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Resting in peace or noise: scanner background noise suppresses default-mode network
Nadine Gaab1, John D E Gabrieli, Gary H Glover
1Developmental Medicine Center, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215-5365, USA. nadine.gaab@childrens.harvard.edu
Human Brain Mapping
|May 6, 2008
Summary
Scanner background noise significantly impacts brain activity during rest, suppressing key regions of the default mode network. This suggests that the default mode of brain function is altered by scanner noise, potentially affecting clinical applications.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Brain Imaging
Background:
- The default mode network (DMN) shows increased activation during rest compared to attention-demanding tasks.
- Most DMN studies use conventional MRI acquisition in the presence of scanner background noise (SBN).
- SBN may alter attentional demands, potentially modulating DMN activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of scanner background noise (SBN) on the default mode network (DMN).
- To compare DMN activity during rest versus an auditory task under conditions with and without SBN.
Main Methods:
- Functional MRI (fMRI) was used in 12 subjects during rest and an auditory word presentation task.
- Two acquisition methods were employed: conventional acquisition with SBN and sparse sampling without SBN.
- Direct comparison was enabled by selecting time-corresponding images from both conditions.
Main Results:
- Both acquisition methods showed typical DMN activation during rest versus task.
- SBN significantly suppressed major DMN components, including the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate, and precuneus.
- Scanner noise diminished activation changes between rest and task in a nonlinear manner within the DMN.
Conclusions:
- The default mode of brain function is demonstrably different when assessed with and without scanner background noise.
- SBN may introduce attentional demands that nonlinearly affect DMN activation changes.
- Further research is needed to determine if sparse sampling enhances the clinical utility of DMN analysis.
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