scholarly journals Anterior cingulate is a source of valence-specific information about value and uncertainty

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilya E. Monosov
Keyword(s):  
Expected Value ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Behavioral Diversity ◽  
Specific Manner ◽  
Behavioral States ◽  
Reward And Punishment

SummaryExpectations of rewards and punishments can promote similar behavioral states, such as vigilance, as well as distinct behavioral states, such as approach or avoidance. However, the cortical circuits that underlie this behavioral diversity are poorly understood. In a Pavlovian procedure in which monkeys displayed a diverse repertoire of reward, punishment, and uncertainty related behaviors not mandated by the task, I show that many anterior-cingulate (ACC) neurons represent expected value and uncertainty in a valence-specific manner, for example about either rewards or punishments. This flexibility may facilitate the top-down control of many reward- and punishment-related actions and behavioral states.

scholarly journals The Role of Primate Prefrontal Cortex in Bias and Shift Between Visual Dimensions

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farshad A Mansouri ◽  
Mark J Buckley ◽  
Daniel J Fehring ◽  
Keiji Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Processes ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Frontopolar Cortex ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Bilateral Lesions

Abstract Imaging and neural activity recording studies have shown activation in the primate prefrontal cortex when shifting attention between visual dimensions is necessary to achieve goals. A fundamental unanswered question is whether representations of these dimensions emerge from top-down attentional processes mediated by prefrontal regions or from bottom-up processes within visual cortical regions. We hypothesized a causative link between prefrontal cortical regions and dimension-based behavior. In large cohorts of humans and macaque monkeys, performing the same attention shifting task, we found that both species successfully shifted between visual dimensions, but both species also showed a significant behavioral advantage/bias to a particular dimension; however, these biases were in opposite directions in humans (bias to color) versus monkeys (bias to shape). Monkeys’ bias remained after selective bilateral lesions within the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), frontopolar cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), or superior, lateral prefrontal cortex. However, lesions within certain regions (ACC, DLPFC, or OFC) impaired monkeys’ ability to shift between these dimensions. We conclude that goal-directed processing of a particular dimension for the executive control of behavior depends on the integrity of prefrontal cortex; however, representation of competing dimensions and bias toward them does not depend on top-down prefrontal-mediated processes.

scholarly journals Dorsomedial prefrontal neural ensembles reflect changes in task utility

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blake S. Porter ◽  
Kristin L. Hillman
Keyword(s):  
Single Unit ◽  
Optimal Choice ◽  
Weight Lifting ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Dorsomedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Neural Ensembles ◽  
Behavioral States ◽  
Time And Energy ◽  
Task Representations ◽  
Lifting Task

AbstractWhen performing a physically demanding behavior, sometimes the optimal choice is to quit the behavior rather than persist and waste time and energy. The dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), consisting of the anterior cingulate cortex and secondary motor area, likely contributes towards such utility assessments. Here, we examined how rodent dmPFC single unit and ensemble level activity corresponded to changes in motivation and quitting in an effortful weight lifting task. Rats carried out two task paradigms: one that became progressively more physically demanding over time and a second fixed effort version. Rats could quit the task at any time. Dorsomedial PFC neurons were highly responsive to each behavioral stage of the task, consisting of rope pulling, reward retrieval, and reward area leaving. Activity was highest early in sessions, commensurate with the highest relative task utility, then decreased until the point of quitting. Neural ensembles showed stable task representations across the entirety of sessions. However, these representations drifted and became more distinct over the course of the session. These results suggest that dmPFC neurons represent behavioral states that are dynamically modified as behaviors lose their utility, culminating in task quitting.

scholarly journals Top-down descending facilitation of spinal sensory excitatory transmission from the anterior cingulate cortex

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Chen ◽  
Wataru Taniguchi ◽  
Qi-Yu Chen ◽  
Hidetoshi Tozaki-Saitoh ◽  
Qian Song ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Excitatory Transmission ◽  
Descending Facilitation

scholarly journals Hierarchical reasoning by neural circuits in the frontal cortex

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 364 (6441) ◽  
pp. eaav8911 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morteza Sarafyazd ◽  
Mehrdad Jazayeri
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Response Contingency ◽  
Dorsomedial Frontal Cortex ◽  
Reasoning Strategy ◽  
Additional Perturbation

Humans process information hierarchically. In the presence of hierarchies, sources of failures are ambiguous. Humans resolve this ambiguity by assessing their confidence after one or more attempts. To understand the neural basis of this reasoning strategy, we recorded from dorsomedial frontal cortex (DMFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of monkeys in a task in which negative outcomes were caused either by misjudging the stimulus or by a covert switch between two stimulus-response contingency rules. We found that both areas harbored a representation of evidence supporting a rule switch. Additional perturbation experiments revealed that ACC functioned downstream of DMFC and was directly and specifically involved in inferring covert rule switches. These results‏ reveal the computational principles of hierarchical reasoning, as implemented by cortical circuits.

scholarly journals Paradoxical response reversal of top-down modulation in cortical circuits with three interneuron types

eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Carlos Garcia del Molino ◽  
Guangyu Robert Yang ◽  
Jorge F Mejias ◽  
Xiao-Jing Wang
Keyword(s):  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Pyramidal Cells ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Paradoxical Response ◽  
Neural Populations ◽  
Connectivity Patterns ◽  
Response Reversal ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Cortical Circuit

Pyramidal cells and interneurons expressing parvalbumin (PV), somatostatin (SST), and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) show cell-type-specific connectivity patterns leading to a canonical microcircuit across cortex. Experiments recording from this circuit often report counterintuitive and seemingly contradictory findings. For example, the response of SST cells in mouse V1 to top-down behavioral modulation can change its sign when the visual input changes, a phenomenon that we call response reversal. We developed a theoretical framework to explain these seemingly contradictory effects as emerging phenomena in circuits with two key features: interactions between multiple neural populations and a nonlinear neuronal input-output relationship. Furthermore, we built a cortical circuit model which reproduces counterintuitive dynamics observed in mouse V1. Our analytical calculations pinpoint connection properties critical to response reversal, and predict additional novel types of complex dynamics that could be tested in future experiments.

scholarly journals The Role of Intact Frontostriatal Circuits in Error Processing

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 651-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Ullsperger ◽  
D. Yves von Cramon
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Performance Monitoring ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Lateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Error Related Negativity

The basal ganglia have been suggested to play a key role in performance monitoring and resulting behavioral adjustments. It is assumed that the integration of prefrontal and motor cortico—striato—thalamo—cortical circuits provides contextual information to the motor anterior cingulate cortex regions to enable their function in performance monitoring. So far, direct evidence is missing, however. We addressed the involvement of frontostriatal circuits in performance monitoring by collecting event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and behavioral data in nine patients with focal basal ganglia lesions and seven patients with lateral prefrontal cortex lesions while they performed a flanker task. In both patient groups, the amplitude of the error-related negativity was reduced, diminishing the difference to the ERPs on correct responses. Despite these electrophysiological abnormalities, most of the patients were able to correct errors. Only in lateral prefrontal cortex patients whose lesions extended into the frontal white matter, disrupting the connections to the motor anterior cingulate cortex and the striatum, were error corrections severely impaired. In sum, the fronto—striato—thalamo—cortical circuits seem necessary for the generation of error-related negativity, even when brain plasticity has resulted in behavioral compensation of the damage. Thus, error-related ERPs in patients provide a sensitive measure of the integrity of the performance monitoring network.

scholarly journals Parallel cortical-brainstem pathways to attentional analgesia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Oliva ◽  
Rob Gregory ◽  
Wendy-Elizabeth Davies ◽  
Lee Harrison ◽  
Rosalyn Moran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pain Perception ◽  
Interaction Analysis ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Attentional Demand ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Periaqueductal Grey ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Nociceptive Input ◽  
Thermal Stimuli

AbstractPain perception is diminished when attention is diverted. Our previous human fMRI study, using a 2×2 factorial design with thermal stimuli and concurrent visual attention task, linked the brainstem triad of locus coeruleus (LC), rostroventromedial medulla (RVM) and periaqueductal grey (PAG) to attentional analgesia. This study was repeated with a larger cohort, replicating our earlier findings. Pain intensity was encoded by the RVM, whilst activity in the contralateral LC correlated with the magnitude of attentional analgesia. Psycho-Physiological Interaction analysis informed subsequent Dynamic Causal Modelling and identified two parallel paths between forebrain and the brainstem regions involved in analgesia. These cortico-brainstem connections were modulated by attentional demand: a bidirectional anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) – right-LC loop, and a top-down influence of task on ACC-PAG-RVM. Under conditions of competing attentional demands the ACC recruits discrete brainstem circuits to modulate nociceptive input.

scholarly journals Resting-state theta oscillations and reward sensitivity in risk taking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Azanova ◽  
Maria Herrojo Ruiz ◽  
Alexis V. Belianin ◽  
Vasily Klucharev ◽  
Vadim V. Nikulin
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Risk Taking ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Reward Sensitivity ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Theta Oscillations ◽  
Theta Power ◽  
Reward And Punishment

AbstractFemales demonstrate greater risk aversion than males on a variety of tasks, but the underlying neurobiological basis is still unclear. We studied how theta (4-7 Hz) oscillations at rest related to three different measures of risk taking. Thirty-five participants (15 females) completed the Bomb Risk Elicitation Task (BRET), which allowed us to measure risk taking during an economic game. The Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT) was used to measure self-assessed risk attitudes as well as reward and punishment sensitivities. In addition, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS11) was included to quantify impulsiveness. To obtain measures of frontal theta asymmetry and frontal theta power, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) acquired prior to task completion, while participants were at rest. Frontal theta asymmetry correlated with average risk taking during the game but only in the female sample. By contrast, frontal theta power correlated with risk taking as well as with measures of reward and punishment sensitivity in the joint sample. Importantly, we showed that reward sensitivity mediated a correlation between risk taking and the power of theta oscillations localized to the anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, we observed significant sex differences in source- and sensor-space theta power, risk taking during the game, and reward sensitivity. Our findings suggest that sensitivity to rewards, associated with resting-state theta oscillations in the anterior cingulate cortex, is a trait that potentially contributes to sex differences in risk taking.

scholarly journals OBJECT CONTOUR COMPLETION BY COMBINING OBJECT RECOGNITION AND LOCAL EDGE CUES

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kar Seng Loke
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Procedure ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Object Contour ◽  
Contour Feature ◽  
Edge Based ◽  
Local Edge ◽  
Initial Object ◽  
Contour Completion

We developed a top-down and bottom-up segmentation ofobjects using shape contours through a two-stage procedure. First, the object was identified using an edge-based contour feature and then the object contour was obtained using a constraint optimization procedure based on the results from the earlier identified contours. The initial object detection provides object category specific information for the contour completion to be effected. We argue that top-down bottom-up interaction architecture has plausible neurological correlates. This method has an advantage in that it does not require learning boundaries with large datasets.  

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