Biomedical subjects

Ryusuke Kakigi

Publications and source records attributed to Ryusuke Kakigi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Magnetoencephalographic study of the cortical activity elicited by human voice.

In an attempt to identify voice-specific neural activities in auditory cortex in humans, we recorded cortical magnetic responses. Volunteers were instructed to listen to vocal and instrumental sounds matched in fundamental-frequency, duration, temporal envelope and average root mean square power. The stimuli were sounds produced by four singers and four musical instruments at each of two fundamental frequencies: 220 Hz (musical note A3) and 261.9 Hz (C3). Two components of the evoked responses were analyzed, one at approximately 100 ms (N1m) and the other 400 ms after the stimulus onset (sustained field, SF). The source locations of equivalent current dipoles for both components were estimated around the Heschl's gyrus in both hemispheres. Compared with the instrumental sound, the source strength of the SF component for the voice was significantly larger.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2003

Human cortical response to incoherent motion on a background of coherent motion.

To investigate whether humans achieve a high sensitivity to coherent motion by excluding the response to incoherent motion, we measured the magnetoencephalographic response to the motion of randomly located dots one half of which moved coherently while the other half moved incoherently. The response was related to the faster motion of either coherent or incoherent motion though the observers saw both. All the estimated response sources were within the extrastriate area. The results indicate that incoherent motion is represented in the neural activity of the human extrastriate area even when the coherent motion is perceived at the same time. The fact that the neural activity for the slower coherent motion is not represented in the magnetic response suggests the existence of interaction between the neural activities for the two motions.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Central mechanisms for two-point discrimination in humans.

We studied the cognitive mechanisms for two-point discrimination (TPD) in 11 normal subjects, using electrical pulses. We used six ball-shaped electrodes placed in line on the dorsal surface of the left hand, and two-point was stimulated by two electrodes randomly selected. We measured the reaction time for TPD and calculated the percentage of correct responses for each two-point stimulation. The subjects' response was significantly affected by the preceding stimuli as well as the distance of the stimuli: for a two-point stimulus condition, subjects tended to feel the stimuli as two-point when the distance between the stimuli was longer than that of preceding stimuli, whereas they felt the stimuli as one-point when the distance was shorter than that of the preceding stimuli. The present results indicate that the TPD process involved evaluation of the distance between the stimuli relatively to that of the preceding stimuli, as well as evaluation of absolute distance between the stimuli.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Effects of sleep on pain-related somatosensory evoked potentials in humans.

We investigated effects of sleep on pain-related somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) following painful electrical stimulation of the left index finger. The biggest advantage of this method is that signals ascending through both A-beta fibers relating to touch and A-delta fibers relating to pain can be recorded simultaneously. While the subject was awake, non-painful stimulation evoked early- and middle latency components, N20, P30 and N60, at the C4 electrode, and painful stimulation evoked not only early- and middle latency components at the C4 but also later pain-specific components, N130 and P240, at the Cz electrode. During sleep, N20 and P30 did not show a significant change in amplitude, N60 showed a slight but significant amplitude reduction, and N130 and P240 significantly decreased in amplitude or disappeared, as compared with those while awake. Therefore, we speculate on the mechanisms generating each component as follows; (1) N20 and P30 are the primary components generated in SI ascending through A-beta fibers. (2) N60 is the secondary component generated in SI involving cognitive function to some degree. (3) N130-P240 are the pain-specific components ascending through A-delta fibers, and closely related to cognitive function, because they were much affected by consciousness, different from the components ascending through A-beta fibers.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Cerebral responses following stimulation of unmyelinated C-fibers in humans: electro- and magneto-encephalographic study.

There are two kinds of pain, a sharp pain ascending through Adelta fibers (first pain) and a second burning pain ascending though C fibers (second pain). By using a novel method, the application of a low intensity CO(2) laser beam to a tiny area of skin using a very thin aluminum plate with numerous tiny holes as a spatial filter, we succeeded in selectively stimulating unmyelinated C fibers of the skin in humans, and could record consistent and clear brain responses using electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). The conduction velocity (CV) of the C fibers of the peripheral nerve and spinal cord, probably spinothalamic tract (STT), is approximately 1-4 m/s, which is significantly slower than that of Adelta (approximately 10-15 m/s) and Abeta fibers (approximately 50-70 m/s). This method should be very useful for clinical application. Following C fiber stimulation, primary and secondary somatosensory cortices (SI and SII) are simultaneously activated in the cerebral hemisphere contralateral to the stimulation, and then, SII in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stimulation is activated. These early responses are easily detected by MEG. Then, probably limbic systems such as insula and cingulate cortex are activated, and those activities reflected in EEG components. Investigations of the cortical processing in pain perception including both first and second pain should provide a better understanding of pain perception and, therefore, contribute to pain relief in clinical medicine.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Brain responses for the subconscious recognition of faces.

We investigated the event-related responses following subthreshold and suprathreshold stimulation with facial and non-facial figures using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and EEG recordings to clarify the physiological nature of subconscious perception. Event-related magnetic fields and potentials were recorded from the right hemisphere in eight healthy subjects. Three types of stimulus, i.e., facial image (Face), letters of the alphabet (Letters) and random patterns of dots (Dots), with different presentation periods, subthreshold (16 ms), intermediate (32 ms) and suprathreshold (48 ms) were visually presented in a random order. A psychological discrimination task using the same stimuli was also employed. Clear MEG and EEG responses were recorded for all the stimuli, but the amplitude of the responses was largest for Face and smallest for Dots even in the subthreshold stimulation. The equivalent current dipoles (ECDs) for Face were located around the fusiform gyrus, although the correlation coefficients for ECDs were low under subthreshold and intermediate conditions. The ECDs for Letters and Dots were not estimated with reliable correlation coefficients. The results from the psychological task correlated with the dominancy of face recognition. Face perception was processed differently in the subthreshold condition as well as suprathreshold condition. The subconscious recognition of face might be processed around the fusiform gyrus.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Spatiotemporal separability in the human cortical response to visual motion speed: a magnetoencephalography study.

Humans can estimate the speed of an object's motion independently of other visual information. Although speed-related neural activity is known to exist in the primate brain, there has been no physiological study that investigated where and how the speed of motion is represented in the human brain. Nine different combinations of spatial and temporal frequencies were used to make drifting sinusoidal grating of five different speeds (from 1.5 to 24 deg/s). Using the stimuli, we evaluated whether the magnetoencephalographic response property changes were due to a speed-tuned mechanism or to separable spatial and temporal frequency detection mechanisms. The latency change was caused mainly by an inseparable speed-tuned mechanism. In contrast, the amplitude was inversely related to the spatial frequency and was also affected by the temporal frequency differently depending on the frequency. Our results support the view that the human visual system has three sets of mechanisms tuned to spatial frequency, temporal frequency, and speed.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Effects of sleep on pain-related somatosensory evoked magnetic fields in humans.

We investigated the effects of sleep on pain-related somatosensory evoked magnetic fields (SEFs) following painful electrical stimulation to identify the mechanisms generating them in both fast A-beta fibers relating to touch and slow A-delta fibers relating to pain. While the subjects were awake, non-painful and painful electrical stimulations were applied, and while asleep, painful stimulation was applied to the left index finger. During awake, five components (1M-5M) were identified following both non-painful and painful stimulation, but the 4M and 5M at around 70-100 ms and 140-180 ms, respectively, were significantly enhanced following painful stimulation. During sleep, 1M and 2M generated in the primary somatosensory cortex (SI) did not show a significant change, 3M in SI showed a slight but significant amplitude reduction, and 4M and 5M generated in both SI and the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII) were significantly decreased in amplitude or disappeared. The 4M and 5M are complicated components generated in SI and SII ascending through both A-beta fibers and A-delta fibers. They are specifically enhanced by painful stimulation due to an increase of signals ascending through A-delta fibers, and are markedly decreased during sleep, because they much involve cognitive function.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Cortical activities relating to modulation of sound frequency: how to vocalize?

This is the first report to clarify the underlying mechanisms of processing in the modulation of frequencies (tones) in humans using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Volunteers were instructed to vocalize a simple vowel sound (/u/) after receiving a cue (S2) for either one of three (low, middle, or high fundamental frequencies) (F0s). Three tasks, (1) the modulated vocalization task in which the subjects were asked to modulate vocalization tones according to S2, (2) the non-modulated vocalization task in which the subjects were asked to vocalize the same sound (/u/) with a fixed F0, and (3) the image task in which the subjects had to modulate according to S2 and imagine the vowel (/u/) sound, but not vocalize it. In all tasks, two clear components, 1M and 2M, were recorded at approximately 190 and 290 ms after the S2. Since both were identified even in the Image task, they appear to be specifically related to activity for modulation. The equivalent current dipoles of both 1M and 2M were estimated to lie mainly in the inferior frontal lobe or insula in both hemispheres. Therefore, the activity relating to modulation mainly took place in the inferior frontal lobe or insula in both hemispheres starting about 200 ms after the viewing of a cue.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2003

Cortical evidence of the perceptual backward masking effect on /l/ and /r/ sounds from a following vowel in Japanese speakers.

We examined the influence of stimulus duration of foreign consonant vowel stimuli on the MMNm (magnetic counter part of mismatch negativity). In Experiment 1, /ra/ and /la/ stimuli were synthesized and subjects were native Japanese speakers who are known to have difficulty discriminating the stimuli. "Short" duration stimuli were terminated in the middle of the consonant-to-vowel transition (110 ms). They were nevertheless clearly identifiable by English speakers. A clear MMNm was observed only for short-duration stimuli but not for untruncated long-duration (150-ms) stimuli. We suggest that the diminished MMNm for longer duration stimuli result from more effective masking by the longer vowel part. In Experiment 2 we examined this hypothesis by presenting only the third formant (F3) component of the original stimuli, since the acoustic difference between /la/ and /ra/ is most evident in the third formant, whereas F1 and F2 play a major role in vowel perception. If the MMNm effect depends on the acoustic property of F3, a stimulus duration effect comparable to that found with the original /la/ and /ra/ stimuli might be expected. However, if the effect is attributable to the masking effect from the vowel, no influence of stimulus duration would be expected, since neither stimulus contains F1 and F2 components. In fact, the results showed that the "F3 only" stimuli did not show a duration effect; MMNm was always elicited independent of stimulus duration. The MMN stimulus duration effect is thus suggested to come from the backward masking of foreign consonants by subsequent vowels.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2003

Mechanisms of differences in gating effects on short-and long-latency somatosensory evoked potentials relating to movement.

We investigated the mechanisms underlying the differences in gating effects on short- and long-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) relating to movement. SEPs were recorded in normal subjects for 6 different tasks in Experiment 1: Control, Movement, Distraction, Attention, Movement during Distraction and Movement during Attention, and for 4 different tasks in Experiment 2: Control, Passive Movement, Contralateral Movement and Movement Imagery. The amplitudes of short-latency SEPs were significantly reduced by active and passive movement of the stimulated hand, but long-latency SEPs (N140-P200) were significantly enhanced by active movement of the stimulated hand. Attention, Distraction, Contralateral Movement and Movement Imagery did not affect the amplitudes of SEPs. The degree of enhancement of long-latency SEPs by active Movement was greater than that by active movement with Attention or Distraction. Gating effects on long-latency SEPs were different from those on short-latency SEPs. Since this effect was not related to Attention/Distraction, Passive Movement, Movement Imagery or Movement of another site, it is probably due to specific centrifugal effects, which are different from more direct gating effects on short-latency components. This study showed the difference in gating effects on somatosensory perception depending on time periods following stimulation, which may indicate an interaction between motor and somatosensory cortex.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Tonotopic representation of missing fundamental complex sounds in the human auditory cortex.

The N1m component of the auditory evoked magnetic field in response to tones and complex sounds was examined in order to clarify whether the tonotopic representation in the human secondary auditory cortex is based on perceived pitch or the physical frequency spectrum of the sound. The investigated stimulus parameters were the fundamental frequencies (F0 = 250, 500 and 1000 Hz), the spectral composition of the higher harmonics of the missing fundamental sounds (2nd to 5th, 6th to 9th and 10th to 13th harmonic) and the frequencies of pure tones corresponding to F0 and to the lowest component of each complex sound. Tonotopic gradients showed that high frequencies were more medially located than low frequencies for the pure tones and for the centre frequency of the complex tones. Furthermore, in the superior-inferior direction, the tonotopic gradients were different between pure tones and complex sounds. The results were interpreted as reflecting different processing in the auditory cortex for pure tones and complex sounds. This hypothesis was supported by the result of evoked responses to complex sounds having longer latencies. A more pronounced tonotopic representation in the right hemisphere gave evidence for right hemispheric dominance in spectral processing.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2002

Structure of visual evoked magnetic field during sleep in humans.

To investigate the effects of sleep on the visual evoked magnetic fields (VEF), we recorded VEF following flash light stimulation in healthy adults during sleep. The awake VEF contained several components with approximate latencies of 40, 55, 65, 80, 100, 110, 150, and 180 ms. In contrast, the sleep VEF contained mainly three components with approximate latencies of 65, 100 and 115 ms. By comparing the magnetic components between the awake and sleep conditions based on similarities in the contour pattern of the isomagnetic field, three components for the sleep condition were found to be enhanced, those at 55, 80-100 and 100-110 ms in the awake VEF. Other components of the awake VEF may be reduced or disappear during sleep. This large change in the VEF during sleep suggests that some qualitative changes occur in the cortical visual processing, for example, a reduction in the inhibitory activities at works while awake.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Gaze direction affects face perception in humans.

We recorded event-related potentials (ERP) in response to images of faces with a straight gaze (straight eyes) and eyes averted (averted eyes). Peak latencies of ERP components showed no significant change between straight eyes and averted eyes, but amplitude for averted eyes, particularly when averted to the right, was significantly larger than that for straight eyes at the lateral temporal electrode of the right hemisphere. Single-unit recordings in monkeys and neuroimaging studies in humans have revealed activity in the lateral temporal region, mainly the superior temporal sulcus, and a clinical study demonstrated the importance of the right hemisphere when viewing gaze direction. This is the first systematic neurophysiological report to confirm these findings using ERP.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Visual detection of motion speed in humans: spatiotemporal analysis by fMRI and MEG.

Humans take a long time to respond to the slow visual motion of an object. It is not known what neural mechanism causes this delay. We measured magnetoencephalographic neural responses to light spot motion onset within a wide speed range (0.4-500 degrees /sec) and compared these with human reaction times (RTs). The mean response latency was inversely related to the speed of motion up to 100 degrees /sec, whereas the amplitude increased with the speed. The response property at the speed of 500 degrees /sec was different from that at the other speeds. The speed-related latency change was observed when the motion duration was 10 msec or longer in the speed range between 5 and 500 degrees /sec, indicating that the response is directly related to the speed itself. The source of the response was estimated to be around the human MT+ and was validated by functional magnetic imaging study using the same stimuli. The results indicate that the speed of motion is encoded in the neural activity of MT+ and that it can be detected within 10 msec of motion observation. RT to the same motion onset was also inversely related to the speed of motion but the delay could not be explained by the magnetic response latency change. Instead, the reciprocal of RT was linearly related to the reciprocal of the magnetic response latency, suggesting that the visual process interacts with other neural processes for decision and motor preparation.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Human cortical responses to coherent and incoherent motion as measured by magnetoencephalography.

To investigate the detail response properties for the incoherent motion of the human visual system, we measured the magnetoencephalographic neural responses to both coherent and incoherent motions at various speeds (from 0.65 to 20.6 degrees /s). The peak latency of the first component of the response from the extrastriate area was inversely related to the speed of motion (from 228 to 155 ms in mean) and there was no significant difference in the latency change between the two types of motion. There were significant differences in the peak amplitude change with the motion speed and a difference in the distribution of the magnetic fields of the responses was seen in six of the seven subjects. The results show that the speed of the incoherently moving dots is represented in the human visual system in the same manner as that of coherently moving dots. The differences in the magnetic fields between the two responses indicate that the same speed-related response changes can occur with different neural populations responsible for both motions.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Conduction velocity of the spinothalamic tract following CO2 laser stimulation of C-fibers in humans.

Pain-related somatosensory-evoked potential following CO(2) laser stimulation (laser-evoked potential (LEP)) is now used not only for research objectives, but also for clinical applications. Estimating the conduction velocity (CV) of the spinothalamic tract (STT) by analyzing LEP following activation of Adelta-fibers (Adelta-CVSTT) by CO(2) laser stimulation has been performed previously, but estimating the CV of STT following activation of C-fibers (C-CVSTT) has not. This is the first report to estimate the C-CVSTT in humans; by using the novel method of CO(2) laser stimulation applied to tiny skin areas. The calculation method was based on that of Kakigi and Shibasaki (Electroenceph clin Neurophysiol 80 (1991) 39) who measured Adelta-CVSTT by conventional CO(2) laser stimulation. The C-CVSTT ranged between 1.4 and 4.0 m/s, and its mean+/-SD was 2.9+/-0.8 m/s. This C-CVSTT was significantly slower than the Adelta-CVSTT, which ranged approximately from 10 to 21 m/s. The nociceptive signal of the C-fibers in STT is probably conveyed by unmyelinated axons of projection neurons to reach the thalamus. Our findings provide the first physiological evidence of the signals ascending through unmyelinated axons in the spinal cord in humans. In addition, estimating C-CVSTT and Adelta-CVSTT combined with conventional methods to measure the CV of the posterior column using electrical stimulation should be useful and have important clinical applications, particularly in patients with spinal cord lesions showing various kinds of sensory disturbances.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Preferential stimulation of Adelta fibers by intra-epidermal needle electrode in humans.

We recorded evoked potentials (EPs) induced by conventional transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TS), laser stimulation (LS) and epidermal electrical stimulation (ES) using a specially made needle electrode. We evaluated the activated fibers by epidermal stimulation by assessing the conduction velocity (CV) of the peripheral nerves. The EPs were recorded from Cz electrode (vertex) of the International 10-20 system in 12 healthy subjects. For the ES, the tip of a stainless steel needle electrode was inserted in the epidermis of the skin (0.2 mm in depth). Distal and proximal sites of the upper limb were stimulated by the LS and ES with an intensity which induced a definite pain sensation. Similar sites were stimulated by TS with an intensity of two times the sensory threshold. A major EP positive response (P1) was obtained by stimulation by all three types of stimuli. The P1 latency for the TS (245+/-22 ms) was significantly shorter than that for the ES (302+/-17 ms, P<0.0001) and LS (341+/-21 ms, P<0.0001) and the peak latency P1 by the LS was also significantly longer, approximately 40 ms, than that by the ES (P<0.0001). The CVs were 15.1, 15.3 and 44.1 m/s obtained by ES, LS and TS, respectively. The CV indicated that the fibers activated by the ES were mainly A fibers, which corresponded to the fibers stimulated by the LS. We considered that the ES with our newly developed needle electrode was a very convenient method for the selective stimulation of the A fibers, since it was very simple, not requiring any special apparatus, did not cause bleeding or burns and caused minimum uncomfortable feeling.

Adult↗