scholarly journals Homeostatic brain network mechanisms facilitate perceptual binding of audio-visual speech

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Mukherjee ◽  
Soibam Shyamchand Singh ◽  
Dipanjan Ray ◽  
Partha Raghunathan ◽  
Arpan Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Illusory Perception ◽  
Brain Functional Connectivity

In daily lives, speech perception requires binding of spatiotemporally disjoint auditory and visual cues. On the other hand, functional segregation and integration are the two complementary mechanisms that capture brain information processing. Here, we demonstrate using fMRI recordings that subjective perceptual experience of multisensory speech stimuli is dependent on a homeostatic balance of segregation and integration mechanisms. Previous reports conceptualized posterior superior temporal sulcus as the key brain region for binding signals from multiple sensory streams. However, we report an enhancement of segregated information processing in distributed brain regions, defined as the perceptual binding network. The seed-based whole brain functional connectivity of each node in this network was anti-correlated with higher propensity for illusory perception. Interestingly, the perceptual binding network was anti-correlated with other intrinsic brain networks, such as dorsal attention and default mode networks during cross-modal perception. The pattern disappeared for people who rarely reported the illusory perception, further strengthening the hypothesis of homeostatic balance. The cognitive theories of Bayesian causal inference and predictive coding hypothesis could explain the balance of segregative and integrative mechanisms during cross-modal perception.

scholarly journals Natural visual cues eliciting predator avoidance in fiddler crabs

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1724) ◽  
pp. 3584-3592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen Smolka ◽  
Jochen Zeil ◽  
Jan M. Hemmi
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Predator Avoidance ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Fiddler Crabs ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Biologically Relevant

To efficiently provide an animal with relevant information, the design of its visual system should reflect the distribution of natural signals and the animal's tasks. In many behavioural contexts, however, we know comparatively little about the moment-to-moment information-processing challenges animals face in their daily lives. In predator avoidance, for instance, we lack an accurate description of the natural signal stream and its value for risk assessment throughout the prey's defensive behaviour. We characterized the visual signals generated by real, potentially predatory events by video-recording bird approaches towards an Uca vomeris colony. Using four synchronized cameras allowed us to simultaneously monitor predator avoidance responses of crabs. We reconstructed the signals generated by dangerous and non-dangerous flying animals, identified the cues that triggered escape responses and compared them with those triggering responses to dummy predators. Fiddler crabs responded to a combination of multiple visual cues (including retinal speed, elevation and visual flicker) that reflect the visual signatures of distinct bird and insect behaviours. This allowed crabs to discriminate between dangerous and non-dangerous events. The results demonstrate the importance of measuring natural sensory signatures of biologically relevant events in order to understand biological information processing and its effects on behavioural organization.

scholarly journals Amount of fiction reading correlates with higher connectivity between cortical areas for language and mentalizing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Hartung ◽  
Roel M. Willems
Keyword(s):  
Time Course ◽  
Network Dynamics ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Social Abilities ◽  
Training Mode ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fictional Story

AbstractBehavioral evidence suggests that engaging with fiction is positively correlated with social abilities. The rationale behind this link is that engaging with fiction and fictional characters may offer a ‘training mode’ for mentalizing and empathizing with sentient agents in the real world, analogous to a flight simulator for pilots. In this study, we explored the relationship between reading fiction and mentalizing by looking at brain network dynamics in 57 participants who varied on how much fiction they read in their daily lives. The hypothesis was that if reading fiction indeed trains mentalizing, a task that requires mentalizing –Like immersing in a fictional story and engaging with a protagonist-should elicit differences in brain network dynamics depending on how much people read. More specifically, more frequent readers should show increased connectivity within the theory of mind network (ToM) or between the ToM network and other brain networks. While brain activation was measured with fMRI, participants listened to two literary narratives. We computed time-course correlations between brain regions and compared the correlation values from listening to narratives to listening to an auditory baseline condition. The between-region correlations were then related to individual differences measures including the amount of fiction that participants consume in their daily lives. Our results show that there is a linear relationship between how much people read and the functional connectivity in areas known to be involved in language and mentalizing. This adds neurobiological credibility to the ‘fiction influences mentalizing abilities’ hypothesis as suggested on the basis of conceptual analysis.

Segregation and Integration of Cortical Information Processing Underlying Cross-Modal Perception

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 481-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Vinodh Kumar ◽  
Neeraj Kumar ◽  
Dipanjan Roy ◽  
Arpan Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Mcgurk Effect ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Representational Space ◽  
Spatially Distributed

Visual cues from the speaker’s face influence the perception of speech. An example of this influence is demonstrated by the McGurk-effect where illusory (cross-modal) sounds are perceived following presentation of incongruent audio–visual (AV) stimuli. Previous studies report the engagement of specific cortical modules that are spatially distributed during cross-modal perception. However, the limits of the underlying representational space and the cortical network mechanisms remain unclear. In this combined psychophysical and electroencephalography (EEG) study, the participants reported their perception while listening to a set of synchronous and asynchronous incongruent AV stimuli. We identified the neural representation of subjective cross-modal perception at different organizational levels — at specific locations in sensor space and at the level of the large-scale brain network estimated from between-sensor interactions. We identified an enhanced positivity in the event-related potential peak around 300 ms following stimulus onset associated with cross-modal perception. At the spectral level, cross-modal perception involved an overall decrease in power at the frontal and temporal regions at multiple frequency bands and at all AV lags, along with an increased power at the occipital scalp region for synchronous AV stimuli. At the level of large-scale neuronal networks, enhanced functional connectivity at the gamma band involving frontal regions serves as a marker of AV integration. Thus, we report in one single study that segregation of information processing at individual brain locations and integration of information over candidate brain networks underlie multisensory speech perception.

Engaging regularly with fiction influences connectivity in cortical areas for language and mentalizing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roel M. Willems ◽  
Franziska Hartung
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Social Abilities ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
Amount Of Reading

Behavioral evidence suggests that engaging with fiction is positively correlated with social abilities. The rationale behind this link is that engaging with fictional narratives offers a ‘training modus’ for mentalizing and empathizing. We investigated the influence of the amount of reading that participants report doing in their daily lives, on connections between brain areas while they listened to literary narratives. Participants (N=57) listened to two literary narratives while brain activation was measured with fMRI. We computed time-course correlations between brain regions, and compared the correlation values from listening to narratives to listening to reversed speech. The between-region correlations were then related to the amount of fiction that participants read in their daily lives. Our results show that amount of fiction reading is related to functional connectivity in areas known to be involved in language and mentalizing. This suggests that reading fiction influences social cognition as well as language skills.

scholarly journals Fear-induced brain activations distinguish anxious and trauma-exposed brains

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenfu Wen ◽  
Marie-France Marin ◽  
Jennifer Urbano Blackford ◽  
Zhe Sage Chen ◽  
Mohammed R. Milad
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Psychiatric Diagnosis ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Conditioned Fear ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Task Irrelevant ◽  
Translational Models

AbstractTranslational models of fear conditioning and extinction have elucidated a core neural network involved in the learning, consolidation, and expression of conditioned fear and its extinction. Anxious or trauma-exposed brains are characterized by dysregulated neural activations within regions of this fear network. In this study, we examined how the functional MRI activations of 10 brain regions commonly activated during fear conditioning and extinction might distinguish anxious or trauma-exposed brains from controls. To achieve this, activations during four phases of a fear conditioning and extinction paradigm in 304 participants with or without a psychiatric diagnosis were studied. By training convolutional neural networks (CNNs) using task-specific brain activations, we reliably distinguished the anxious and trauma-exposed brains from controls. The performance of models decreased significantly when we trained our CNN using activations from task-irrelevant brain regions or from a brain network that is irrelevant to fear. Our results suggest that neuroimaging data analytics of task-induced brain activations within the fear network might provide novel prospects for development of brain-based psychiatric diagnosis.

scholarly journals Mechanisms Underlying the Cognitive and Behavioural Effects of Maternal Obesity

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 240
Author(s):  
Kyoko Hasebe ◽  
Michael D. Kendig ◽  
Margaret J. Morris
Keyword(s):  
Animal Models ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Gut Microbiome ◽  
Maternal Obesity ◽  
Maternal Diet ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Obesogenic Diet

The widespread consumption of ‘western’-style diets along with sedentary lifestyles has led to a global epidemic of obesity. Epidemiological, clinical and preclinical evidence suggests that maternal obesity, overnutrition and unhealthy dietary patterns programs have lasting adverse effects on the physical and mental health of offspring. We review currently available preclinical and clinical evidence and summarise possible underlying neurobiological mechanisms by which maternal overnutrition may perturb offspring cognitive function, affective state and psychosocial behaviour, with a focus on (1) neuroinflammation; (2) disrupted neuronal circuities and connectivity; and (3) dysregulated brain hormones. We briefly summarise research implicating the gut microbiota in maternal obesity-induced changes to offspring behaviour. In animal models, maternal obesogenic diet consumption disrupts CNS homeostasis in offspring, which is critical for healthy neurodevelopment, by altering hypothalamic and hippocampal development and recruitment of glial cells, which subsequently dysregulates dopaminergic and serotonergic systems. The adverse effects of maternal obesogenic diets are also conferred through changes to hormones including leptin, insulin and oxytocin which interact with these brain regions and neuronal circuits. Furthermore, accumulating evidence suggests that the gut microbiome may directly and indirectly contribute to these maternal diet effects in both human and animal studies. As the specific pathways shaping abnormal behaviour in offspring in the context of maternal obesogenic diet exposure remain unknown, further investigations are needed to address this knowledge gap. Use of animal models permits investigation of changes in neuroinflammation, neurotransmitter activity and hormones across global brain network and sex differences, which could be directly and indirectly modulated by the gut microbiome.

scholarly journals Reconfiguration of human evolving large-scale epileptic brain networks prior to seizures: an evaluation with node centralities

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rieke Fruengel ◽  
Timo Bröhl ◽  
Thorsten Rings ◽  
Klaus Lehnertz
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Brain Networks ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Functional Connections ◽  
Node Centrality ◽  
Network Mechanism

AbstractPrevious research has indicated that temporal changes of centrality of specific nodes in human evolving large-scale epileptic brain networks carry information predictive of impending seizures. Centrality is a fundamental network-theoretical concept that allows one to assess the role a node plays in a network. This concept allows for various interpretations, which is reflected in a number of centrality indices. Here we aim to achieve a more general understanding of local and global network reconfigurations during the pre-seizure period as indicated by changes of different node centrality indices. To this end, we investigate—in a time-resolved manner—evolving large-scale epileptic brain networks that we derived from multi-day, multi-electrode intracranial electroencephalograpic recordings from a large but inhomogeneous group of subjects with pharmacoresistant epilepsies with different anatomical origins. We estimate multiple centrality indices to assess the various roles the nodes play while the networks transit from the seizure-free to the pre-seizure period. Our findings allow us to formulate several major scenarios for the reconfiguration of an evolving epileptic brain network prior to seizures, which indicate that there is likely not a single network mechanism underlying seizure generation. Rather, local and global aspects of the pre-seizure network reconfiguration affect virtually all network constituents, from the various brain regions to the functional connections between them.

Auditory and Auditory-Visual Perception of Clear and Conversational Speech

1997 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 432-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen S. Helfer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Presentation Mode ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Visual Speech ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Clear Speech ◽  
Nature Of Information ◽  
Speech Cues ◽  
Visual Speech Information ◽  
Speech Information

Research has shown that speaking in a deliberately clear manner can improve the accuracy of auditory speech recognition. Allowing listeners access to visual speech cues also enhances speech understanding. Whether the nature of information provided by speaking clearly and by using visual speech cues is redundant has not been determined. This study examined how speaking mode (clear vs. conversational) and presentation mode (auditory vs. auditory-visual) influenced the perception of words within nonsense sentences. In Experiment 1, 30 young listeners with normal hearing responded to videotaped stimuli presented audiovisually in the presence of background noise at one of three signal-to-noise ratios. In Experiment 2, 9 participants returned for an additional assessment using auditory-only presentation. Results of these experiments showed significant effects of speaking mode (clear speech was easier to understand than was conversational speech) and presentation mode (auditoryvisual presentation led to better performance than did auditory-only presentation). The benefit of clear speech was greater for words occurring in the middle of sentences than for words at either the beginning or end of sentences for both auditory-only and auditory-visual presentation, whereas the greatest benefit from supplying visual cues was for words at the end of sentences spoken both clearly and conversationally. The total benefit from speaking clearly and supplying visual cues was equal to the sum of each of these effects. Overall, the results suggest that speaking clearly and providing visual speech information provide complementary (rather than redundant) information.

The Cortical Organization of Writing Sequence: Evidence From Observing Chinese Characters in Motion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaoqi Zhang ◽  
Qiming Yuan ◽  
Zeping Liu ◽  
Man Zhang ◽  
Junjie Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Chinese Character ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Hierarchical Control ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Equation Model ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
General Motor ◽  
The Right

Abstract Writing sequences play an important role in handwriting of Chinese characters. However, little is known regarding the integral brain patterns and network mechanisms of processing Chinese character writing sequences. The present study decoded brain patterns during observing Chinese characters in motion by using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), meta-analytic decoding analysis, and extended unified structural equation model (euSEM). We found that perception of Chinese character writing sequence recruited brain regions not only for general motor schema processing, i.e., the right inferior frontal gyrus, shifting and inhibition functions, i.e., the right postcentral gyrus and bilateral pre-SMA/dACC, but also for sensorimotor functions specific for writing sequences. More importantly, these brain regions formed a cooperatively top-down brain network where information was transmitted from brain regions for general motor schema processing to those specific for writing sequences. These findings not only shed light on the neural mechanisms of Chinese character writing sequences, but also extend the hierarchical control model on motor schema processing.

scholarly journals A Computational Network Control Theory Analysis of Depression Symptoms

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoed N. Kenett ◽  
Roger E. Beaty ◽  
John D. Medaglia
Keyword(s):  
Control Theory ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Network Control ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Subclinical Depression

AbstractRumination and impaired inhibition are considered core characteristics of depression. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms that contribute to these atypical cognitive processes remain unclear. To address this question, we apply a computational network control theory approach to structural brain imaging data acquired via diffusion tensor imaging in a large sample of participants, to examine how network control theory relates to individual differences in subclinical depression. Recent application of this theory at the neural level is built on a model of brain dynamics, which mathematically models patterns of inter-region activity propagated along the structure of an underlying network. The strength of this approach is its ability to characterize the potential role of each brain region in regulating whole-brain network function based on its anatomical fingerprint and a simplified model of node dynamics. We find that subclinical depression is negatively related to higher integration abilities in the right anterior insula, replicating and extending previous studies implicating atypical switching between the default mode and Executive Control Networks in depression. We also find that subclinical depression is related to the ability to “drive” the brain system into easy to reach neural states in several brain regions, including the bilateral lingual gyrus and lateral occipital gyrus. These findings highlight brain regions less known in their role in depression, and clarify their roles in driving the brain into different neural states related to depression symptoms.

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