scholarly journals The role of frontal cortex in multisensory decisions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Coen ◽  
Timothy PH Sit ◽  
Miles J Wells ◽  
Matteo Carandini ◽  
Kenneth D Harris
Keyword(s):  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Dorsal Cortex ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Sensory Cortices ◽  
Combine Information ◽  
Multisensory Information

To interpret the world and make accurate perceptual decisions, the brain must combine information across sensory modalities. For instance, it must combine vision and hearing to localize objects based on their image and sound. Probability theory suggests that evidence from multiple independent cues should be combined additively, but it is unclear whether mice and other mammals do this, and the cortical substrates of multisensory integration are uncertain. Here we show that to localize a stimulus, mice combine auditory and visual spatial cues additively, a computation supported by unisensory processing in auditory and visual cortex and additive multisensory integration in frontal cortex. We developed an audiovisual localization task where mice turn a wheel to indicate the joint position of an image and a sound. Scanning optogenetic inactivation of dorsal cortex showed that auditory and visual areas contribute unisensory information, whereas frontal cortex (secondary motor area, MOs) contributes multisensory information to the decision of the mouse. Neuropixels recordings of >10,000 neurons in frontal cortex indicated that neural activity in MOs reflects an additive combination of visual and auditory signals. An accumulator model applied to the sensory representations of MOs neurons reproduced behaviourally observed choices and reaction times. This suggests that MOs integrates information from multiple sensory cortices, providing a signal that is then transformed into a binary decision by a downstream accumulator.

scholarly journals Visually Induced Inhibition of Return Affects the Integration of Auditory and Visual Information

Perception ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Van der Stoep ◽  
S. Van der Stigchel ◽  
T. C. W. Nijboer ◽  
C. Spence
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Inhibition Of Return ◽  
Race Model ◽  
Signal Strength ◽  
Audiovisual Integration ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Response Enhancement

Multisensory integration (MSI) and exogenous spatial attention can both speedup responses to perceptual events. Recently, it has been shown that audiovisual integration at exogenously attended locations is reduced relative to unattended locations. This effect was observed at short cue-target intervals (200–250 ms). At longer intervals, however, the initial benefits of exogenous shifts of spatial attention at the cued location are often replaced by response time (RT) costs (also known as Inhibition of Return, IOR). Given these opposing cueing effects at shorter versus longer intervals, we decided to investigate whether MSI would also be affected by IOR. Uninformative exogenous visual spatial cues were presented between 350 and 450 ms prior to the onset of auditory, visual, and audiovisual targets. As expected, IOR was observed for visual targets (invalid cue RT < valid cue RT). For auditory and audiovisual targets, neither IOR nor any spatial cueing effects were observed. The amount of relative multisensory response enhancement and race model inequality violation was larger for uncued as compared with cued locations indicating that IOR reduces MSI. The results are discussed in the context of changes in unisensory signal strength at cued as compared with uncued locations.

scholarly journals Role of Inferior Frontal Junction (IFJ) in the Control of Feature vs Spatial Attention

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sreenivasan Meyyappan ◽  
Abhijit Rajan ◽  
George R Mangun ◽  
Mingzhou Ding
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Attention Control ◽  
Spatial Cues ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Feature Attention ◽  
The Right ◽  
Inferior Frontal Junction

ABSTRACTFeature-based attention refers to preferential selection and processing of items and objects based on their non-spatial attributes such as color or shape. While it is intuitively an easier form of attention to relate to in our day to day lives, the neural mechanisms of feature-based attention are not well understood. Studies have long implicated the dorsal attention network as a key control system for voluntary spatial, feature and object-based attention. Recent studies have expanded on this model by focusing on the inferior frontal junction (IFJ), a region in the pre-frontal cortex to be the source of feature attention control, but not spatial attention control. However, the extent to which IFJ contributes to spatial attention remains a topic of debate. We investigated the role of IFJ in the control of feature versus spatial attention in a cued visual spatial (attend left or right) and feature attention (attend red or green) task using fMRI. Analyzing single-trial cue-evoked fMRI responses using univariate GLM and multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), we observed the following. First, the univariate BOLD activation responses yielded no significant differences between feature and spatial cues. Second, MVPA analysis showed above chance level decoding in classifying feature attention (attend-red vs. attend-green) in both the left and right IFJ, whereas during spatial attention (attend-left vs. attend-right) decoding was at chance. Third, while the cue-evoked decoding accuracy was significant for both left and right IFJ during feature attention, target stimulus-evoked neural responses were not different. Importantly, only the connectivity patterns from the right IFJ was predictive of target-evoked activity in visual cortex (V4); this was true for both left and right V4. Finally, the strength of this connectivity between right IFJ and V4 (bilaterally) was found to be predictive of behavioral performance. These results support a model where the right IFJ plays a crucial role in top down control of feature but not spatial attention.

scholarly journals Shared neural underpinnings of multisensory integration and trial-by-trial perceptual recalibration in humans

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hame Park ◽  
Christoph Kayser
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Sensory Integration ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Single Trial ◽  
Neural Substrate ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Multisensory Information ◽  
Adaptive Trial

Perception adapts to mismatching multisensory information, both when different cues appear simultaneously and when they appear sequentially. While both multisensory integration and adaptive trial-by-trial recalibration are central for behavior, it remains unknown whether they are mechanistically linked and arise from a common neural substrate. To relate the neural underpinnings of sensory integration and recalibration, we measured whole-brain magnetoencephalography while human participants performed an audio-visual ventriloquist task. Using single-trial multivariate analysis, we localized the perceptually-relevant encoding of multisensory information within and between trials. While we found neural signatures of multisensory integration within temporal and parietal regions, only medial superior parietal activity encoded past and current sensory information and mediated the perceptual recalibration within and between trials. These results highlight a common neural substrate of sensory integration and perceptual recalibration, and reveal a role of medial parietal regions in linking present and previous multisensory evidence to guide adaptive behavior.

Working Memory and Number Sense as Predictors of Mathematical (Dis-)Ability

2015 ◽  
Vol 223 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn H. Kroesbergen ◽  
Marloes van Dijk
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Learning Disabilities ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Number Sense ◽  
Mathematical Learning ◽  
Visual Spatial ◽  
Mathematical Learning Disabilities ◽  
Visual Spatial Working Memory ◽  
And Mathematics

Recent research has pointed to two possible causes of mathematical (dis-)ability: working memory and number sense, although only few studies have compared the relations between working memory and mathematics and between number sense and mathematics. In this study, both constructs were studied in relation to mathematics in general, and to mathematical learning disabilities (MLD) in particular. The sample consisted of 154 children aged between 6 and 10 years, including 26 children with MLD. Children performing low on either number sense or visual-spatial working memory scored lower on math tests than children without such a weakness. Children with a double weakness scored the lowest. These results confirm the important role of both visual-spatial working memory and number sense in mathematical development.

scholarly journals Sound Richness of Music Might Be Mediated by Color Perception: A PET Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayuki Satoh ◽  
Ken Nagata ◽  
Hidekazu Tomimoto
Keyword(s):  
Blood Flow ◽  
Cerebral Blood Flow ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Regional Cerebral Blood Flow ◽  
Traditional Music ◽  
Simple Condition ◽  
Regional Cerebral Blood ◽  
Subtraction Technique ◽  
Posterior Portion

Objects. We investigated the role of the fusiform cortex in music processing with the use of PET, focusing on the perception of sound richness.Method. Musically naïve subjects listened to familiar melodies with three kinds of accompaniments: (i) an accompaniment composed of only three basic chords (chord condition), (ii) a simple accompaniment typically used in traditional music text books in elementary school (simple condition), and (iii) an accompaniment with rich and flowery sounds composed by a professional composer (complex condition). Using a PET subtraction technique, we studied changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in simple minus chord, complex minus simple, and complex minus chord conditions.Results. The simple minus chord, complex minus simple, and complex minus chord conditions regularly showed increases in rCBF at the posterior portion of the inferior temporal gyrus, including the LOC and fusiform gyrus.Conclusions. We may conclude that certain association cortices such as the LOC and the fusiform cortex may represent centers of multisensory integration, with foreground and background segregation occurring at the LOC level and the recognition of richness and floweriness of stimuli occurring in the fusiform cortex, both in terms of vision and audition.

Seasonal changes of SP and NKA in frontal cortex, striatum and testes in the rat. Role of maternal pineal gland

Peptides ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 997-1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Vázquez Moreno ◽  
L Debeljuk ◽  
E Dı́az Rodrı́guez ◽  
C Fernández Alvarez ◽  
B Dı́az López
Keyword(s):  
Pineal Gland ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Seasonal Changes

The role of the Big Five personality factors in vigilance performance and workload

2002 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 185-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Laurie Rose ◽  
Laura Bennett Murphy ◽  
Lynn Byard ◽  
Katherina Nikzad
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Personality Factors ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Big Five Personality ◽  
Perceptual Sensitivity ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Perceived Workload ◽  
Big Five Personality Factors ◽  
Task Parameters

Using the five‐factor personality model, the present study explored the influence of personality factors on sustained attention and perceived workload. Ninety‐six college‐aged participants were administered a 12 minute vigilance fast event rate task. Following the vigil, participants were asked to first, rate their perceived workload of the task using the NASA‐TLX, and then second, complete the NEO‐PI‐R personality inventory. Traditional measures of hits, false alarms, and reaction times were examined as well as the signal detection indices of perceptual sensitivity and response bias. Extraversion correlated with false alarms (r = 0.181; eta2 = 0.055) and conscientiousness correlated with both false alarms (r = −0.275, eta2 = 0.097) and perceptual sensitivity (r = 0.227, eta2 = 0.052). With regard to perceived workload, neuroticism was related to perceived frustration (r = 0.238, eta2 = 0.057). The findings are discussed in terms of theoretical implications, impact of task parameters, and practical applications. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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