Post-surgical Hearing Improvement in a Case of Jugular Foramen Schwannoma Despite the Lack of Response in a Preoperative Auditory Brainstem Response Test.

We report a rare case involving improved hearing after surgery for a jugular foramen schwannoma despite the lack of response during the preoperative auditory brainstem response (ABR) test. A left jugular foramen tumor was diagnosed in a 79-year-old man with hearing loss. No response was observed during the preoperative ABR test. However, his hearing improved after surgery using the lateral suboccipital approach. Following Gamma Knife radiation to the residual tumor post-surgery, the ABR test detected V waves. The hearing of patients with cerebellopontine angle tumors can improve even when there is no response during the preoperative ABR test.

AI voices reduce cognitive activity? A psychophysiological study of the media effect of AI and human newscasts in Chinese journalism.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been widely utilized in automated journalism writing and broadcasting in recent years. However, few systematic studies have been conducted on the differences in brain activation between human and artificial voices in newscasts. This paper aims to investigate the psychophysiological effects of the media in Chinese contexts when different agents (AI or human) broadcast different types (emotional/neutral) of news. Comparing the electrophysiological data of the participants' EEG while listening to different newscast agents revealed that brain activity responses were greater when listening to a human newscast than to an AI voice newscast. And ß bands in left posterior temporal lobe were significantly different, suggesting that participants' brain were better at processing, comprehending auditory information, and storing working memory when listening to a human reporter than when listening to a voice generated by AI. Moreover, the ERP results and the interaction effect of content valence and agent voice demonstrated that the human voice generated greater cognitive effect, which may reflect participants' trust in the credibility and fluency of the human voice news. This study demonstrates the importance of further research into cognitive effects of AI journalism.

Comparison of brain functional response to mechanical prickling stimuli to the glabrous and hairy skin.

BACKGROUND: A kind of prickle sensation, which is a composite feeling of pain and itch, can be evoked by mechanical stimulation of fiber ends from fabric surface against to human hairy skin, rather than glabrous skin. Now, a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was conducted to investigate the cognitive differences in the brain for mechanical prickling stimuli to the two types of skin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A nylon filament with the diameter of 205 µm and the length of 8 mm was used to deliver mechanical prickling stimuli respectively to two skin sites, fingertip (glabrous skin) and volar forearm (hairy skin), of eight healthy male subjects. Simultaneously, the technology of fMRI was adopted to acquire BOLD (Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent) signals of brain functional response of the subjects. RESULTS: Somatosensory areas, emotional areas, and the posterior parietal cortex (especially the precuneus) are important brain regions that distinguish between the two conditions. The representation of mechanical prickling stimulation to glabrous skin in the brain favors much more the tactile information of the stimulation and contains no itch, while the key brain area, precuneus, involved in itch was activated by the same mechanical prickling stimulation to hairy skin, and brain response for the condition of hairy skin contains more emotional information, which plays an important role in pain processing. CONCLUSION: Therefore, it can be inferred that a kind of stronger prickle sensation, which contains both pain and itch, was evoked by mechanical stimulation to hairy skin than glabrous skin.

Brain response in asthma: the role of "lung-brain" axis mediated by neuroimmune crosstalk.

In addition to typical respiratory symptoms, patients with asthma are frequently accompanied by cognitive decline, mood disorders (anxiety and depression), sleep disorders, olfactory disorders, and other brain response manifestations, all of which worsen asthma symptoms, form a vicious cycle, and exacerbate the burden on families and society. Therefore, studying the mechanism of neurological symptoms in patients with asthma is necessary to identify the appropriate preventative and therapeutic measures. In order to provide a comprehensive reference for related research, we compiled the pertinent literature, systematically summarized the latest research progress of asthma and its brain response, and attempted to reveal the possible "lung-brain" crosstalk mechanism and treatment methods at the onset of asthma, which will promote more related research to provide asthmatic patients with neurological symptoms new hope.

Regional brain strain dependance on direction of head rotation.

Brain injuries in automated vehicles during crash events are likely to include mechanisms of head impact in non-standard positions and postures (i.e., occupants not facing forward in an upright position). Federal regulations currently focus on impact conditions in primary planes of motion, such as frontal or rear impacts (sagittal plane of motion) or side impact (coronal plane of motion) and do not account for out of position occupants or non-standard postures. The objective of the present study was to develop and use the anatomically accurate brain finite element model to parametrically determine the injury metrics under different vectors with head rotation. A custom developed brain finite element model with anatomical accuracy and several anatomical regions defined was used to evaluate whole-brain strain as well as regional brain strain. Cumulative Strain Damage Measure (CSDM) at a threshold of 20% strain and the 95th percentile of the maximum principal strain (MPS95) were calculated for the whole brain and each brain region under multiple rotational directions. The model was exposed to a sinusoidal angular acceleration pulse of 5000 rad per second squared (rad/s2-) over 12.5 ms. The same pulse was used in the primary axes of motion and (lateral bending, flexion, extension, axial rotation) and combined axes representing oblique flexion and oblique extension. Whole brain CSDM20 was highest for lateral bending. Whole brain MPS95 was highest for axial rotation. The rCSDM20 was more susceptible to impact direction, with several brain regions having substantial accumulation of strain for oblique flexion and lateral bending. Comparatively, rMPS95 was more consistent across all rotation directions. The present study quantified the regional brain strain response under multiple rotational vectors identifying a high amount of variability in the accumulation of strain (i.e., CSDM20) in the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and midbrain specifically. While there was a high amount of variability in the accumulation of strain for multiple regions, the maximum strain measured (i.e., MPS95) in the regions was more consistent.

The Pitfalls and Perspectives of Assessing Olfactory Function via Optical Brain Imaging.

Olfaction is critical for maintaining daily life activities. It is crucial to measure olfactory performance for the diagnosis and treatment of certain neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, impairments and a lack of quality in the olfactory system may indicate the early diagnosis of some diseases such as Parkinson's. In this context, there are several imaging methods available for evaluating olfactory function. In addition to the conventional methods used in measuring the brain's responsiveness to olfactory stimuli, this article presents a systematic review of the current applicability of optical brain imaging (i.e., functional near-infrared spectroscopy) in the evaluation of olfactory function. A database literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, the Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. This review excluded animal studies, clinical studies, pathology- or neurodegenerative disease-related studies, newborn-related studies, cross-modal- and dual-task-related studies, and non-original research studies. Thus, seven studies were examined to discuss the pitfalls and perspectives of the use of optical brain imaging under olfactory stimulation. As for this conclusion, they can be used to evaluate olfactory performance in healthy individuals through the interpretation of hemodynamic changes. Further studies are needed to standardize the applicability of these optical imaging techniques.

Listening to familiar music induces continuous inhibition of alpha and low-beta power.

How the brain responds temporally and spectrally when we listen to familiar versus unfamiliar musical sequences remains unclear. This study uses EEG techniques to investigate the continuous electrophysiological changes in the human brain during passive listening to familiar and unfamiliar musical excerpts. EEG activity was recorded in 20 participants while they passively listened to 10 s of classical music, and they were then asked to indicate their self-assessment of familiarity. We analyzed the EEG data in two manners: familiarity based on the within-subject design, i.e., averaging trials for each condition and participant, and familiarity based on the same music excerpt, i.e., averaging trials for each condition and music excerpt. By comparing the familiar condition with the unfamiliar condition and the local baseline, sustained low-beta power (12-16 Hz) suppression was observed in both analyses in fronto-central and left frontal electrodes after 800 ms. However, sustained alpha power (8-12 Hz) decreased in fronto-central and posterior electrodes after 850 ms only in the first type of analysis. Our study indicates that listening to familiar music elicits a late sustained spectral response (inhibition of alpha/low-beta power from 800 ms to 10 s). Moreover, the results showed that alpha suppression reflects increased attention or arousal/engagement due to listening to familiar music; nevertheless, low-beta suppression exhibits the effect of familiarity.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study differentiates the dynamic temporal-spectral effects during listening to 10 s of familiar music compared with unfamiliar music. This study highlights that listening to familiar music leads to continuous suppression in the alpha and low-beta bands. This suppression starts ∼800 ms after the stimulus onset.

The development of cortical processing of speech differs between children with cochlear implants and normal hearing and changes with parental singing.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate speech processing development in children with normal hearing (NH) and cochlear implants (CI) groups using a multifeature event-related potential (ERP) paradigm. Singing is associated to enhanced attention and speech perception. Therefore, its connection to ERPs was investigated in the CI group. Methods: The paradigm included five change types in a pseudoword: two easy- (duration, gap) and three difficult-to-detect (vowel, pitch, intensity) with CIs. The positive mismatch responses (pMMR), mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a and late differentiating negativity (LDN) responses of preschoolers (below 6 years 9 months) and schoolchildren (above 6 years 9 months) with NH or CIs at two time points (T1, T2) were investigated with Linear Mixed Modeling (LMM). For the CI group, the association of singing at home and ERP development was modeled with LMM. Results: Overall, responses elicited by the easy- and difficult to detect changes differed between the CI and NH groups. Compared to the NH group, the CI group had smaller MMNs to vowel duration changes and gaps, larger P3a responses to gaps, and larger pMMRs and smaller LDNs to vowel identity changes. Preschoolers had smaller P3a responses and larger LDNs to gaps, and larger pMMRs to vowel identity changes than schoolchildren. In addition, the pMMRs to gaps increased from T1 to T2 in preschoolers. More parental singing in the CI group was associated with increasing pMMR and less parental singing with decreasing P3a amplitudes from T1 to T2. Conclusion: The multifeature paradigm is suitable for assessing cortical speech processing development in children. In children with CIs, cortical discrimination is often reflected in pMMR and P3a responses, and in MMN and LDN responses in children with NH. Moreover, the cortical speech discrimination of children with CIs develops late, and over time and age, their speech sound change processing changes as does the processing of children with NH. Importantly, multisensory activities such as parental singing can lead to improvement in the discrimination and attention shifting toward speech changes in children with CIs. These novel results should be taken into account in future research and rehabilitation.

The Infraslow Frequency Oscillatory Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Enhances Sustained Attention.

Background: The vigilance fluctuation and decrement of sustained attention have large detrimental consequences to most tasks in daily life, especially among the elderly. Non-invasive brain stimulations (e.g., transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS) have been widely applied to improve sustained attention, however, with mixed results. Objective: An infraslow frequency oscillatory tDCS approach was designed to improve sustained attention. Methods: The infraslow frequency oscillatory tDCS (O-tDCS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex at 0.05 Hz was designed and compared with conventional tDCS (C-tDCS) to test whether this new protocol improves sustained attention more effectively. The sustained attention was evaluated by reaction time and accuracy. Results: Compared with the C-tDCS and sham, the O-tDCS significantly enhanced sustained attention by increasing response accuracy, reducing response time, and its variability. These effects were predicted by the evoked oscillation of response time at the stimulation frequency. Conclusion: Similar to previous studies, the modulation effect of C-tDCS on sustained attention is weak and unstable. In contrast, the O-tDCS effectively and systematically enhances sustained attention by optimizing vigilance fluctuation. The modulation effect of O-tDCS is probably driven by neural oscillations at the infraslow frequency range.

Characterizing the brain's dynamical response from scalp-level neural electrical signals: a review of methodology development.

The brain displays dynamical system behaviors at various levels that are functionally and cognitively relevant. Ample researches have examined how the dynamical properties of brain activity reflect the neural cognitive working mechanisms. A prevalent approach in this field is to extract the trial-averaged brain electrophysiological signals as a representation of the dynamical response of the complex neural system to external stimuli. However, the responses are intrinsically variable in latency from trial to trial. The variability compromises the accuracy of the detected dynamical response pattern based on trial-averaged approach, which may mislead subsequent modelling works. More accurate characterization of the brain's dynamical response incorporating single trial variability information is of profound significance in deepening our understanding of neural cognitive dynamics and brain's working principles. Various methods have been attempted to address the trial-to-trial asynchrony issue in order to achieve an improved representation of the dynamical response. We review the latest development of methodology in this area and the contribution of latency variability-based decomposition and reconstruction of dynamical response to neural cognitive researches.

New Insights on the Effect of TNF Alpha Blockade by Gene Silencing in Noise-Induced Hearing Loss.

Noise exposure represents the second most common cause of acquired sensorineural hearing loss and we observed that tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) was involved in this context. The effect of Tnfα gene silencing on the expression profile related to the TNFα metabolic pathway in an experimental model of noise-induced hearing loss had not previously been studied. METHODS: Single ears of Wistar rats were pretreated with Tnfα small interfering RNA (siRNA) by trans-tympanic administration 24 h before they were exposed to white noise (120 dBSPL for three hours). After 24 h of noise exposure, we analyzed the electrophysiological threshold and the amplitude of waves I, II, III, and IV in the auditory brain response click. In addition, qRT-PCR was performed to evaluate the TNFα metabolic pathway in the ears submitted or not to gene silencing. RESULTS: Preservation of the electrophysiological threshold and the amplitude of waves was observed in the ears submitted to gene silencing compared to the ears not treated. Increased anti-apoptotic gene expression and decreased pro-apoptotic gene expression were found in the treated ears. CONCLUSION: Our results allow us to suggest that the blockade of TNFα by gene silencing was useful to prevent noise-induced hearing loss.

ReSync: Correcting the trial-to-trial asynchrony of event-related brain potentials to improve neural response representation.

BACKGROUND: For various reasons, the brain response activities in electroencephalography (EEG) signals are not perfectly synchronized between trials with respect to event markers-a problem commonly referred to as latency jitter. Experimental technologies have been greatly advanced to reduce technical timing errors and thereby reduce jitter. However, there remain intrinsic sources of jitter that are difficult to remove. The problem becomes more complicated when multiple sub-components possess different degrees and features of jitter. The jitter issue renders trial-averaged ERP inaccurate and even misleading. Effective methods for correcting ERP distortion due to latency jitter are needed. NEW METHOD: This study developed a simple and easy-to-use method and toolbox for correcting ERP jitter based on simple signal processing theories, named ReSync. ReSync can be used to correct multiple overlapping ERP sub-components with different degrees of jitter (including static sub-components) without their affecting each other. RESULTS: The theories, principles, technical details, and limitations of ReSync are presented in this paper, along with a series of simulation and real data examples used to evaluate and validate the method. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: ReSync was conceptually compared with previous methods in the literature that are related to tackling of the jitter issue from theoretical, methodological, and technical perspectives. CONCLUSIONS: Providing a novel approach to latency jitter estimation with automatic dominant frequency identification and integrated decomposition and reconstruction, the ReSync method was validated using both simulation and empirical data, and demonstrated to be an effective jitter-correction approach with implementational simplicity.

Low Frequency Phase-locking of Brain Signals Contribute to Efficient Face Recognition.

Low frequency phase synchronization is an essential mechanism of information communication among brain regions. In the infra-slow frequency range (<0.1 Hz), inter-regional phase lag is of importance for brain function (e.g., anti-phase between the default mode network and task positive network). However, the role of phase lag in cognitive processing remains unclear. Based on the frequency tagging experimental paradigm and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique, we investigated inter-regional phase lag and phase coherence using a face recognition task (n = 30, 15 males/15 females). Phase coherence within the face processing system was significantly increased during task state, highlighting the importance of regular inter-regional phase relationship for face recognition. Moreover, results showed decreased phase lag within the core and extended face areas (face processing system) and increased phase lag between the face processing system and frontoparietal network, indicating a reorganization of inter-regional relationships of the two systems. Inter-regional phase lag was modulated by the task at ascending and descending phases of the fMRI signal, suggesting a phase-dependent inter-regional relationship. Furthermore, phase lags between visual cortex and amygdala and between visual cortex and motor area were positively related to reaction time, indicating better task performance depends on both rapid emotional detection pathway and visual-motor pathway. Overall, inter-regional phase synchronization in the infra-slow frequency range is of important for effective information communication and cognitive performance.

Surveillance During REM Sleep for the First-Night Effect.

We experience disturbed sleep in a new place, and this effect is known as the first-night effect (FNE) in sleep research. We previously demonstrated that the FNE is associated with a surveillance system in one brain hemisphere during NREM sleep, which manifests as interhemispheric asymmetry in sleep depth in the default-mode network (DMN) and increased vigilance toward monitoring external stimuli. This surveillance system may be useful for protecting vulnerable sleepers from abnormal events in unfamiliar environments. The present study investigated whether a similar surveillance system is exhibited during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The impacts of the FNE could be different between the phasic period, in which eyes move rapidly, and the tonic period, in which eye movement ceases, of REM sleep; without the FNE, vigilance to external stimuli is generally reduced during the phasic period but not the tonic period. Thus, REM sleep was split into phasic and tonic periods. First, we replicated previous findings showing interhemispheric asymmetry in delta activity in the DMN associated with the FNE during NREM sleep. However, during REM sleep, interhemispheric asymmetry in delta activity or theta activities, two oscillatory activities during REM sleep, was not found during the phasic or tonic periods. Next, we tested whether vigilance, as measured by evoked brain responses (P2) to deviant tones, associated with the FNE was increased in one hemisphere during REM sleep. The P2 amplitudes during the phasic period were augmented by the FNE on day 1 and were significantly larger than those on day 2 when the FNE was not present. In contrast, the P2 amplitudes during the tonic period were not different across days. The P2 amplitudes showed no interhemispheric asymmetry during the phasic or tonic periods. These results suggest that while the surveillance system exhibits interhemispheric asymmetry in sleep depth and vigilance during NREM sleep, this system shows no interhemispheric asymmetry in oscillatory activities and exhibits increased vigilance in both hemispheres only during the phasic period of REM sleep. Therefore, the surveillance system associated with the FNE may involve different mechanisms during NREM and REM sleep.

Psychopathy and neurodynamic brain functioning: A review of EEG research.

Studies related to psychopathy and EEG have increased over the past decade making it a good time to examine where the field is on this topic as well as to determine future directions. The current study reviewed 68 research reports that focused on psychopathy and various components of EEG. We examined early, mid, and late level ERP processing as well as spectra analyses. The results indicate that psychopathic individuals exhibit generally unencumbered performance categorizing cognitive stimuli and demonstrate the typical facilitation of physical responses commensurate with an intact orienting response. Moreover, the results suggest that individuals with elevated psychopathic traits are especially adept at screening out distracting threat-related and other irrelevant information allowing them to allocate attention to stimuli that are goal-relevant. Those with elevated psychopathic traits also do not appear to have significant impairments in associative learning or error processing. Where psychopathic individuals diverge most from those with low levels of these traits is in relation to processing affect-laden content. In some contexts, psychopathic individuals appear to quickly terminate the processing of emotional information and in other contexts (e.g., seeing others in pain) they elaborately process emotional information both of which may help explain their prototypical lack of conscience. Much of the aberrant functioning of those with elevated psychopathic traits depends on the psychopathy factor being examined with F1 traits showing less cognitive impairment than F2 traits. Recommendations for future research are provided.

Multi-Scale Modeling of Head Kinematics and Brain Tissue Response to Blast Exposure.

Injuries resulting from blast exposure have been increasingly prevalent in recent conflicts, with a particular focus on the risk of head injury. In the current study, a multibody model (GEBOD) was used to investigate the gross kinematics resulting from blast exposure, including longer duration events such as the fall and ground impact. Additionally, detailed planar head models, in the sagittal and transverse planes, were used to model the primary blast wave interaction with the head, and resulting tissue response. For severe blast load cases (scaled distance less than 2), the translational head accelerations during primary blast were found to increase as the height-of-burst (HOB) was lowered, while the HOB was found to have no effect for cases with scaled distance greater than 2. The HOB was found to affect both the magnitude and direction of rotational accelerations, with increasing magnitudes as the HOB deviated from the height of the head. The choice of ground contact stiffness was found to greatly affect the predicted head accelerations during ground impact. For a medium soil ground material, the kinematics during ground impact were greater for scaled distances exceeding 1.5, below which the primary blast produced greater kinematic head response.

Lost in music: Neural signature of pleasure and its role in modulating attentional resources.

We investigated the neural correlates of pleasure induced by listening to highly pleasant and neutral musical excerpts using electroencephalography (EEG). Power spectrum analysis of EEG data showed a distinct gradual change in the power of low-frequency oscillations in response to highly pleasant, but not neutral, musical excerpts. Specifically, listening to highly pleasant music was associated with (i) relatively higher oscillatory activity in the theta band over the frontocentral (FC) area and in the alpha band over the parieto-occipital area, and (ii) a gradual increase in the oscillatory power over time. Correlation analysis between behavioral and electrophysiological data revealed that theta power over the FC electrodes was correlated with subjective assessment of pleasantness while listening to music. To study the link between attention and positive valence in our experiments, volunteers performed a delayed match-to-sample memory task while listening to the musical excerpts. The subjects' performances were significantly lower under highly pleasant conditions compared to neutral conditions. Listening to pleasant music requires higher degrees of attention, leading to the observed decline in memory performance. Gradual development of low-frequency oscillations in the frontal and posterior areas may be at least partly due to gradual recruitment of higher levels of attention over time in response to pleasurable music.

Brain response to food brands correlates with increased intake from branded meals in children: an fMRI study.

Food branding is ubiquitous, however, not all children are equally susceptible to its effects. The objectives of this study were to 1) determine whether food brands evoke differential response than non-food brands in brain areas related to motivation and inhibitory control using blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and 2) determine the association between brain response and energy intake at test-meals presented with or without brands. Twenty-eight 7-10 year-old children completed four visits as part of a within-subjects design where they consumed three multi-item test-meals presented with familiar food brands, novel food brand, and no brand. On the fourth visit an fMRI was performed where children passively viewed food brands, non-food brands and control images. A whole-brain analysis was conducted to compare BOLD response between conditions. Pearson's correlations were calculated to determine the association between brain response and meal intake. Relative to non-food brands, food brand images were associated with increased activity in the right lingual gyrus. Relative to control, food and non-food brand images were associated with greater response in bilateral fusiform gyri and decreased response in the cuneus, precuneus, lingual gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. Less activation in the bilateral fusiform gyrus to both food and non-food brands was associated with greater energy intake of the branded vs unbranded meal. These findings may help explain differences in the susceptibility to the intake-promoting effects of food advertising in children.

Effects of Acupuncture on Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence from Neuroimaging Studies.

As the worldwide population ages, the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) increases. However, the results of promising medications have been unsatisfactory. Chinese acupuncture has a long history of treating dementia, but lack of evidence from well-designed randomized controlled trials that validate its efficacy and safety, as well as its lack of clear underlying mechanisms, contribute to its limited application in clinical practice. In recent years, brain imaging technologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, have been used to assess brain responses to acupuncture in a dynamic, visual, and objective way. These techniques are frequently used to explore neurological mechanisms of responses to acupuncture in AD and provide neuroimaging evidence as well as starting points to elucidate the possible mechanisms. This review summarizes the existing brain imaging evidence that explains the effects of acupuncture for AD and analyzes brain responses to acupuncture at cognitive-related acupoints [Baihui (GV 20), Shenmen (HT 7), Zusanli (ST 36), Neiguan (PC 6), and Taixi (KI 3)] from perspectives of acupoint specificity and acupoint combinations. Key issues and directions to consider in future studies are also put forward. This review should deepen our understanding of how brain imaging studies can be used to explore the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture in AD.

Effects of Acupuncture on Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence from Neuroimaging Studies / 中国结合医学杂志

As the worldwide population ages, the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) increases. However, the results of promising medications have been unsatisfactory. Chinese acupuncture has a long history of treating dementia, but lack of evidence from well-designed randomized controlled trials that validate its efficacy and safety, as well as its lack of clear underlying mechanisms, contribute to its limited application in clinical practice. In recent years, brain imaging technologies, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, have been used to assess brain responses to acupuncture in a dynamic, visual, and objective way. These techniques are frequently used to explore neurological mechanisms of responses to acupuncture in AD and provide neuroimaging evidence as well as starting points to elucidate the possible mechanisms. This review summarizes the existing brain imaging evidence that explains the effects of acupuncture for AD and analyzes brain responses to acupuncture at cognitive-related acupoints [Baihui (GV 20), Shenmen (HT 7), Zusanli (ST 36), Neiguan (PC 6), and Taixi (KI 3)] from perspectives of acupoint specificity and acupoint combinations. Key issues and directions to consider in future studies are also put forward. This review should deepen our understanding of how brain imaging studies can be used to explore the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture in AD.