not be predicted from familiarity, with either modality. We conclude that overall, EEG and fMRI agree regarding individual mental imagery performance.

Keywords: Command following; Consciousness; Disorders of consciousness; Electroencephalography; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Machine learning; Mental imagery.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Awareness / physiology*
Electroencephalography / methods*
Female
Functional Neuroimaging / methods*
Humans
Imagination / physiology*
Machine Learning*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
Male
Mathematical Concepts*
Middle Aged
Motor Activity / physiology
Music
Young Adult

Grants and funding

CIHR/Canada