Browsing by Author "Huang, Chih-Mao"

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AGE-RELATED AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN ENTROPY-BASED COMPLEXITY OF HEALTHY AGING BRAIN
(2019-09-01)
Huang, Chih-Mao
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Fang, Ya-Wen
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Chen, Guan-Yen
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Tzeng, Ovid J. L.
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Huang, Hsu-Wen
AGE-RELATED VARIATION IN FRONTAL WHITE-MATTER INTEGRITY MEDIATES VISUOSPATIAL FUNCTION IN NORMAL AGING
(2018-12-01)
Huang, Chih-Mao
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Fan Yang-Teng
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Fang Ya-Wen
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Ovid, Tzeng
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Huang Hsu-Wen
Aging, cognition, and the brain: effects of age-related variation in white matter integrity on neuropsychological function
(2019-07-03)
Fan, Yang-Teng
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Fang, Ya-Wen
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Chen, Ya-Ping
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Leshikar, Eric D.
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Lin, Ching-Po
Alterations in brain structure are viewed as neurobiological indicators which are closely tied to cognitive changes in healthy human aging. The current study used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography to investigate the relationship between age, brain variation in white matter (WM) integrity, and cognitive function. Sixteen younger adults (aged 20-28 years) and 18 healthy older adults (aged 60-75 years) underwent DTI scanning and a standardized battery of neuropsychological measures. Behaviorally, older adults exhibited poorer performance on multiple cognitive measures compared to younger adults. At the neural level, the effects of aging on theWM integrity were evident within interhemispheric (the anterior portion of corpus callosum) and transverse (the right uncinate fasciculus) fibers of the frontal regions, and the cingulum-angular fibers. Our correlation results showed that age-related WM differentially influenced cognitive function, with increased fractional anisotropy values in both the anterior corpus callosum and the right cingulum/angular fibers positively correlated with performance on the visuospatial task in older adults. Moreover, mediation analysis further revealed that the WM tract integrity of the frontal interhemspheric fibers was a significant mediator of age-visuospatial performance relation in older adults, but not in younger adults. These findings support the vulnerability of the frontal WM fibers to normal aging and push forward our understanding of cognitive aging by providing a more integrative view of the neural basis of linkages among aging, cognition, and brain.
Aging, neurocognitive reserve, and the healthy brain
(2019-01-01)
Huang, Chih-Mao
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Huang, Hsu-Wen
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生物科技學系
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Department of Biological Science and Technology
Healthy older adults experience a general decrement in physical and cognitive abilities with advancing age. The severity of these behavioral and neurocognitive declines is highly variable within the aged population. The Neurocognitive Reserve Hypothesis has been proposed in the cognitive and clinical neuroscience of aging to suggest that mentally-stimulating activities and life-long experiences may provide reserve-a protective mechanism that increases the brain's capacity to cope with age-related pathology. This model of the neurocognitive reserve hypothesis has successfully provided a theoretical account for the disjunction between the degree of observed brain damage/pathology and the clinical manifestations of that damage, both structurally and functionally. This article briefly reviews the behavioral and neuroimaging evidence that neurocognitive reserve shapes age-related and individual differences in neurocognitive processes, patterns of neural activation, brain structures and neural networks. Moreover, existing theoretical frameworks proposed in the aging literature are introduced to complement the understanding of neurocognitive reserve in normal and pathological aging. Finally, we report preliminary functional and structural neuroimaging results to support the hypothesis that neurocognitive reserve is a neural resource that mitigates not only the effects of cognitive decline caused by neurological diseases and/or psychiatric disorders, but also those caused by the general aging process. We conclude that there is currently limited understanding of the mechanisms underlying neurocognitive reserve; however, the concept provides a dynamic view for understanding the nature of resilience and our ability to adapt as we age to cope with brain pathology and damage. Future studies may consider decoding the individualized factors potentially underpinning neurocognitive reserve's beneficial contribution to protecting against accelerated cognitive decline and to promoting psychological resilience with advanced aging.
AN EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL STUDY OF COGNITIVE LOAD AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN NUMERICAL STROOP TASK
(2015-09-01)
Huang, Chih-Mao
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Wang, Ya-Yi
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Huang, Pei-Shan
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Huang, Hsu-Wen
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交大名義發表
BRAIN SIGNATURE OF SUBJECTIVE PERFORMANCE DURING NUMERICAL STROOP TASKS
(2019-09-01)
Huang, Hsu-Wen
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Nascimben, Mauro
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Fong, Dong-Yang
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Tzeng, Ovid J. L.
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Huang, Chih-Mao
Cognitive Reserve Moderates Effects of White Matter Hyperintensity on Depressive Symptoms and Cognitive Function in Late-Life Depression
(2020-04-08)
Lin, Chemin
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Fan, Yang-Teng
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Chen, Yao-Liang
Introduction White matter hyperintensity (WMH) has been regarded as one of the major contributor of the vascular hypothesis of late-life depression (LLD) and cognitive decline in the elderly. On the other hand, cognitive reserve (CR) has long been hypothesized to provide resilience and adaptability against age- and disease-related insults. This study examined the role of CR, using proxy of education, in moderating the association between WMH and clinical LLD expression. Methods A total of 54 elderly diagnosed with major depressive disorder and 38 matched healthy controls participated in this study. They received MRI scanning and a battery of neuropsychological tests. WMH was quantified by an automated segmentation algorithm. Linear regression analyses were conducted separately in the LLD and control groups to examine the effects of WMH, education and their interaction in depression severity and various cognitive domains. Results WMH was significantly and negatively associated with executive function only in the healthy controls. In patients with LLD, we observed a significant interactive effect in education on the association between WMH and depression severity and language domain (category fluency task). Specifically, those with high education showed less depressive symptoms and cognitive decline as WMH increased. Conclusion WMH is associated with lower cognitive function. However, in patients with LLD, high education attenuates the deleterious effect of WMH on mood and cognition. Therefore, CR appears to exert a protective effect on neurocognitive functioning in people with LLD.
Cognitive reserve-mediated neural modulation of emotional control and regulation in people with late-life depression
(2019-08-01)
Huang, Chih-Mao
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Fan, Yang-Teng
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Lee, Shwu-Hua
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Chen, Yao-Liang
Late-life depression (LLD) is an affective disorder that is highly prevalent among older people. Cognitive reserve (CR) refers to an active process that facilitates the flexibility and efficiency of the neural networks to compensate for impairments that emerge in consequence of brain pathology. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated whether and how CR affects emotional regulation, level of depression severity and neural activity associated with affective control during emotional Stroop (eStroop) task. Altogether, 90 older people participated in this study, 50 of whom suffered from LLD. We used years of education and verbal fluency capacity as proxies for CR. Clinical participants with relatively higher CR presented with milder degrees of depression, better eStroop performance and stronger neural activity in the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) involved with exercising affective control. Results of the mediation analysis indicated that both education and verbal fluency significantly mediated the association between the depression severity and MEG activity. These results suggest a negative association between CR and age-related clinical symptoms of emotional dysregulation. Our neurobehavioral findings provide supportive evidence that CR implies efficiency of top-down emotional regulation and operates as a protective factor against emotional and cognitive vulnerability in the aging brain.
Complexity analysis of resting state fMRI signals in depressive patients
(2017-01-01)
Ho, Pei-Shan
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Lin, Chemin
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Chen, Guan-Yen
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Huang, Chih-Mao
Analysis of brain signal complexity reveals the intrinsic network dynamics and is widely utilized in the investigation of mechanisms in mental disorders. In this study, the complexity of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signals was explored in patients with depression using multiscale entropy (MSE). Thirty-five patients diagnosed with depression and 22 age-and gender-matched healthy controls were considered. The MSE profiles in five brain networks of the two participant groups were evaluated and analyzed. The results showed that depressive patients exhibited higher complexity in the left frontoparietal network than that seen in healthy controls, which is known to be critical for executive control functions. Through this study, the efficacy of MSE in identifying and understanding the mental disorders was also demonstrated.
Culture-Related and Individual Differences in Regional Brain Volumes: A Cross-Cultural Voxel-Based Morphometry Study
(2019-09-10)
Huang, Chih-Mao
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Doole, Robert
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Wu, Changwei W.
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Huang, Hsu-Wen
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Chao, Yi-Ping
Converging behavioral and functional neuroimaging evidence indicates that East Asian and Western individuals have different orientations for processing information that may stem from contrasting cultural values. In this cross-cultural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approach to investigate culture-related and individual differences of independent-interdependent orientation in structural brain volume between 57 Taiwanese and 56 Western participants. Each participant's degree of endorsement of independent and interdependent cultural value was assessed by their self-report on the Singelis Self-Construal Scale (SCS). Behaviorally, Taiwanese rated higher SCS scores than Westerners in interdependent value and Westerners rated higher SCS scores than Taiwanese in independent value. The VBM results demonstrated that Western participants showed greater gray matter (GM) volume in the fronto-parietal network, whereas Taiwanese participants showed greater regional volume in temporal and occipital regions. Our findings provide supportive evidence that socio-cultural experiences of learned independent-interdependent orientations may play a role in regional brain volumes. However, strategic differences in cognition, genetic variation, and/or modulations of other environmental factors should also be considered to interpret such culture-related effects and potential individual differences.
Decreased Functional Connectivity in Salience Network is Correlated with Dysfunctional Attitude in Late Life Depression
(2015-03-01)
Lin, Chemin
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Wai, Yau-Yau
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Lee, Tatia Mei-Chun
Effects of Exercise Modes on Neural Processing of Working Memory in Late Middle-Aged Adults: An fMRI Study
(2019-09-04)
Chen, Feng-Tzu
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Chen, Ya-Ping
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Schneider, Stefan
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Kao, Shih-Chun
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Huang, Chih-Mao
Recent studies have highlighted the importance of regular exercise on cognitive function in aging populations, with aerobic exercise and cardiovascular fitness having received the largest amount of research attention. However, the relationship between exercise mode and cognitive function underlying behavioral modification and neural activation remains unknown. The present study, therefore, sought to examine the associations between different exercise modes and the working memory (WM) aspect of executive function as well as its task-evoked brain activation in the late middle-aged population. Seventy late middle-aged adults were classified into open-skill, closed-skill, or irregular exercise groups based on their participation in exercise activities prior to the study and then performed a spatial working memory (SWM) task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. The results revealed that exercise groups, regardless of exercise modes, showed better SWM and physical fitness performance. Additionally, the open-skill group exhibited greater brain activation in the prefrontal lobe, anterior cingulate cortex/supplementary motor area (ACC/SMA), and hippocampus than those in the closed-skill group, suggesting a mode-sensitive compensatory mechanism in late middle-aged adults. These findings indicate that exercise promotes cognitive health, improves WM, and enhances neurocognitive scaffolding in late middle-aged adults and further suggest that various exercise modes can effectively modulate frontal and hippocampal function in the face of age-related neurocognitive declines, implications that may inform the development of exercise programs for the elderly.
Increased brain entropy of resting-state fMRI mediates the relationship between depression severity and mental health-related quality of life in late-life depressed elderly
(2019-05-01)
Lin, Chemin
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Lee, Shwu-Hua
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Chen, Guan-Yen
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Ho, Pei-Shan
Background: Entropy analysis is a computational method used to quantify the complexity in a system, and loss of brain complexity is hypothesized to be related to mental disorders. Here, we applied entropy analysis to the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) signal in subjects with late-life depression (LLD), an illness combined with emotion dysregulation and aging effect. Methods: A total of 35 unremitted depressed elderly and 22 control subjects were recruited. Multiscale entropy (MSE) analysis was performed in the entire brain, 90 automated anatomical labeling-parcellated ROIs, and five resting networks in each study participant. Limitations: Due to ethical concerns, all the participants were under medication during the study. Results: Regionally, subjects with LLD showed decreased entropy only in the right posterior cingulate gyrus but had universally increased entropy in affective processing (putamen and thalamus), sensory, motor, and temporal nodes across different time scales. We also found higher entropy in the left frontoparietal network (FPN), which partially mediated the negative correlation between depression severity and mental components of the quality of life, reflecting the possible neural compensation during depression treatment. Conclusion: MSE provides a novel and complementary approach in rs-fMRI analysis. The temporal-spatial complexity in the resting brain may provide the adaptive variability beneficial for the elderly with depression.
Mindfulness Improves Emotion Regulation and Executive Control on Bereaved Individuals: An fMRI Study
(2019-01-28)
Huang, Feng-Ying
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Hsu, Ai-Ling
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Hsu, Li-Ming
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Tsai, Jaw-Shiun
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Huang, Chih-Mao
The grief of bereavement is recognized as a severe psychosocial stressor that can trigger a variety of mental and physical disorders, and the long-lasting unresolved grief has a detrimental effect on brain functionality. Literature has documented mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) as an efficient treatment for improving well-being, specifically related to the mood and cognition, in a variety of populations. However, little attention has been devoted to neural mechanisms with regard to bereaved individuals' cognition after MBCT intervention. In this study, we recruited 23 bereaved participants who lost a significant relative within 6 months to 4 years to attend 8-week MBCT course. We used self-reporting questionnaires to measure emotion regulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with the numerical Stroop task to evaluate the MBCT effect on executive control among the bereaved participants. The self-reported questionnaires showed improvements on mindfulness and reductions in grief, difficulties in emotion regulation, anxiety, and depression after the MBCT intervention. The fMRI analysis demonstrated two scenarios: (1) the activity of the fronto-parietal network slightly declined accompanied with significant improvements in the reaction time of incongruent trials; (2) the activities in the posterior cingulate cortex and thalamus were positively associated with the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief, implying emotional interferences on cognitive functions. Results indicated that MBCT facilitated the executive control function by alleviating the emotional interferences over the cognitive functions and suggested that the 8-week MBCT intervention significantly improved both executive control and emotion regulation in bereaved individuals.
NEURAL CORRELATES OF CONVERGENT AND DIVERGENT CREATIVITY: AN FMRI STUDY
(2017-12-01)
Tseng, De-Jung
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Wu, Changwei
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Liu, Meichun
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Huang, Hsu-Wen
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Huang, Chih-Mao
Reduced frontal activity during a verbal fluency test in fibromyalgia: A near-infrared spectroscopy study
(2018-04-01)
Chou, Po-Han
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Tang, Kuo-Tung
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Chen, Yi-Hsing
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Sun, Chia-Wei
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Huang, Chih-Mao
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex disorder characterized by widespread chronic pain and associated sleep problems and cognitive dysfunction. However, only few studies focusing on cognitive dysfunction in FM are available so far. In the present study, we aimed to use near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to evaluate the brain function in FM patients subjected to a verbal fluency test (VFT). A total of 11 primary FM patients and 13 healthy individuals (HC) underwent NIRS while performing a VFT. The Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) was used to evaluate the symptom severity of FM and Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI) was used to evaluate the severities depression symptoms in study participants. Five regions of interests (ROIs) were defined: the frontal-, bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and temporal regions. Brain activities of ROIs between the two groups were compared. In addition, we investigated the relationship between clinical symptoms and brain cortical activity in FM patients. Our results showed that there were no significant differences between HC and FM patients in age, sex, and BDI scores. We found significantly reduced brain activity over the frontal regions during a VFT in FM patients (p =.026). In addition, we found decreased frontal activity was associated with BDI scores (rho = -0.755, p =.007). Furthermore, there were no significant correlations between frontal activity and FIQ subscales. In conclusion, our study demonstrated a reduced frontal cortical activity during VET in FM patients, and that NIRS could be a potential tool for evaluating brain function in FM patients in clinical settings. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Reduced language lateralization in first episode schizophrenia: A near infrared spectroscopy study
(2017-08-01)
Chou, Po-Han
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Lin, Wei-Hao
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Li, Wang-Rung
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Sun, Chia-Wei
Background: Diminished functional lateralization in language-related areas is found in chronic schizophrenia (SZ). However, whether this reduced lateralization exists at the early stage of SZ remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate language lateralization in first episode schizophrenia (FES) using near infrared spectroscopy (NIBS) during a letter version of verbal fluency test (VFT). Methods: A total of 28 FES patients and 33 healthy controls (HCs) underwent NIBS while performing a VFT. Six regions of interests (ROIs) were defined: the bilateral frontal-, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and temporal regions. Laterality index (LI) was calculated and compared between the two groups in ROIs. In addition, we investigated whether language lateralization was correlated with severity of clinical symptoms. Results: Across all ROIs, LI was significantly reduced in FES patients (p = 0.037) compared to controls in the IFG region. In addition, LI was not found to be correlated with VFT performance, the PANSS positive, negative or general psychopathology subscales. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated a diminution of leftward functional lateralization in the IFG during a VFT in FES patients. This is the first NIBS study to report reduced functional lateralization in patients at the early stage of schizophrenia.
The correlation of perceived quality of life and functional connectivity in patients of late-life depression
(2015-12)
Lee, Shwu-Hua
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Lin, Chemin
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Lee, Tatia Mei-Chun
The neural correlates of perceived energy levels in older adults with late-life depression
(2019-10-01)
Lam, Charlene L. M.
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Wai, Yau-Yau
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Lee, Shwu-Hua
Late-life depression is common among older adults. Although white-matter abnormality is highly implicated, the extent to which the corticospinal tract is associated with the pathophysiology of late-life depression is unclear. The current study aims to investigate the white-matter structural integrity of the corticospinal tract and determine its cognitive and functional correlates in older adults with late-life depression. Twenty-eight older adults with clinical depression and 23 healthy age-matched older adults participated in the study. The white matter volume and the white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) of the corticospinal tract, as well as the global WMHs, were measured. Psychomotor processing speed, severity of depression, perceived levels of energy and physical functioning were measured to examine the relationships among the correlates in the depressed participants. The right corticospinal tract volume was significantly higher in depressed older adults relative to healthy controls. Moreover, the right corticospinal tract volume was significantly associated with the overall severity of depression and accounted for 17% of its variance. It further attenuated the relationship between the severity of depression and perceived levels of energy. Our findings suggested that higher volume in the right corticospinal tract is implicated in LLD and may relate to lower perceived levels of energy experienced by older adults with depression.
The relationship between loneliness and working-memory-related frontoparietal network connectivity in people with major depressive disorder
(2020-09-01)
Gao, Mengxia
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Shao, Robin
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Chen, Yao-Liang
Loneliness affects up to 40 % of middle-aged and older adults, and is closely associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the relationship between loneliness and neural network functioning during executive cognitive processes, such as working memory, in MDD is still unclear. To address this gap, our study recruited 21 medicated MDD patients (mean age = 52.0 +/- 5 years) and 24 matched healthy controls (HC) (mean age = 48.7 +/- 6 years) who completed an n-back fMRI task. For behavioural performance, we observed no significant moderating effect of MDD or loneliness on the task condition effect. However, loneliness was positively associated, and MDD was negatively associated, with the functional connectivity between the inferior parietal cortex and the rostral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) during task performance. Furthermore, an interactive effect of loneliness and MDD was observed on the functional connectivity between the supplementary motor area and the caudal DMPFC during the n-back task, with loneliness showing a positive relationship in the HC group but a negative relationship in the MDD group with the connectivity. Our results indicated that loneliness may be associated with altered neural regulatory functioning on self-referential processing and action control, which may further depend on the individual's depressive state. These findings can form the theoretical basis for devising intervention programme aimed at improving the mental wellness of the healthy and depressed lonely individuals.