scholarly journals Neural integration underlying naturalistic prediction flexibly adapts to varying sensory input rate

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Baumgarten ◽  
Brian Maniscalco ◽  
Jennifer L. Lee ◽  
Matthew W. Flounders ◽  
Patrice Abry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Input ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Input Rate ◽  
Dynamic Stimuli ◽  
Neural Integration ◽  
Statistical Regularities ◽  
Natural Settings

AbstractPrediction of future sensory input based on past sensory information is essential for organisms to effectively adapt their behavior in dynamic environments. Humans successfully predict future stimuli in various natural settings. Yet, it remains elusive how the brain achieves effective prediction despite enormous variations in sensory input rate, which directly affect how fast sensory information can accumulate. We presented participants with acoustic sequences capturing temporal statistical regularities prevalent in nature and investigated neural mechanisms underlying predictive computation using MEG. By parametrically manipulating sequence presentation speed, we tested two hypotheses: neural prediction relies on integrating past sensory information over fixed time periods or fixed amounts of information. We demonstrate that across halved and doubled presentation speeds, predictive information in neural activity stems from integration over fixed amounts of information. Our findings reveal the neural mechanisms enabling humans to robustly predict dynamic stimuli in natural environments despite large sensory input rate variations.

scholarly journals Generalization of prior information for rapid Bayesian time estimation

2016 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 412-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil W. Roach ◽  
Paul V. McGraw ◽  
David J. Whitaker ◽  
James Heron
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Input ◽  
Prior Information ◽  
Effective Interaction ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Time Estimation ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Ample Evidence ◽  
Competing Demands ◽  
Statistical Regularities ◽  
The Brain

To enable effective interaction with the environment, the brain combines noisy sensory information with expectations based on prior experience. There is ample evidence showing that humans can learn statistical regularities in sensory input and exploit this knowledge to improve perceptual decisions and actions. However, fundamental questions remain regarding how priors are learned and how they generalize to different sensory and behavioral contexts. In principle, maintaining a large set of highly specific priors may be inefficient and restrict the speed at which expectations can be formed and updated in response to changes in the environment. However, priors formed by generalizing across varying contexts may not be accurate. Here, we exploit rapidly induced contextual biases in duration reproduction to reveal how these competing demands are resolved during the early stages of prior acquisition. We show that observers initially form a single prior by generalizing across duration distributions coupled with distinct sensory signals. In contrast, they form multiple priors if distributions are coupled with distinct motor outputs. Together, our findings suggest that rapid prior acquisition is facilitated by generalization across experiences of different sensory inputs but organized according to how that sensory information is acted on.

scholarly journals Multiple sensory neurons mediate starvation-dependent aversive navigation inCaenorhabditis elegans

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (37) ◽  
pp. 18673-18683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moon Sun Jang ◽  
Yu Toyoshima ◽  
Masahiro Tomioka ◽  
Hirofumi Kunitomo ◽  
Yuichi Iino
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Neurons ◽  
Salt Concentration ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Soil Nematode ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Concentration Dependent Manner ◽  
Migration Direction ◽  
Freely Moving

Animals demonstrate flexible behaviors through associative learning based on their experiences. Deciphering the neural mechanisms for sensing and integrating multiple types of sensory information is critical for understanding such behavioral controls. The soil nematodeCaenorhabditis elegansavoids salt concentrations it has previously experienced under starvation conditions. Here, we identify a pair of sensory neurons, the ASG neuron pair, which in cooperation with the ASER salt-sensing neuron generate starvation-dependent salt avoidance. Animals whose sensory input is restricted to only ASER failed to show learned avoidance due to inappropriately directed navigation behaviors. However, their navigation through a salt concentration gradient was improved by allowing sensory inputs to ASG in addition to ASER. Detailed behavioral analyses of these animals revealed that input from ASG neurons is required not only for controlling the frequency of initiating a set of sharp turns (called pirouettes) based on detected ambient salt concentrations but also adjusting the migration direction during pirouettes. Optogenetic activation of ASER by ChR2 induced turning behaviors in a salt concentration-dependent manner where presence of intact ASG was important for the starvation-dependent responses. Calcium imaging of the activity of ASG neurons in freely moving worms revealed that ASG is activated upon turning behavior. Our results indicate that ASG neurons cooperate with the ASER neuron to generate destination-directed reorientation in starvation-associated salt concentration avoidance.

scholarly journals Psychological Restoration and the Effect of People in Nature and Urban Scenes: A Laboratory Experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6464
Author(s):  
Chris Neale ◽  
Stephanie Lopez ◽  
Jenny Roe
Keyword(s):  
Outcome Measures ◽  
Amazon Mechanical Turk ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Urban Scenes ◽  
Social Wellbeing ◽  
Environmental Interactions ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Restorative Environment ◽  
Social Environmental ◽  
Natural Settings

It is well-evidenced that exposure to natural environments increases psychological restoration as compared to non-natural settings, increasing our ability to recover from stress, low mood, and mental fatigue and encouraging positive social interactions that cultivate social cohesion. However, very few studies have explored how the inclusion of people within a given environment—either urban or natural settings—affect restorative health outcomes. We present three laboratory-based studies examining, first, the effect of nature vs. urban scenes, and second, investigating nature ‘with’ vs. ‘without’ people—using static and moving imagery—on psychological restoration and social wellbeing. Our third study explores differences between urban and natural settings both with vs. without people, using video stimuli to understand potential restorative and social wellbeing effects. Outcome measures across all studies included perceived social belonging, loneliness, subjective mood, and perceived restorativeness. Studies 1 and 2 both used a within group, randomized crossover design. Study 1 (n = 45, mean age = 20.7) explored static imagery of environmental conditions without people; findings were consistent with restorative theories showing a positive effect of nature exposure on all outcome measures. Study 2 compared nature scenes with vs. without people (n = 47, mean age = 20.9) and we found no significant differences on our outcome measures between either social scenario, though both scenarios generated positive wellbeing outcomes. Study 3, conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk, employed an independent group design with subjects randomly assigned to one of four conditions; an urban vs. nature setting, with vs. without people. We explored the effect of moving imagery on psychological restoration (n = 200, mean age = 35.7) and our findings showed no impact on belonging, loneliness, or mood between conditions, but did show that—regardless of the inclusion of people—the nature settings were more restorative than the urban. There were no differences in psychological restoration between nature conditions with vs. without people. We discuss the implications for restorative environment research exploring social-environmental interactions.

scholarly journals Deimatism: a neglected component of antipredator defence

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 20160936 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate D. L. Umbers ◽  
Sebastiano De Bona ◽  
Thomas E. White ◽  
Jussi Lehtonen ◽  
Johanna Mappes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Input ◽  
Sudden Change ◽  
Fundamental Difference ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Survival Advantage ◽  
Antipredator Defence

Deimatic or ‘startle’ displays cause a receiver to recoil reflexively in response to a sudden change in sensory input. Deimatism is sometimes implicitly treated as a form of aposematism (unprofitability associated with a signal). However, the fundamental difference is, in order to provide protection, deimatism does not require a predator to have any learned or innate aversion. Instead, deimatism can confer a survival advantage by exploiting existing neural mechanisms in a way that releases a reflexive response in the predator. We discuss the differences among deimatism, aposematism, and forms of mimicry, and their ecological and evolutionary implications. We highlight outstanding questions critical to progress in understanding deimatism.

scholarly journals The emulation theory of representation: Motor control, imagery, and perception

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick Grush
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
The Body ◽  
Feedback Delay ◽  
Run Off ◽  
Effects Of Feedback ◽  
The Brain

The emulation theory of representation is developed and explored as a framework that can revealingly synthesize a wide variety of representational functions of the brain. The framework is based on constructs from control theory (forward models) and signal processing (Kalman filters). The idea is that in addition to simply engaging with the body and environment, the brain constructs neural circuits that act as models of the body and environment. During overt sensorimotor engagement, these models are driven by efference copies in parallel with the body and environment, in order to provide expectations of the sensory feedback, and to enhance and process sensory information. These models can also be run off-line in order to produce imagery, estimate outcomes of different actions, and evaluate and develop motor plans. The framework is initially developed within the context of motor control, where it has been shown that inner models running in parallel with the body can reduce the effects of feedback delay problems. The same mechanisms can account for motor imagery as the off-line driving of the emulator via efference copies. The framework is extended to account for visual imagery as the off-line driving of an emulator of the motor-visual loop. I also show how such systems can provide for amodal spatial imagery. Perception, including visual perception, results from such models being used to form expectations of, and to interpret, sensory input. I close by briefly outlining other cognitive functions that might also be synthesized within this framework, including reasoning, theory of mind phenomena, and language.

scholarly journals Signal detection: applying analysis methods from psychology to animal behaviour

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1802) ◽  
pp. 20190480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian J. Sumner ◽  
Seirian Sumner
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
Signal Detection Theory ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Detection Theory ◽  
Animal Behaviour ◽  
Laboratory Animals ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Recognition Systems ◽  
Psychological Studies

Conspecific acceptance thresholds (Reeve 1989 Am. Nat. 133 , 407–435), which have been widely applied to explain ecological behaviour in animals, proposed how sensory information, prior information and the costs of decisions determine actions. Signal detection theory (Green & Swets 1966 Signal detection theory and psychophysics ; SDT), which forms the basis of CAT models, has been widely used in psychological studies to partition the ability to discriminate sensory information from the action made as a result of it. In this article, we will review the application of SDT in interpreting the behaviour of laboratory animals trained in operant conditioning tasks and then consider its potential in ecological studies of animal behaviour in natural environments. Focusing on the nest-mate recognition systems exhibited by social insects, we show how the quantitative application of SDT has the potential to transform acceptance rate data into independent indices of cue sensitivity and decision criterion (also known as the acceptance threshold). However, further tests of the assumptions underlying SDT analysis are required. Overall, we argue that SDT, as conventionally applied in psychological studies, may provide clearer insights into the mechanistic basis of decision making and information processing in behavioural ecology. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Signal detection theory in recognition systems: from evolving models to experimental tests’.

scholarly journals The neural mechanism of aesthetic judgments of dynamic landscapes: an fMRI study

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueru Zhao ◽  
Junjing Wang ◽  
Jinhui Li ◽  
Guang Luo ◽  
Ting Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Processing ◽  
Occipital Lobe ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Aesthetic Judgment ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Dynamic Stimuli ◽  
Dynamic Landscapes ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Aesthetic Judgments

AbstractMost previous neuroaesthetics research has been limited to considering the aesthetic judgment of static stimuli, with few studies examining the aesthetic judgment of dynamic stimuli. The present study explored the neural mechanisms underlying aesthetic judgment of dynamic landscapes, and compared the neural mechanisms between the aesthetic judgments of dynamic landscapes and static ones. Participants were scanned while they performed aesthetic judgments on dynamic landscapes and matched static ones. The results revealed regions of occipital lobe, frontal lobe, supplementary motor area, cingulate cortex and insula were commonly activated both in the aesthetic judgments of dynamic and static landscapes. Furthermore, compared to static landscapes, stronger activations of middle temporal gyrus (MT/V5), and hippocampus were found in the aesthetic judgments of dynamic landscapes. This study provided neural evidence that visual processing related regions, emotion-related regions were more active when viewing dynamic landscapes than static ones, which also indicated that dynamic stimuli were more beautiful than static ones.

scholarly journals Grounds for Learning: Schoolyard Activities as Provocations, Scaffolds and Mediators for Childhood Learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-59
Author(s):  
Paul Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Quality Standard ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Outdoor Spaces ◽  
National Quality ◽  
Natural Settings ◽  
Children's Activities

Compelling evidence links childhood experiences in quasi-natural settings with learning and wellbeing, but, as cities grow, children's activities have been increasingly restricted to de-natured spaces that are designed or controlled by adults. In recent years, academics and education practitioners have campaigned to reverse this trend, and one result is that Australian early childhood centres and schools increasingly provide environments that enhance opportunities for children to engage with nature. These moves are also underpinned by higher-level policy initiatives. For example, the National Quality Standard, Element 3.2.1, requires that early childhood outdoor spaces are designed so that children experience natural environments (ACECQA, 2013). Similarly, the South Australian Department for Education and Child Development (2016, p. 5) Outdoor Learning Environments Standard mandates ‘balanced environments which instil a sense of wonder, generate curiosity and spark the imagination of children and young people’. However, despite recent interest and policy initiatives, the processes by which environments influence learning remain ‘under-researched’ (Engelen et al., 2013, p. 324) and constitute a ‘significant blind spot’ (Rickinson et al., 2004, p. 8) in the literature.

scholarly journals Global Regulation of Gene Expression and Cell Differentiation in Caulobacter crescentus in Response to Nutrient Availability

2009 ◽  
Vol 192 (3) ◽  
pp. 819-833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. England ◽  
Barrett S. Perchuk ◽  
Michael T. Laub ◽  
James W. Gober
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Nitrogen Limitation ◽  
Caulobacter Crescentus ◽  
Regulation Of Gene Expression ◽  
Fixed Time ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Swarmer Cell ◽  
Regulatory Strategies ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Regulated Gene Expression

ABSTRACT In a developmental strategy designed to efficiently exploit and colonize sparse oligotrophic environments, Caulobacter crescentus cells divide asymmetrically, yielding a motile swarmer cell and a sessile stalked cell. After a relatively fixed time period under typical culture conditions, the swarmer cell differentiates into a replicative stalked cell. Since differentiation into the stalked cell type is irreversible, it is likely that environmental factors such as the availability of essential nutrients would influence the timing of the decision to abandon motility and adopt a sessile lifestyle. We measured two different parameters in nutrient-limited chemostat cultures, biomass concentration and the ratio of nonstalked to stalked cells, over a range of flow rates and found that nitrogen limitation significantly extended the swarmer cell life span. The transcriptional profiling experiments described here generate the first comprehensive picture of the global regulatory strategies used by an oligotroph when confronted with an environment where key macronutrients are sparse. The pattern of regulated gene expression in nitrogen- and carbon-limited cells shares some features in common with most copiotrophic organisms, but critical differences suggest that Caulobacter, and perhaps other oligotrophs, have evolved regulatory strategies to deal distinctly with their natural environments. We hypothesize that nitrogen limitation extends the swarmer cell lifetime by delaying the onset of a sequence of differentiation events, which when initiated by the correct combination of external environmental cues, sets the swarmer cell on a path to differentiate into a stalked cell within a fixed time period.

Neural Mechanisms of Spatial Attention in the Visual Thalamus

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri B. Saalmann ◽  
Sabine Kastner
Keyword(s):  
Selective Attention ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Thalamic Nucleus ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
First Order ◽  
Visual Thalamus ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Visual Cortical

Neural mechanisms of selective attention route behaviourally relevant information through brain networks for detailed processing. These attention mechanisms are classically viewed as being solely implemented in the cortex, relegating the thalamus to a passive relay of sensory information. However, this passive view of the thalamus is being revised in light of recent studies supporting an important role for the thalamus in selective attention. Evidence suggests that the first-order thalamic nucleus, the lateral geniculate nucleus, regulates the visual information transmitted from the retina to visual cortex, while the higher-order thalamic nucleus, the pulvinar, regulates information transmission between visual cortical areas, according to attentional demands. This chapter discusses how modulation of thalamic responses, switching the response mode of thalamic neurons, and changes in neural synchrony across thalamo-cortical networks contribute to selective attention.

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