Research Topics
I. Memory function in aging, neurological, and psychiatric disorders
Mismatch negativity (MMN), or its magnetic equivalent (MMNm), has been a useful electrophysiological signal to determine the integrity of sensory memory, mainly mediated by the superior temporal generators, and involuntary attention switching, subserved by the inferior frontal cortex. From the biological perspective, MMN plays an important role since it allows brains to detect novel events within a series of background stimuli. In addition to superior temporal and inferior frontal regions, we also discover other neural correlates related to MMN responses, such as inferior parital lobule (IPL), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). The integrity of MMN/MMNm has been related to the performance of higher order of cognitive function, such as working memory, attention, and language. In addition to the account of sensory memory, the predictive coding hypothesis has also been proposed to elucidate the production of MMN/MMNm. Over the past years, we have examined the MMN/MMNm function in many sub-clinical and clinical populations, such as healthy older adults, individuals with subjective memory decline, mild cognitive impairment, and panic disorders.
Selected publications:
Cheng CH*, Chang CC, Chao YP, Lu H, Peng SW, Wang PN. Altered mismatch response precedes gray matter atrophy in subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Psychophysiology 2021, In press.
Cheng CH*, Hsu SC, Liu CY. Dysfunctional frontal activation of mismatch negativity in panic disorder: A magnetoencephalographic study. Journal of Affective Disorders 2021, 280: 211-218
Chen TC, Hsieh M, Lin YT, Chan PY, Cheng CH*. Mismatch negativity to different deviant changes in autism spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis. Clinical Neurophysiology 2020, 131: 766-777
Yang SH, Wang PN, Cheng CH*. Altered auditory repetition suppression and MMNm in relation to cognitive tests in older adults. Biological Psychology 2019 In Press
Cheng CH, Baillet S, Hsiao FJ, Lin YY*. Effects of aging on the neuromagnetic mismatch detection to speech sounds. Biological Psychology 2015, 104: 48-55
II. Sensory gating in aging, neurological, and psychiatric disorders
Aging not only affects physical conditions, but also has a great impact on brain function, such as attention, episodic memory, language and executive function. Most importantly, cortical inhibition or sensory gating to repetitive background stimulation also plays an essential role in the higher-order operations. Biologically, brains were born to detect significant/novel signals and to ignore repetitive/redundant stimulation. Excessive responses to repetitive stimuli indicate a failure in cortical inhibition. It has been evident that the disrupted inhibition has a detrimental effect on executive function in patients with AD. The paired-pulse protocol is a useful technique to examine the integrity of cortical inhibition. By applying electrophysiological recordings, auditory P50 (P50m in MEG recordings) or/and N100 (N100m in MEG recordings) have been extensively used to determine this neural function. We also found a functional correlation between P50m and MMNm, suggesting those with poor inhibition function exhibit deteriorated deviance detection. This phenomenon implies that early-stage cortical inhibition function might have influence on the later-stage novelty discrimination. In addition to the auditory cortex, somatosensory cortex (SI and SII) and visual cortex might also demonstrate aging-related changes in terms of repetition inhibition. it has been shown that SI cortical inhibition deficits correlate with the clinical degradation of tactile perception. Most importantly, we found that SII areas are more sensitive to aging than SI in terms of repetition suppression.
Selected publications:
Sun HH, Lin MY, Nouchi R, Wang PN, Cheng CH*. Neuromagnetic evidence of abnormal automatic inhibitory function in subjective memory complaint. European Journal of Neuroscience 2021, In Press.
Cheng CH*, Hsiao FJ, Hsieh YW, Wang PN*. Dysfunction of inferior parietal lobule during sensory gating in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 2020, 12: 39
Cheng CH*, Chan PY, Hsu SC, Liu CY. Abnormal frontal generator during sensory gating in panic disorder: An MEG study. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging 2019, 288: 60-66
Cheng CH*, Niddam DM, Hsu SC, Liu CY, Tsai SY. Resting GABA concentration predicts inhibitory control during an auditory Go-Nogo task. Experimental Brain Research 2017, 235: 3811-3841 (SCI, IF = 1.917, Ranking = 74.90% NEUROSCIENCES)
Cheng CH*, Chan PY, Niddam DM, Tsai SY, Hsu SC, Liu CY. Sensory gating, inhibition control and gamma oscillations in the human somatosensory cortex. Scientific Reports 2016, 6: 20437
Cheng CH*, Baillet S, Lin YY. Region-specific reduction of auditory sensory gating in older adults. Brain and Cognition 2015, 101: 64-72
III. Inhibitory function in aging and sub-clinical populations
Inhibiting responses to irrelevant stimuli or inappropriate behaviors is an essential cognitive ability for humans in everyday life. For example, to precisely execute certain tasks in a distractible environment, task-relevant information is not only enhanced but task-irrelevant information is selectively inhibited at the same time. Inhibition function can be categorized as automatic (bottom-up) and attentive (top-down) aspects. The automatic inhibition function in the sensory cortex could be evaluated with paired-stimulation paradigms, and the attentive inhibition function could be studied with Go-Nogo or stop-signal paradigms. We are currently applying MEG to investigate the neural representations of cognitive control in the healthy adults and also to study how aging process influences this cognitive component. In addition, we are also interested in the factors that modulate inter-individual variabilities. Thus, we try to ask questions such that "if brain oscillations mediating the behavioral performance of inhibition control", "if the neurotransmitters within a certain brain region modulate the inhibition function" or "if the neural representation of inhibition control is modality-dependent or independent", etc. We have found several interesting findings in the cortical somatosensory and auditory systems, and these data provided the empirical evidence for the modulation of inhibition control through multiple levels, i.e., through a neurotransmitter-neurophysiological-behavioral axis.
Selected publication:
Lin MY, Cheng CH*. Effect of age in auditory Go/Nogo task: A magnetoencephalographic study. Brain Sciences 2020, 10: 667
Lin MY, Tseng YJ, Cheng CH*. Age effects on spatiotemporal dynamics of response inhibition: An MEG study. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience 2018, 10: 386
Cheng CH*, Niddam DM, Hsu SC, Liu CY, Tsai SY. Resting GABA concentration predicts inhibitory control during an auditory Go-Nogo task. Experimental Brain Research 2017, 235: 3811-3841
Cheng CH*, Tsai SY, Liu CY, Niddam DM. Automatic inhibitory function in the human somatosensory and motor cortices: An MEG-MRS study. Scientific Reports 2017, 7: 4234
IV. Cognitive neuroscience and rehabilitation sciences: Neuroimaging approach
I welcome talented students to propose novel issues in terms of brain sciences, neuro-cognitive and behavioral sciences. Although my lab is currently targeting on the population of the elderly and aging-related diseases, any topic related to cognitive neuroscience in healthy adults or patients is also welcome. In addition, I am also interested in the training effects on the brain function, either in the healthy participants and those with diseases. Through the empirical evidence provided by neuroimaging studies, we hope to help bridge the gap between basic research and clinical application.
Selected publication:
Hsieh YW, Lee MT, Lin YH, Chuang LL, Chen CC, Cheng CH*. Motor cortical activity during observing a video of real hand movements versus computer graphic hand movements: An MEG study . Brain Sciences 2021, 11: 6
Tai RY, Zhu JD, Cheng CH, Tseng YJ, Chen CC, Hsieh YW*. Cortical neural activity evoked by bilateral and unilateral mirror therapy after stroke. Clinical Neurophysiology 2020, 131: 2333-2340
Cheng CH, Lin SH, Wu CY*, Liao YH, Chang KC, Hsieh YW. Mirror illusion modulates M1 activities and functional connectivity patterns of perceptual-attention circuits during bimanual movements: A magnetoencephalography study. Frontiers in Neuroscience 2020, 13: 1363
Zhu JD#, Cheng CH#, Tseng YJ, Chou CC, Hsieh YW*, Liao YH. Modulation of motor cortical activities by action observation and execution in patients with stroke: An MEG study. Neural Plasticity 2019, 8481371
Cheng CH*. Effects of observing normal and abnormal goal-directed hand movements on somatosensory cortical activation. European Journal of Neuroscience 2018, 47: 48-57
Cheng CH*, Sun HH, Weng JQ, Tseng YJ. Differential motor cortex excitability during observation of normal and abnormal goal-directed movement patterns. Neuroscience Research 2017, 123: 36-42