Cognitive and Sensory Imaging Laboratory, Institute for Human Neuroscience, Department of Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital (BTNRH), 14090 Mother Teresa Ln., Omaha, NE 68010, United States.
Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, College of Medicine, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, NE 68178, United States.
Cereb Cortex. 2023 Apr 25;33(9):5228-5237. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhac412.
Sensory gating is a process by which the brain filters out redundant information to preserve neural resources for behaviorally relevant stimuli. Although studies have shown alterations in auditory and visual processing in children who are hard-of-hearing (CHH) relative to children with normal hearing (CNH), it is unclear whether these alterations extend to the somatosensory domain, and how aberrations in sensory processing affect sensory gating. In this study, CHH and CNH were presented with a paired-pulse median nerve stimulation during magnetoencephalography. Stimulus-related gamma neural activity was imaged and virtual time series from peak somatosensory responses were extracted. We found significant effects of both stimulus and group, as well as a significant group-by-stimulus interaction. CHH showed a larger response to stimulation overall, as well as greater differences in gamma power from the first to the second stimulus. However, when looking at the ratio rather than the absolute difference in power, CHH showed comparable gating to CNH. In addition, smaller gating ratios were correlated with better classroom behavior and verbal ability in CHH, but not CNH. Taken together, these data underscore the importance of considering how CHH experience their multisensory environment when interpreting outcomes and designing interventions.
感觉门控是大脑过滤冗余信息以保留神经资源用于行为相关刺激的过程。尽管研究表明，与听力正常的儿童（CNH）相比，听力障碍儿童（CHH）的听觉和视觉处理存在改变，但尚不清楚这些改变是否扩展到躯体感觉域，以及感觉处理的异常如何影响感觉门控。在这项研究中，CHH 和 CNH 在磁共振脑磁图期间接受了正中神经的成对脉冲刺激。对与刺激相关的伽马神经活动进行了成像，并从峰值躯体感觉反应中提取了虚拟时间序列。我们发现刺激和组都有显著的影响，以及显著的组-刺激相互作用。CHH 总体上对刺激的反应更大，第一和第二刺激之间的伽马功率差异也更大。然而，当观察功率的比率而不是绝对值的差异时，CHH 的门控与 CNH 相当。此外，较小的门控比与 CHH 的课堂行为和语言能力的改善相关，但与 CNH 无关。总的来说，这些数据强调了在解释结果和设计干预措施时，考虑 CHH 如何体验他们的多感觉环境的重要性。
