Highly moving experiences increase information integration in areas of high NET density
Poster No:
782
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Maximilian Kathofer1, Pedro Mediano2, Marie Spies3, David Gomola3, Clemens Schmidt1, Benjamin Eggerstorfer3, Gabriel Schlosser3, Elisa Briem3, Christian Milz3, Samantha Graf3, Martin Klöbl3, Gregor Dörl3, Peter Stöhrmann3, Helmut Leder1, Rupert Lanzenberger3, Julia Crone1
Institutions:
1University Of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, 2Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, 3Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Subanesthetic doses of ketamine have been shown to exert strong pro-hedonic effects across diverse patient populations. However, it remains unclear what the mechanisms underlying ketamine's therapeutic properties are and whether non-clinical populations can similarly benefit from these effects. Given that hedonic experiences are the product of cognitive and affective processes and ketamine increases complex information processing (Li, 2019), we propose that deeply moving experiences rely on increases of neuronal information integration and that ketamine fundamentally reshapes ongoing information processes to facilitate this state. To test this, we use two well-established metrics: O-Info (Rosas, 2019) and Whole-Minus-Sum based on partial information decomposition (WMS) (Mediano, 2021). O-Info is a multivariate measure that captures the balance between redundant and synergistic information within a system. Synergy is a proxy for neuronal integration as it quantifies information that depends on the joint interaction of all elements in the system. To further identify the underlying spatial patterns and specific receptors involved, we localize changes in information integration (WMS) by decomposing the information flow between pairs of brain regions into redundant, unique, and synergistic parts and compare these to receptor density maps.
Methods:
Ketamine [0.5 mg/kg] was used to alter hedonic experiences in response to music in 32 healthy subjects. The within-subject design consisted of 2 treatment sessions (ketamine and placebo) counterbalanced across subjects. Functional imaging data was collected during a music task 4 hours after drug administration. The music task consisted of self-selected highly moving and neutral songs that were rated. To assess the effects of ketamine on behavior, linear mixed-effects models (LME) were implemented with regressors for treatment and initial rating (highly moving vs neutral). For local O-Info calculations, BOLD data was parcellated using the Schaefer-Tian 116 atlas and concatenated across participants. LME quantified the relationship between the shift of trial-averaged O-Info values, treatment, and moving ratings. Local WMS values were calculated for each pair of regions and averaged per trial to create information integration matrices. These matrices were subjected to Network Based Statistic (NBS) permutation testing to identify networks shifting in response to ketamine and the intensity of the moving experience. Significant positive NBS clusters were associated with 19 receptor maps, controlling for spatial autocorrelation and FWER.
Results:
The O-Info analysis revealed 3 key findings: 1) the brain exhibits high redundancy (intercept: 32.52), 2) ketamine does not alter whole-brain O-Info [t=-1.10, p=0.28], and 3) there is a significant linear shift toward synergistic processing with increasingly moving hedonic experiences [t=-3.02, p<0.01]. NBS identified a cluster of regions [177 edges, p<0.01] where information integration (WMS) scales with experience intensity, with highly moving experiences decreasing redundancy globally and shifting integration towards parietal regions. Similarly, NBS revealed a ketamine cluster shifting information integration from more frontal areas to occipital and parietal ones [171 edges, p < 0.01]. Finally, the positive NBS cluster associated with moving experiences strongly correlates exclusively with norepinephrine transporter (NET) receptor density [r = 0.55, p < 0.01].
·Significant clusters of shifts in WMS
Conclusions:
Consistent with our hypothesis, both ketamine and moving experiences alter parcel-level information integration. While ketamine reallocates information integration from frontal to posterior regions, moving experiences greatly reduce global redundancy based on experience intensity. These findings support the notion that moving experiences primarily arise from reduction of redundant information processing to facilitate synergistic processing where needed, mainly supported by norepinephrine transporter.
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Emotional Perception
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Music 1
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling 2
Multivariate Approaches
Keywords:
Computational Neuroscience
Consciousness
Emotions
Multivariate
Norpinephrine
Other - Information integration
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Abstract Information
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Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
Was this research conducted in the United States?
Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel? NOTE: Any human subjects studies without IRB approval will be automatically rejected.
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Provide references using APA citation style.
Mediano, P. A. M. (2021). Towards an extended taxonomy of information dynamics via integrated information decomposition. arXiv, 210913186.
Rosas, F. (2019). Quantifying high-order interdependencies via multivariate extensions of the mutual information. Physical Review E, 100(3), 032305.