Non-neuronal evoked and spontaneous hemodynamic changes in the anterior temporal region of the human head may lead to misinterpretations of functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals

Abstract

Several functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) studies report their findings based on changes of a single chromophore, usually concentration changes of oxygenated hemoglobin ([[Formula: see text]]) or deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb). However, influence of physiological actions may differ depending on which element is considered and the assumption that the chosen measure correlates with the neural response of interest might not hold. By assessing the correlation between [[Formula: see text]] and [HHb] in task-evoked activity as well as resting-state data, we identified a spatial dependency of non-neuronal hemodynamic changes in the anterior temporal region of the human head. Our findings support the importance of reporting and discussing fNIRS outcomes obtained with both chromophores ([[Formula: see text]] and [HHb]), in particular, for studies concerning the anterior temporal region of the human head. This practice should help to achieve a physiologically correct interpretation of the results when no measurements with short-distance channels are available while employing continuous-wave fNIRS systems.