scholarly journals Brain Activity Tracks Population Information Sharing by Capturing Consensus Judgments of Value

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 3102-3110 ◽  
Author(s):  
B P Doré ◽  
C Scholz ◽  
E C Baek ◽  
J O Garcia ◽  
M B O’Donnell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Core Region ◽  
Information Value ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
News Article ◽  
Social Consensus ◽  
Controlled Processing ◽  
Crowd Wisdom ◽  
Population Information

Abstract Information that is shared widely can profoundly shape society. Evidence from neuroimaging suggests that activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a core region of the brain’s valuation system tracks with this sharing. However, the mechanisms linking vmPFC responses in individuals to population behavior are still unclear. We used a multilevel brain-as-predictor approach to address this gap, finding that individual differences in how closely vmPFC activity corresponded with population news article sharing related to how closely its activity tracked with social consensus about article value. Moreover, how closely vmPFC activity corresponded with population behavior was linked to daily life news experience: frequent news readers tended to show high vmPFC across all articles, whereas infrequent readers showed high vmPFC only to articles that were more broadly valued and heavily shared. Using functional connectivity analyses, we found that superior tracking of consensus value was related to decreased connectivity of vmPFC with a dorsolateral PFC region associated with controlled processing. Taken together, our results demonstrate variability in the brain’s capacity to track crowd wisdom about information value, and suggest (lower levels of) stimulus experience and vmPFC–dlPFC connectivity as psychological and neural sources of this variability.

Functional Anatomical Correlates of Controlled and Automatic Processing

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 730-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Martijn Jansma ◽  
Nick F. Ramsey ◽  
Heleen A. Slagter ◽  
Rene S. Kahn
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Cognitive Task ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Automatic Processing ◽  
Practice Effects ◽  
Controlled Processing ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Types Of Information

Behavioral studies have shown that consistent practice of a cognitive task can increase the speed of performance and reduce variability of responses and error rate, reflecting a shift from controlled to automatic processing. This study examines how the shift from controlled to automatic processing changes brain activity. A verbal Sternberg task was used with continuously changing targets (novel task, NT) and with constant, practiced targets (practiced task, PT). NT and PT were presented in a blocked design and contrasted to a choice reaction time (RT) control task (CT) to isolate working memory (WM)-related activity. The three-dimensional (3-D) PRESTO functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sequence was used to measure hemodynamic responses. Behavioral data revealed that task processing became automated after practice, as responses were faster, less variable, and more accurate. This was accompanied specifically by a decrease in activation in regions related to WM (bilateral but predominantly left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), right superior frontal cortex (SFC), and right frontopolar area) and the supplementary motor area. Results showed no evidence for a shift of foci of activity within or across regions of the brain. The findings have theoretical implications for understanding the functional anatomical substrates of automatic and controlled processing, indicating that these types of information processing have the same functional anatomical substrate, but differ in efficiency. In addition, there are practical implications for interpreting activity as a measure for task performance, such as in patient studies. Whereas reduced activity can reflect poor performance if a task is not sensitive to practice effects, it can reflect good performance if a task is sensitive to practice effects.

scholarly journals Roles of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex and Anterior Cingulate in Subjective Valuation of Prospective Effort

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 4277-4290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick S Hogan ◽  
Joseph K Galaro ◽  
Vikram S Chib
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Effort Level ◽  
Perceived Effort ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Subjective Valuation

Abstract The perceived effort level of an action shapes everyday decisions. Despite the importance of these perceptions for decision-making, the behavioral and neural representations of the subjective cost of effort are not well understood. While a number of studies have implicated anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in decisions about effort/reward trade-offs, none have experimentally isolated effort valuation from reward and choice difficulty, a function that is commonly ascribed to this region. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to monitor brain activity while human participants engaged in uncertain choices for prospective physical effort. Our task was designed to examine effort-based decision-making in the absence of reward and separated from choice difficulty—allowing us to investigate the brain’s role in effort valuation, independent of these other factors. Participants exhibited subjectivity in their decision-making, displaying increased sensitivity to changes in subjective effort as objective effort levels increased. Analysis of blood-oxygenation-level dependent activity revealed that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) encoded the subjective valuation of prospective effort, and ACC activity was best described by choice difficulty. These results provide insight into the processes responsible for decision-making regarding effort, partly dissociating the roles of vmPFC and ACC in prospective valuation of effort and choice difficulty.

scholarly journals Functions of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in emotion regulation under stress

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukihiro Suzuki ◽  
Saori C. Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Emotional Regulation ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Regulation Of Emotion ◽  
Emotional Strength

AbstractRecent neuroimaging studies suggest that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) contributes to regulation of emotion. However, the adaptive response of the vmPFC under acute stress is not understood. We used fMRI to analyse brain activity of people viewing and rating the emotional strength of emotional images after acute social stress. Here, we show that the vmPFC is strongly activated by highly emotional images, indicating its involvement in emotional regulation, and that the midbrain is activated as a main effect of stress during the emotional response. vmPFC activation also exhibits individual differences in behavioural scores reflecting individual reactions to stress. Moreover, functional connectivity between the vmPFC and midbrain under stress reflects stress-induced emotion regulation. Those results suggest that the functions of the network including the vmPFC in emotion regulation is affected by stress depending on the individuals' level of reaction to the stress.

scholarly journals Dissociable Roles of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex and Anterior Cingulate in Subjective Valuation of Prospective Effort

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick S. Hogan ◽  
Joseph K. Galaro ◽  
Vikram S. Chib
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Effort Level ◽  
Perceived Effort ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Subjective Valuation

ABSTRACTThe perceived effort level of an action shapes everyday decisions. Despite the importance of these perceptions for decision-making, the behavioral and neural representations of the subjective cost of effort are not well understood. While a number of studies have implicated anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in decisions about effort/reward trade-offs, none have experimentally isolated effort valuation from reward and choice difficulty, a function that is commonly ascribed to this region. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain activity while human participants engaged in uncertain choices for prospective physical effort. Our task was designed to examine effort-based decision making in the absence of reward and separated from choice difficulty – allowing us to investigate the brain’s role in effort valuation, independent of these other factors. Participants exhibited subjectivity in their decision-making, displaying increased sensitivity to changes in subjective effort as objective effort levels increased. Analysis of blood-oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activity revealed that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) encoded the subjective valuation of prospective effort and ACC encoded choice difficulty. These results provide insight into the processes responsible for decision-making regarding effort, dissociating the roles of vmPFC and ACC in prospective valuation of effort and choice difficulty.

scholarly journals The hidden cost of receiving favors: A theory of indebtedness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoxue Gao ◽  
Eshin Jolly ◽  
Hongbo Yu ◽  
Huiying Liu ◽  
Xiaolin Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Utility Model ◽  
Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Hidden Cost

AbstractReceiving help or a favor from another person can sometimes have a hidden cost. In this study, we explore these hidden costs by developing and validating a theoretical model of indebtedness across three studies that combine large-scale experience sampling, interpersonal games, computational modeling, and neuroimaging. Our model captures how individuals infer the altruistic and strategic intentions of the benefactor. These inferences produce distinct feelings of guilt and obligation that together comprise indebtedness and motivate reciprocity. Altruistic intentions convey care and concern and are associated with activity in the insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, while strategic intentions convey expectations of future reciprocity and are associated with activation in the temporal parietal junction and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. We further develop a neural utility model of indebtedness using multivariate patterns of brain activity that captures the tradeoff between these feelings and reliably predicts reciprocity behavior.

scholarly journals Brain Electric Microstates and Felt States of Awareness Are Modulated by Meditation Training

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Paul Zanesco ◽  
Alea C. Skwara ◽  
Brandon King ◽  
Chivon Powers ◽  
Kezia Wineberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Neural Dynamics ◽  
Meditation Practice ◽  
Mindful Awareness ◽  
And Training ◽  
Over Time

Experiences of mindful awareness and mental quiescence are thought to pervade daily life with continued meditation practice, and ought to leave their imprint in the activity of distributed brain networks. Yet few studies have characterized the dynamics of resting brain activity following meditation-based training. In a longitudinal study, experienced meditators were randomly assigned to 3 months of intensive shamatha meditation training or to a waiting-list condition. Broad-band EEG collected at rest was segmented into a time series of transient microstate intervals based on data-driven clustering of topographic voltage patterns at the beginning, middle, and end of training. Individuals’ felt mindful awareness and mental quiescence was also assessed using a daily survey of their experiences over the study duration, and training participants further reported on the quality of their meditation practice based on four experiential dimensions involved in the practice of shamatha. Meditation training was associated with reductions in the strength and duration of EEG microstate intervals, while patterns of change in felt qualities of awareness corroborate contemplative phenomenological accounts of deepening mental calm and stability of attention that pervades daily life over time with training. Neural dynamics reflected in microstate parameters and sequence transitions were furthermore associated with training participants’ reported experience of mindful awareness and quiescence during the retreat. These findings connect experiential qualities of meditation practice and the activity of whole brain cortical EEG networks at rest.

Brain activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex predicts negative temperament

NeuroImage ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 490 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Zald ◽  
Dorothy Mattson ◽  
José Pardo
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

scholarly journals The Error-Related Negativity Predicts Self-Control Failures in Daily Life

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Overmeyer ◽  
Julia Berghäuser ◽  
Raoul Dieterich ◽  
Max Wolff ◽  
Thomas Goschke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Behavior ◽  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Regulatory Control ◽  
Error Related Negativity ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Control Failures

Adaptive behavior critically depends on performance monitoring (PM), the ability to monitor action outcomes and the need to adapt behavior. PM-related brain activity has been linked to guiding decisions about whether action adaptation is warranted. The present study examined whether PM-related brain activity in a flanker task, as measured by electroencephalography (EEG), was associated with adaptive behavior in daily life. Specifically, we were interested in the employment of self-control, operationalized as self-control failures (SCFs), and measured using ecological momentary assessment. Analyses were conducted using an adaptive elastic net regression to predict SCFs from EEG in a sample of 131 participants. The model was fit using within-subject averaged response-locked EEG activity at each electrode and time point within an epoch surrounding the response. We found that higher amplitudes of the error-related negativity (ERN) were related to fewer SCFs. This suggests that lower error-related activity may relate to lower recruitment of interventive self-control in daily life. Altered cognitive control processes, like PM, have been proposed as underlying mechanisms for various mental disorders. Understanding how alterations in PM relate to regulatory control might therefore aid in delineating how these alterations contribute to different psychopathologies.

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