scholarly journals Action-based predictions affect visual perception, neural processing, and pupil size, regardless of temporal predictability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Lubinus ◽  
Wolfgang Einhäuser ◽  
Florian Schiller ◽  
Tilo Kircher ◽  
Benjamin Straube ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pupil Size ◽  
Efference Copy ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Sensory Action ◽  
Temporal Predictability ◽  
Sensory Attenuation ◽  
Predictive Mechanisms

AbstractSensory consequences of one’s own action are often perceived as less intense, and lead to reduced neural responses, compared to externally generated stimuli. Presumably, such sensory attenuation is due to predictive mechanisms based on the motor command (efference copy). However, sensory attenuation has also been observed outside the context of voluntary action, namely when stimuli are temporally predictable. Here, we aimed at disentangling the effects of motor and temporal predictability-based mechanisms on the attenuation of sensory action consequences. During fMRI data acquisition, participants (N = 25) judged which of two visual stimuli was brighter. In predictable blocks, the stimuli appeared temporally aligned with their button press (active) or aligned with an automatically generated cue (passive). In unpredictable blocks, stimuli were presented with a variable delay after button press/cue, respectively. Eye tracking was performed to investigate pupil-size changes and to ensure proper fixation. Self-generated stimuli were perceived as darker and led to less neural activation in visual areas than their passive counterparts, indicating sensory attenuation for self-generated stimuli independent of temporal predictability. Pupil size was larger during self-generated stimuli, which correlated negatively with blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response: the larger the pupil, the smaller the BOLD amplitude in visual areas. Our results suggest that sensory attenuation in visual cortex is driven by action-based predictive mechanisms rather than by temporal predictability. This effect may be related to changes in pupil diameter. Altogether, these results emphasize the role of the efference copy in the processing of sensory action consequences.

scholarly journals Sensory Attenuation in the Auditory Modality as a Window Into Predictive Processing

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabian Kiepe ◽  
Nils Kraus ◽  
Guido Hesselmann
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Coding ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Auditory Input ◽  
Current State ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Sensory Attenuation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Predictive Mechanisms

Self-generated auditory input is perceived less loudly than the same sounds generated externally. The existence of this phenomenon, called Sensory Attenuation (SA), has been studied for decades and is often explained by motor-based forward models. Recent developments in the research of SA, however, challenge these models. We review the current state of knowledge regarding theoretical implications about the significance of Sensory Attenuation and its role in human behavior and functioning. Focusing on behavioral and electrophysiological results in the auditory domain, we provide an overview of the characteristics and limitations of existing SA paradigms and highlight the problem of isolating SA from other predictive mechanisms. Finally, we explore different hypotheses attempting to explain heterogeneous empirical findings, and the impact of the Predictive Coding Framework in this research area.

Effect of Luminance Contrast on BOLD fMRI Response in Human Primary Visual Areas

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 2204-2207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley G. Goodyear ◽  
Ravi S. Menon
Keyword(s):  
Luminance Contrast ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Planar Imaging ◽  
Bold Fmri ◽  
Activation Level ◽  
Red Led ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
Fmri Response ◽  
Image Pixels

Goodyear, Bradley G. and Ravi S. Menon. Effect of luminance contrast on BOLD fMRI response in human primary visual areas. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 2204–2207, 1998. In this study, we examined the effect of stimulus luminance contrast on blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging within human visual cortex (V1 and extrastriate). Between experiments, the calibrated luminance of a single red LED covering 2° of the subject's visual field was changed relative to a constant background luminance. This stimulus provided a different foveal luminance contrast for each experiment. We used an echo planar imaging sequence to collect blood-oxygenation-sensitive images during and in the absence of the presented stimulus. Our results showed that within V1 there was an increase in the spatial extent of activation with increasing stimulus contrast, but no trend was seen within extrastriate. In both V1 and extrastriate, the local mean activation level for all activated image pixels remained constant with increasing luminance contrast. However, when we investigated activated pixels common to all luminance contrast levels, we found that there was an increase in the mean activation level within V1, but not within extrastriate. These results suggest that there is an increase in the activity of cells in V1 with increasing luminance contrast.

scholarly journals Effects of arousal and movement on secondary somatosensory and visual thalamus

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon H Petty ◽  
Amanda K Kinnischtzke ◽  
Y Kate Hong ◽  
Randy M Bruno
Keyword(s):  
Pupil Size ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Efference Copy ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Thalamic Nuclei ◽  
Global Effect ◽  
Related Activity ◽  
Visual Thalamus ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Whisker System

Neocortical sensory areas have associated primary and secondary thalamic nuclei. While primary nuclei transmit sensory information to cortex, secondary nuclei remain poorly understood. We recorded juxtasomally from secondary somatosensory (POm) and visual (LP) nuclei of awake mice while tracking whisking and pupil size. POm activity correlated with whisking, but not precise whisker kinematics. This coarse movement modulation persisted after facial paralysis and thus was not due to sensory reafference. This phenomenon also continued during optogenetic silencing of somatosensory and motor cortex and after lesion of superior colliculus, ruling out a motor efference copy mechanism. Whisking and pupil dilation were strongly correlated, possibly reflecting arousal. Indeed LP, which is not part of the whisker system, tracked whisking equally well, further indicating that POm activity does not encode whisker movement per se. The semblance of movement-related activity is likely instead a global effect of arousal on both nuclei. We conclude that secondary thalamus monitors behavioral state, rather than movement, and may exist to alter cortical activity accordingly.

Temporal Expectation Indexed by Pupillary Response

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 354-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Başak Akdoğan ◽  
Fuat Balcı ◽  
Hedderik van Rijn
Keyword(s):  
Pupil Size ◽  
Pupillary Response ◽  
Target Presence ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Attentional Resources ◽  
Trial Onset ◽  
Delay Duration ◽  
Temporal Predictability ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Goal Directed Behavior

Forming temporal expectations plays an instrumental role for the optimization of behavior and allocation of attentional resources. Although the effects of temporal expectations on visual attention are well-established, the question of whether temporal predictions modulate the behavioral outputs of the autonomic nervous system such as the pupillary response remains unanswered. Therefore, this study aimed to obtain an online measure of pupil size while human participants were asked to differentiate between visual targets presented after varying time intervals since trial onset. Specifically, we manipulated temporal predictability in the presentation of target stimuli consisting of letters which appeared after either a short or long delay duration (1.5 vs. 3 s) in the majority of trials (75%) within different test blocks. In the remaining trials (25%), no target stimulus was present to investigate the trajectory of preparatory pupillary response under a low level of temporal uncertainty. The results revealed that the rate of preparatory pupillary response was contingent upon the time of target appearance such that pupils dilated at a higher rate when the targets were expected to appear after a shorter as compared to a longer delay period irrespective of target presence. The finding that pupil size can track temporal regularities and exhibit differential preparatory response between different delay conditions points to the existence of a distributed neural network subserving temporal information processing which is crucial for cognitive functioning and goal-directed behavior.

Class Information Predicts Activation by Object Fragments in Human Object Areas

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1189-1206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulia Lerner ◽  
Boris Epshtein ◽  
Shimon Ullman ◽  
Rafael Malach
Keyword(s):  
Classification Performance ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Imaging Studies ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Human Object ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
Class Information ◽  
High Level ◽  
Object Features

Object-related areas in the ventral visual system in humans are known from imaging studies to be preferentially activated by object images compared with noise or texture patterns. It is unknown, however, which features of the object images are extracted and represented in these areas. Here we tested the extent to which the representation of visual classes used object fragments selected by maximizing the information delivered about the class. We tested functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygenation level-dependent activation of highly informative object features in low- and high-level visual areas, compared with noninformative object features matched for low-level image properties. Activation in V1 was similar, but in the lateral occipital area and in the posterior fusiform gyrus, activation by “informative” fragments was significantly higher for three object classes. Behavioral studies also revealed high correlation between performance and fragments information. The results show that an objective class-information measure can predict classification performance and activation in human object-related areas.

BOLD fMRI Response of Early Visual Areas to Perceived Contrast in Human Amblyopia

2000 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 1907-1913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley G. Goodyear ◽  
David A. Nicolle ◽  
G. Keith Humphrey ◽  
Ravi S. Menon
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Frequency ◽  
Neuronal Response ◽  
Blood Oxygenation ◽  
Normal Vision ◽  
Staircase Method ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Oxygenation Level ◽  
Fmri Response ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Contrast Thresholds

In this study, we used a temporal two-alternative forced choice psychophysical procedure to measure the observer's perception of a 22% physical contrast grating for each eye as a function of spatial frequency in four subjects with unilateral amblyopia and in six subjects with normal vision. Contrast thresholds were also measured using a standard staircase method. Additionally, blood-oxygenation-level–dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure the neuronal response within early visual cortical areas to monocular presentations of the same 22% physical contrast gratings as a function of spatial frequency. For all six subjects with normal vision and for three subjects with amblyopia, the psychophysically measured perception of 22% contrast as a function of spatial frequency was the same for both eyes. Threshold contrast, however, was elevated for the amblyopic eye for all subjects, as expected. The magnitude of the fMRI response to 22% physical contrast within “activated” voxels was the same for each eye as a function of spatial frequency, regardless of the presence of amblyopia. However, there were always fewer “activated” fMRI voxels during amblyopic stimulation than during normal eye stimulation. These results are consistent with the hypotheses that contrast thresholds are elevated in amblyopia because fewer neurons are responsive during amblyopic stimulation, and that the average firing rate of the responsive neurons, which reflects the perception of contrast, is unaffected in amblyopia.

scholarly journals Amplified engagement of prefrontal cortex during control of voluntary action in Tourette syndrome

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Rae
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Motor Cortex ◽  
Caudate Nucleus ◽  
Tourette Syndrome ◽  
Primary Motor Cortex ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Reactive Inhibition ◽  
Tic Suppression

Tourette syndrome is characterised by ‘unvoluntary’ tics, which are compulsive, yet often temporarily suppressible. The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is implicated in motor control, including inhibition of pre-potent actions through influences on downstream subcortical and motor regions. While tic suppression in Tourette Syndrome also engages the IFG, it is unclear whether such prefrontal control of action is also dysfunctional: Tic suppression studies do not permit comparison with control groups, and neuroimaging studies of motor inhibition can be confounded by the concurrent expression or suppression of tics. Here, patients with Tourette syndrome were directly compared to control participants when performing an intentional inhibition task during fMRI. Tic expression was recorded throughout for removal from statistical models. Participants were instructed to make a button press in response to Go cues, withheld responses to NoGo cues to, and decide whether to press or withhold to ‘Choose’ cues. Overall performance was similar between groups, for both intentional inhibition rates (% Choose-Go) and reactive NoGo inhibition commission errors. A subliminal face prime elicited no additional effects on intentional or reactive inhibition. Across participants, the task activated prefrontal and motor cortices and subcortical nuclei, including pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA), IFG, insula, caudate nucleus, thalamus, and primary motor cortex. In Tourette syndrome, activity was elevated in the IFG, insula, and basal ganglia, most notably within the right IFG during voluntary action and inhibition (Choose-Go and Choose-NoGo), and reactive inhibition (NoGo-correct). Anatomically, the locus of this IFG hyperactivation during control of voluntary action matched that previously reported for tic suppression. In Tourette syndrome, activity within the caudate nucleus was also enhanced during both intentional (Choose-NoGo) and reactive (NoGo-correct) inhibition. Strikingly, despite the absence of overt motor behaviour, primary motor cortex activity increased in patients with Tourette syndrome but decreased in controls during both reactive and intentional inhibition. Additionally, severity of premonitory sensations scaled with functional connectivity of the preSMA to the caudate nucleus, globus pallidus, and thalamus when choosing to respond (Choose-Go). Together, these results suggest that patients with Tourette syndrome use equivalent prefrontal mechanisms to suppress tics and withhold non-tic actions, but require greater IFG engagement than controls to overcome motor drive from hyperactive downstream regions, notably primary motor cortex. Moreover, premonitory sensations may cue midline motor regions to generate tics through interactions with the basal ganglia.

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