2025 American Academy of Neurology Abstract Website

Objective:

To identify modality-specific and cross-modality networks involved in altered auditory and somatosensory processing.

Background:

Sensory processing as a neurological construct is the perception and interpretation of sensory information from both the body and the environment. Disruptions to sensory processing adversely impact daily functioning. One type of disruption that is particularly interesting is altered sensory modulation, leading to hypersensitivity or hyposensitivity, which are common in many neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer’s, and schizophrenia.

Design/Methods:

We conducted a literature search that yielded 61 patients with new-onset sensory alterations, following focal brain injury. These lesions were combined with resting state data from 1,000 healthy controls to generate lesion connectivity maps. The FSL Permutation Analysis of Linear Models (PALM) tool was used to conduct voxelwise two-sample t-tests that assessed the specificity of the connectivity of our lesions compared to that of lesions associated with 28 other neuropsychiatric symptoms (FWE p < 0.05).

Results:

Networks for single sensory modalities were connected to their respective unimodal cortices and the cerebellum. Overall cross-modality sensitivity changes converged at the key points in the substantial niagra and cerebellum (medial V, vermis VIIa, and bilateral V). To understand these patterns, we identified networks based on the direction of change. Cross-modality decreased sensitivity yielded connectivity to lobule X, in addition to the aforementioned cerebellar regions. Cross-modality increased sensitivity was more specific to only the medial V and bilateral V. All three cross-modality networks had 90% of lesions exhibiting positive connection to bilateral V.

Conclusions:

Our analysis identifies significant nodes in the cerebellum and substantia nigra as key regions involved in cross-modality sensory processing, emphasizing the role of higher cognitive functions in sensory integration. These networks may be potential targets for noninvasive neuromodulation techniques to improve general sensory processing.