Reduced connectivity of primary auditory and motor cortices during exposure to auditory white noise

Mattia Pinardi; Anna-Lisa Schuler; Giorgio Arcara; Florinda Ferreri; Daniele Marinazzo; Giovanni Di Pino; Giovanni Pellegrino

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137212

Reduced connectivity of primary auditory and motor cortices during exposure to auditory white noise

Neurosci Lett. 2023 May 1:804:137212. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137212. Epub 2023 Mar 24.

Authors

Mattia Pinardi¹, Anna-Lisa Schuler², Giorgio Arcara², Florinda Ferreri³, Daniele Marinazzo⁴, Giovanni Di Pino⁵, Giovanni Pellegrino⁶

Affiliations

¹ NeXT: Neurophysiology and Neuro-engineering of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: m.pinardi@unicampus.it.
² IRCCS San Camillo Hospital, Venice, Italy.
³ Unit of Neurology, Unit of Clinical Neurophysiology, Study Center of Neurodegeneration (CESNE), Department of Neuroscience, University of Padua, Padua, Italy; Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio University Hospital, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
⁴ Department of Data Analysis, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ghent University, Belgium.
⁵ NeXT: Neurophysiology and Neuro-engineering of Human-Technology Interaction Research Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University, Rome, Italy.
⁶ Epilepsy Program, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada.

PMID: 36966962
DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2023.137212

Abstract

Auditory white noise (WN) is widely used in daily life for inducing sleep, and in neuroscience to mask unwanted environmental noise and cues. However, WN was recently reported to influence corticospinal excitability and behavioral performance. Here, we expand previous preliminary findings on the influence of WN exposure on cortical functioning, and we hypothesize that it may modulate cortical connectivity. We tested our hypothesis by performing magnetoencephalography in 20 healthy subjects. WN reduces cortical connectivity of the primary auditory and motor regions with very distant cortical areas, showing a right lateralized connectivity reduction for primary motor cortex. The present results, together with previous finding concerning WN impact on corticospinal excitability and behavioral performance, further support the role of WN as a modulator of cortical function. This suggest avoiding its unrestricted use as a masking tool, while purposely designed and controlled WN application could be exploited to harness brain function and to treat neuropsychiatric conditions.

Keywords: Auditory; Connectivity; Magnetoencephalography; Motor; White Noise.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Auditory Cortex*
Cues
Humans
Magnetoencephalography / methods
Motor Cortex*
Noise