title: Body position alters human resting-state: Insights from multi-postural magnetoencephalography.
abstract: Neuroimaging researchers tacitly assume that body-position scantily affects neural activity. However, whereas participants in most psychological experiments sit upright, many modern neuroimaging techniques (e.g., fMRI) require participants to lie supine. Sparse findings from electroencephalography and positron emission tomography suggest that body position influences cognitive processes and neural activity. Here we leverage multi-postural magnetoencephalography (MEG) to further unravel how physical stance alters baseline brain activity. We present resting-state MEG data from 12 healthy participants in three orthostatic conditions (i.e., lying supine, reclined at 45°, and sitting upright). Our findings demonstrate that upright, compared to reclined or supine, posture increases left-hemisphere high-frequency oscillatory activity over common speech areas. This proof-of-concept experiment establishes the feasibility of using MEG to examine the influence of posture on brain dynamics. We highlight the advantages and methodological challenges inherent to this approach and lay the foundation for future studies to further investigate this important, albeit little-acknowledged, procedural caveat.
authors.affiliation: McGill University, 3775 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada.
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Thibault
authors.affiliation: McGill University, 3775 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lifshitz
authors.affiliation: McGill University, 3775 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada. amir.raz@mcgill.ca.|The Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research & Institute for Family and Community Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, 4333 Cote Ste. Catherine Road, Montreal, QC, H3T 1E4, Canada. amir.raz@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D012146:Rest
keywords: MEG; Neuroimaging; Posture; Supine position; Upright position