fMRI和MEG眼动追踪出版物
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2024 |
Eline R. Kupers; Insub Kim; Kalanit Grill-Spector Rethinking simultaneous suppression in visual cortex via compressive spatiotemporal population receptive fields Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1–19, 2024. @article{Kupers2024,When multiple visual stimuli are presented simultaneously in the receptive field, the neural response is suppressed compared to presenting the same stimuli sequentially. The prevailing hypothesis suggests that this suppression is due to competition among multiple stimuli for limited resources within receptive fields, governed by task demands. However, it is unknown how stimulus-driven computations may give rise to simultaneous suppression. Using fMRI, we find simultaneous suppression in single voxels, which varies with both stimulus size and timing, and progressively increases up the visual hierarchy. Using population receptive field (pRF) models, we find that compressive spatiotemporal summation rather than compressive spatial summation predicts simultaneous suppression, and that increased simultaneous suppression is linked to larger pRF sizes and stronger compressive nonlinearities. These results necessitate a rethinking of simultaneous suppression as the outcome of stimulus-driven compressive spatiotemporal computations within pRFs, and open new opportunities to study visual processing capacity across space and time. |
Maxime Leharanger; Pan Liu; Luc Vandromme; Olivier Balédent Eye tracking post processing to detect visual artifacts and quantify visual attention under cognitive task activity during fMRI Journal Article In: Sensors, vol. 24, no. 15, pp. 1–16, 2024. @article{Leharanger2024,Determining visual attention during cognitive tasks using activation MRI remains challenging. This study aimed to develop a new eye-tracking (ET) post-processing platform to enhance data accuracy, validate the feasibility of subsequent ET-fMRI applications, and provide tool support. Sixteen volunteers aged 18 to 20 were exposed to a visual temporal paradigm with changing images of objects and faces in various locations while their eye movements were recorded using an MRI-compatible ET system. The results indicate that the accuracy of the data significantly improved after post-processing. Participants generally maintained their visual attention on the screen, with mean gaze positions ranging from 89.1% to 99.9%. In cognitive tasks, the gaze positions showed adherence to instructions, with means ranging from 46.2% to 50%. Temporal consistency assessments indicated prolonged visual tasks can lead to decreased attention during certain tasks. The proposed methodology effectively identified and quantified visual artifacts and losses, providing a precise measure of visual attention. This study offers a robust framework for future work integrating filtered eye-tracking data with fMRI analyses, supporting cognitive neuroscience research. |
Victoria Lai Cheng Lei; Teng Ieng Leong; Cheok Teng Leong; Lili Liu; Chi Un Choi; Martin I. Sereno; Defeng Li; Ruey Song Huang Phase-encoded fMRI tracks down brainstorms of natural language processing with subsecond precision Journal Article In: Human Brain Mapping, vol. 45, no. 2, pp. 1–23, 2024. @article{Lei2024,Natural language processing unfolds information overtime as spatially separated, multimodal, and interconnected neural processes. Existing noninvasive subtraction-based neuroimaging techniques cannot simultaneously achieve the spatial and temporal resolutions required to visualize ongoing information flows across the whole brain. Here we have developed rapid phase-encoded designs to fully exploit the temporal information latent in functional magnetic resonance imaging data, as well as overcoming scanner noise and head-motion challenges during overt language tasks. We captured real-time information flows as coherent hemodynamic waves traveling over the cortical surface during listening, reading aloud, reciting, and oral cross-language interpreting tasks. We were able to observe the timing, location, direction, and surge of traveling waves in all language tasks, which were visualized as “brainstorms” on brain “weather” maps. The paths of hemodynamic traveling waves provide direct evidence for dual-stream models of the visual and auditory systems as well as logistics models for crossmodal and cross-language processing. Specifically, we have tracked down the step-by-step processing of written or spoken sentences first being received and processed by the visual or auditory streams, carried across language and domain-general cognitive regions, and finally delivered as overt speeches monitored through the auditory cortex, which gives a complete picture of information flows across the brain during natural language functioning. |
Maëlle Lerebourg; Floris P. De Lange; Marius V. Peelen Attentional guidance through object associations in visual cortex Journal Article In: Science Advances, vol. 10, pp. 1–11, 2024. @article{Lerebourg2024,Efficient behavior requires the rapid attentional selection of task-relevant objects. Preparatory activity of target-selective neurons in visual cortex is thought to support attentional selection, guiding spatial attention and favoring processing of target-matching input. However, naturalistic searches are often guided by nontargets, including target-associated “anchor” objects. For instance, when looking for a pen, we may direct our attention to the office desk on which we expect to find it. Here, using fMRI and eye tracking in a context-guided search task, we tested whether preparatory activity in visual cortex reflected the target, the guiding anchor object, or both. Participants learned associations between targets and anchors, reversing across two scene contexts, before searching for these targets. Participants' first fixations were reliably guided by the associated anchor. Preparatory activity in lateral occipital cortex (LOC) and right intraparietal sulcus (IPS) represented the target-associated anchor rather than the target. These results shed light on the neural basis of context-guided search in structured environments. |
Bao Li; Li Tong; Chi Zhang; Panpan Chen; Linyuan Wang; Bin Yan Prediction of image interpretation cognitive ability under different mental workloads: A task-state fMRI study Journal Article In: Cerebral Cortex, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 1–10, 2024. @article{Li2024,Visual imaging experts play an important role in multiple fields, and studies have shown that the combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging and machine learning techniques can predict cognitive abilities, which provides a possible method for selecting individuals with excellent image interpretation skills. We recorded behavioral data and neural activity of 64 participants during image interpretation tasks under different workloads. Based on the comprehensive image interpretation ability, participants were divided into two groups. general linear model analysis showed that during image interpretation tasks, the high-Ability group exhibited higher activation in middle frontal gyrus (MFG), fusiform gyrus, inferior occipital gyrus, superior parietal gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus, and insula compared to the low-Ability group. The radial basis function Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm shows the most excellent performance in predicting participants' image interpretation abilities (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.54 |
Sarah L. Master; Shanshan Li; Clayton E. Curtis Trying harder: How cognitive effort sculpts neural representations during working memory Journal Article In: The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 44, no. 28, pp. 1–12, 2024. @article{Master2024,While the exertion of mental effort improves performance on cognitive tasks, the neural mechanisms by which motivational factors impact cognition remain unknown. Here, we used fMRI to test how changes in cognitive effort, induced by changes in task difficulty, impact neural representations of working memory (WM). Participants (both sexes) were precued whether WM difficulty would be hard or easy. We hypothesized that hard trials demanded more effort as a later decision required finer mnemonic precision. Behaviorally, pupil size was larger and response times were slower on hard compared with easy trials suggesting our manipulation of effort succeeded. Neurally, we observed robust persistent activity during delay periods in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), especially during hard trials. Yet, details of the memoranda could not be decoded from patterns in prefrontal activity. In the patterns of activity in the visual cortex, however, we found strong decoding of memorized targets, where accuracy was higher on hard trials. To potentially link these across-region effects, we hypothesized that effort, carried by persistent activity in the PFC, impacts the quality of WM representations encoded in the visual cortex. Indeed, we found that the amplitude of delay period activity in the frontal cortex predicted decoded accuracy in the visual cortex on a trial-wise basis. These results indicate that effort-related feedback signals sculpt population activity in the visual cortex, improving mnemonic fidelity. |
Matan Mazor; Roy Mukamel A randomization-based, model-free approach to functional neuroimaging: A proof of concept Journal Article In: Entropy, vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 1–11, 2024. @article{Mazor2024,Functional neuroimaging analysis takes noisy multidimensional measurements as input and produces statistical inferences regarding the functional properties of brain regions as output. Such inferences are most commonly model-based, in that they assume a model of how neural activity translates to the measured signal (blood oxygenation level-dependent signal in the case of functional MRI). The use of models increases statistical sensitivity and makes it possible to ask fine-grained theoretical questions. However, this comes at the cost of making theoretical assumptions about the underlying data-generating process. An advantage of model-free approaches is that they can be used in cases where model assumptions are known not to hold. To this end, we introduce a randomization-based, model-free approach to functional neuroimaging. TWISTER randomization makes it possible to infer functional selectivity from correlations between experimental runs. We provide a proof of concept in the form of a visuomotor mapping experiment and discuss the possible strengths and limitations of this new approach in light of our empirical results. |
Sarah Nadine MeWEBBLEer; Marc Bächinger; Sanne Kikkert; Jenny Imhof; Silvia Missura; Manuel Carro Dominguez; Nicole Wenderoth Self-regulating arousal via pupil-based biofeedback Journal Article In: Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 43–62, 2024. @article{MeWEBBLEer2024,The brain's arousal state is controlled by several neuromodulatory nuclei known to substantially influence cognition and mental well-being. Here we investigate whether human participants can gain volitional control of their arousal state using a pupil-based biofeedback approach. Our approach inverts a mechanism suggested by previous literature that links activity of the locus coeruleus, one of the key regulators of central arousal and pupil dynamics. We show that pupil-based biofeedback enables participants to acquire volitional control of pupil size. Applying pupil self-regulation systematically modulates activity of the locus coeruleus and other brainstem structures involved in arousal control. Furthermore, it modulates cardiovascular measures such as heart rate, and behavioural and psychophysiological responses during an oddball task. We provide evidence that pupil-based biofeedback makes the brain's arousal system accessible to volitional control, a finding that has tremendous potential for translation to behavioural and clinical applications across various domains, including stress-related and anxiety disorders. |
Tarana Nigam; Caspar M. Schwiedrzik Predictions enable top-down pattern separation in the macaque face-processing hierarchy Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1–13, 2024. @article{Nigam2024,Distinguishing faces requires well distinguishable neural activity patterns. Contextual information may separate neural representations, leading to enhanced identity recognition. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate how predictions derived from contextual information affect the separability of neural activity patterns in the macaque face-processing system, a 3-level processing hierarchy in ventral visual cortex. We find that in the presence of predictions, early stages of this hierarchy exhibit well separable and high-dimensional neural geometries resembling those at the top of the hierarchy. This is accompanied by a systematic shift of tuning properties from higher to lower areas, endowing lower areas with higher-order, invariant representations instead of their feedforward tuning properties. Thus, top-down signals dynamically transform neural representations of faces into separable and high-dimensional neural geometries. Our results provide evidence how predictive context transforms flexible representational spaces to optimally use the computational resources provided by cortical processing hierarchies for better and faster distinction of facial identities. |
Sean R. O'Bryan; Jeff Moher; J. Daniel McCarthy; Joo Hyun Song Effector-independent representations guide sequential target selection biases in action Journal Article In: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 492–507, 2024. @article{OBryan2024,Previous work shows that automatic attention biases toward recently selected target features transfer across action and perception and even across different effectors such as the eyes and hands on a trial-by-trial basis. Although these findings suggest a common neural representation of selection history across effec-tors, the extent to which information about recently selected target features is encoded in overlapping versus distinct brain regions is unknown. Using fMRI and a priming of pop-out task where participants selected unpredictable, uniquely colored targets among homogeneous distractors via reach or saccade, we show that color priming is driven by shared, effector-independent underlying representations of recent selection history. Consistent with previous work, we found that the intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) was commonly activated on trials where target colors were switched relative to those where the colors were repeated; however, the dorsal anterior insula exhibited effector-specific activation related to color priming. Via multi-voxel cross-classification analyses, we further demonstrate that fine-grained patterns of activity in both IPS and the medial temporal lobe encode information about selection history in an effector-independent manner, such that ROI-specific models trained on activity patterns during reach selection could predict whether a color was repeated or switched on the current trial during saccade selection and vice versa. Remarkably, model generalization performance in IPS and medial temporal lobe also tracked individual differences in behavioral priming sensitivity across both types of action. These results represent a first step to clarify the neural substrates of experience-driven selection biases in contexts that require the coordination of multiple actions. |
Marlis Ontivero-Ortega; Jorge Iglesias-Fuster; Jhoanna Perez-Hidalgo; Daniele Marinazzo; Mitchell Valdes-Sosa; Pedro Valdes-Sosa Intra-V1 functional networks and classification of observed stimuli Journal Article In: Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, vol. 18, pp. 1–15, 2024. @article{OntiveroOrtega2024,Introduction: Previous studies suggest that co-fluctuations in neural activity within V1 (measured with fMRI) carry information about observed stimuli, potentially reflecting various cognitive mechanisms. This study explores the neural sources shaping this information by using different fMRI preprocessing methods. The common response to stimuli shared by all individuals can be emphasized by using inter-subject correlations or de-emphasized by deconvolving the fMRI with hemodynamic response functions (HRFs) before calculating the correlations. The latter approach shifts the balance towards participant-idiosyncratic activity. Methods: Here, we used multivariate pattern analysis of intra-V1 correlation matrices to predict the Level or Shape of observed Navon letters employing the types of correlations described above. We assessed accuracy in inter-subject prediction of specific conjunctions of properties, and attempted intra-subject cross-classification of stimulus properties (i.e., prediction of one feature despite changes in the other). Weight maps from successful classifiers were projected onto the visual field. A control experiment investigated eye-movement patterns during stimuli presentation. Results: All inter-subject classifiers accurately predicted the Level and Shape of specific observed stimuli. However, successful intra-subject cross-classification was achieved only for stimulus Level, but not Shape, regardless of preprocessing scheme. Weight maps for successful Level classification differed between inter-subject correlations and deconvolved correlations. The latter revealed asymmetries in visual field link strength that corresponded to known perceptual asymmetries. Post-hoc measurement of eyeball fMRI signals did not find differences in gaze between stimulus conditions, and a control experiment (with derived simulations) also suggested that eye movements do not explain the stimulus-related changes in V1 topology. Discussion: Our findings indicate that both inter-subject common responses and participant-specific activity contribute to the information in intra-V1 co-fluctuations, albeit through distinct sub-networks. Deconvolution, that enhances subject-specific activity, highlighted interhemispheric links for Global stimuli. Further exploration of intra-V1 networks promises insights into the neural basis of attention and perceptual organization. |
Marta Lapo Pais; Marta Teixeira; Carla Soares; Gisela Lima; Patrícia Rijo; Célia Cabral; Miguel Castelo-Branco Rapid effects of tryptamine psychedelics on perceptual distortions and early visual cortical population receptive fields Journal Article In: NeuroImage, vol. 297, pp. 1–10, 2024. @article{Pais2024,N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a psychedelic tryptamine acting on 5-HT2A serotonin receptors, which is associated with intense visual hallucinatory phenomena and perceptual changes such as distortions in visual space. The neural underpinnings of these effects remain unknown. We hypothesised that changes in population receptive field (pRF) properties in the primary visual cortex (V1) might underlie visual perceptual experience. We tested this hypothesis using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a within-subject design. We used a technique called pRF mapping, which measures neural population visual response properties and retinotopic maps in early visual areas. We show that in the presence of visual effects, as documented by the Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS), the mean pRF sizes in V1 significantly increase in the peripheral visual field for active condition (inhaled DMT) compared to the control. Eye and head movement differences were absent across conditions. This evidence for short-term effects of DMT in pRF may explain perceptual distortions induced by psychedelics such as field blurring, tunnel vision (peripheral vision becoming blurred while central vision remains sharp) and the enlargement of nearby visual space, particularly at the visual locations surrounding the fovea. Our findings are also consistent with a mechanistic framework whereby gain control of ongoing and evoked activity in the visual cortex is controlled by activation of 5-HT2A receptors. |
Giorgio Papitto; Angela D. Friederici; Emiliano Zaccarella Distinct neural mechanisms for action access and execution in the human brain: Insights from an fMRI study Journal Article In: Cerebral Cortex, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 1–18, 2024. @article{Papitto2024,Goal-directed actions are fundamental to human behavior, whereby inner goals are achieved through mapping action representations to motor outputs. The left premotor cortex (BA6) and the posterior portion of Broca's area (BA44) are two modulatory poles of the action system. However, how these regions support the representation-output mapping within the system is not yet understood. To address this, we conducted a finger-tapping functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment using action categories ranging from specific to general. Our study found distinct neural behaviors in BA44 and BA6 during action category processing and motor execution. During access of action categories, activity in a posterior portion of BA44 (pBA44) decreased linearly as action categories became less specific. Conversely, during motor execution, activity in BA6 increased linearly with less specific categories. These findings highlight the differential roles of pBA44 and BA6 in action processing. We suggest that pBA44 facilitates access to action categories by utilizing motor information from the behavioral context while the premotor cortex integrates motor information to execute the selected action. This finding enhances our understanding of the interplay between prefrontal cortical regions and premotor cortex in mapping action representation to motor execution and, more in general, of the cortical mechanisms underlying human behavior. |
Ana Luísa Pinho; Hugo Richard; Ana Fernanda Ponce; Michael Eickenberg; Alexis Amadon; Elvis Dohmatob; Isabelle Denghien; Juan Jesús Torre; Swetha Shankar; Himanshu Aggarwal; Alexis Thual; Thomas Chapalain; Chantal Ginisty; Séverine Becuwe-Desmidt; Séverine Roger; Yann Lecomte; Valérie Berland; Laurence Laurier; Véronique Joly-Testault; Gaëlle Médiouni-Cloarec; Christine Doublé; Bernadette Martins; Gaël Varoquaux; Stanislas Dehaene; Lucie Hertz-Pannier; Bertrand Thirion Individual Brain Charting dataset extension, third release for movie watching and retinotopy data Journal Article In: Scientific Data, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1–16, 2024. @article{Pinho2024,The Individual Brain Charting (IBC) is a multi-task functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging dataset acquired at high spatial-resolution and dedicated to the cognitive mapping of the human brain. It consists in the deep phenotyping of twelve individuals, covering a broad range of psychological domains suitable for functional-atlasing applications. Here, we present the inclusion of task data from both naturalistic stimuli and trial-based designs, to uncover structures of brain activation. We rely on the Fast Shared Response Model (FastSRM) to provide a data-driven solution for modelling naturalistic stimuli, typically containing many features. We show that data from left-out runs can be reconstructed using FastSRM, enabling the extraction of networks from the visual, auditory and language systems. We also present the topographic organization of the visual system through retinotopy. In total, six new tasks were added to IBC, wherein four trial-based retinotopic tasks contributed with a mapping of the visual field to the cortex. IBC is open access: source plus derivatives imaging data and meta-data are available in public repositories. |
Reza Rajimehr; Haoran Xu; Asa Farahani; Simon Kornblith; John Duncan; Robert Desimone Functional architecture of cerebral cortex during naturalistic movie watching Journal Article In: Neuron, vol. 112, no. 24, pp. 4130–4146, 2024. @article{Rajimehr2024,Characterizing the functional organization of cerebral cortex is a fundamental step in understanding how different kinds of information are processed in the brain. However, it is still unclear how these areas are organized during naturalistic visual and auditory stimulation. Here, we used high-resolution functional MRI data from 176 human subjects to map the macro-architecture of the entire cerebral cortex based on responses to a 60-min audiovisual movie stimulus. A data-driven clustering approach revealed a map of 24 functional areas/networks, each explicitly linked to a specific aspect of sensory or cognitive processing. Novel features of this map included an extended scene-selective network in the lateral prefrontal cortex, separate clusters responsive to human-object and human-human interaction, and a push-pull interaction between three executive control (domain-general) networks and domain-specific regions of the visual, auditory, and language cortex. Our cortical parcellation provides a comprehensive and unified map of functionally defined areas in the human cerebral cortex. |
Swati Rane Levendovszky; Jaqueline Flores; Elaine R. Peskind; Lena Václavů; Matthias J. P. Osch; Jeffrey Iliff Preliminary investigations into human neurofluid transport using multiple novel non-contrast MRI methods Journal Article In: Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, vol. 44, no. 12, pp. 1580–1592, 2024. @article{RaneLevendovszky2024,We discuss two potential non-invasive MRI methods to study phenomena related to subarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) motion and perivascular fluid transport, and their association with sleep and aging. We apply diffusion-based intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging to evaluate pseudodiffusion coefficient, D*, or CSF movement across large spaces like the subarachnoid space (SAS). We also performed perfusion-based multi-echo, Hadamard encoded arterial spin labeling (ASL) to evaluate whole brain cortical cerebral blood flow (CBF) and trans-endothelial exchange (Tex) of water from the vasculature into the perivascular space and parenchyma. Both methods were used in young adults (N = 9, 6 F, 23 ± 3 years old) in the setting of sleep and sleep deprivation. To study aging, 10 older adults (6 F, 67 ± 3 years old) were imaged after a night of normal sleep and compared with the young adults. D* in SAS was significantly (p < 0.05) reduced with sleep deprivation (0.016 ± 0.001 mm2/s) compared to normal sleep (0.018 ± 0.001 mm2/s) and marginally reduced with aging (0.017 ± 0.001 mm2/s |
Elizabeth Riley; Hamid Turker; Dongliang Wang; Khena M. Swallow; Adam K. Anderson; Eve De Rosa Nonlinear changes in pupillary attentional orienting responses across the lifespan Journal Article In: GeroScience, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 1017–1033, 2024. @article{Riley2023,The cognitive aging process is not necessarily linear. Central task-evoked pupillary responses, representing a brainstem-pupil relationship, may vary across the lifespan. Thus we examined, in 75 adults ranging in age from 19 to 86, whether task-evoked pupillary responses to an attention task may serve in as an index of cognitive aging. This is because the locus coeruleus (LC), located in the brainstem, is not only among the earliest sites of degeneration in pathological aging, but also supports both attentional and pupillary behaviors. We assessed brief, task-evoked phasic attentional orienting to behaviorally relevant and irrelevant auditory tones, stimuli known specifically to recruit the LC in the brainstem and evoke pupillary responses. Due to potential nonlinear changes across the lifespan, we used a novel data-driven analysis on 6 dynamic pupillary behaviors on 10% of the data to reveal cut off points that best characterized the three age bands: young (19–41 years old), middle aged (42–68 years old), and older adults (69 + years old). Follow-up analyses on independent data, the remaining 90%, revealed age-related changes such as monotonic decreases in tonic pupillary diameter and dynamic range, along with curvilinear phasic pupillary responses to the behaviorally relevant target events, increasing in the middle-aged group and then decreasing in the older group. Additionally, the older group showed decreased differentiation of pupillary responses between target and distractor events. This pattern is consistent with potential compensatory LC activity in midlife that is diminished in old age, resulting in decreased adaptive gain. Beyond regulating responses to light, pupillary dynamics reveal a nonlinear capacity for neurally mediated gain across the lifespan, thus providing evidence in support of the LC adaptive gain hypothesis. |
Noam Saadon-Grosman; Jingnan Du; Heather L. Kosakowski; Peter A. Angeli; Lauren M. DiNicola; Mark C. Eldaief; Randy L. Buckner Within-individual organization of the human cognitive cerebellum: Evidence for closely juxtaposed, functionally specialized regions Journal Article In: Science Advances, vol. 4037, pp. 1–17, 2024. @article{Saadon-Grosman2024,The human cerebellum possesses multiple regions linked to cerebral association cortex. Here we mapped the cerebellum using precision functional MRI within individual participants (N=15), first estimating regions using connectivity and then prospectively testing functional properties using independent task data. Network estimates in all participants revealed a Crus I / II cerebellar megacluster of five higher-order association networks often with multiple, discontinuous regions for the same network. Seed regions placed within the megaclusters, including the disjointed regions, yielded spatially selective networks in the cerebral cortex. Compelling evidence for functional specialization within the cerebellar megaclusters emerged from the task responses. Reflecting functional distinctions found in the cerebrum, domain-flexible cerebellar regions involved in cognitive control dissociated from distinct domain-specialized regions with differential responses to language, social, and spatial / episodic task demands. These findings provide a clear demonstration that the cerebellum encompasses multiple zones dedicated to cognition, featuring juxtaposed regions specialized for distinct processing domains. |
Rosari Naveena Selvan; Minghao Cheng; Sophie Siestrup; Falko Mecklenbrauck; Benjamin Jainta; Jennifer Pomp; Anoushiravan Zahedi; Minija Tamosiunaite; Florentin Wörgötter; Ricarda I. Schubotz Updating predictions in a complex repertoire of actions and its neural representation Journal Article In: NeuroImage, vol. 296, pp. 1–11, 2024. @article{Selvan2024,Even though actions we observe in everyday life seem to unfold in a continuous manner, they are automatically divided into meaningful chunks, that are single actions or segments, which provide information for the formation and updating of internal predictive models. Specifically, boundaries between actions constitute a hub for predictive processing since the prediction of the current action comes to an end and calls for updating of predictions for the next action. In the current study, we investigated neural processes which characterize such boundaries using a repertoire of complex action sequences with a predefined probabilistic structure. Action sequences consisted of actions that started with the hand touching an object (T) and ended with the hand releasing the object (U). These action boundaries were determined using an automatic computer vision algorithm. Participants trained all action sequences by imitating demo videos. Subsequently, they returned for an fMRI session during which the original action sequences were presented in addition to slightly modified versions thereof. Participants completed a post-fMRI memory test to assess the retention of original action sequences. The exchange of individual actions, and thus a violation of action prediction, resulted in increased activation of the action observation network and the anterior insula. At U events, marking the end of an action, increased brain activation in supplementary motor area, striatum, and lingual gyrus was indicative of the retrieval of the previously encoded action repertoire. As expected, brain activation at U events also reflected the predefined probabilistic branching structure of the action repertoire. At T events, marking the beginning of the next action, midline and hippocampal regions were recruited, reflecting the selected prediction of the unfolding action segment. In conclusion, our findings contribute to a better understanding of the various cerebral processes characterizing prediction during the observation of complex action repertoires. |
Joshua S. Siegel; Subha Subramanian; Demetrius Perry; Benjamin P. Kay; Evan M. Gordon; Timothy O. Laumann; T. Rick Reneau; Nicholas V. Metcalf; Ravi V. Chacko; Caterina Gratton; Christine Horan; Samuel R. Krimmel; Joshua S. Shimony; Julie A. Schweiger; Dean F. Wong; David A. Bender; Kristen M. Scheidter; Forrest I. Whiting; Jonah A. Padawer-Curry; Russell T. Shinohara; Yong Chen; Julia Moser; Essa Yacoub; Steven M. Nelson; Luca Vizioli; Damien A. Fair; Eric J. Lenze; Robin Carhart-Harris; Charles L. Raison; Marcus E. Raichle; Abraham Z. Snyder; Ginger E. Nicol; Nico U. F. Dosenbach Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain Journal Article In: Nature, vol. 632, no. 8023, pp. 131–138, 2024. @article{Siegel2024,A single dose of psilocybin, a psychedelic that acutely causes distortions of space–time perception and ego dissolution, produces rapid and persistent therapeutic effects in human clinical trials. In animal models, psilocybin induces neuroplasticity in cortex and hippocampus. It remains unclear how human brain network changes relate to subjective and lasting effects of psychedelics. Here we tracked individual-specific brain changes with longitudinal precision functional mapping (roughly 18 magnetic resonance imaging visits per participant). Healthy adults were tracked before, during and for 3 weeks after high-dose psilocybin (25 mg) and methylphenidate (40 mg), and brought back for an additional psilocybin dose 6–12 months later. Psilocybin massively disrupted functional connectivity (FC) in cortex and subcortex, acutely causing more than threefold greater change than methylphenidate. These FC changes were driven by brain desynchronization across spatial scales (areal, global), which dissolved network distinctions by reducing correlations within and anticorrelations between networks. Psilocybin-driven FC changes were strongest in the default mode network, which is connected to the anterior hippocampus and is thought to create our sense of space, time and self. Individual differences in FC changes were strongly linked to the subjective psychedelic experience. Performing a perceptual task reduced psilocybin-driven FC changes. Psilocybin caused persistent decrease in FC between the anterior hippocampus and default mode network, lasting for weeks. Persistent reduction of hippocampal-default mode network connectivity may represent a neuroanatomical and mechanistic correlate of the proplasticity and therapeutic effects of psychedelics. |
Teresa Sousa; Alexandre Sayal; João V. Duarte; Gabriel N. Costa; Miguel Castelo-Branco A human cortical adaptive mutual inhibition circuit underlying competition for perceptual decision and repetition suppression reversal Journal Article In: NeuroImage, vol. 285, pp. 1–10, 2024. @article{Sousa2024,A model based on inhibitory coupling has been proposed to explain perceptual oscillations. This 'adapting reciprocal inhibition' model postulates that it is the strength of inhibitory coupling that determines the fate of competition between percepts. Here, we used an fMRI-based adaptation technique to reveal the influence of neighboring neuronal populations, such as reciprocal inhibition, in motion-selective hMT+/V5. If reciprocal inhibition exists in this region, the following predictions should hold: 1. stimulus-driven response would not simply decrease, as predicted by simple repetition-suppression of neuronal populations, but instead, increase due to the activity from adjacent populations; 2. perceptual decision involving competing representations, should reflect decreased reciprocal inhibition by adaptation; 3. neural activity for the competing percept should also later on increase upon adaptation. Our results confirm these three predictions, showing that a model of perceptual decision based on adapting reciprocal inhibition holds true. Finally, they also show that the net effect of the well-known repetition suppression phenomenon can be reversed by this mechanism. |
Noah J. Steinberg; Zvi N. Roth; J. Anthony Movshon; Elisha Merriam Brain representations of motion and position in the double-drift illusion Journal Article In: eLife, vol. 13, pp. 1–16, 2024. @article{Steinberg2024,In the ‘double-drift' illusion, local motion within a window moving in the periphery of the visual field alters the window's perceived path. The illusion is strong even when the eyes track a target whose motion matches the window so that the stimulus remains stable on the retina. This implies that the illusion involves the integration of retinal signals with non-retinal eye-movement signals. To identify where in the brain this integration occurs, we measured BOLD fMRI responses in visual cortex while subjects experienced the double-drift illusion. We then used a combination of univariate and multivariate decoding analyses to identify (1) which brain areas were sensitive to the illusion and (2) whether these brain areas contained information about the illusory stimulus trajectory. We identified a number of cortical areas that responded more strongly during the illusion than a control condition that was matched for low-level stimulus properties. Only in area hMT+ was it possible to decode the illusory trajectory. We additionally performed a number of important controls that rule out possible low-level confounds. Concurrent eye tracking confirmed that subjects accurately tracked the moving target; we were unable to decode the illusion trajectory using eye position measurements recorded during fMRI scanning, ruling out explanations based on differences in oculomotor behavior. Our results provide evidence for a perceptual representation in human visual cortex that incorporates extraretinal information. |
Rui Sun; Julia Fietz; Mira Erhart; Dorothee Poehlchen; Lara Henco; Tanja M. Brückl; BeCOME Team; Michael Czisch; Philipp G. Saemann; Victor I. Spoormaker Free-viewing gaze patterns reveal a mood-congruency bias in MDD during an affective fMRI/eye-tracking task Journal Article In: European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, vol. 274, pp. 559–571, 2024. @article{Sun2024f,Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been related to abnormal amygdala activity during emotional face processing. However, a recent large-scale study (n = 28,638) found no such correlation, which is probably due to the low precision of fMRI measurements. To address this issue, we used simultaneous fMRI and eye-tracking measurements during a commonly employed emotional face recognition task. Eye-tracking provide high-precision data, which can be used to enrich and potentially stabilize fMRI readouts. With the behavioral response, we additionally divided the active task period into a task-related and a free-viewing phase to explore the gaze patterns of MDD patients and healthy controls (HC) and compare their respective neural correlates. Our analysis showed that a mood-congruency attentional bias could be detected in MDD compared to healthy controls during the free-viewing phase but without parallel amygdala disruption. Moreover, the neural correlates of gaze patterns reflected more prefrontal fMRI activity in the free-viewing than the task-related phase. Taken together, spontaneous emotional processing in free viewing might lead to a more pronounced mood-congruency bias in MDD, which indicates that combined fMRI with eye-tracking measurement could be beneficial for our understanding of the underlying psychopathology of MDD in different emotional processing phases. Trial Registration: The BeCOME study is registered on ClinicalTrials (gov: NCT03984084) by the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, Germany. |
Jordy Thielen; Tessa M. Leeuwen; Simon J. Hazenberg; Anna Z. L. Wester; Floris P. Lange; Rob Lier Amodal completion across the brain: The impact of structure and knowledge Journal Article In: Journal of vision, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 10, 2024. @article{Thielen2024,This study investigates the phenomenon of amodal completion within the context of naturalistic objects, employing a repetition suppression paradigm to disentangle the influence of structure and knowledge cues on how objects are completed. The research focuses on early visual cortex (EVC) and lateral occipital complex (LOC), shedding light on how these brain regions respond to different completion scenarios. In LOC, we observed suppressed responses to structure and knowledge-compatible stimuli, providing evidence that both cues influence neural processing in higher-level visual areas. However, in EVC, we did not find evidence for differential responses to completions compatible or incompatible with either structural or knowledge-based expectations. Together, our findings suggest that the interplay between structure and knowledge cues in amodal completion predominantly impacts higher-level visual processing, with less pronounced effects on the early visual cortex. This study contributes to our understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying visual perception and highlights the distinct roles played by different brain regions in amodal completion. |
Ana María Triana; Juha Salmi; Nicholas Mark Edward Alexander Hayward; Jari Saramäki; Enrico Glerean 2024. @book{Triana2024,Our behavior and mental states are constantly shaped by our environment and experiences. However, little is known about the response of brain functional connectivity to environmental, physiological, and behavioral changes on different timescales, from days to months. This gives rise to an urgent need for longitudinal studies that collect high-frequency data. To this end, for a single subject, we collected 133 days of behavioral data with smartphones and wearables and performed 30 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans measuring attention, memory, resting state, and the effects of naturalistic stimuli. We find traces of past behavior and physiology in brain connectivity that extend up as far as 15 days. While sleep and physical activity relate to brain connectivity during cognitively demanding tasks, heart rate variability and respiration rate are more relevant for resting-state connectivity and movie-watching. This unique data set is openly accessible, offering an exceptional opportunity for further discoveries. Our results demonstrate that we should not study brain connectivity in isolation, but rather acknowledge its interdependence with the dynamics of the environment, changes in lifestyle, and short-term fluctuations such as transient illnesses or restless sleep. These results reflect a prolonged and sustained relationship between external factors and neural processes. Overall, precision mapping designs such as the one employed here can help to better understand intraindividual variability, which may explain some of the observed heterogeneity in fMRI findings. The integration of brain connectivity, physiology data and environmental cues will propel future environmental neuroscience research and support precision healthcare. |
Simon Weber; Thomas Christophel; Kai Görgen; Joram Soch; John-Dylan Haynes Working memory signals in early visual cortex are present in weak and strong imagers Journal Article In: Human Brain Mapping, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 1–17, 2024. @article{Weber2024,It has been suggested that visual images are memorized across brief periods of time by vividly imagining them as if they were still there. In line with this, the contents of both working memory and visual imagery are known to be encoded already in early visual cortex. If these signals in early visual areas were indeed to reflect a combined imagery and memory code, one would predict them to be weaker for individuals with reduced visual imagery vividness. Here, we systematically investigated this question in two groups of participants. Strong and weak imagers were asked to remember images across brief delay periods. We were able to reliably reconstruct the memorized stimuli from early visual cortex during the delay. Importantly, in contrast to the prediction, the quality of reconstruction was equally accurate for both strong and weak imagers. The decodable information also closely reflected behavioral precision in both groups, suggesting it could contribute to behavioral performance, even in the extreme case of completely aphantasic individuals. Our data thus suggest that working memory signals in early visual cortex can be present even in the (near) absence of phenomenal imagery. |
Mirjam C. M. Wever; Geert-Jan Will; Lisanne A. E. M. Houtum; Loes H. C. Janssen; Wilma G. M. Wentholt; Iris M. Spruit; Marieke S. Tollenaar; Bernet M. Elzinga Neural and affective responses to prolonged eye contact with parents in depressed and nondepressed adolescents Journal Article In: Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 567–581, 2024. @article{Wever2024,Eye contact improves mood, facilitates connectedness, and is assumed to strengthen the parent–child bond. Adolescent depression is linked to difficulties in social interactions, the parent–child bond included. Our goal was to elucidate adolescents' affective and neural responses to prolonged eye contact with one's parent in nondepressed adolescents (HC) and how these responses are affected in depressed adolescents. While in the scanner, 59 nondepressed and 19 depressed adolescents were asked to make eye contact with their parent, an unfamiliar peer, an unfamiliar adult, and themselves by using videos of prolonged direct and averted gaze, as an approximation of eye contact. After each trial, adolescents reported on their mood and feelings of connectedness, and eye movements and BOLD-responses were assessed. In HCs, eye contact boosted mood and feelings of connectedness and increased activity in inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), temporal pole, and superior frontal gyrus. Unlike HCs, eye contact did not boost the mood of depressed adolescents. While HCs reported increased mood and feelings of connectedness to the sight of their parent versus others, depressed adolescents did not. Depressed adolescents exhibited blunted overall IFG activity. These findings show that adolescents are particularly sensitive to eye contact and respond strongly to the sight of their parents. This sensitivity seems to be blunted in depressed adolescents. For clinical purposes, it is important to gain a better understanding of how the responsivity to eye contact in general and with their parents in particular, can be restored in adolescents with depression. |
Lin Xia; Yanming Wang; Sha Luo; Yong Zhang; Bensheng Qiu; Xiaoxiao Wang; Lixia Feng Abnormal occipital and frontal activity during voluntary convergence in intermittent exotropia: A task-fMRI study Journal Article In: Heliyon, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 1–7, 2024. @article{Xia2024,Intermittent exotropia (IXT) is characterized by intermittently outward deviation of the eye and involved with vergence dysfunction. This study aimed to investigate the brain areas related to voluntary convergence and cortical activation changes between IXT patients and normal subjects. A total of 21 subjects, including 11 IXT patients and 10 age- and sex-matched normal subjects, were recruited for this study. A voluntary convergence task was employed, with changes in brain function measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Correlations between cortical activation and clinical measurements were conducted by Pearson's correlation analysis. fMRI results showed that during voluntary convergence, the medial frontal gyrus (MFG) and bilateral occipital cortex were activated in the normal group, whereas only activation of the occipital cortex in IXT patients. Compared with the normal, IXT patients showed hypo-activation of both the MFG and cuneus during the task. The activation of MFG was negatively correlated to the duration of IXT. This study demonstrates that both MFG and occipital cortex may participate in voluntary convergence in normal subjects, while IXT patients have an aberrant cortical function of the MFG and cuneus, and the duration of IXT likely influences the severity of MFG. These findings may provide valuable insights for understanding the relationship between convergence and IXT. |
Artturi Ylinen; Minna Hannula-Sormunen; Jake McMullen; Erno Lehtinen; Patrik Wikman; Kimmo Alho Attenuated processing of task-irrelevant speech and other auditory stimuli: fMRI evidence from arithmetic tasks Journal Article In: European Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 60, pp. 7124–7147, 2024. @article{Ylinen2024,When performing cognitive tasks in noisy conditions, the brain needs to maintain task performance while additionally controlling the processing of task-irrelevant and potentially distracting auditory stimuli. Previous research indicates that a fundamental mechanism by which this control is achieved is the attenuation of task-irrelevant processing, especially in conditions with high task demands. However, it remains unclear whether the processing of complex naturalistic sounds can be modulated as easily as that of simpler ones. To address this issue, the present fMRI study examined whether activity related to task-irrelevant meaningful speech is attenuated similarly as that related to meaningless control sounds (nonsense speech and noise-vocoded, unintelligible sounds). The sounds were presented concurrently with three numerical tasks varying in difficulty: an easy control task requiring no calculation, a ‘routine' arithmetic calculation task and a more demanding ‘creative' arithmetic task, where solutions are generated to reach a given answer. Consistent with their differing difficulty, the tasks activated fronto-parieto-temporal regions parametrically (creative > routine > control). In bilateral auditory regions, activity related to the speech stimuli decreased as task demands increased. Importantly, however, the attenuation was more pronounced for meaningful than nonsense speech, demonstrating that distractor type can strongly modulate the extent of the attenuation. This also suggests that semantic processing may be especially susceptible to attenuation under conditions with increased task demands. Finally, as this is the first study to utilize the ‘creative' arithmetic task, we conducted exploratory analyses to examine its potential in assessing neural processes involved in mathematical problem-solving beyond routine arithmetic. |
Xiaole Z. Zhong; Yunjie Tong; J. Jean Chen; Xiaole Z. Zhonga; Yunjie Tong; J. Jean Chen Assessment of the macrovascular contribution to resting-state fMRI functional connectivity at 3 Tesla Journal Article In: Imaging Neuroscience, vol. 2, pp. 1–23, 2024. @article{Zhong2024,In resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) functional connectivity (FC) mapping, temporal correlation is widely assumed to reflect synchronized neural-related activity. Although a large number of studies have demonstrated the potential vascular effects on FC, little research has been conducted on FC resulting from macrovascular signal fluctuations. Previously, our study found (Tong, Yao, et al., 2019) a robust anti-correlation between the fMRI signals in the internal carotid artery and the internal jugular vein (and the sagittal sinus). The present study extends the previous study to include all detectable major veins and arteries in the brain in a systematic analysis of the macrovascular contribution to the functional connectivity of the whole-gray matter (GM). This study demonstrates that: (1) The macrovasculature consistently exhibited strong correlational connectivity among itself, with the sign of the correlations varying between arterial and venous connectivity; (2) GM connectivity was found to have a strong macrovascular contribution, stronger from veins than arteries; (3) FC originating from the macrovasculature displayed disproportionately high spatial variability compared to that associated with all GM voxels; and (4) macrovascular contributions to connectivity were still evident well beyond the confines of the macrovascular space. These findings highlight the extensive contribution to rs-fMRI blood-oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) and FC predominantly by large veins, but also by large arteries. These findings pave the way for future studies aimed at more comprehensively modeling and thereby removing these macrovascular contributions. |
Xiaole Z Zhong; Jonathan R. Polimenic; J. Jean Chen Predicting the macrovascular contribution to resting-state fMRI functional connectivity at 3 Tesla: A model-informed approach Journal Article In: Imaging Neuroscience, vol. 2, pp. 1–22, 2024. @article{Zhong2024a,Macrovascular biases have been a long-standing challenge for fMRI, limiting its ability to detect spatially specific neural activity. Recent experimental studies, including our own (Huck et al., 2023; Zhong et al., 2023), found substantial resting-state macrovascular BOLD fMRI contributions from large veins and arteries, extending into the perivascular tissue at 3 T and 7 T. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of predicting, using a biophysical model, the experimental resting-state BOLD fluctuation amplitude (RSFA) and associated functional connectivity (FC) values at 3 Tesla. We investigated the feasibility of both 2D and 3D infinite-cylinder models as well as macrovascular anatomical networks (mVANs) derived from angiograms. Our results demonstrate that: 1) with the availability of mVANs, it is feasible to model macrovascular BOLD FC using both the mVAN-based model and 3D infinite-cylinder models, though the former performed better; 2) biophysical modelling can accurately predict the BOLD pairwise correlation near to large veins (with R 2 ranging from 0.53 to 0.93 across different subjects), but not near to large arteries; 3) compared with FC, biophysical modelling provided less accurate predictions for RSFA; 4) modelling of perivascular BOLD connectivity was feasible at close distances from veins (with R 2 ranging from 0.08 to 0.57), but not arteries, with performance deteriorating with increasing distance. While our current study demonstrates the feasibility of simulating macrovascular BOLD in the resting state, our methodology may also apply to understanding task-based BOLD. Furthermore, these results suggest the possibility of correcting for macrovascular bias in resting-state fMRI and other types of fMRI using biophysical modelling based on vascular anatomy. |
Noor Z. Al Dahhan; Julie Tseng; Cynthia Medeiros; Sridar Narayanan; Douglas L. Arnold; Brian C. Coe; Douglas P. Munoz; E. Ann Yeh; Donald J. Mabbott Compensatory mechanisms amidst demyelinating disorders: Insights into cognitive preservation Journal Article In: Brain Communications, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 1–17, 2024. @article{AlDahhan2024,Demyelination disrupts the transmission of electrical signals in the brain and affects neurodevelopment in children with disorders such as multiple sclerosis and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-associated disorders. Although cognitive impairments are prevalent in these conditions, some children maintain cognitive function despite substantial structural injury. These findings raise an important question: in addition to the degenerative process, do compensatory neural mechanisms exist to mitigate the effects of myelin loss? We propose that a multi-dimensional approach integrating multiple neuroimaging modalities, including diffusion tensor imaging, magnetoencephalography and eye-tracking, is key to investigating this question. We examine the structural and functional connectivity of the default mode and executive control networks due to their significant roles in supporting higher-order cognitive processes. As cognitive proxies, we examine saccade reaction times and direction errors during an interleaved pro- (eye movement towards a target) and anti-saccade (eye movement away from a target) task. 28 typically developing children, 18 children with multiple sclerosis and 14 children with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-associated disorders between 5 and 18.9 years old were scanned at the Hospital for Sick Children. Tractography of diffusion MRI data examined structural connectivity. Intracellular and extracellular microstructural parameters were extracted using a white matter tract integrity model to provide specific inferences on myelin and axon structure. Magnetoencephalography scanning was conducted to examine functional connectivity. Within groups, participants had longer saccade reaction times and greater direction errors on the anti- versus pro-saccade task; there were no group differences on either task. Despite similar behavioural performance, children with demyelinating disorders had significant structural compromise and lower bilateral high gamma, higher left-hemisphere theta and higher right-hemisphere alpha synchrony relative to typically developing children. Children diagnosed with multiple sclerosis had greater structural compromise relative to children with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-associated disorders; there were no group differences in neural synchrony. For both patient groups, increased disease disability predicted greater structural compromise, which predicted longer saccade reaction times and greater direction errors on both tasks. Structural compromise also predicted increased functional connectivity, highlighting potential adaptive functional reorganisation in response to structural compromise. In turn, increased functional connectivity predicted faster saccade reaction times and fewer direction errors. These findings suggest that increased functional connectivity, indicated by increased alpha and theta synchrony, may be necessary to compensate for structural compromise and preserve cognitive abilities. Further understanding these compensatory neural mechanisms could pave the way for the development of targeted therapeutic interventions aimed at enhancing these mechanisms, ultimately improving cognitive outcomes for affected individuals. |
Sebastian C. Coleman; Zelekha A. Seedat; Daisie O. Pakenham; Andrew J. Quinn; Matthew J. Brookes; Mark W. Woolrich; Karen J. Mullinger Post-task responses following working memory and movement are driven by transient spectral bursts with similar characteristics Journal Article In: Human Brain Mapping, vol. 45, no. 7, pp. 1–14, 2024. @article{Coleman2024,The post-movement beta rebound has been studied extensively using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and is reliably modulated by various task parameters as well as illness. Our recent study showed that rebounds, which we generalise as “post-task responses” (PTRs), are a ubiquitous phenomenon in the brain, occurring across the cortex in theta, alpha, and beta bands. Currently, it is unknown whether PTRs following working memory are driven by transient bursts, which are moments of short-lived high amplitude activity, similar to those that drive the post-movement beta rebound. Here, we use three-state univariate hidden Markov models (HMMs), which can identify bursts without a priori knowledge of frequency content or response timings, to compare bursts that drive PTRs in working memory and visuomotor MEG datasets. Our results show that PTRs across working memory and visuomotor tasks are driven by pan-spectral transient bursts. These bursts have very similar spectral content variation over the cortex, correlating strongly between the two tasks in the alpha (R2 =.89) and beta (R2 =.53) bands. Bursts also have similar variation in duration over the cortex (e.g., long duration bursts occur in the motor cortex for both tasks), strongly correlating over cortical regions between tasks (R2 =.56), with a mean over all regions of around 300 ms in both datasets. Finally, we demonstrate the ability of HMMs to isolate signals of interest in MEG data, such that the HMM probability timecourse correlates more strongly with reaction times than frequency filtered power envelopes from the same brain regions. Overall, we show that induced PTRs across different tasks are driven by bursts with similar characteristics, which can be identified using HMMs. Given the similarity between bursts across tasks, we suggest that PTRs across the cortex may be driven by a common underlying neural phenomenon. |
Gabriel Nascimento Costa; Michael Schaum; João Valente Duarte; Ricardo Martins; Isabel Catarina Duarte; João Castelhano; Michael Wibral; Miguel Castelo-Branco Distinct oscillatory patterns differentiate between segregation and integration processes in perceptual grouping Journal Article In: Human Brain Mapping, vol. 45, no. 12, pp. 1–17, 2024. @article{Costa2024,Recently, there has been a resurgence in experimental and conceptual efforts to understand how brain rhythms can serve to organize visual information. Oscillations can provide temporal structure for neuronal processing and form a basis for integrating information across brain areas. Here, we use a bistable paradigm and a data-driven approach to test the hypothesis that oscillatory modulations associate with the integration or segregation of visual elements. Spectral signatures of perception of bound and unbound configurations of visual moving stimuli were studied using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in ambiguous and unambiguous conditions. Using a 2 × 2 design, we were able to isolate correlates from visual integration, either perceptual or stimulus-driven, from attentional and ambiguity-related activity. Two frequency bands were found to be modulated by visual integration: an alpha/beta frequency and a higher frequency gamma-band. Alpha/beta power was increased in several early visual cortical and dorsal visual areas during visual integration, while gamma-band power was surprisingly increased in the extrastriate visual cortex during segregation. This points to an integrative role for alpha/beta activity, likely from top-down signals maintaining a single visual representation. On the other hand, when more representations have to be processed in parallel gamma-band activity is increased, which is at odds with the notion that gamma oscillations are related to perceptual coherence. These modulations were confirmed in intracranial EEG recordings and partially originate from distinct brain areas. Our MEG and stereo-EEG data confirms predictions of binding mechanisms depending on low-frequency activity for long-range integration and for organizing visual processing while refuting a straightforward correlation between gamma-activity and perceptual binding. |
Rachel N. Denison; Karen J. Tian; David J. Heeger; Marisa Carrasco Anticipatory and evoked visual cortical dynamics of voluntary temporal attention Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1–13, 2024. @article{Denison2024,We can often anticipate the precise moment when a stimulus will be relevant for our behavioral goals. Voluntary temporal attention, the prioritization of sensory information at task-relevant time points, enhances visual perception. However, the neural mechanisms of voluntary temporal attention have not been isolated from those of temporal expectation, which reflects timing predictability rather than relevance. Here we use time-resolved steady-state visual evoked responses (SSVER) to investigate how temporal attention dynamically modulates visual activity when temporal expectation is controlled. We recorded magnetoencephalography while participants directed temporal attention to one of two sequential grating targets with predictable timing. Meanwhile, a co-localized SSVER probe continuously tracked visual cortical modulations both before and after the target stimuli. We find that in the pre-target period, the SSVER gradually ramps up as the targets approach, reflecting temporal expectation. Furthermore, we find a low-frequency modulation of the SSVER, which shifts approximately half a cycle in phase according to which target is attended. In the post-target period, temporal attention to the first target transiently modulates the SSVER shortly after target onset. Thus, temporal attention dynamically modulates visual cortical responses via both periodic pre-target and transient post-target mechanisms to prioritize sensory information at precise moments. |
Laura Doll; Andrew R. Dykstra; Alexander Gutschalk Perceptual awareness of near-threshold tones scales gradually with auditory cortex activity and pupil dilation Journal Article In: iScience, vol. 27, no. 8, pp. 1–20, 2024. @article{Doll2024,Negative-going responses in sensory cortex co-vary with perceptual awareness of sensory stimuli. Given that this awareness negativity has also been observed for undetected stimuli, some have challenged its role for perception. To address this question, we combined magnetoencephalography, electroencephalography, and pupillometry to study how sustained attention and response criterion affect the auditory awareness negativity. Participants first detected distractor sounds and denied hearing task-irrelevant near-threshold tones, which evoked neither awareness negativity nor pupil dilation. These same tones evoked both responses when task-relevant, stronger for hit but also present for miss trials. Participants then rated their perception on a six-point scale to test whether response criterion explains the presence of these responses for miss trials. Decreasing perception ratings were associated with gradually reduced evoked responses, consistent with signal detection theory. These results support the concept of an awareness negativity that is modulated by attention but does not require a non-linear threshold mechanism. |
Camille Fakche; Clayton Hickey; Ole Jensen Fast feature- and category-related parafoveal previewing support free visual exploration Journal Article In: The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 44, no. 49, pp. 1–13, 2024. @article{Fakche2024a,While humans typically saccade every ∼250 ms in natural settings, studies on vision tend to prevent or restrict eye movements. As it takes ∼50 ms to initiate and execute a saccade, this leaves only∼200 ms to identify the fixated object and select the next saccade goal. How much detail can be derived about parafoveal objects in this short time interval, during which foveal processing and saccade planning both occur? Here, we had male and female human participants freely explore a set of natural images while we recorded magnetoencephalography and eye movements. Using multivariate pattern analysis, we demonstrate that future parafoveal images could be decoded at the feature and category level with peak decoding at ∼110 and ∼165 ms, respectively, while the decoding of fixated objects at the feature and category level peaked at ∼100 and∼145 ms. The decoding offeatures and categories was contingent on the objects being saccade goals. In sum, we provide insight on the neuronal mechanism ofpresaccadic attention by demonstrating that feature- and category-specific information of foveal and parafoveal objects can be extracted in succession within a ∼200 ms intersaccadic interval. These findings rule out strict serial or parallel processing accounts but are consistent with a pipeline mech- anism in which foveal and parafoveal objects are processed in parallel but at different levels in the visual hierarchy. Key |
Tara Ghafari; Cecilia Mazzetti; Kelly Garner; Tjerk Gutteling; Ole Jensen Modulation of alpha oscillations by attention is predicted by hemispheric asymmetry of subcortical regions Journal Article In: eLife, vol. 12, pp. 1–20, 2024. @article{Ghafari2024,Evidence suggests that subcortical structures play a role in high-level cognitive functions such as the allocation of spatial attention. While there is abundant evidence in humans for posterior alpha band oscillations being modulated by spatial attention, little is known about how subcortical regions contribute to these oscillatory modulations, particularly under varying conditions of cognitive challenge. In this study, we combined MEG and structural MRI data to investigate the role of subcortical structures in controlling the allocation of attentional resources by employing a cued spatial attention paradigm with varying levels of perceptual load. We asked whether hemispheric lateralization of volumetric measures of the thalamus and basal ganglia predicted the hemispheric modulation of alpha-band power. Lateral asymmetry of the globus pallidus, caudate nucleus, and thalamus predicted attention-related modulations of posterior alpha oscillations. When the perceptual load was applied to the target and the distractor was salient caudate nucleus asymmetry predicted alpha-band modulations. Globus pallidus was predictive of alpha-band modulations when either the target had a high load, or the distractor was salient, but not both. Finally, the asymmetry of the thalamus predicted alpha band modulation when neither component of the task was perceptually demanding. In addition to delivering new insight into the subcortical circuity controlling alpha oscillations with spatial attention, our finding might also have clinical applications. We provide a framework that could be followed for detecting how structural changes in subcortical regions that are associated with neurological disorders can be reflected in the modulation of oscillatory brain activity. |
M. A. Johns; R. C. Calloway; I. M. D. Karunathilake; L. P. Decruy; S. Anderson; J. Z. Simon; S. E. Kuchinsky Attention mobilization as a modulator of listening effort: Evidence from pupillometry Journal Article In: Trends in Hearing, vol. 28, pp. 1–20, 2024. @article{Johns2024,Listening to speech in noise can require substantial mental effort, even among younger normal-hearing adults. The task-evoked pupil response (TEPR) has been shown to track the increased effort exerted to recognize words or sentences in increasing noise. However, few studies have examined the trajectory of listening effort across longer, more natural, stretches of speech, or the extent to which expectations about upcoming listening difficulty modulate the TEPR. Seventeen younger normal-hearing adults listened to 60-s-long audiobook passages, repeated three times in a row, at two different signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) while pupil size was recorded. There was a significant interaction between SNR, repetition, and baseline pupil size on sustained listening effort. At lower baseline pupil sizes, potentially reflecting lower attention mobilization, TEPRs were more sustained in the harder SNR condition, particularly when attention mobilization remained low by the third presentation. At intermediate baseline pupil sizes, differences between conditions were largely absent, suggesting these listeners had optimally mobilized their attention for both SNRs. Lastly, at higher baseline pupil sizes, potentially reflecting overmobilization of attention, the effect of SNR was initially reversed for the second and third presentations: participants initially appeared to disengage in the harder SNR condition, resulting in reduced TEPRs that recovered in the second half of the story. Together, these findings suggest that the unfolding of listening effort over time depends critically on the extent to which individuals have successfully mobilized their attention in anticipation of difficult listening conditions. |
Jan Kujala; Sasu Mäkelä; Pauliina Ojala; Jukka Hyönä; Riitta Salmelin Beta- and gamma-band cortico-cortical interactions support naturalistic reading of continuous text Journal Article In: European Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 238–251, 2024. @article{Kujala2024,Large-scale integration of information across cortical structures, building on neural connectivity, has been proposed to be a key element in supporting human cognitive processing. In electrophysiological neuroimaging studies of reading, quantification of neural interactions has been limited to the level of isolated words or sentences due to artefacts induced by eye movements. Here, we combined magnetoencephalography recording with advanced artefact rejection tools to investigate both cortico-cortical coherence and directed neural interactions during naturalistic reading of full-page texts. Our results show that reading versus visual scanning of text was associated with wide-spread increases of cortico-cortical coherence in the beta and gamma bands. We further show that the reading task was linked to increased directed neural interactions compared to the scanning task across a sparse set of connections within a wide range of frequencies. Together, the results demonstrate that neural connectivity flexibly builds on different frequency bands to support continuous natural reading. |
Johan Liljefors; Rita Almeida; Gustaf Rane; Johan N. Lundström; Pawel Herman; Mikael Lundqvist Distinct functions for beta and alpha bursts in gating of human working memory Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1–15, 2024. @article{Liljefors2024,Multiple neural mechanisms underlying gating to and from working memory (WM) have been proposed, with divergent results obtained in human and animal studies. Previous results from non-human primate studies suggest information encoding and retrieval is regulated by high-power bursts in the beta frequency range, whereas human studies suggest that alpha power in sensory regions filters out unwanted stimuli from entering WM. Discrepancies between studies, whether due to differences in analysis, species, or cortical regions, remain unexplained. We addressed this by performing similar single-trial burst analysis we earlier deployed on non-human primates on human whole-brain electrophysiological activity. Participants performed a sequential working memory task that allowed us to track the distinct electrophysiological activity patterns associated with neural processing of targets and distractors. Intriguingly, our results reconcile earlier findings by demonstrating that both alpha and beta bursts are involved in the filtering and control of WM items, but with region and task-specific differences between the two rhythms. Occipital beta burst patterns regulate the transition from sensory processing to WM retention whereas prefrontal and parietal beta bursts track sequence order and proactively suppress retained information prior to upcoming target encoding. Occipital alpha bursts instead suppress unwanted sensory stimuli during their presentation. These results suggest that human working memory is regulated by multiple neural mechanisms that operate in different cortical regions and serve distinct computational roles. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. |
Sasu Mäkelä; Jan Kujala; Pauliina Ojala; Jukka Hyönä; Riitta Salmelin Naturalistic reading of multi-page texts elicits spatially extended modulation of oscillatory activity in the right hemisphere Journal Article In: Scientific Reports, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–11, 2024. @article{Maekelae2024a,The study of the cortical basis of reading has greatly benefited from the use of naturalistic paradigms that permit eye movements. However, due to the short stimulus lengths used in most naturalistic reading studies, it remains unclear how reading of texts comprising more than isolated sentences modulates cortical processing. To address this question, we used magnetoencephalography to study the spatiospectral distribution of oscillatory activity during naturalistic reading of multi-page texts. In contrast to previous results, we found abundant activity in the right hemisphere in several frequency bands, whereas reading-related modulation of neural activity in the left hemisphere was quite limited. Our results show that the role of the right hemisphere may be importantly emphasized as the reading process extends beyond single sentences. |
Gina Monov; Henrik Stein; Leonie Klock; Juergen Gallinat; Simone Kühn; Tania Lincoln; Katarina Krkovic; Peter R. Murphy; Tobias H. Donner Linking cognitive integrity to working memory dynamics in the aging human brain Journal Article In: The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 44, no. 26, pp. 1–20, 2024. @article{Monov2024,Aging is accompanied by a decline of working memory, an important cognitive capacity that involves stimulus-selective neural activity that persists after stimulus presentation. Here, we unraveled working memory dynamics in older human adults (male and female) including those diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using a combination of behavioral modeling, neuropsychological assessment, and MEG recordings of brain activity. Younger adults (male and female) were studied with behavioral modeling only. Participants performed a visuospatial delayed match-to-sample task under systematic manipulation of the delay and distance between sample and test stimuli. Their behavior (match/nonmatch decisions) was fit with a computational model permitting the dissociation of noise in the internal operations underlying the working memory performance from a strategic decision threshold. Task accuracy decreased with delay duration and sample/test proximity.When sample/test distances were small, older adults committed more false alarms than younger adults. The computational model explained the participants' behavior well. The model parameters reflecting internal noise (not decision threshold) correlated with the precision of stimulus-selective cortical activity measured with MEG during the delay interval. The model uncovered an increase specifically in working memory noise in older compared with younger participants. Furthermore, in the MCI group, but not in the older healthy controls, internal noise correlated with the participants' clinically assessed cognitive integrity. Our results are consistent with the idea that the stability of working memory contents deteriorates in aging, in a manner that is specifically linked to the overall cognitive integrity of individuals diagnosed with MCI. |
Yali Pan; Steven Frisson; Kara D Federmeier; Ole Jensen Early parafoveal semantic integration in natural reading Journal Article In: eLife, vol. 12, pp. 1–27, 2024. @article{Pan2024b,Humans can read and comprehend text rapidly, implying that readers might process multiple words per fixation. However, the extent to which parafoveal words are previewed and integrated into the evolving sentence context remains disputed. We investigated parafoveal processing during natural reading by recording brain activity and eye movements using MEG and an eye tracker while participants silently read one-line sentences. The sentences contained an unpredictable target word that was either congruent or incongruent with the sentence context. To measure parafoveal processing, we flickered the target words at 60 Hz and measured the resulting brain responses (i.e. Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging, RIFT ) during fixations on the pre-target words. Our results revealed a significantly weaker tagging response for target words that were incongruent with the previous context compared to congruent ones, even within 100ms of fixating the word immediately preceding the target. This reduction in the RIFT response was also found to be predictive of individual reading speed. We conclude that semantic information is not only extracted from the parafovea but can also be integrated with the previous context before the word is fixated. This early and extensive parafoveal processing supports the rapid word processing required for natural reading. Our study suggests that theoretical frameworks of natural reading should incorporate the concept of deep parafoveal processing. |
Noor Seijdel; Jan Mathijs Schoffelen; Peter Hagoort; Linda Drijvers Attention drives visual processing and audiovisual integration during multimodal communication Journal Article In: The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 1–11, 2024. @article{Seijdel2024,During communication in real-life settings, our brain often needs to integrate auditory and visual information and at the same time actively focus on the relevant sources of information, while ignoring interference from irrelevant events. The interaction between integration and attention processes remains poorly understood. Here, we use rapid invisible frequency tagging and magnetoencephalography to investigate how attention affects auditory and visual information processing and integration, during multimodal communication. We presented human participants (male and female) with videos of an actress uttering action verbs (auditory; tagged at 58 Hz) accompanied by two movie clips of hand gestures on both sides of fixation (attended stimulus tagged at 65 Hz; unattended stimulus tagged at 63 Hz). Integration difficulty was manipulated by a lower-order auditory factor (clear/degraded speech) and a higher-order visual semantic factor (matching/mismatching gesture). We observed an enhanced neural response to the attended visual information during degraded speech compared to clear speech. For the unattended information, the neural response to mismatching gestures was enhanced compared to matching gestures. Furthermore, signal power at the intermodulation frequencies of the frequency tags, indexing nonlinear signal interactions, was enhanced in the left frontotemporal and frontal regions. Focusing on the left inferior frontal gyrus, this enhancement was specific for the attended information, for those trials that benefitted from integration with a matching gesture. Together, our results suggest that attention modulates audiovisual processing and interaction, depending on the congruence and quality of the sensory input. |
Eelke Spaak; Floortje G. Bouwkamp; Floris P. Lang Perceptual foundation and extension to phase tagging for rapid invisible frequency tagging (RIFT) Eelke Journal Article In: Imaging Neuroscience, vol. 2, pp. 1–14, 2024. @article{Spaak2024,Recent years have seen the emergence of a visual stimulation protocol called Rapid Invisible Frequency Tagging (RIFT) in cognitive neuroscience. In RIFT experiments, visual stimuli are presented at a rapidly and sinusoidally oscillating luminance, using high refresh rate projection equipment. Such stimuli result in strong steady-state responses in visual cortex, measurable extracranially using EEG or MEG. The high signal-to-noise ratio of these neural signals, combined with the alleged invisibility of the manipulation, make RIFT a potentially promising technique to study the neural basis of visual processing. In this study, we set out to resolve two fundamental, yet still outstanding, issues regarding RIFT; as well as to open up a new avenue for taking RIFT beyond frequency tagging per se. First, we provide robust evidence that RIFT is indeed subjectively undetectable, going beyond previous anecdotal reports. Second, we demonstrate that full-amplitude luminance or contrast manipulation offer the best tagging results. Third and finally, we demonstrate that, in addition to frequency tagging, phase tagging can reliably be used in RIFT studies, opening up new avenues for constructing RIFT experiments. Together, this provides a solid foundation for using RIFT in visual cognitive neuroscience. |
Alessandro Toso; Annika P. Wermuth; Ayelet Arazi; Anke Braun; Tineke Grent-‘t Jong; Peter J. Uhlhaas; Tobias H. Donner 40 Hz steady-state response in human auditory cortex is shaped by gabaergic neuronal inhibition Journal Article In: The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 44, no. 24, pp. 1–10, 2024. @article{Toso2024,The 40 Hz auditory steady-state response (ASSR), an oscillatory brain response to periodically modulated auditory stimuli, is a promising, noninvasive physiological biomarker for schizophrenia and related neuropsychiatric disorders. The 40 Hz ASSR might be amplified by synaptic interactions in cortical circuits, which are, in turn, disturbed in neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we tested whether the 40 Hz ASSR in the human auditory cortex depends on two key synaptic components of neuronal interactions within cortical circuits: excitation via N-methyl-aspartate glutamate (NMDA) receptors and inhibition via gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA) receptors. We combined magnetoencephalography (MEG) recordings with placebo-controlled, low-dose pharmacological interventions in the same healthy human participants (13 males, 7 females). All participants exhibited a robust 40 Hz ASSR in auditory cortices, especially in the right hemisphere, under a placebo. The GABAA receptor–agonist lorazepam increased the amplitude of the 40 Hz ASSR, while no effect was detectable under the NMDA blocker memantine. Our findings indicate that the 40 Hz ASSR in the auditory cortex involves synaptic (and likely intracortical) inhibition via the GABAA receptor, thus highlighting its utility as a mechanistic signature of cortical circuit dysfunctions involving GABAergic inhibition. |
Jiating Zhu; Karen J. Tian; Marisa Carrasco; Rachel N. Denison Temporal attention amplifies stimulus information in fronto-cingulate cortex at an intermediate processing stage Journal Article In: PNAS Nexus, vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 1–13, 2024. @article{Zhu2024d,The human brain faces significant constraints in its ability to process every item in a sequence of stimuli. Voluntary temporal attention can selectively prioritize a task-relevant item over its temporal competitors to alleviate these constraints. However, it remains unclear when and where in the brain selective temporal attention modulates the visual representation of a prioritized item. Here, we manipulated temporal attention to successive stimuli in a two-target temporal cueing task, while controlling for temporal expectation with fully predictable stimulus timing. We used magnetoencephalography and time-resolved decoding to track the spatiotemporal evolution of stimulus representations in human observers. We found that temporal attention enhanced the representation of the first target around 250 ms after target onset, in a contiguous region spanning left frontal cortex and cingulate cortex. The results indicate that voluntary temporal attention recruits cortical regions beyond the ventral stream at an intermediate processing stage to amplify the representation of a target stimulus. This routing of stimulus information to anterior brain regions may provide protection from interference in visual cortex by a subsequent stimulus. Thus, voluntary temporal attention may have distinctive neural mechanisms to support specific demands of the sequential processing of stimuli. |
2023 |
Amir Assouline; Avi Mendelsohn Weaving a story: Narrative formation over prolonged time scales engages social cognition and frontoparietal networks Journal Article In: European Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 57, no. 5, pp. 1–15, 2023. @article{Assouline2023,Forming narratives is of key importance to human experience, enabling one to render large amounts of information into relatively compacted stories for future retrieval, giving meaning to otherwise fragmented occurrences. The neural mechanisms that underlie coherent narrative construction of causally connected information over prolonged temporal periods are yet unclear. Participants in this fMRI study observed consecutive scenes from a full-length movie either in their original order, enabling causal inferences over time, or in reverse order, impeding a key component of coherent narratives—causal inference. In between scenes, we presented short periods of blank screens for examining post-encoding processing effects. Using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) followed by seed-base correlation analysis, we hypothesized that net- works involved in online monitoring of incoming information on the one hand, and offline processing of previous occurrences on the other would differ between the groups. We found that despite the exposure to the same scenes, the chronological-order condition exhibited enhanced functional connectivity in frontoparietal regions associated with information integration and working memory. The reverse-order condition yielded offline, post-scene coactivation of neural networks involved in social cognition and particularly theory of mind and action comprehension. These findings shed light on offline processes of narrative construction efforts, highlighting the role of social cognition networks in seeking for narrative coherence. |
Lauren M. DiNicola; Wendy Sun; Randy L. Buckner In: Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 130, no. 6, pp. 1602–1615, 2023. @article{DiNicola2023,A recurring debate concerns whether regions of primate prefrontal cortex (PFC) support domain-flexible or domain-specific processes. Here we tested the hypothesis with functional MRI (fMRI) that side-by-side PFC regions, within distinct parallel association networks, differentially support domain-flexible and domain-specialized processing. Individuals (N = 9) were intensively sampled, and all effects were estimated within their own idiosyncratic anatomy. Within each individual, we identified PFC regions linked to distinct networks, including a dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) region coupled to the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and an extended region associated with the canonical multiple-demand network. We further identified an inferior PFC region coupled to the language network. Exploration in separate task data, collected within the same individuals, revealed a robust functional triple dissociation. The DLPFC region linked to the MTL was recruited during remembering and imagining the future, distinct from juxtaposed regions that were modulated in a domain-flexible manner during working memory. The inferior PFC region linked to the language network was recruited during sentence processing. Detailed analysis of the trial-level responses further revealed that the DLPFC region linked to the MTL specifically tracked processes associated with scene construction. These results suggest that the DLPFC possesses a domain-specialized region that is small and easily confused with nearby (larger) regions associated with cognitive control. The newly described region is domain specialized for functions traditionally associated with the MTL. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to convergent anatomical analysis in the monkey.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Competing hypotheses link regions of prefrontal cortex (PFC) to domain-flexible or domain-specific processes. Here, using a precision neuroimaging approach, we identify a domain-specialized region in dorsolateral PFC, coupled to the medial temporal lobe and recruited for scene construction. This region is juxtaposed to, but distinct from, broader PFC regions recruited flexibly for cognitive control. Region distinctions align with broader network differences, suggesting that PFC regions gain dissociable processing properties via segregated anatomical projections. |
Matthias Ekman; Sarah Kusch; Floris P. Lange Successor-like representation guides the prediction of future events in human visual cortex and hippocampus Journal Article In: eLife, vol. 12, pp. 1–19, 2023. @article{Ekman2023,Human agents build models of their environment, which enable them to anticipate and plan upcoming events. However, little is known about the properties of such predictive models. Recently, it has been proposed that hippocampal representations take the form of a predictive map-like structure, the so-called successor representation (SR). Here, we used human functional magnetic resonance imaging to probe whether activity in the early visual cortex (V1) and hippocampus adhere to the postulated properties of the SR after visual sequence learning. Participants were exposed to an arbitrary spatiotemporal sequence consisting of four items (A-B-C-D). We found that after repeated exposure to the sequence, merely presenting single sequence items (e.g.,-B–) resulted in V1 activation at the successor locations of the full sequence (e.g., C-D), but not at the predecessor locations (e.g., A). This highlights that visual representations are skewed toward future states, in line with the SR. Similar results were also found in the hippocampus. Moreover, the hippocampus developed a coactivation profile that showed sensitivity to the temporal distance in sequence space, with fading representations for sequence events in the more distant past and future. V1, in contrast, showed a coactivation profile that was only sensitive to spatial distance in stimulus space. Taken together, these results provide empirical evidence for the proposition that both visual and hippo-campal cortex represent a predictive map of the visual world akin to the SR. |
Magdalena Fafrowicz; Anna Ceglarek; Justyna Olszewska; Anna Sobczak; Bartosz Bohaterewicz; Monika Ostrogorska; Patricia Reuter-Lorenz; Koryna Lewandowska; Barbara Sikora-Wachowicz; Halszka Oginska; Magdalena Hubalewska-Mazgaj; Tadeusz Marek Dynamics of working memory process revealed by independent component analysis in an fMRI study Journal Article In: Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1–18, 2023. @article{Fafrowicz2023,Human memory is prone to errors in many everyday activities but also when cultivating hobbies such as traveling and/or learning a new language. For instance, while visiting foreign countries, people erroneously recall foreign language words that are meaningless to them. Our research simulated such errors in a modified Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm for short-term memory with phonologically related stimuli aimed at uncovering behavioral and neuronal indices of false memory formation with regard to time-of-day, a variable known to influence memory. Fifty-eight participants were tested in a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner twice. The results of an Independent Component Analysis revealed encoding-related activity of the medial visual network preceding correct recognition of positive probes and correct rejection of lure probes. The engagement of this network preceding false alarms was not observed. We also explored if diurnal rhythmicity influences working memory processes. Diurnal differences were seen in the default mode network and the medial visual network with lower deactivation in the evening hours. The GLM results showed greater activation of the right lingual gyrus, part of the visual cortex and the left cerebellum in the evening. The study offers new insight into the mechanisms associated with false memories, suggesting that deficient engagement of the medial visual network during the memorization phase of a task results in short-term memory distortions. The results shed new light on the dynamics of working memory processes by taking into account the effect of time-of-day on memory performance. |
Maria Celeste Fasano; Joana Cabral; Angus Stevner; Peter Vuust; Pauline Cantou; Elvira Brattico; Morten L. Kringelbach The early adolescent brain on music: Analysis of functional dynamics reveals engagement of orbitofrontal cortex reward system Journal Article In: Human Brain Mapping, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 429–446, 2023. @article{Fasano2023,Music listening plays a pivotal role for children and adolescents, yet it remains unclear how music modulates brain activity at the level of functional networks in this young population. Analysing the dynamics of brain networks occurring and dissolving over time in response to music can provide a better understanding of the neural underpinning of music listening. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 17 preadolescents aged 10–11 years while listening to two similar music pieces separated by periods without music. We subsequently tracked the occurrence of functional brain networks over the recording time using a recent method that detects recurrent patterns of phase-locking in the fMRI signals: the leading eigenvector dynamics analysis (LEiDA). The probabilities of occurrence and switching profiles of different functional networks were compared between periods of music and no music. Our results showed significantly increased occurrence of a specific functional network during the two music pieces compared to no music, involving the medial orbitofrontal and ventromedial prefrontal cortices—a brain subsystem associated to reward processing. Moreover, the higher the musical reward sensitivity of the preadolescents, the more this network was preceded by a pattern involving the insula. Our findings highlight the involvement of a brain subsystem associated with hedonic and emotional processing during music listening in the early adolescent brain. These results offer novel insight into the neural underpinnings of musical reward in early adolescence, improving our understanding of the important role and the potential benefits of music at this delicate age. |
Carolina Feher da Silva; Gaia Lombardi; Micah Edelson; Todd A. Hare Rethinking model-based and model-free influences on mental effort and striatal prediction errors Journal Article In: Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 956–969, 2023. @article{FeherdaSilva2023,A standard assumption in neuroscience is that low-effort model-free learning is automatic and continuously used, whereas more complex model-based strategies are only used when the rewards they generate are worth the additional effort. We present evidence refuting this assumption. First, we demonstrate flaws in previous reports of combined model-free and model-based reward prediction errors in the ventral striatum that probably led to spurious results. More appropriate analyses yield no evidence of model-free prediction errors in this region. Second, we find that task instructions generating more correct model-based behaviour reduce rather than increase mental effort. This is inconsistent with cost–benefit arbitration between model-based and model-free strategies. Together, our data indicate that model-free learning may not be automatic. Instead, humans can reduce mental effort by using a model-based strategy alone rather than arbitrating between multiple strategies. Our results call for re-evaluation of the assumptions in influential theories of learning and decision-making. |
Nick Fogt; Andrew J. Toole; Xiangrui Li; Emmanuel Owusu; Steven T. T. Manning; Marjean T. Kulp Functional magnetic resonance imaging activation for different vergence eye movement subtypes Journal Article In: Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 93–104, 2023. @article{Fogt2023,Introduction: Maddox suggested that there were four convergence subtypes, each driven by a different stimulus. The purpose of this study was to assess the neural correlates for accommodative convergence, proximal convergence (convergence stimulus provided), disparity convergence and voluntary convergence (no specific convergence stimulus provided) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: Ten subjects (mean age = 24.4 years) with normal binocular vision participated. The blood oxygenation level- dependent (BOLD) signals of the brain from fMRI scans were measured when subjects made vergence eye movements while: (1) alternately viewing letters monocularly where one eye viewed through a −2.00 D lens, (2) alternately viewing Difference of Gaussian targets monocularly at distance and near, (3) viewing random dot stereograms with increasing disparity and (4) voluntarily converging the eyes with binocular viewing. Results: The accommodative convergence paradigm resulted in activation on the right side in the right fusiform cortex and the right middle occipital cortex. The proximal convergence stimulus mainly activated areas in the right occipital lobe. The disparity stimulus activated areas in the left occipital cortex and the left frontal cortex. Finally, the voluntary convergence paradigm resulted in activation primarily in the occipital lobe and mostly bilaterally. Conclusion: The accommodative, proximal, disparity and voluntary convergence paradigms resulted in activation in unique areas in the brain with functional MRI. Activation was found in more areas in the proximal and voluntary conditions compared with the accommodative and disparity conditions. |
Rani Gera; Maya Bar Or; Ido Tavor; Dana Roll; Jeffrey Cockburn; Segev Barak; Elizabeth Tricomi; John P. O'Doherty; Tom Schonberg Characterizing habit learning in the human brain at the individual and group levels: A multi-modal MRI study Journal Article In: NeuroImage, vol. 272, pp. 1–23, 2023. @article{Gera2023,The dual-process theory of action control postulates that there are two competitive and complementary mechanisms that control our behavior: a goal-directed system that executes deliberate actions, explicitly aimed toward a particular outcome, and a habitual system that autonomously execute well-learned actions, typically following an encounter with a previously associated cue. In line with dual-process theory, animal studies have provided convincing evidence for dissociable neural mechanisms, mainly manifested in cortico-striatal regions, involved in goal-directed and habitual action control. While substantial progress has been made in characterizing the neural mechanism underlying habit learning in animals, we still lack knowledge on how habits are formed and maintained in the human brain. Thus far only one study, conducted more than a decade ago by Tricomi et al. (2009), has been able to induce habitual behavior in humans via extensive training. This study also implicated the posterior putamen in the process, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, recent attempts to replicate the behavioral results of this study were not successful. This leaves the research of human habits, and particularly the research of their formation through extensive repetition, as well as their neural basis, limited and far behind the animal research in the field. This motivated us to (1) attempt to replicate the behavioral and imaging main findings of Tricomi et al., (2) identify further functional and microstructural neural modifications associated with habit formation and manifestation, and (3) investigate the relationships between functional and structural plasticity and individual differences in habit expression. To this end, in this registered report we used Tricomi et al.'s free-operant task along with multi-modal MRI methods in a well-powered sample (n=123). In this task participants' sensitivity to outcome devaluation (an index of goal-directed/habitual action control) is tested following either short or extensive training. In contrast to our hypothesis, we were not able to demonstrate habit formation as a function of training duration nor were we able to relate any functional or microstructural plasticity in the putamen with individual habit expression. We found that a pattern of increased activations in the left head of caudate that re-occurred across each day's training is associated with goal directed behavior and that increased processing of devalued cues in low-level visual regions was indicative of goal-directed behavior. In a follow-up exploratory analysis comparing habitual and goal-directed subgroups within each experimental group, we found that elevated activations in frontoparietal regions during early stages of training, as well as increased reactivity towards still-valued cues in somatosensory and superior parietal regions were found in individuals that were more inclined to perform goal-directed behavior (compared with more habitual individuals). Taken together, regions commonly implicated in goal-directed behavior were most predictive of individual habit expression. Finally, we also found that differential patterns of training-related microstructural plasticity, as measured with diffusion MRI, in midbrain dopaminergic regions were associated with habit expression. This work provides new insights into the neural dynamics involved in individual habit formation/expression and encourages the development and testing of new, more sensitive, procedures for experimental habit induction in humans. |
Hengda He; Linbi Hong; Paul Sajda Pupillary response is associated with the reset and switching of functional brain networks during salience processing Journal Article In: PLoS Computational Biology, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 1–29, 2023. @article{He2023a,The interface between processing internal goals and salient events in the environment involves various top-down processes. Previous studies have identified multiple brain areas for salience processing, including the salience network (SN), dorsal attention network, and the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system. However, interactions among these systems in salience processing remain unclear. Here, we simultaneously recorded pupillometry, EEG, and fMRI during an auditory oddball paradigm. The analyses of EEG and fMRI data uncovered spatiotemporally organized target-associated neural correlates. By modeling the target-modulated effective connectivity, we found that the target-evoked pupillary response is associated with the network directional couplings from late to early subsystems in the trial, as well as the network switching initiated by the SN. These findings indicate that the SN might cooperate with the pupil-indexed LC-NE system in the reset and switching of cortical networks, and shed light on their implications in various cognitive processes and neurological diseases. |
Stefano Ioannucci; Valentine Chirokoff; Bixente Dilharreguy; Valéry Ozenne; Sandra Chanraud; Alexandre Zénon In: Communications Biology, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–12, 2023. @article{Ioannucci2023,Cognitive fatigue is defined by a reduced capacity to perform mental tasks. Despite its pervasiveness, the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive. Specifically, it is unclear whether prolonged effort affects performance through alterations in over-worked task-relevant neuronal assemblies. Our paradigm based on repeated passive visual stimulation discerns fatigue effects from the influence of motivation, skill and boredom. We induced performance loss and observed parallel alterations in the neural blueprint of the task, by mirroring behavioral performance with multivariate neuroimaging techniques (MVPA) that afford a subject-specific approach. Crucially, functional areas that responded the most to repeated stimulation were also the most affected. Finally, univariate analysis revealed clusters displaying significant disruption within the extrastriate visual cortex. In sum, here we show that repeated stimulation impacts the implicated brain areas' activity and causes tangible behavioral repercussions, providing evidence that cognitive fatigue can result from local, functional, disruptions in the neural signal induced by protracted recruitment. |
Nidhi Jain; Aria Wang; Margaret M. Henderson; Ruogu Lin; Jacob S. Prince; Michael J. Tarr; Leila Wehbe Selectivity for food in human ventral visual cortex Journal Article In: Communications Biology, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–14, 2023. @article{Jain2023,Visual cortex contains regions of selectivity for domains of ecological importance. Food is an evolutionarily critical category whose visual heterogeneity may make the identification of selectivity more challenging. We investigate neural responsiveness to food using natural images combined with large-scale human fMRI. Leveraging the improved sensitivity of modern designs and statistical analyses, we identify two food-selective regions in the ventral visual cortex. Our results are robust across 8 subjects from the Natural Scenes Dataset (NSD), multiple independent image sets and multiple analysis methods. We then test our findings of food selectivity in an fMRI “localizer” using grayscale food images. These independent results confirm the existence of food selectivity in ventral visual cortex and help illuminate why earlier studies may have failed to do so. Our identification of food-selective regions stands alongside prior findings of functional selectivity and adds to our understanding of the organization of knowledge within the human visual system. |
Omid Kardan; Andrew J. Stier; Elliot A. Layden; Kyoung Whan Choe; Muxuan Lyu; Xihan Zhang; Sian L. Beilock; Monica D. Rosenberg; Marc G. Berman Improvements in task performance after practice are associated with scale-free dynamics of brain activity Journal Article In: Network Neuroscience, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 1129–1152, 2023. @article{Kardan2023,Although practicing a task generally benefits later performance on that same task, there are individual differences in practice effects. One avenue to model such differences comes from research showing that brain networks extract functional advantages from operating in the vicinity of criticality, a state in which brain network activity is more scale-free. We hypothesized that higher scale-free signal from fMRI data, measured with the Hurst exponent (H), indicates closer proximity to critical states. We tested whether individuals with higher H during repeated task performance would show greater practice effects. In Study 1, participants performed a dual-n-back task (DNB) twice during MRI (n = 56). In Study 2, we used two runs of n-back task (NBK) data from the Human Connectome Project sample (n = 599). In Study 3, participants performed a word completion task (CAST) across six runs (n = 44). In all three studies, multivariate analysis was used to test whether higher H was related to greater practicerelated performance improvement. Supporting our hypothesis, we found patterns of higher H that reliably correlated with greater performance improvement across participants in all three studies. However, the predictive brain regions were distinct, suggesting that the specific spatial H↑ patterns are not task-general. |
Noa Katabi; Hadas Simon; Sharon Yakim; Inbal Ravreby; Tal Ohad; Yaara Yeshurun Deeper than you think: Partisanship-dependent brain responses in early sensory and motor brain regions Journal Article In: Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 1027–1037, 2023. @article{Katabi2023,Recent political polarization has illustrated how individuals with opposing political views often experience ongoing events in markedly different ways. In this study, we explored the neural mechanisms underpinning this phenomenon. We conducted fMRI scanning of 34 right- and left-wing participants (45% females) watching political videos (e.g., campaign ads and political speeches) just before the elections in Israel. As expected, we observed significant differences between left- and right-wing participants in their interpretation of the videos' content. Furthermore, neuroimaging results revealed partisanship-dependent differences in activation and synchronization in higher-order regions. Surprisingly, such differences were also revealed in early sensory, motor, and somatosensory regions. We found that the political content synchronized the responses of primary visual and auditory cortices in a partisanship-dependent manner. Moreover, right-wing (and not left-wing) individuals' sensorimotor cortex was involved in processing right-wing (and not left-wing) political content. These differences were pronounced to the extent that we could predict political orientation from the early brain-response alone. Importantly, no such differences were found with respect to neutral content. Therefore, these results uncover more fundamental neural mechanisms underlying processes of political polarization. |
Hyung Cho Kim; Claire M. Kaplan; Samiha Islam; Allegra S. Anderson; Megan E. Piper; Daniel E. Bradford; John J. Curtin; Kathryn A. DeYoung; Jason F. Smith; Andrew S. Fox; Alexander J. Shackman Acute nicotine abstinence amplifies subjective withdrawal symptoms and threat-evoked fear and anxiety, but not extended amygdala reactivity Journal Article In: PLoS ONE, vol. 18, pp. 1–31, 2023. @article{Kim2023a,Tobacco smoking imposes a staggering burden on public health, underscoring the urgency of developing a deeper understanding of the processes that maintain addiction. Clinical and experience-sampling data highlight the importance of anxious withdrawal symptoms, but the underlying neurobiology has remained elusive. Mechanistic work in animals implicates the central extended amygdala (EAc)—including the central nucleus of the amygdala and the neighboring bed nucleus of the stria terminalis—but the translational relevance of these discoveries remains unexplored. Here we leveraged a randomized trial design, well-established threat-anticipation paradigm, and multidimensional battery of assessments to understand the consequences of 24-hour nicotine abstinence. The threat-anticipation paradigm had the expected consequences, amplifying subjective distress and arousal, and recruiting the canonical threat-anticipation network. Abstinence increased smoking urges and withdrawal symptoms, and potentiated threat-evoked distress, but had negligible consequences for EAc threat reactivity, raising questions about the translational relevance of prominent animal and human models of addiction. These observations provide a framework for conceptualizing nicotine abstinence and withdrawal, with implications for basic, translational, and clinical science. |
Janina Klautke; Celia Foster; W. Pieter Medendorp; Tobias Heed Dynamic spatial coding in parietal cortex mediates tactile-motor transformation Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–18, 2023. @article{Klautke2023,Movements towards touch on the body require integrating tactile location and body posture information. Tactile processing and movement planning both rely on posterior parietal cortex (PPC) but their interplay is not understood. Here, human participants received tactile stimuli on their crossed and uncrossed feet, dissociating stimulus location relative to anatomy versus external space. Participants pointed to the touch or the equivalent location on the other foot, which dissociates sensory and motor locations. Multi-voxel pattern analysis of concurrently recorded fMRI signals revealed that tactile location was coded anatomically in anterior PPC but spatially in posterior PPC during sensory processing. After movement instructions were specified, PPC exclusively represented the movement goal in space, in regions associated with visuo-motor planning and with regional overlap for sensory, rule-related, and movement coding. Thus, PPC flexibly updates its spatial codes to accommodate rule-based transformation of sensory input to generate movement to environment and own body alike. |
Michaela Klímová; Ilona M. Bloem; Sam Ling Attention preserves the selectivity of feature-tuned normalization Journal Article In: Journal of neurophysiology, vol. 130, no. 4, pp. 990–998, 2023. @article{Klimova2023,Attention and divisive normalization both contribute to making visual processing more efficient. Attention selectively increases the neural gain of relevant information in the early visual cortex, resulting in stronger perceived salience for attended regions or features. Divisive normalization improves processing efficiency by suppressing responses to homogeneous inputs and highlighting salient boundaries, facilitating sparse coding of inputs. Theoretical and empirical research suggest a tight link between attention and normalization, wherein attending to a stimulus results in a release from normalization, thereby allowing for an increase in neural response gain. In the present study, we address whether attention alters the qualitative properties of normalization. Specifically, we examine how attention influences the feature-tuned nature of normalization, whereby suppression is stronger between visual stimuli whose orientation contents are similar, and weaker when the orientations are different. Ten human observers viewed stimuli that varied in orientation content while we acquired fMRI BOLD responses under two attentional states: attending toward or attending away from the stimulus. Our results indicate that attention does not alter the specificity of feature-tuned normalization. Instead, attention seems to enhance visuocortical responses evenly, regardless of the degree of orientation similarity within the stimulus. Since visuocortical responses exhibit adaptation to statistical regularities in natural scenes, we conclude that while attention can selectively increase the gain of responses to attended items, it does not appear to alter the ecologically relevant correspondence between orientation differences and strength of tuned normalization.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The magnitude of visuocortical BOLD responses scales with orientation differences in visual stimuli, with the strongest response suppression for collinear stimuli and least suppression for orthogonal, in a way that appears to match natural scene statistics. We examined the effects of attention on this feature-tuned property of suppression and found that while attending to a stimulus increases the overall gain of visuocortical responses, the qualitative properties of feature-tuning remain unchanged, suggesting attention preserves tuned normalization properties. |
Mathieu Lesourd; Alia Afyouni; Franziska Geringswald; Fabien Cignetti; Lisa Raoul; Julien Sein; Bruno Nazarian; Jean-Luc Anton; Marie-Hélène Grosbras Action observation network activity related to object-directed and socially-directed actions in adolescents Journal Article In: Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 125–141, 2023. @article{Lesourd2023,The human action observation network (AON) encompasses brain areas consistently engaged when we observe other's actions. Although the core nodes of the AON are present from childhood, it is not known to what extent they are sensitive to different action features during development. Because social cognitive abilities continue to mature during adolescence, the AON response to socially-oriented actions, but not to object-related actions, may differ in adolescents and adults. To test this hypothesis, we scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) male and female typically-developing teenagers (n = 28; 13 females) and adults (n = 25; 14 females) while they passively watched videos of manual actions varying along two dimensions: sociality (i.e., directed toward another person or not) and transitivity (i.e., involving an object or not). We found that action observation recruited the same fronto-parietal and occipito-temporal regions in adults and adolescents. The modulation of voxel-wise activity according to the social or transitive nature of the action was similar in both groups of participants. Multivariate pattern analysis, however, revealed that decoding accuracies in intraparietal sulcus (IPS)/superior parietal lobe (SPL) for both sociality and transitivity were lower for adolescents compared with adults. In addition, in the lateral occipital temporal cortex (LOTC), generalization of decoding across the orthogonal dimension was lower for sociality only in adolescents. These findings indicate that the representation of the content of others' actions, and in particular their social dimension, in the adolescent AON is still not as robust as in adults. |
Hsin-Hung Li; Clayton E. Curtis Neural population dynamics of human working memory Journal Article In: Current Biology, vol. 33, no. 17, pp. 3775–3784, 2023. @article{Li2023d,The activity of neurons in macaque prefrontal cortex (PFC) persists during working memory (WM) delays, providing a mechanism for memory.1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 Although theory,11,12 including formal network models,13,14 assumes that WM codes are stable over time, PFC neurons exhibit dynamics inconsistent with these assumptions.15,16,17,18,19 Recently, multivariate reanalyses revealed the coexistence of both stable and dynamic WM codes in macaque PFC.20,21,22,23 Human EEG studies also suggest that WM might contain dynamics.24,25 Nonetheless, how WM dynamics vary across the cortical hierarchy and which factors drive dynamics remain unknown. To elucidate WM dynamics in humans, we decoded WM content from fMRI responses across multiple cortical visual field maps.26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48 We found coexisting stable and dynamic neural representations of WM during a memory-guided saccade task. Geometric analyses of neural subspaces revealed that early visual cortex exhibited stronger dynamics than high-level visual and frontoparietal cortex. Leveraging models of population receptive fields, we visualized and made the neural dynamics interpretable. We found that during WM delays, V1 population initially encoded a narrowly tuned bump of activation centered on the peripheral memory target. Remarkably, this bump then spread inward toward foveal locations, forming a vector along the trajectory of the forthcoming memory-guided saccade. In other words, the neural code transformed into an abstraction of the stimulus more proximal to memory-guided behavior. Therefore, theories of WM must consider both sensory features and their task-relevant abstractions because changes in the format of memoranda naturally drive neural dynamics. |
Ming-Ray Liao; Andy J. Kim; Brian A. Anderson Neural correlates of value-driven spatial orienting Journal Article In: Psychophysiology, vol. 60, no. 9, pp. 1–13, 2023. @article{Liao2023,Reward learning has been shown to habitually guide overt spatial attention to specific regions of a scene. However, the neural mechanisms that support this bias are unknown. In the present study, participants learned to orient themselves to a particular quadrant of a scene (a high-value quadrant) to maximize monetary gains. This learning was scene-specific, with the high-value quadrant varying across different scenes. During a subsequent test phase, participants were faster at identifying a target if it appeared in the high-value quadrant (valid), and initial saccades were more likely to be made to the high-value quadrant. fMRI analyses during the test phase revealed learning-dependent priority signals in the caudate tail, superior colliculus, frontal eye field, anterior cingulate cortex, and insula, paralleling findings concerning feature-based, value-driven attention. In addition, ventral regions typically associated with scene selection and spatial information processing, including the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and temporo-occipital cortex, were also implicated. Taken together, our findings offer new insights into the neural architecture subserving value-driven attention, both extending our understanding of nodes in the attention network previously implicated in feature-based, value-driven attention and identifying a ventral network of brain regions implicated in reward's influence on scene-dependent spatial orienting. |
Tianyuan Liu; Bao Li; Chi Zhang; Panpan Chen; Weichen Zhao; Bin Yan Real-time classification of motor imagery using Dynamic Window-Level Granger Causality analysis of fMRI data Journal Article In: Brain Sciences, vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 1–15, 2023. @article{Liu2023d,This article presents a method for extracting neural signal features to identify the imagination of left- and right-hand grasping movements. A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment is employed to identify four brain regions with significant activations during motor imagery (MI) and the effective connections between these regions of interest (ROIs) were calculated using Dynamic Window-level Granger Causality (DWGC). Then, a real-time fMRI (rt-fMRI) classification system for left- and right-hand MI is developed using the Open-NFT platform. We conducted data acquisition and processing on three subjects, and all of whom were recruited from a local college. As a result, the maximum accuracy of using Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier on real-time three-class classification (rest, left hand, and right hand) with effective connections is 69.3%. And it is 3% higher than that of traditional multivoxel pattern classification analysis on average. Moreover, it significantly improves classification accuracy during the initial stage of MI tasks while reducing the latency effects in real-time decoding. The study suggests that the effective connections obtained through the DWGC method serve as valuable features for real-time decoding of MI using fMRI. Moreover, they exhibit higher sensitivity to changes in brain states. This research offers theoretical support and technical guidance for extracting neural signal features in the context of fMRI-based studies. |
Marloes Mak; Myrthe Faber; Roel M. Willems Different kinds of simulation during literary reading: Insights from a combined fMRI and eye-tracking study Journal Article In: Cortex, vol. 162, pp. 115–135, 2023. @article{Mak2023,Mental simulation is an important aspect of narrative reading. In a previous study, we found that gaze durations are differentially impacted by different kinds of mental simulation. Motor simulation, perceptual simulation, and mentalizing as elicited by literary short stories influenced eye movements in distinguishable ways (Mak & Willems, 2019). In the current study, we investigated the existence of a common neural locus for these different kinds of simulation. We additionally investigated whether individual differences during reading, as indexed by the eye movements, are reflected in domain-specific activations in the brain. We found a variety of brain areas activated by simulation-eliciting content, both modality-specific brain areas and a general simulation area. Individual variation in percent signal change in activated areas was related to measures of story appreciation as well as personal characteristics (i.e., transportability, perspective taking). Taken together, these findings suggest that mental simulation is supported by both domain-specific processes grounded in previous experiences, and by the neural mechanisms that underlie higher-order language processing (e.g., situation model building, event indexing, integration). |
Audrey Mazancieux; Franck Mauconduit; Alexis Amadon; Jan Willem de Gee; Tobias H. Donner; Florent Meyniel Brainstem fMRI signaling of surprise across different types of deviant stimuli Journal Article In: Cell Reports, vol. 42, no. 11, pp. 1–15, 2023. @article{Mazancieux2023,Detection of deviant stimuli is crucial to orient and adapt our behavior. Previous work shows that deviant stimuli elicit phasic activation of the locus coeruleus (LC), which releases noradrenaline and controls central arousal. However, it is unclear whether the detection of behaviorally relevant deviant stimuli selectively triggers LC responses or other neuromodulatory systems (dopamine, serotonin, and acetylcholine). We combine human functional MRI (fMRI) recordings optimized for brainstem imaging with pupillometry to perform a mapping of deviant-related responses in subcortical structures. Participants have to detect deviant items in a “local-global” paradigm that distinguishes between deviance based on the stimulus probability and the sequence structure. fMRI responses to deviant stimuli are distributed in many cortical areas. Both types of deviance elicit responses in the pupil, LC, and other neuromodulatory systems. Our results reveal that the detection of task-relevant deviant items recruits the same multiple subcortical systems across computationally different types of deviance. |
Lucia Melloni; Liad Mudrik; Michael Pitts; Katarina Bendtz; Oscar Ferrante; Urszula Gorska; Rony Hirschhorn; Aya Khalaf; Csaba Kozma; Alex Lepauvre; Ling Liu; David Mazumder; David Richter; Hao Zhou; Hal Blumenfeld; Melanie Boly; David J. Chalmers; Sasha Devore; Francis Fallon; Floris P. Lange; Ole Jensen; Gabriel Kreiman; Huan Luo; Theofanis I. Panagiotaropoulos; Stanislas Dehaene; Christof Koch; Giulio Tononi An adversarial collaboration protocol for testing contrasting predictions of global neuronal workspace and integrated information theory Journal Article In: PLoS ONE, vol. 18, pp. 1–28, 2023. @article{Melloni2023,The relationship between conscious experience and brain activity has intrigued scientists and philosophers for centuries. In the last decades, several theories have suggested different accounts for these relationships. These theories have developed in parallel, with little to no cross-talk among them. To advance research on consciousness, we established an adversarial collaboration between proponents of two of the major theories in the field, Global Neuronal Workspace and Integrated Information Theory. Together, we devised and preregistered two experiments that test contrasting predictions of these theories concerning the location and timing of correlates of visual consciousness, which have been endorsed by the theories' proponents. Predicted outcomes should either support, refute, or challenge these theories. Six theory-impartial laboratories will follow the study protocol specified here, using three complementary methods: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Magneto-Electroencephalography (M-EEG), and intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). The study protocol will include built-in replications, both between labs and within datasets. Through this ambitious undertaking, we hope to provide decisive evidence in favor or against the two theories and clarify the footprints of conscious visual perception in the human brain, while also providing an innovative model of large-scale, collaborative, and open science practice. |
Sreenivasan Meyyappan; Abhijit Rajan; George R. Mangun; Mingzhou Ding Top-down control of the left visual field bias in cued visual spatial attention Journal Article In: Cerebral Cortex, vol. 33, no. 9, pp. 5097–5107, 2023. @article{Meyyappan2023,A left visual field (LVF) bias in perceptual judgments, response speed, and discrimination accuracy has been reported in humans. Cognitive factors, such as visual spatial attention, are known to modulate or even eliminate this bias. We investigated this problem by recording pupillometry together with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a cued visual spatial attention task. We observed that (i) the pupil was significantly more dilated following attend-right than attend-left cues, (ii) the task performance (e.g. reaction time [RT]) did not differ between attend-left and attend-right trials, and (iii) the difference in cue-related pupil dilation between attend-left and attend-right trials was inversely related to the corresponding difference in RT. Neuroscientically, correlating the difference in cue-related pupil dilation with the corresponding cue-related fMRI difference yielded activations primarily in the right hemisphere, including the right intraparietal sulcus and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. These results suggest that (i) there is an asymmetry in visual spatial attention control, with the rightward attention control being more effortful than the leftward attention control, (ii) this asymmetry underlies the reduction or the elimination of the LVF bias, and (iii) the components of the attentional control networks in the right hemisphere are likely part of the neural substrate of the observed asymmetry in attentional control. |
Viola Mocz; Su Keun Jeong; Marvin Chun; Yaoda Xu Multiple visual objects are represented differently in the human brain and convolutional neural networks Journal Article In: Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1–16, 2023. @article{Mocz2023,Objects in the real world usually appear with other objects. To form object representations independent of whether or not other objects are encoded concurrently, in the primate brain, responses to an object pair are well approximated by the average responses to each constituent object shown alone. This is found at the single unit level in the slope of response amplitudes of macaque IT neurons to paired and single objects, and at the population level in fMRI voxel response patterns in human ventral object processing regions (e.g., LO). Here, we compare how the human brain and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) represent paired objects. In human LO, we show that averaging exists in both single fMRI voxels and voxel population responses. However, in the higher layers of five CNNs pretrained for object classification varying in architecture, depth and recurrent processing, slope distribution across units and, consequently, averaging at the population level both deviated significantly from the brain data. Object representations thus interact with each other in CNNs when objects are shown together and differ from when objects are shown individually. Such distortions could significantly limit CNNs' ability to generalize object representations formed in different contexts. |
Alina Nostadt; Michael A. Nitsche; Martin Tegenthoff; Silke Lissek In: Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1–16, 2023. @article{Nostadt2023,Contextual information is essential for learning and memory processes and plays a crucial role during the recall of extinction memory, and in the renewal effect, which is the context-dependent recovery of an extinguished response. The dopaminergic system is known to be involved in regulating attentional processes by shifting attention to novel and salient contextual cues. Higher dopamine levels are associated with a better recall of previously learned stimulus-outcome associations and enhanced encoding, as well as retrieval of contextual information which promotes renewal. In this fMRI study, we aimed to investigate the impact of processing contextual information and the influence of dopaminergic D2-like receptor activation on attention to contextual information during a predictive learning task as well as upon extinction learning, memory performance, and activity of extinction-related brain areas. A single oral dose of 1.25 mg bromocriptine or an identical-looking placebo was administered to the participants. We modified a predictive learning task that in previous studies reliably evoked a renewal effect, by increasing the complexity of contextual information. We analysed fixations and dwell on contextual cues by use of eye-tracking and correlated these with behavioural performance and BOLD activation of extinction-related brain areas. Our results indicate that the group with dopaminergic D2-like receptor stimulation had higher attention to task-relevant contextual information and greater/lower BOLD activation of brain regions associated with cognitive control during extinction learning and recall. Moreover, renewal responses were almost completely absent. Since this behavioural effect was observed for both treatment groups, we assume that this was due to the complexity of the altered task design. |
Ilenia Paparella; Islay Campbell; Roya Sharifpour; Elise Beckers; Alexandre Berger; Jose Fermin Balda Aizpurua; Ekaterina Koshmanova; Nasrin Mortazavi; Puneet Talwar; Christian Degueldre; Laurent Lamalle; Siya Sherif; Christophe Phillips; Pierre Maquet; Gilles Vandewalle Light modulates task-dependent thalamo-cortical connectivity during an auditory attentional task Journal Article In: Communications Biology, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1–10, 2023. @article{Paparella2023,Exposure to blue wavelength light stimulates alertness and performance by modulating a widespread set of task-dependent cortical and subcortical areas. How light affects the crosstalk between brain areas to trigger this stimulating effect is not established. Here we record the brain activity of 19 healthy young participants (24.05±2.63; 12 women) while they complete an auditory attentional task in darkness or under an active (blue-enriched) or a control (orange) light, in an ultra-high-field 7 Tesla MRI scanner. We test if light modulates the effective connectivity between an area of the posterior associative thalamus, encompassing the pulvinar, and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), key areas in the regulation of attention. We find that only the blue-enriched light strengthens the connection from the posterior thalamus to the IPS. To the best of our knowledge, our results provide the first empirical data supporting that blue wavelength light affects ongoing non-visual cognitive activity by modulating task-dependent information flow from subcortical to cortical areas. |
Eva R. Pool; Wolfgang M. Pauli; Logan Cross; John P. O'Doherty Neural substrates of parallel devaluation-sensitive and devaluation-insensitive Pavlovian learning in humans Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–17, 2023. @article{Pool2023,We aim to differentiate the brain regions involved in the learning and encoding of Pavlovian associations sensitive to changes in outcome value from those that are not sensitive to such changes by combining a learning task with outcome devaluation, eye-tracking, and functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans. Contrary to theoretical expectation, voxels correlating with reward prediction errors in the ventral striatum and subgenual cingulate appear to be sensitive to devaluation. Moreover, regions encoding state prediction errors appear to be devaluation insensitive. We can also distinguish regions encoding predictions about outcome taste identity from predictions about expected spatial location. Regions encoding predictions about taste identity seem devaluation sensitive while those encoding predictions about an outcome's spatial location seem devaluation insensitive. These findings suggest the existence of multiple and distinct associative mechanisms in the brain and help identify putative neural correlates for the parallel expression of both devaluation sensitive and insensitive conditioned behaviors. |
Sophia Antonia Press; Stefanie C. Biehl; Gregor Domes; Jennifer Svaldi; Sophia Antonia Press; Stefanie C. Biehl; Gregor Domes; Jennifer Svaldi; Sophia Antonia Press Increased insula and amygdala activity during selective attention for negatively valenced body parts in binge eating disorder Journal Article In: Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, vol. 132, no. 1, pp. 63–77, 2023. @article{Press2023,Previous studies indicate that participants with eating disorders show an attentional bias for the negatively valenced body parts of their own body. However, the neural basis underlying these processes has not been investigated. We conducted a preregistered combined functional MRI (fMRI)/eye tracking study and presented 35 women with binge eating disorder (BED) and 24 weight-matched control subjects (CG) with body part images of their own body and a weight-matched unknown body. After the fMRI examination, participants rated the attractiveness of the presented body parts. As expected, women with BED responded with significantly higher insula and amygdala activity when viewing the negatively valenced body parts of their own body (compared to all other combinations). However, individuals with BED did not deviate from the CG in the processing of these stimuli in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the extrastriate body area or the fusiform body area. Our results indicate that the negative valued body parts carry a particularly strong emotional valence in individuals with BED. These results further emphasize the relevance of processing bias for negatively valenced body parts in the pathology of BED. |
Masih Rahmati; Clayton E. Curtis; Kartik K. Sreenivasan Mnemonic representations in human lateral geniculate nucleus Journal Article In: Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 17, pp. 1–11, 2023. @article{Rahmati2023,There is a growing appreciation for the role of the thalamus in high-level cognition. Motivated by findings that internal cognitive state drives activity in feedback layers of primary visual cortex (V1) that target the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), we investigated the role of LGN in working memory (WM). Specifically, we leveraged model-based neuroimaging approaches to test the hypothesis that human LGN encodes information about spatial locations temporarily encoded in WM. First, we localized and derived a detailed topographic organization in LGN that accords well with previous findings in humans and non-human primates. Next, we used models constructed on the spatial preferences of LGN populations in order to reconstruct spatial locations stored in WM as subjects performed modified memory-guided saccade tasks. We found that population LGN activity faithfully encoded the spatial locations held in memory in all subjects. Importantly, our tasks and models allowed us to dissociate the locations of retinal stimulation and the motor metrics of memory-guided saccades from the maintained spatial locations, thus confirming that human LGN represents true WM information. These findings add LGN to the growing list of subcortical regions involved in WM, and suggest a key pathway by which memories may influence incoming processing at the earliest levels of the visual hierarchy. |
Michael Paul Schallmo; Kimberly B. Weldon; Rohit S. Kamath; Hannah R. Moser; Samantha A. Montoya; Kyle W. Killebrew; Caroline Demro; Andrea N. Grant; Małgorzata Marjańska; Scott R. Sponheim; Cheryl A. Olman The psychosis human connectome project: Design and rationale for studies of visual neurophysiology Journal Article In: NeuroImage, vol. 272, pp. 1–20, 2023. @article{Schallmo2023,Visual perception is abnormal in psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. In addition to hallucinations, laboratory tests show differences in fundamental visual processes including contrast sensitivity, center-surround interactions, and perceptual organization. A number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain visual dysfunction in psychotic disorders, including an imbalance between excitation and inhibition. However, the precise neural basis of abnormal visual perception in people with psychotic psychopathology (PwPP) remains unknown. Here, we describe the behavioral and 7 tesla MRI methods we used to interrogate visual neurophysiology in PwPP as part of the Psychosis Human Connectome Project (HCP). In addition to PwPP (n = 66) and healthy controls (n = 43), we also recruited first-degree biological relatives (n = 44) in order to examine the role of genetic liability for psychosis in visual perception. Our visual tasks were designed to assess fundamental visual processes in PwPP, whereas MR spectroscopy enabled us to examine neurochemistry, including excitatory and inhibitory markers. We show that it is feasible to collect high-quality data across multiple psychophysical, functional MRI, and MR spectroscopy experiments with a sizable number of participants at a single research site. These data, in addition to those from our previously described 3 tesla experiments, will be made publicly available in order to facilitate further investigations by other research groups. By combining visual neuroscience techniques and HCP brain imaging methods, our experiments offer new opportunities to investigate the neural basis of abnormal visual perception in PwPP. |
Rebekka Schröder; Kristof Keidel; Peter Trautner; Alexander Radbruch; Ulrich Ettinger Neural mechanisms of background and velocity effects in smooth pursuit eye movements Journal Article In: Human Brain Mapping, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 1–17, 2023. @article{Schroder2022a,Smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are essential to guide behaviour in complex visual environments. SPEM accuracy is known to be degraded by the presence of a structured visual background and at higher target velocities. The aim of this preregistered study was to investigate the neural mechanisms of these robust behavioural effects. N = 33 participants performed a SPEM task with two background conditions (present and absent) at two target velocities (0.4 and 0.6 Hz). Eye movement and BOLD data were collected simultaneously. Both the presence of a structured background and faster target velocity decreased pursuit gain and increased catch-up saccade rate. Faster targets additionally increased position error. Higher BOLD response with background was found in extensive clusters in visual, parietal, and frontal areas (including the medial frontal eye fields; FEF) partially overlapping with the known SPEM network. Faster targets were associated with higher BOLD response in visual cortex and left lateral FEF. Task-based functional connectivity analyses (psychophysiological interactions; PPI) largely replicated previous results in the basic SPEM network but did not yield additional information regarding the neural underpinnings of the background and velocity effects. The results show that the presentation of visual background stimuli during SPEM induces activity in a widespread visuo-parieto-frontal network including areas contributing to cognitive aspects of oculomotor control such as medial FEF, whereas the response to higher target velocity involves visual and motor areas such as lateral FEF. Therefore, we were able to propose for the first time different functions of the medial and lateral FEF during SPEM. |
Johannes J. D. Singer; Radoslaw M. Cichy; Martin N. Hebart The spatiotemporal neural dynamics of object recognition for natural images and line drawings Journal Article In: Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 484–500, 2023. @article{Singer2023,Drawings offer a simple and efficient way to communicate meaning. While line drawings capture only coarsely how objects look in reality, we still perceive them as resembling real-world objects. Previous work has shown that this perceived similarity is mirrored by shared neural representations for drawings and natural images, which suggests that similar mechanisms underlie the recognition of both. However, other work has proposed that representations of drawings and natural images become similar only after substantial processing has taken place, suggesting distinct mechanisms. To arbitrate between those alternatives, we measured brain responses resolved in space and time using fMRI and MEG, respectively, while human participants (female and male) viewed images of objects depicted as photographs, line drawings, or sketch-like drawings. Using multivariate decoding, we demonstrate that object category information emerged similarly fast and across overlapping regions in occipital, ventral-temporal, and posterior parietal cortex for all types of depiction, yet with smaller effects at higher levels of visual abstraction. In addition, cross-decoding between depiction types revealed strong generalization of object category information from early processing stages on. Finally, by combining fMRI and MEG data using representational similarity analysis, we found that visual information traversed similar processing stages for all types of depiction, yet with an overall stronger representation for photographs. Together, our results demonstrate broad commonalities in the neural dynamics of object recognition across types of depiction, thus providing clear evidence for shared neural mechanisms underlying recognition of natural object images and abstract drawings. |
Gene Tangtartharakul; Catherine A. Morgan; Simon K. Rushton; D. Samuel Schwarzkopf Retinotopic connectivity maps of human visual cortex with unconstrained eye movements Journal Article In: Human Brain Mapping, vol. 44, no. 16, pp. 5221–5237, 2023. @article{Tangtartharakul2023,Human visual cortex contains topographic visual field maps whose organization can be revealed with retinotopic mapping. Unfortunately, constraints posed by standard mapping hinder its use in patients, atypical subject groups, and individuals at either end of the lifespan. This severely limits the conclusions we can draw about visual processing in such individuals. Here, we present a novel data-driven method to estimate connective fields, resulting in fine-grained maps of the functional connectivity between brain areas. We find that inhibitory connectivity fields accompany, and often surround facilitatory fields. The visual field extent of these inhibitory subfields falls off with cortical magnification. We further show that our method is robust to large eye movements and myopic defocus. Importantly, freed from the controlled stimulus conditions in standard mapping experiments, using entertaining stimuli and unconstrained eye movements our approach can generate retinotopic maps, including the periphery visual field hitherto only possible to map with special stimulus displays. Generally, our results show that the connective field method can gain knowledge about retinotopic architecture of visual cortex in patients and participants where this is at best difficult and confounded, if not impossible, with current methods. |
Qawi K. Telesford; Eduardo Gonzalez-Moreira; Ting Xu; Yiwen Tian; Stanley J. Colcombe; Jessica Cloud; Brian E. Russ; Arnaud Falchier; Maximilian Nentwich; Jens Madsen; Lucas C. Parra; Charles E. Schroeder; Michael P. Milham; Alexandre R. Franco An open-access dataset of naturalistic viewing using simultaneous EEG-fMRI Journal Article In: Scientific Data, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1–13, 2023. @article{Telesford2023,In this work, we present a dataset that combines functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) to use as a resource for understanding human brain function in these two imaging modalities. The dataset can also be used for optimizing preprocessing methods for simultaneously collected imaging data. The dataset includes simultaneously collected recordings from 22 individuals (ages: 23–51) across various visual and naturalistic stimuli. In addition, physiological, eye tracking, electrocardiography, and cognitive and behavioral data were collected along with this neuroimaging data. Visual tasks include a flickering checkerboard collected outside and inside the MRI scanner (EEG-only) and simultaneous EEG-fMRI recordings. Simultaneous recordings include rest, the visual paradigm Inscapes, and several short video movies representing naturalistic stimuli. Raw and preprocessed data are openly available to download. We present this dataset as part of an effort to provide open-access data to increase the opportunity for discoveries and understanding of the human brain and evaluate the correlation between electrical brain activity and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals. |
Ruud L. Brink; Keno Hagena; Niklas Wilming; Peter R. Murphy; Christian Büchel; Tobias H. Donner Flexible sensory-motor mapping rules manifest in correlated variability of stimulus and action codes across the brain Journal Article In: Neuron, vol. 111, no. 4, pp. 571–584, 2023. @article{Brink2023,Humans and non-human primates can flexibly switch between different arbitrary mappings from sensation to action to solve a cognitive task. It has remained unknown how the brain implements such flexible sensory-motor mapping rules. Here, we uncovered a dynamic reconfiguration of task-specific correlated variability between sensory and motor brain regions. Human participants switched between two rules for reporting visual orientation judgments during fMRI recordings. Rule switches were either signaled explicitly or inferred by the participants from ambiguous cues. We used behavioral modeling to reconstruct the time course of their belief about the active rule. In both contexts, the patterns of correlations between ongoing fluctuations in stimulus- and action-selective activity across visual- and action-related brain regions tracked participants' belief about the active rule. The rule-specific correlation patterns broke down around the time of behavioral errors. We conclude that internal beliefs about task state are instantiated in brain-wide, selective patterns of correlated variability. |
Isabella C. Wagner; Luise P. Graichen; Boryana Todorova; Andre Lüttig; David B. Omer; Matthias Stangl; Claus Lamm Entorhinal grid-like codes and time-locked network dynamics track others navigating through space Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–18, 2023. @article{Wagner2023a,Navigating through crowded, dynamically changing environments requires the ability to keep track of other individuals. Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex are a central component of self-related navigation but whether they also track others' movement is unclear. Here, we propose that entorhinal grid-like codes make an essential contribution to socio-spatial navigation. Sixty human participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while observing and re-tracing different paths of a demonstrator that navigated a virtual reality environment. Results revealed that grid-like codes in the entorhinal cortex tracked the other individual navigating through space. The activity of grid-like codes was time-locked to increases in co-activation and entorhinal-cortical connectivity that included the striatum, the hippocampus, parahippocampal and right posterior parietal cortices. Surprisingly, the grid-related effects during observation were stronger the worse participants performed when subsequently re-tracing the demonstrator's paths. Our findings suggests that network dynamics time-locked to entorhinal grid-cell-related activity might serve to distribute information about the location of others throughout the brain. |
Noriya Watanabe; Kosuke Miyoshi; Koji Jimura; Daisuke Shimane; Ruedeerat Keerativittayayut; Kiyoshi Nakahara; Masaki Takeda Multimodal deep neural decoding reveals highly resolved spatiotemporal profile of visual object representation in humans Journal Article In: NeuroImage, vol. 275, pp. 1–19, 2023. @article{Watanabe2023,Perception and categorization of objects in a visual scene are essential to grasp the surrounding situation. Recently, neural decoding schemes, such as machine learning in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has been employed to elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms. However, it remains unclear as to how spatially distributed brain regions temporally represent visual object categories and sub-categories. One promising strategy to address this issue is neural decoding with concurrently obtained neural response data of high spatial and temporal resolution. In this study, we explored the spatial and temporal organization of visual object representations using concurrent fMRI and electroencephalography (EEG), combined with neural decoding using deep neural networks (DNNs). We hypothesized that neural decoding by multimodal neural data with DNN would show high classification performance in visual object categorization (faces or non-face objects) and sub-categorization within faces and objects. Visualization of the fMRI DNN was more sensitive than that in the univariate approach and revealed that visual categorization occurred in brain-wide regions. Interestingly, the EEG DNN valued the earlier phase of neural responses for categorization and the later phase of neural responses for sub-categorization. Combination of the two DNNs improved the classification performance for both categorization and sub-categorization compared with fMRI DNN or EEG DNN alone. These deep learning-based results demonstrate a categorization principle in which visual objects are represented in a spatially organized and coarse-to-fine manner, and provide strong evidence of the ability of multimodal deep learning to uncover spatiotemporal neural machinery in sensory processing. |
Kim Lara Weiss; Stefan Hawelka; Florian Hutzler; Sarah Schuster Stronger functional connectivity during reading contextually predictable words in slow readers Journal Article In: Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1–10, 2023. @article{Weiss2023,The effect of word predictability is well-documented in terms of local brain activation, but less is known about the functional connectivity among those regions associated with processing predictable words. Evidence from eye movement studies showed that the effect is much more pronounced in slow than in fast readers, suggesting that speed-impaired readers rely more on sentence context to compensate for their difficulties with visual word recognition. The present study aimed to investigate differences in functional connectivity of fast and slow readers within core regions associated with processing predictable words. We hypothesize a stronger synchronization between higher-order language areas, such as the left middle temporal (MTG) and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and the left occipito-temporal cortex (OTC) in slow readers. Our results show that slow readers exhibit more functional correlations among these connections; especially between the left IFG and OTC. We interpret our results in terms of the lexical quality hypothesis which postulates a stronger involvement of semantics on orthographic processing in (speed-)impaired readers. |
Mirjam C. M. Wever; Lisanne A. E. M. Houtum; Loes H. C. Janssen; Wilma G. M. Wentholt; Iris M. Spruit; Marieke S. Tollenaar; Geert Jan Will; Bernet M. Elzinga In: Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 1598–1609, 2023. @article{Wever2023,One of the most prevalent nonverbal, social phenomena known to automatically elicit self- and other-referential processes is eye contact. By its negative effects on the perception of social safety and views about the self and others, childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) may fundamentally affect these processes. To investigate whether the socioaffective consequences of CEM may become visible in response to (prolonged) eye gaze, 79 adult participants (mean [M]age = 49.87, standard deviation [SD]age = 4.62) viewed videos with direct and averted gaze of an unfamiliar other and themselves while we recorded self-reported mood, eye movements using eye-tracking, and markers of neural activity using fMRI. Participants who reported higher levels of CEM exhibited increased activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex to one's own, but not to others', direct gaze. Furthermore, in contrast to those who reported fewer of such experiences, they did not report a better mood in response to a direct gaze of self and others, despite equivalent amounts of time spent looking into their own and other peoples' eyes. The fact that CEM is associated with enhanced neural activation in a brain area that is crucially involved in self-referential processing (i.e., vmPFC) in response to one's own direct gaze is in line with the chronic negative impact of CEM on a person's self-views. Interventions that directly focus on targeting maladaptive self-views elicited during eye gaze to self may be clinically useful. |
Alex L. White; Kendrick N. Kay; Kenny A. Tang; Jason D. Yeatman Engaging in word recognition elicits highly specific modulations in visual cortex Journal Article In: Current Biology, vol. 33, no. 7, pp. 1308–1320, 2023. @article{White2023,A person's cognitive state determines how their brain responds to visual stimuli. The most common such effect is a response enhancement when stimuli are task relevant and attended rather than ignored. In this fMRI study, we report a surprising twist on such attention effects in the visual word form area (VWFA), a region that plays a key role in reading. We presented participants with strings of letters and visually similar shapes, which were either relevant for a specific task (lexical decision or gap localization) or ignored (during a fixation dot color task). In the VWFA, the enhancement of responses to attended stimuli occurred only for letter strings, whereas non-letter shapes evoked smaller responses when attended than when ignored. The enhancement of VWFA activity was accompanied by strengthened functional connectivity with higher-level language regions. These task-dependent modulations of response magnitude and functional connectivity were specific to the VWFA and absent in the rest of visual cortex. We suggest that language regions send targeted excitatory feedback into the VWFA only when the observer is trying to read. This feedback enables the discrimination of familiar and nonsense words and is distinct from generic effects of visual attention. |
Mengna Yao; Bincheng Wen; Mingpo Yang; Jiebin Guo; Haozhou Jiang; Chao Feng; Yilei Cao; Huiguang He; Le Chang High-dimensional topographic organization of visual features in the primate temporal lobe Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–23, 2023. @article{Yao2023a,The inferotemporal cortex supports our supreme object recognition ability. Numerous studies have been conducted to elucidate the functional organization of this brain area, but there are still important questions that remain unanswered, including how this organization differs between humans and non-human primates. Here, we use deep neural networks trained on object categorization to construct a 25-dimensional space of visual features, and systematically measure the spatial organization of feature preference in both male monkey brains and human brains using fMRI. These feature maps allow us to predict the selectivity of a previously unknown region in monkey brains, which is corroborated by additional fMRI and electrophysiology experiments. These maps also enable quantitative analyses of the topographic organization of the temporal lobe, demonstrating the existence of a pair of orthogonal gradients that differ in spatial scale and revealing significant differences in the functional organization of high-level visual areas between monkey and human brains. |
Wei Zhou; Sile Wang; Ming Yan Fixation-related fMRI analysis reveals the neural basis of natural reading of unspaced and spaced Chinese sentences Journal Article In: Cerebral Cortex, vol. 33, no. 19, pp. 10401–10410, 2023. @article{Zhou2023b,Although there are many eye-movement studies focusing on natural sentence reading and functional magnetic resonance imaging research on reading with serial visual presentation paradigms, there is a scarcity of investigations into the neural mechanism of natural sentence reading. The present study recruited 33 adults to read unspaced and spaced Chinese sentences with the eye tracking and functional magnetic resonance imaging data recorded simultaneously. By using fixation-related functional magnetic resonance imaging analysis, this study showed that natural reading of Chinese sentences produced activations in ventral visual, dorsal attention, and semantic brain regions, which were modulated by the properties of words such as word length and word frequency. The multivoxel pattern analysis showed that the activity pattern in the left middle temporal gyrus could significantly predict the visual layout categories (i.e. unspaced vs. spaced conditions). Dynamic causal modeling analysis showed that there were bidirectional brain connections between the left middle temporal gyrus and the left inferior occipital cortex in the unspaced Chinese sentence reading but not in the spaced reading. These results provide a neural mechanism for the natural reading of Chinese sentences from the perspective of word segmentation. |
Sebastian C. Coleman; Zelekha A. Seedat; Anna C. Whittaker; Agatha Lenartowicz; Karen J. Mullinger Beyond the beta rebound: Post-task responses in oscillatory activity follow cessation of working memory processes Journal Article In: NeuroImage, vol. 265, pp. 1–11, 2023. @article{Coleman2023,Post-task responses (PTRs) are transitionary responses occurring for several seconds between the end of a stimulus/task and a period of rest. The most well-studied of these are beta band (13 – 30 Hz) PTRs in motor networks following movement, often called post-movement beta rebounds, which have been shown to differ in patients with schizophrenia and autism. Previous studies have proposed that beta PTRs reflect inhibition of task-positive networks to enable a return to resting brain activity, scaling with cognitive demand and reflecting cortical self-regulation. It is unknown whether PTRs are a phenomenon of the motor system, or whether they are a more general self-modulatory property of cortex that occur following cessation of higher cognitive processes as well as movement. To test this, we recorded magnetoencephalography (MEG) responses in 20 healthy participants to a working-memory task, known to recruit cortical networks associated with higher cognition. Our results revealed PTRs in the theta, alpha and beta bands across many regions of the brain, including the dorsal attention network (DAN) and lateral visual regions. These PTRs increased significantly (p < 0.05) in magnitude with working-memory load, an effect which is independent of oscillatory modulations occurring over the task period as well as those following individual stimuli. Furthermore, we showed that PTRs are functionally related to reaction times in left lateral visual (p < 0.05) and left parietal (p < 0.1) regions, while the oscillatory responses measured during the task period are not. Importantly, motor PTRs following button presses did not modulate with task condition, suggesting that PTRs in different networks are driven by different aspects of cognition. Our findings show that PTRs are not limited to motor networks but are widespread in regions which are recruited during the task. We provide evidence that PTRs have unique properties, scaling with cognitive load and correlating significantly with behaviour. Based on the evidence, we suggest that PTRs inhibit task-positive network activity to enable a transition to rest, however, further investigation is required to uncover their role in neuroscience and pathology. |
Laura Convertino; Daniel Bush; Fanfan Zheng; Rick A. Adams; Neil Burgess Reduced grid-like theta modulation in schizophrenia Journal Article In: Brain, vol. 146, no. 5, pp. 2191–2198, 2023. @article{Convertino2023,The hippocampal formation has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, with patients showing impairments in spatial and relational cognition, structural changes in entorhinal cortex and reduced theta coherence with medial prefrontal cortex. Both the entorhinal cortex and medial prefrontal cortex exhibit a 6-fold (or ‘hexadirectional') modulation of neural activity during virtual navigation that is indicative of grid cell populations and associated with accurate spatial navigation. Here, we examined whether these grid-like patterns are disrupted in schizophrenia. We asked 17 participants with diagnoses of schizophrenia and 23 controls (matched for age, sex and IQ) to perform a virtual reality spatial navigation task during magnetoencephalography. The control group showed stronger 4–10 Hz theta power during movement onset, as well as hexadirectional modulation of theta band oscillatory activity in the right entorhinal cortex whose directional stability across trials correlated with navigational accuracy. This hexadirectional modulation was absent in schizophrenia patients, with a significant difference between groups. These results suggest that impairments in spatial and relational cognition associated with schizophrenia may arise from disrupted grid firing patterns in entorhinal cortex. |
Anna Corriveau; Alexis Kidder; Lina Teichmann; Susan G. Wardle; Chris I. Baker Sustained neural representations of personally familiar people and places during cued recall Journal Article In: Cortex, vol. 158, pp. 71–82, 2023. @article{Corriveau2023,The recall and visualization of people and places from memory is an everyday occurrence, yet the neural mechanisms underpinning this phenomenon are not well understood. In particular, the temporal characteristics of the internal representations generated by active recall are unclear. Here, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) and multivariate pattern analysis to measure the evolving neural representation of familiar places and people across the whole brain when human participants engage in active recall. To isolate self- generated imagined representations, we used a retro-cue paradigm in which participants were first presented with two possible labels before being cued to recall either the first or second item. We collected personalized labels for specific locations and people familiar to each participant. Importantly, no visual stimuli were presented during the recall period, and the retro-cue paradigm allowed the dissociation of responses associated with the la- bels from those corresponding to the self-generated representations. First, we found that following the retro-cue it took on average ~1000 ms for distinct neural representations of freely recalled people or places to develop. Second, we found distinct representations of personally familiar concepts throughout the 4 s recall period. Finally, we found that these representations were highly stable and generalizable across time. These results suggest that self-generated visualizations and recall of familiar places and people are subserved by a stable neural mechanism that operates relatively slowly when under conscious control. |
Ingmar E. J. Vries; Moritz F. Wurm Predictive neural representations of naturalistic dynamic input Journal Article In: Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–16, 2023. @article{Vries2023,Adaptive behavior such as social interaction requires our brain to predict unfolding external dynamics. While theories assume such dynamic prediction, empirical evidence is limited to static snapshots and indirect consequences of predictions. We present a dynamic extension to representational similarity analysis that uses temporally variable models to capture neural representations of unfolding events. We applied this approach to source-reconstructed magnetoencephalography (MEG) data of healthy human subjects and demonstrate both lagged and predictive neural representations of observed actions. Predictive representations exhibit a hierarchical pattern, such that high-level abstract stimulus features are predicted earlier in time, while low-level visual features are predicted closer in time to the actual sensory input. By quantifying the temporal forecast window of the brain, this approach allows investigating predictive processing of our dynamic world. It can be applied to other naturalistic stimuli (e.g., film, soundscapes, music, motor planning/execution, social interaction) and any biosignal with high temporal resolution. |
Jasper H. Fabius; Alessio Fracasso; Michele Deodato; David Melcher; Stefan Van der Stigchel Bilateral increase in MEG planar gradients prior to saccade onset Journal Article In: Scientific Reports, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1–10, 2023. @article{Fabius2023,Every time we move our eyes, the retinal locations of objects change. To distinguish the changes caused by eye movements from actual external motion of the objects, the visual system is thought to anticipate the consequences of eye movements (saccades). Single neuron recordings have indeed demonstrated changes in receptive fields before saccade onset. Although some EEG studies with human participants have also demonstrated a pre-saccadic increased potential over the hemisphere that will process a stimulus after a saccade, results have been mixed. Here, we used magnetoencephalography to investigate the timing and lateralization of visually evoked planar gradients before saccade onset. We modelled the gradients from trials with both a saccade and a stimulus as the linear combination of the gradients from two conditions with either only a saccade or only a stimulus. We reasoned that any residual gradients in the condition with both a saccade and a stimulus must be uniquely linked to visually-evoked neural activity before a saccade. We observed a widespread increase in residual planar gradients. Interestingly, this increase was bilateral, showing activity both contralateral and ipsilateral to the stimulus, i.e. over the hemisphere that would process the stimulus after saccade offset. This pattern of results is consistent with predictive pre-saccadic changes involving both the current and the future receptive fields involved in processing an attended object, well before the start of the eye movement. The active, sensorimotor coupling of vision and the oculomotor system may underlie the seamless subjective experience of stable and continuous perception. |
Oscar Ferrante; Alexander Zhigalov; Clayton Hickey; Ole Jensen Statistical learning of distractor suppression downregulates prestimulus neural excitability in early visual cortex Journal Article In: Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 43, no. 12, pp. 2190–2198, 2023. @article{Ferrante2023,Visual attention is highly influenced by past experiences. Recent behavioral research has shown that expectations about the spatial location of distractors within a search array are implicitly learned, with expected distractors becoming less interfering. Little is known about the neural mechanism supporting this form of statistical learning. Here, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to measure human brain activity to test whether proactive mechanisms are involved in the statistical learning of distractor locations. Specifically, we used a new technique called rapid invisible frequency tagging (RIFT) to assess neural excitability in early visual cortex during statistical learning of distractor suppression while concurrently investigating the modulation of posterior alpha band activity (8–12 Hz). Male and female human participants performed a visual search task in which a target was occasionally presented alongside a color-singleton distractor. Unbeknown to the participants, the distracting stimuli were presented with different probabilities across the two hemifields. RIFT analysis showed that early visual cortex exhibited reduced neural excitability in the prestimulus interval at retinotopic locations associated with higher distractor probabilities. In contrast, we did not find any evidence of expectation-driven distractor suppression in alpha band activity. These findings indicate that proactive mechanisms of attention are involved in predictive distractor suppression and that these mechanisms are associated with altered neural excitability in early visual cortex. Moreover, our findings indicate that RIFT and alpha band activity might subtend different and possibly independent attentional mechanisms. |
M. N. Hebart; O. Contier; L. Teichmann; A. H. Rockter; C. Y. Zheng; A. Kidder; A. Corriveau; M. Vaziri-Pashkam; C. I. Baker THINGS-data, a multimodal collection of large-scale datasets for investigating object representations in human brain and behavior Journal Article In: eLife, vol. 12, pp. 1–37, 2023. @article{Hebart2023,Understanding object representations requires a broad, comprehensive sampling of the objects in our visual world with dense measurements of brain activity and behavior. Here we present THINGS-data, a multimodal collection of large-scale neuroimaging and behavioral datasets in humans, comprising densely-sampled functional MRI and magnetoencephalographic recordings, as well as 4.70 million similarity judgments in response to thousands of photographic images for up to 1,854 object concepts. THINGS-data is unique in its breadth of richly-annotated objects, allowing for testing countless hypotheses at scale while assessing the reproducibility of previous findings. Beyond the unique insights promised by each individual dataset, the multimodality of THINGS-data allows combining datasets for a much broader view into object processing than previously possible. Our analyses demonstrate the high quality of the datasets and provide five examples of hypothesis-driven and data-driven applications. THINGS-data constitutes the core public release of the THINGS initiative (https://things-initiative.org) for bridging the gap between disciplines and the advancement of cognitive neuroscience. |
Fumiaki Iwane; Debadatta Dash; Roberto F. Salamanca-Giron; William Hayward; Marlene Bönstrup; Ethan R. Buch; Leonardo G. Cohen Combined low-frequency brain oscillatory activity and behavior predict future errors in human motor skill Journal Article In: Current Biology, vol. 33, no. 15, pp. 3145–3154, 2023. @article{Iwane2023,Human skills are composed of sequences of individual actions performed with utmost precision. When occasional errors occur, they may have serious consequences, for example, when pilots are manually landing a plane. In such cases, the ability to predict an error before it occurs would clearly be advantageous. Here, we asked whether it is possible to predict future errors in a keyboard procedural human motor skill. We report that prolonged keypress transition times (KTTs), reflecting slower speed, and anomalous delta-band oscillatory activity in cingulate-entorhinal-precuneus brain regions precede upcoming errors in skill. Combined anomalous low-frequency activity and prolonged KTTs predicted up to 70% of future errors. Decoding strength (posterior probability of error) increased progressively approaching the errors. We conclude that it is possible to predict future individual errors in skill sequential performance. |
I. M. Dushyanthi Karunathilake; Jason L. Dunlap; Janani Perera; Alessandro Presacco; Lien Decruy; Samira Anderson; Stefanie E. Kuchinsky; Jonathan Z. Simon Effects of aging on cortical representations of continuous speech Journal Article In: Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 129, no. 6, pp. 1359–1377, 2023. @article{Karunathilake2023,Understanding speech in a noisy environment is crucial in day-to-day interactions and yet becomes more challenging with age, even for healthy aging. Age-related changes in the neural mechanisms that enable speech-in-noise listening have been investigated previously; however, the extent to which age affects the timing and fidelity of encoding of target and interfering speech streams is not well understood. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we investigated how continuous speech is represented in auditory cortex in the presence of interfering speech in younger and older adults. Cortical representations were obtained from neural responses that time-locked to the speech envelopes with speech envelope reconstruction and temporal response functions (TRFs). TRFs showed three prominent peaks corresponding to auditory cortical processing stages: early (∼50 ms), middle (∼100 ms), and late (∼200 ms). Older adults showed exaggerated speech envelope representations compared with younger adults. Temporal analysis revealed both that the age-related exaggeration starts as early as ∼50 ms and that older adults needed a substantially longer integration time window to achieve their better reconstruction of the speech envelope. As expected, with increased speech masking envelope reconstruction for the attended talker decreased and all three TRF peaks were delayed, with aging contributing additionally to the reduction. Interestingly, for older adults the late peak was delayed, suggesting that this late peak may receive contributions from multiple sources. Together these results suggest that there are several mechanisms at play compensating for age-related temporal processing deficits at several stages but which are not able to fully reestablish unimpaired speech perception. |