Functional and Structural Optical Brain Imaging

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute Of Child Health & Human Development

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The main technique utilized in our section is functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which is a noninvasive optical imaging technique used to quantify hemodynamic responses in different tissues. We have been using fNIRS in conjunction with other neuroimaging techniques to explore cortical activation in two distinct populations: 1) healthy adult volunteers, and 2) infants and children, both with and without developmental disorders. The primary aim of the first cohort is to validate fNIRS findings via comparison with previous results obtained from electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies, while the focus of the second cohort is to comprehensively explore typical and atypical developmental trajectories in infants and children, including those at elevated risk for developmental disorders. For data collection, our team plans to enroll more adult participants in the upcoming months. The enrollment ceiling is 80, and we have enrolled and collected data for 68 participants up to this point. To characterize the mirror neuron network (MNN) using EEG and fNIRS, we developed a multimodal data-fusion approach that leverages EEG’s temporal and fNIRS’s spatial resolution. Mu suppression was used as a marker of MNN activation in EEG data. Using structured sparse multiset CCA (ssmCCA), we identified congruent activity during action execution and observation across key left-hemisphere regions, including the paracentral, precentral, and parietal cortices. This was the first study to integrate hemodynamic and electrical signals to characterize the MNN. We further explored motor imagery alongside execution and observation. Applying the same method, we found that the left inferior parietal region played a central role during imagined actions. These regions showed similar activation patterns across all conditions, supporting the theory that observation, imagination, and execution share a common sensory-motor network, likely due to internal rehearsal processes. This work was published in Scientific Reports (Su et al., 2023). In addition to our exploration of the MMN network, we are currently engaged in the simultaneous collection of fNIRS and EEG data from healthy volunteers, a venture aimed at both validating and delving into the neural network linked to dual task performance. Specifically, our study entails tasking healthy volunteers with cognitive exercises, namely the Flanker vs Reverse Flanker tasks, while maintaining their balance across different positions: Sitting, Standing, and Tandem Stance. Notably, we also embarked on an investigation into the impact of acute physical activity, specifically a one-minute sit-to-stand task, on dual task performance and neural activity within our cohort of healthy volunteers. Drawing on insights garnered from previous research and our pilot data, our expectations revolve around observing a decline in performance coupled with heightened prefrontal activity during cognitive tasks conducted in more challenging stances. In collaboration with Dr. Bornstein, we have studied parent brain responses to child facial and vocal communication (Bornstein et al., 2025). Parenting is constituted of caregiving cognitions and practices, based in evolution and biology as well as culture and context, and lodged in nervous system structure and function. This narrative review first discusses parenting and an orientation toward caregiving in terms of its nature, constituents, and goals. Next, the review operationalizes parenting cognitions and practices that are expressed in response to facial and vocal cues of young offspring and revealed in naturalistic and experimental studies using behavioral preferences, attention tasks, and implicit association tests. Studies of autonomic and central nervous system structures and functions in the service of parenting are subsequently reviewed. Taken together, these investigations of the parent nervous system reveal associations with, and likely neuropsychological underpinnings of, parenting cognitions and practices and begin to unveil specific mechanisms and loci in the human nervous system that define a neuroscience of parenting. To continue our work in multimodal imaging and further our understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders, we are collaborating with Children’s National Hospital to develop a feasibility study. Using a combination of noninvasive neuroimaging (fNIRS and EEG), research-based tasks within a Virtual Reality (VR) environment, and traditional (e.g. standardized, behavioral, and diagnostic) assessments, the overarching purpose of this research is to 1) assess the feasibility of combining these methods in research involving autistic children, and 2) better understand the interrelationships between cognitive, motor, and social development in this population. Unfurling these relationships and their neural correlates will inform future research, assessment methods, and intervention strategies across the autism spectrum. In order to properly assess the feasibility of these proposed methods, we will use four of Orsmond and Cohn’s (2015) feasibility study objectives, focusing on: 1) recruitment and inclusion/exclusion criteria, 2) study and data collection procedures, 3) availability of resources needed for study execution, and 4) preliminary data results. We plan to recruit autistic children aged 8-12 across the autism spectrum. Participants will complete three types of tasks within a Virtual Reality (VR) environment while wearing the fNIRS and EEG apparatus: cognitive, motor, and cognitive-motor. The cognitive task is a Go/No-go paradigm in which participants must “pop” a series of target items--red balloons--while leaving all differently colored balloons alone. For the motor task, balloons of one color will be presented one at a time at randomized locations and must be popped. The player must reach towards the balloon's location and then pop the balloon using the button press on the handheld controller. Finally, the cognitive-motor task will combine the previous two tasks, i.e. a Go/No-go Reach and-Pop paradigm, in which participants must discern between differently colored balloons to reach and pop all red balloons while other colors must be left alone. In addition to simultaneous brain imaging during these research-based tasks, participants and their parents will also complete a series of questionnaires assessing cognitive, motor, and social domains. At this time, we have developed and internally piloted the VR tasks successfully among adults, and are finalizing the protocol for IRB submission as soon as possible.