scholarly journals Exploring the role of expectations and stimulus relevance on stimulus-specific neural representations and conscious report

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik L Meijs ◽  
Pim Mostert ◽  
Heleen A Slagter ◽  
Floris P de Lange ◽  
Simon van Gaal
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Blink ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Dependent Signal ◽  
Task Irrelevant

Abstract Subjective experience can be influenced by top-down factors, such as expectations and stimulus relevance. Recently, it has been shown that expectations can enhance the likelihood that a stimulus is consciously reported, but the neural mechanisms supporting this enhancement are still unclear. We manipulated stimulus expectations within the attentional blink (AB) paradigm using letters and combined visual psychophysics with magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings to investigate whether prior expectations may enhance conscious access by sharpening stimulus-specific neural representations. We further explored how stimulus-specific neural activity patterns are affected by the factors expectation, stimulus relevance and conscious report. First, we show that valid expectations about the identity of an upcoming stimulus increase the likelihood that it is consciously reported. Second, using a series of multivariate decoding analyses, we show that the identity of letters presented in and out of the AB can be reliably decoded from MEG data. Third, we show that early sensory stimulus-specific neural representations are similar for reported and missed target letters in the AB task (active report required) and an oddball task in which the letter was clearly presented but its identity was task-irrelevant. However, later sustained and stable stimulus-specific representations were uniquely observed when target letters were consciously reported (decision-dependent signal). Fourth, we show that global pre-stimulus neural activity biased perceptual decisions for a ‘seen’ response. Fifth and last, no evidence was obtained for the sharpening of sensory representations by top-down expectations. We discuss these findings in light of emerging models of perception and conscious report highlighting the role of expectations and stimulus relevance.

scholarly journals Ecological Representations

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Golonka ◽  
Andrew D Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Error Detection ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Behavioral Repertoire ◽  
Intentional Behavior ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Potential Basis

AbstractMainstream cognitive science and neuroscience both rely heavily on the notion of representation in order to explain the full range of our behavioral repertoire. The relevant feature of representation is its ability todesignate(stand in for) spatially or temporally distant properties, When we organize our behavior with respect to mental or neural representations, we are (in principle) organizing our behavior with respect to the property it designates. While representational theories are a potentially a powerful foundation for a good cognitive theory, problems such as grounding and system-detectable error remain unsolved. For these and other reasons, ecological explanations reject the need for representations and do not treat the nervous system as doing any mediating work. However, this has left us without a straight-forward vocabulary to engage with so-called ‘representation-hungry’ problems or the role of the nervous system in cognition.In an effort to develop such a vocabulary, here we show that James J Gibson’s ecological information functions to designate the ecologically-scaled dynamical world to an organism. We then show that this designation analysis of information leads to an ecological conceptualization of the neural activity caused by information, which in turn we argue can together support intentional behavior with respect to spatially and temporally distal properties. Problems such as grounding and error detection are solved via law-based specification. This analysis extends the ecological framework into the realm of ‘representation-hungry’ problems, making it as powerful a potential basis for theories of behavior as traditional cognitive approaches. The resulting analysis does, according to some definitions, allow information and the neural activity to be conceptualized as representations; however, the key work is done by information and the analysis remains true to Gibson’s ecological ontology.

scholarly journals Differing Time Courses of Reward-Related Attentional Processing: An EEG Source-Space Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise E. L. Lockhofen ◽  
Nils Hübner ◽  
Fatma Hemdan ◽  
Gebhard Sammer ◽  
Dion Henare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Attentional Selection ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Processing ◽  
Attention Network ◽  
Space Analysis ◽  
Distractor Processing ◽  
Time Courses ◽  
Task Irrelevant

AbstractSince our environment typically contains more information than can be processed at any one time due to the limited capacity of our visual system, we are bound to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information. This process, termed attentional selection, is usually categorized into bottom-up and top-down processes. However, recent research suggests reward might also be an important factor in guiding attention. Monetary reward can bias attentional selection in favor of task-relevant targets and reduce the efficiency of visual search when a reward-associated, but task-irrelevant distractor is present. This study is the first to investigate reward-related target and distractor processing in an additional singleton task using neurophysiological measures and source space analysis. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that source space analysis would find enhanced neural activity in regions of the value-based attention network, such as the visual cortex and the anterior cingulate. Additionally, we went further and explored the time courses of the underlying attentional mechanisms. Our neurophysiological results showed that rewarding distractors led to a stronger attentional capture. In line with this, we found that reward-associated distractors (compared with reward-associated targets) enhanced activation in frontal regions, indicating the involvement of top-down control processes. As hypothesized, source space analysis demonstrated that reward-related targets and reward-related distractors elicited activation in regions of the value-based attention network. However, these activations showed time-dependent differences, indicating that the neural mechanisms underlying reward biasing might be different for task-relevant and task-irrelevant stimuli.

scholarly journals Predicting lapses of attention with sleep-like slow waves

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Andrillon ◽  
Angus Burns ◽  
Teigane Mackay ◽  
Jennifer Windt ◽  
Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Mind Wandering ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Slow Waves ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Stream Of Consciousness ◽  
Attentional Lapses ◽  
Healthy Participants ◽  
Local Sleep

AbstractAttentional lapses occur commonly and are associated with mind wandering, where focus is turned to thoughts unrelated to ongoing tasks and environmental demands, or mind blanking, where the stream of consciousness itself comes to a halt. To understand the neural mechanisms underlying attentional lapses, we studied the behaviour, subjective experience and neural activity of healthy participants performing a task. Random interruptions prompted participants to indicate their mental states as task-focused, mind-wandering or mind-blanking. Using high-density electroencephalography, we report here that spatially and temporally localized slow waves, a pattern of neural activity characteristic of the transition toward sleep, accompany behavioural markers of lapses and preceded reports of mind wandering and mind blanking. The location of slow waves could distinguish between sluggish and impulsive behaviours, and between mind wandering and mind blanking. Our results suggest attentional lapses share a common physiological origin: the emergence of local sleep-like activity within the awake brain.

scholarly journals Neural Representations of the Committed Romantic Partner in the Nucleus Accumbens

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762110218
Author(s):  
Ryuhei Ueda ◽  
Nobuhito Abe
Keyword(s):  
Nucleus Accumbens ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Romantic Relationship ◽  
Pattern Analysis ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Romantic Partners ◽  
Multivoxel Pattern Analysis ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
The Social

Having an intimate romantic relationship is an important aspect of life. Dopamine-rich reward regions, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), have been identified as neural correlates for both emotional bonding with the partner and interest in unfamiliar attractive nonpartners. Here, we aimed to disentangle the overlapping functions of the NAcc using multivoxel pattern analysis, which can decode the cognitive processes encoded in particular neural activity. During functional MRI scanning, 46 romantically involved men performed the social-incentive-delay task, in which a successful response resulted in the presentation of a dynamic and positive facial expression from their partner and unfamiliar women. Multivoxel pattern analysis revealed that the spatial patterns of NAcc activity could successfully discriminate between romantic partners and unfamiliar women during the period in which participants anticipated the target presentation. We speculate that neural activity patterns within the NAcc represent the relationship partner, which might be a key neural mechanism for committed romantic relationships.

Neural Oscillations Orchestrate Multisensory Processing

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 609-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Keil ◽  
Daniel Senkowski
Keyword(s):  
Information Needs ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Neural Oscillations ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Distinct Frequency

At any given moment, we receive input through our different sensory systems, and this information needs to be processed and integrated. Multisensory processing requires the coordinated activity of distinct cortical areas. Key mechanisms implicated in these processes include local neural oscillations and functional connectivity between distant cortical areas. Evidence is now emerging that neural oscillations in distinct frequency bands reflect different mechanisms of multisensory processing. Moreover, studies suggest that aberrant neural oscillations contribute to multisensory processing deficits in clinical populations, such as schizophrenia. In this article, we review recent literature on the neural mechanisms underlying multisensory processing, focusing on neural oscillations. We derive a framework that summarizes findings on (1) stimulus-driven multisensory processing, (2) the influence of top-down information on multisensory processing, and (3) the role of predictions for the formation of multisensory perception. We propose that different frequency band oscillations subserve complementary mechanisms of multisensory processing. These processes can act in parallel and are essential for multisensory processing.

scholarly journals Shared neural mechanisms of visual perception and imagery

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Dijkstra ◽  
Sander Erik Bosch ◽  
Marcel van Gerven
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Neural Representations

For decades, the extent to which visual imagery relies on similar neural mechanisms as visual perception has been a topic of debate. Here, we review recent neuroimaging studies comparing these two forms of visual experience. Their results suggest that there is large overlap in neural processing during perception and imagery: neural representations of imagined and perceived stimuli are similar in visual, parietal and frontal cortex. Furthermore, perception and imagery seem to rely on similar top-down connectivity. The most prominent difference is the absence of bottom-up processing during imagery. These findings fit well with the idea that imagery and perception rely on similar emulation or prediction processes.

scholarly journals Mesoscale cortex-wide neural dynamics predict self-initiated actions in mice several seconds prior to movement

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catalin Mitelut ◽  
Yongxu Zhang ◽  
Yuki Sekino ◽  
Jamie Boyd ◽  
Federico Bolanos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Random Processes ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Human Studies ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Neural Dynamics ◽  
Behavior Prediction ◽  
Natural Behavior ◽  
Changes Over Time

Volition - the sense of control or agency over one's voluntary actions - is widely recognized as the basis of both human subjective experience and natural behavior in non-human animals. To date, several human studies have found peaks in neural activity preceding voluntary actions, e.g. the readiness potential (RP), and some have shown upcoming actions could be decoded even before awareness. These findings remain controversial with some suggesting they pose a challenge to traditional accounts of human volition while others proposing that random processes underlie pre-movement neural activity. Here we seek to address part of this controversy by evaluating whether pre-movement neural activity in mice contains structure beyond that expected from random processes. Implementing a self-initiated water-rewarded lever pull paradigm in mice while recording widefield [Ca++] neural activity we find that cortical activity changes in variance seconds prior to movement and that upcoming lever pulls or spontaneous body movements could be predicted between 1 second to more than 10 seconds prior to movement, similar to but even earlier than in human studies. We show that mice, like humans, are biased towards initiation of voluntary actions during specific phases of neural activity oscillations but that the pre-movement neural code in mice changes over time and is widely distributed as behavior prediction improved when using all vs single cortical areas. These findings support the presence of structured multi-second neural dynamics preceding voluntary action beyond that expected from random processes. Our results also suggest that neural mechanisms underlying self-initiated voluntary action could be preserved between mice and humans.

scholarly journals Evidence for differential top-down and bottom-up suppression in posterior parietal cortex

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1628) ◽  
pp. 20130069 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koorosh Mirpour ◽  
James W. Bisley
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Posterior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Irrelevant Distractors ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Physically Identical ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Foraging Task ◽  
Single Unit Response

When searching for an object, we usually avoid items that are visually different from the target and objects or places that have been searched already. Previous studies have shown that neural activity in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) can be used to guide this behaviour; responses to task irrelevant stimuli or to stimuli that have been fixated previously in the trial are reduced compared with responses to potential targets. Here, we test the hypothesis that these reduced responses have a different genesis. Two animals were trained on a visual foraging task, in which they had to find a target among a number of physically identical potential targets (T) and task irrelevant distractors. We recorded neural activity and local field potentials (LFPs) in LIP while the animals performed the task. We found that LFP power was similar for potential targets and distractors but was greater in the alpha and low beta bands when a previously fixated T was in the response field. We interpret these data to suggest that the reduced single-unit response to distractors is a bottom-up feed-forward result of processing in earlier areas and the reduced response to previously fixated Ts is a result of active top-down suppression.

scholarly journals Does inappropriate behavior hurt or stink? The interplay between neural representations of somatic experiences and moral decisions

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (42) ◽  
pp. eaat4390
Author(s):  
G. Sharvit ◽  
E. Lin ◽  
P. Vuilleumier ◽  
C. Corradi-Dell’Acqua
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Moral Judgments ◽  
Moral Cognition ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Moral Decisions ◽  
Sensory Qualities ◽  
Somatic Experiences

Embodied models suggest that moral judgments are strongly intertwined with first-hand somatic experiences, with some pointing to disgust, and others arguing for a role of pain/harm. Both disgust and pain are unpleasant, arousing experiences, with strong relevance for survival, but with distinctive sensory qualities and neural channels. Hence, it is unclear whether moral cognition interacts with sensory-specific properties of one somatic experience or with supramodal dimensions common to both. Across two experiments, participants evaluated ethical dilemmas and subsequently were exposed to disgusting (olfactory) or painful (thermal) stimulations of matched unpleasantness. We found that moral scenarios enhanced physiological and neural activity to subsequent disgust (but not pain), as further supported by an independently validated whole-brain signature of olfaction. This effect was mediated by activity in the posterior cingulate cortex triggered by dilemma judgments. Our results thus speak in favor of an association between moral cognition and sensory-specific properties of disgust.

Role of psychopathology in elucidating the underlying neural mechanisms

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S65-S65
Author(s):  
F. Oyebode
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Subjective Experiences ◽  
Precise Description ◽  
Competing Interest ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Misidentification Syndromes

IntroductionPsychopathology is the systematic study of abnormal subjective experience and behaviour and it aims to give precise description, categorisation and definition of abnormal subjective experiences.AimI aim to demonstrate that the most appropriate approach to elucidating the biological origins of psychiatric disorders is firstly to identify elementary abnormal phenomena and then to relate these to their underlying neural mechanisms. I will exemplify this by drawing attention to studies of Delusional Misidentification Syndromes (DSM).ResultsI will show that there are impairments in face recognition memory in individuals with DSM without impairments in the recognition of emotion and that there are abnormalities of right hemisphere function and of the autonomic recognition pathways that determine sense of familiarity.ConclusionsBasic psychopathological phenomena are more likely to throw light on the basic neural mechanisms that are important in psychiatric disorders than studying disease level categories.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

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