scholarly journals The olfactory basis of orchid pollination by mosquitoes

2019 ◽  
Vol 117 (1) ◽  
pp. 708-716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloé Lahondère ◽  
Clément Vinauger ◽  
Ryo P. Okubo ◽  
Gabriella H. Wolff ◽  
Jeremy K. Chan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Calcium Imaging ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Disease Vectors ◽  
Mosquito Repellent ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Nectar Feeding ◽  
Orchid Pollination ◽  
Ecological Importance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Effective Pollinators

Mosquitoes are important vectors of disease and require sources of carbohydrates for reproduction and survival. Unlike host-related behaviors of mosquitoes, comparatively less is understood about the mechanisms involved in nectar-feeding decisions, or how this sensory information is processed in the mosquito brain. Here we show thatAedesspp. mosquitoes, includingAedes aegypti, are effective pollinators of thePlatanthera obtusataorchid, and demonstrate this mutualism is mediated by the orchid’s scent and the balance of excitation and inhibition in the mosquito’s antennal lobe (AL). TheP. obtusataorchid emits an attractive, nonanal-rich scent, whereas relatedPlatantheraspecies—not visited by mosquitoes—emit scents dominated by lilac aldehyde. Calcium imaging experiments in the mosquito AL revealed that nonanal and lilac aldehyde each respectively activate the LC2 and AM2 glomerulus, and remarkably, the AM2 glomerulus is also sensitive to N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET), a mosquito repellent. Lateral inhibition between these 2 glomeruli reflects the level of attraction to the orchid scents. Whereas the enriched nonanal scent ofP. obtusataactivates the LC2 and suppresses AM2, the high level of lilac aldehyde in the other orchid scents inverts this pattern of glomerular activity, and behavioral attraction is lost. These results demonstrate the ecological importance of mosquitoes beyond operating as disease vectors and open the door toward understanding the neural basis of mosquito nectar-seeking behaviors.

scholarly journals The olfactory basis of orchid pollination by mosquitoes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloé Lahondère ◽  
Clément Vinauger ◽  
Ryo P. Okubo ◽  
Gabriella H. Wolff ◽  
Jeremy K. Chan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Inhibition ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Nectar Feeding ◽  
Orchid Pollination ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
Ecological Importance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Effective Pollinators

AbstractMosquitoes are important vectors of disease and require sources of carbohydrates for reproduction and survival. Unlike host-related behaviors of mosquitoes, comparatively less is understood about the mechanisms involved in nectar-feeding decisions, or how this sensory information is processed in the mosquito brain. Here we show that Aedes spp. mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, are effective pollinators of the Platanthera obtusata orchid, and demonstrate this mutualism is mediated by the orchid’s scent and the balance of excitation and inhibition in the mosquito’s antennal lobe (AL). The P. obtusata orchid emits an attractive, nonanal-rich scent, whereas related Platanthera species – not visited by mosquitoes – emit scents dominated by lilac aldehyde. Calcium imaging experiments in the mosquito AL revealed that nonanal and lilac aldehyde each respectively activate the LC2 and AM2 glomerulus, and remarkably, the AM2 glomerulus is also sensitive to DEET, a mosquito repellent. Lateral inhibition between these two glomeruli reflects the level of attraction to the orchid scents: whereas the enriched nonanal scent of P. obtusata activates the LC2 and suppresses AM2, the high level of lilac aldehyde in the other orchid scents inverts this pattern of glomerular activity, and behavioral attraction is lost. These results demonstrate the ecological importance of mosquitoes beyond operating as disease vectors and open the door towards understanding the neural basis of mosquito nectar-seeking behaviors.Significance StatementNectar-feeding by mosquitoes is important for survival and reproduction, and hence disease transmission. However, we know little about the sensory mechanisms that mediate mosquito attraction to sources of nectar, like those of flowers, or how this information is processed in the mosquito brain. Using a unique mutualism between Aedes mosquitoes and Platanthera obtusata orchids, we reveal that this mutualism is mediated by the orchid’s scent. Furthermore, lateral inhibition in the mosquito’s antennal (olfactory) lobe – via the neurotransmitter GABA – is critical for the representation of the scent. These results have implications toward understanding the olfactory basis of mosquito-nectar-seeking behaviors.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Group Bias During Natural Viewing

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 3380-3389
Author(s):  
Timothy J Andrews ◽  
Ryan K Smith ◽  
Richard L Hoggart ◽  
Philip I N Ulrich ◽  
Andre D Gouws
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
The World ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Individuals from different social groups interpret the world in different ways. This study explores the neural basis of these group differences using a paradigm that simulates natural viewing conditions. Our aim was to determine if group differences could be found in sensory regions involved in the perception of the world or were evident in higher-level regions that are important for the interpretation of sensory information. We measured brain responses from 2 groups of football supporters, while they watched a video of matches between their teams. The time-course of response was then compared between individuals supporting the same (within-group) or the different (between-group) team. We found high intersubject correlations in low-level and high-level regions of the visual brain. However, these regions of the brain did not show any group differences. Regions that showed higher correlations for individuals from the same group were found in a network of frontal and subcortical brain regions. The interplay between these regions suggests a range of cognitive processes from motor control to social cognition and reward are important in the establishment of social groups. These results suggest that group differences are primarily reflected in regions involved in the evaluation and interpretation of the sensory input.

Compressed sensorimotor-to-transmodal hierarchical organization in schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Debo Dong ◽  
Dezhong Yao ◽  
Yulin Wang ◽  
Seok-Jun Hong ◽  
Sarah Genon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Information ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
High Order ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
System Level ◽  
Integrative System ◽  
Sensorimotor Region ◽  
Cortical Hierarchy ◽  
High Level

Abstract Background Schizophrenia has been primarily conceptualized as a disorder of high-order cognitive functions with deficits in executive brain regions. Yet due to the increasing reports of early sensory processing deficit, recent models focus more on the developmental effects of impaired sensory process on high-order functions. The present study examined whether this pathological interaction relates to an overarching system-level imbalance, specifically a disruption in macroscale hierarchy affecting integration and segregation of unimodal and transmodal networks. Methods We applied a novel combination of connectome gradient and stepwise connectivity analysis to resting-state fMRI to characterize the sensorimotor-to-transmodal cortical hierarchy organization (96 patients v. 122 controls). Results We demonstrated compression of the cortical hierarchy organization in schizophrenia, with a prominent compression from the sensorimotor region and a less prominent compression from the frontal−parietal region, resulting in a diminished separation between sensory and fronto-parietal cognitive systems. Further analyses suggested reduced differentiation related to atypical functional connectome transition from unimodal to transmodal brain areas. Specifically, we found hypo-connectivity within unimodal regions and hyper-connectivity between unimodal regions and fronto-parietal and ventral attention regions along the classical sensation-to-cognition continuum (voxel-level corrected, p < 0.05). Conclusions The compression of cortical hierarchy organization represents a novel and integrative system-level substrate underlying the pathological interaction of early sensory and cognitive function in schizophrenia. This abnormal cortical hierarchy organization suggests cascading impairments from the disruption of the somatosensory−motor system and inefficient integration of bottom-up sensory information with attentional demands and executive control processes partially account for high-level cognitive deficits characteristic of schizophrenia.

scholarly journals Perceptual decisions are biased toward relevant prior choices

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Feigin ◽  
Shira Baror ◽  
Moshe Bar ◽  
Adam Zaidel
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Information ◽  
Irrelevant Stimulus ◽  
Stimulus Feature ◽  
Serial Dependence ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Subsequent Test ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
High Level ◽  
Motor Actions ◽  
The Brain

AbstractPerceptual decisions are biased by recent perceptual history—a phenomenon termed 'serial dependence.' Here, we investigated what aspects of perceptual decisions lead to serial dependence, and disambiguated the influences of low-level sensory information, prior choices and motor actions. Participants discriminated whether a brief visual stimulus lay to left/right of the screen center. Following a series of biased ‘prior’ location discriminations, subsequent ‘test’ location discriminations were biased toward the prior choices, even when these were reported via different motor actions (using different keys), and when the prior and test stimuli differed in color. By contrast, prior discriminations about an irrelevant stimulus feature (color) did not substantially influence subsequent location discriminations, even though these were reported via the same motor actions. Additionally, when color (not location) was discriminated, a bias in prior stimulus locations no longer influenced subsequent location discriminations. Although low-level stimuli and motor actions did not trigger serial-dependence on their own, similarity of these features across discriminations boosted the effect. These findings suggest that relevance across perceptual decisions is a key factor for serial dependence. Accordingly, serial dependence likely reflects a high-level mechanism by which the brain predicts and interprets new incoming sensory information in accordance with relevant prior choices.

scholarly journals Widespread inhibition, antagonism, and synergy in mouse olfactory sensory neurons in vivo

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigenori Inagaki ◽  
Ryo Iwata ◽  
Masakazu Iwamoto ◽  
Takeshi Imai
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Neurons ◽  
Calcium Imaging ◽  
Odorant Receptor ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Olfactory Sensory Neurons ◽  
Axon Terminals ◽  
Two Photon ◽  
Odor Mixtures ◽  
The Brain

SUMMARYSensory information is selectively or non-selectively inhibited and enhanced in the brain, but it remains unclear whether this occurs commonly at the peripheral stage. Here, we performed two-photon calcium imaging of mouse olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in vivo and found that odors produce not only excitatory but also inhibitory responses at their axon terminals. The inhibitory responses remained in mutant mice, in which all possible sources of presynaptic lateral inhibition were eliminated. Direct imaging of the olfactory epithelium revealed widespread inhibitory responses at OSN somata. The inhibition was in part due to inverse agonism toward the odorant receptor. We also found that responses to odor mixtures are often suppressed or enhanced in OSNs: Antagonism was dominant at higher odor concentrations, whereas synergy was more prominent at lower odor concentrations. Thus, odor responses are extensively tuned by inhibition, antagonism, and synergy, at the early peripheral stage, contributing to robust odor representations.

scholarly journals Human frontoparietal cortex represents behaviorally relevant target status based on abstract object features

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (4) ◽  
pp. 1410-1427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Henderson ◽  
John T. Serences
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Functional Mri ◽  
Irrelevant Dimension ◽  
Target Recognition ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Object Identity ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Parking Lot ◽  
High Level

Searching for items that are useful given current goals, or “target” recognition, requires observers to flexibly attend to certain object properties at the expense of others. This could involve focusing on the identity of an object while ignoring identity-preserving transformations such as changes in viewpoint or focusing on its current viewpoint while ignoring its identity. To effectively filter out variation due to the irrelevant dimension, performing either type of task is likely to require high-level, abstract search templates. Past work has found target recognition signals in areas of ventral visual cortex and in subregions of parietal and frontal cortex. However, target status in these tasks is typically associated with the identity of an object, rather than identity-orthogonal properties such as object viewpoint. In this study, we used a task that required subjects to identify novel object stimuli as targets according to either identity or viewpoint, each of which was not predictable from low-level properties such as shape. We performed functional MRI in human subjects of both sexes and measured the strength of target-match signals in areas of visual, parietal, and frontal cortex. Our multivariate analyses suggest that the multiple-demand (MD) network, including subregions of parietal and frontal cortex, encodes information about an object’s status as a target in the relevant dimension only, across changes in the irrelevant dimension. Furthermore, there was more target-related information in MD regions on correct compared with incorrect trials, suggesting a strong link between MD target signals and behavior. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Real-world target detection tasks, such as searching for a car in a crowded parking lot, require both flexibility and abstraction. We investigated the neural basis of these abilities using a task that required invariant representations of either object identity or viewpoint. Multivariate decoding analyses of our whole brain functional MRI data reveal that invariant target representations are most pronounced in frontal and parietal regions, and the strength of these representations is associated with behavioral performance.

scholarly journals The observant mind: self-awareness of attentional status

2010 ◽  
Vol 277 (1699) ◽  
pp. 3421-3426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriko Yamagishi ◽  
Stephen J. Anderson ◽  
Mitsuo Kawato
Keyword(s):  
Threshold Model ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
Orientation Discrimination ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Delay Times ◽  
Linear Rise ◽  
High Level

Visual perception is dependent not only on low-level sensory input but also on high-level cognitive factors such as attention. In this paper, we sought to determine whether attentional processes can be internally monitored for the purpose of enhancing behavioural performance. To do so, we developed a novel paradigm involving an orientation discrimination task in which observers had the freedom to delay target presentation—by any amount required—until they judged their attentional focus to be complete. Our results show that discrimination performance is significantly improved when individuals self-monitor their level of visual attention and respond only when they perceive it to be maximal. Although target delay times varied widely from trial-to-trial (range 860 ms–12.84 s), we show that their distribution is Gaussian when plotted on a reciprocal latency scale. We further show that the neural basis of the delay times for judging attentional status is well explained by a linear rise-to-threshold model. We conclude that attentional mechanisms can be self-monitored for the purpose of enhancing human decision-making processes, and that the neural basis of such processes can be understood in terms of a simple, yet broadly applicable, linear rise-to-threshold model.

ADVANCED IMAGE PROCESSING CELLULAR NEURAL NETWORKS

2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (04) ◽  
pp. 1109-1150 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAKOTO ITOH ◽  
LEON O. CHUA
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Image Processing ◽  
Cellular Neural Networks ◽  
Visual Illusions ◽  
Cognitive Engineering ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Texture Generation ◽  
High Level ◽  
Neural Field Models

Many useful and well-known image processing templates for cellular neural networks (CNN's) can be derived from neural field models, thereby providing a neural basis for the CNN paradigm. The potential ability of multitasking image processing is investigated by using these templates. Many visual illusions are simulated via CNN image processing. The ability of the CNN to mimic such high-level brain functions suggests possible applications of the CNN in cognitive engineering. Furthermore, two kinds of painting-like image processings, namely, texture generation and illustration style transformation are investigated.

The Interrelations between Verbal Working Memory and Visual Selection of Emotional Faces

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1189-1200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Grecucci ◽  
David Soto ◽  
Raffaella Ida Rumiati ◽  
Glyn W. Humphreys ◽  
Pia Rotshtein
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Search Display ◽  
Visual Selection ◽  
Emotional Word ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Selection Processes ◽  
Orbital Gyrus ◽  
High Level ◽  
Selection Of

Working memory (WM) and visual selection processes interact in a reciprocal fashion based on overlapping representations abstracted from the physical characteristics of stimuli. Here, we assessed the neural basis of this interaction using facial expressions that conveyed emotion information. Participants memorized an emotional word for a later recognition test and then searched for a face of a particular gender presented in a display with two faces that differed in gender and expression. The relation between the emotional word and the expressions of the target and distractor faces was varied. RTs for the memory test were faster when the target face matched the emotional word held in WM (on valid trials) relative to when the emotional word matched the expression of the distractor (on invalid trials). There was also enhanced activation on valid compared with invalid trials in the lateral orbital gyrus, superior frontal polar (BA 10), lateral occipital sulcus, and pulvinar. Re-presentation of the WM stimulus in the search display led to an earlier onset of activity in the superior and inferior frontal gyri and the anterior hippocampus irrespective of the search validity of the re-presented stimulus. The data indicate that the middle temporal and prefrontal cortices are sensitive to the reappearance of stimuli that are held in WM, whereas a fronto-thalamic occipital network is sensitive to the behavioral significance of the match between WM and targets for selection. We conclude that these networks are modulated by high-level matches between the contents of WM, behavioral goals, and current sensory input.

Information Processing in the Mental Workspace Is Fundamentally Distributed

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Schlegel ◽  
Prescott Alexander ◽  
Peter U. Tse
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Information Flow ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Distributed Information ◽  
Network Support ◽  
Component Processes ◽  
High Level ◽  
Flow Of Information ◽  
The Brain

The brain is a complex, interconnected information processing network. In humans, this network supports a mental workspace that enables high-level abilities such as scientific and artistic creativity. Do the component processes underlying these abilities occur in discrete anatomical modules, or are they distributed widely throughout the brain? How does the flow of information within this network support specific cognitive functions? Current approaches have limited ability to answer such questions. Here, we report novel multivariate methods to analyze information flow within the mental workspace during visual imagery manipulation. We find that mental imagery entails distributed information flow and shared representations throughout the cortex. These findings challenge existing, anatomically modular models of the neural basis of higher-order mental functions, suggesting that such processes may occur at least in part at a fundamentally distributed level of organization. The novel methods we report may be useful in studying other similarly complex, high-level informational processes.

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