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 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 Chronology-based architecture of descending circuits that underlie the development of locomotor repertoire after birth

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avinash Pujala ◽  
Minoru Koyama
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Kinematics And Dynamics ◽  
Synaptic Connections ◽  
Behavioral Repertoire ◽  
Biophysical Properties ◽  
Larval Zebrafish ◽  
Parallel Circuits ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Connectivity Patterns

The emergence of new and increasingly sophisticated behaviors after birth is accompanied by dramatic increase of newly established synaptic connections in the nervous system. Little is known, however, of how nascent connections are organized to support such new behaviors alongside existing ones. To understand this, in the larval zebrafish we examined the development of spinal pathways from hindbrain V2a neurons and the role of these pathways in the development of locomotion. We found that new projections are continually layered laterally to existing neuropil, and give rise to distinct pathways that function in parallel to existing pathways. Across these chronologically layered pathways, the connectivity patterns and biophysical properties vary systematically to support a behavioral repertoire with a wide range of kinematics and dynamics. Such layering of new parallel circuits equipped with systematically changing properties may be central to the postnatal diversification and increasing sophistication of an animal’s behavioral repertoire.

scholarly journals Chronology-based architecture of descending circuits that underlie the development of locomotor repertoire after birth

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avinash Pujala ◽  
Minoru Koyama
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Kinematics And Dynamics ◽  
Synaptic Connections ◽  
Behavioral Repertoire ◽  
Biophysical Properties ◽  
Larval Zebrafish ◽  
Parallel Circuits ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Connectivity Patterns

AbstractThe emergence of new and increasingly sophisticated behaviors after birth is accompanied by dramatic increase of newly established synaptic connections in the nervous system. Little is known, however, of how nascent connections are organized to support such new behaviors alongside existing ones. To understand this, in the larval zebrafish we examined the development of spinal pathways from hindbrain V2a neurons and the role of these pathways in the development of locomotion. We found that new projections are continually layered laterally to existing neuropil, and give rise to distinct pathways that function in parallel to existing pathways. Across these chronologically layered pathways, the connectivity patterns and biophysical properties vary systematically to support a behavioral repertoire with a wide range of kinematics and dynamics. Such layering of new parallel circuits equipped with systematically changing properties may be central to the postnatal diversification and increasing sophistication of an animal’s behavioral repertoire.

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 the Vagus Nerve in the Antidysrhythmic Effect of Dexmedetomidine on Halothane/Epinephrine Dysrhythmias in Dogs

1995 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. 992-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiko Kamibayashi ◽  
Yukio Hayashi ◽  
Tadanori Mammoto ◽  
Atsushi Yamatodani ◽  
Koji Sumikawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Vagus Nerve ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Vagal Stimulation ◽  
Adrenergic Agonist ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Stimulation Of

Abstract Background Dexmedetomidine, an alpha2-adrenergic agonist, can prevent the genesis of halothane/epinephrine dysrhythmias through the central nervous system. Because stimulation of alpha2adrenoceptors in the central nervous system enhances vagal neural activity and vagal stimulation is known to inhibit digitalis-induced dysrhythmias, dexmedetomidine may exert the antidysrhythmic property through vagal stimulation. To address this hypothesis, the effect of dexmedetomidine in vagotomized dogs was examined and compared with that in intact dogs. In addition, the effect of vagotomy on the antidysrhythmic action of doxazosin, an alpha1antagonist, was studied.

The role of the sympathetic and sensory nervous system in peritoneal endometriotic lesions

2011 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
J Arnold ◽  
ML Barcena de Arellano ◽  
C Rüster ◽  
A Schneider ◽  
S Mechsner
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Sensory Nervous System

Thyroid hormone-catecholamine interrelationships during exposure to cold

1981 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Storm ◽  
C. van Hardeveld ◽  
A. A. H. Kassenaar
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Plasma Concentration ◽  
Thyroid Hormone ◽  
Sympathetic Nervous System ◽  
Plasma Levels ◽  
Surgical Procedure ◽  
Exposure To Cold ◽  
Basal Plasma ◽  
Sympathetic Nervous

Abstract. Basal plasma levels for adrenalin (A), noradrenalin (NA), l-triiodothyronine (T3), and l-thyroxine (T4) were determined in rats with a chronically inserted catheter. The experiments described in this report were started 3 days after the surgical procedure when T3 and T4 levels had returned to normal. Basal levels for the catecholamines were reached already 4 h after the operation. The T3/T4 ratio in plasma was significantly increased after 3, 7, and 14 days in rats kept at 4°C and the same holds for the iodide in the 24-h urine after 7 and 14 days at 4°C. The venous NA plasma concentration was increased 6- to 12-fold during the same period of exposure to cold, whereas the A concentration remained at the basal level. During infusion of NA at 23°C the T3/T4 ratio in plasma was significantly increased after 7 days compared to pair-fed controls, and the same holds for the iodide excretion in the 24-h urine. This paper presents further evidence for a role of the sympathetic nervous system on T4 metabolism in rats at resting conditions.

The role of autonomic nervous system in progression of school myopia in children

2019 ◽  
pp. 133-138
Author(s):  
D.A. Dubko ◽  
◽  
G.P. Smoliakova ◽  
O.I. Kashura ◽  
O.V. Mazurina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Autonomic Nervous System ◽  
Autonomic Nervous ◽  
School Myopia
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