scholarly journals Locally distributed abstraction of temporal distance in human parietal cortex

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qun Ye ◽  
Yi Hu ◽  
Yixuan Ku ◽  
Kofi Appiah ◽  
Sze Chai Kwok

AbstractAn enduring puzzle in the neuroscience of memory is how the brain parsimoniously situates past events by their order in relation to time. By combining functional MRI, and representational similarity analysis, we reveal a multivoxel representation of time intervals separating pairs of episodic event-moments in the posterior medial memory system, especially when the events were experienced within a similar temporal context. We further show such multivoxel representations to be vulnerable to disruption through targeted repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and that perturbation to the mnemonic abstraction alters the neural—behavior relationship across the wider parietal memory network. Our findings establish a mnemonic “pattern-based” code of temporal distances in the human brain, a fundamental neural mechanism for supporting the temporal structure of past events, assigning the precuneus as a locus of flexibly effecting the manipulation of physical time during episodic memory retrieval.

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1717-1737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nir Levy ◽  
David Horn ◽  
Eytan Ruppin

Recent imaging studies suggest that object knowledge is stored in the brain as a distributed network of many cortical areas. Motivated by these observations, we study a multimodular associative memory network, whose functional goal is to store patterns with different coding levels—patterns that vary in the number of modules in which they are encoded. We show that in order to accomplish this task, synaptic inputs should be segregated into intramodular projections and intermodular projections, with the latter undergoing additional nonlinear dendritic processing. This segregation makes sense anatomically if the intermodular projections represent distal synaptic connections on apical dendrites. It is then straightforward to show that memories encoded in more modules are more resilient to focal afferent damage. Further hierarchical segregation of intermodular connections on the dendritic tree improves this resilience, allowing memory retrieval from input to just one of the modules in which it is encoded.


Agriculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 557
Author(s):  
Roberta Barrasso ◽  
Vincenzo Tufarelli ◽  
Edmondo Ceci ◽  
Francesco Luposella ◽  
Giancarlo Bozzo

The aim of this study was to evaluate the persistence of two signs of consciousness (rhythmic breathing and corneal reflex) in lambs slaughtered according to the traditional method and Halal ritual rite. A total of 240 lambs were examined and divided into two equal groups (n = 120 each). Lambs of group A were subjected to the stunning phase by the action of an electric current on the brain, while lambs of group B were slaughtered according to the religious Halal method without prior stunning. Rhythmic breathing (RB) and corneal reflex (CR) were used as indicators of prolonged brain function, and their evaluation was carried out by the operators in three subsequent steps at 15 s, 30 s, and 90 s post-bleeding, respectively. The stunning of the lambs reduced the animal’s state of consciousness and, consequently, reduced suffering, pain, and distress. Indeed, the lambs of group B showed longer duration consciousness than the animals stunned by electrodes. The permanence of the reflexes in Halal slaughter could be reduced by introducing a reversible stunning method to make the animal temporarily unconscious. Moreover, given that our results revealed consciousness also after 90 s post-cut, the assessment of the animal’s state of consciousness in wider time intervals than those commonly used is recommended.


1989 ◽  
Vol 155 (S7) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy C. Andreasen

When Kraepelin originally defined and described dementia praecox, he assumed that it was due to some type of neural mechanism. He hypothesised that abnormalities could occur in a variety of brain regions, including the prefrontal, auditory, and language regions of the cortex. Many members of his department, including Alzheimer and Nissl, were actively involved in the search for the neuropathological lesions that would characterise schizophrenia. Although Kraepelin did not use the term ‘negative symptoms', he describes them comprehensively and states explicitly that he believes the symptoms of schizophrenia can be explained in terms of brain dysfunction:“If it should be confirmed that the disease attacks by preference the frontal areas of the brain, the central convolutions and central lobes, this distribution would in a certain measure agree with our present views about the site of the psychic mechanisms which are principally injured by the disease. On various grounds, it is easy to believe that the frontal cortex, which is specially well developed in man, stands in closer relation to his higher intellectual abilities, and these are the faculties which in our patients invariably suffer profound loss in contrast to memory and acquired ability.” Kraepelin (1919, p. 219)


2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Landreth ◽  
John Bickle

We briefly describe ways in which neuroeconomics has made contributions to its contributing disciplines, especially neuroscience, and a specific way in which it could make future contributions to both. The contributions of a scientific research programme can be categorized in terms of (1) description and classification of phenomena, (2) the discovery of causal relationships among those phenomena, and (3) the development of tools to facilitate (1) and (2). We consider ways in which neuroeconomics has advanced neuroscience and economics along each line. Then, focusing on electrophysiological methods, we consider a puzzle within neuroeconomics whose solution we believe could facilitate contributions to both neuroscience and economics, in line with category (2). This puzzle concerns how the brain assigns reward values to otherwise incomparable stimuli. According to the common currency hypothesis, dopamine release is a component of a neural mechanism that solves comparability problems. We review two versions of the common currency hypothesis, one proposed by Read Montague and colleagues, the other by William Newsome and colleagues, and fit these hypotheses into considerations of rational choice.


Author(s):  
Patricia S. Churchland ◽  
Terrence J. Sejnowski

This chapter examines the physical mechanisms in nervous systems in order to elucidate the structural bases and functional principles of synaptic plasticity. Neuroscientific research on plasticity can be divided into four main streams: the neural mechanism for relatively simple kinds of plasticity, such as classical conditioning or habituation; anatomical and physiological studies of temporal lobe structures, including the hippocampus and the amygdala; study of the development of the visual system; and the relation between the animal's genes and the development of its nervous system. The chapter first considers the role of the mammalian hippocampus in learning and memory before discussing Donald Hebb's views on synaptic plasticity. It then explores the mechanisms underlying neuronal plasticity and those that decrease synaptic strength, the relevance of time with respect to plasticity, and the occurrence of plasticity during the development of the nervous system. It also describes modules, modularity, and networks in the brain.


1987 ◽  
Vol 253 (3) ◽  
pp. E317-E321 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. A. Carone ◽  
M. A. Stetler-Stevenson ◽  
V. May ◽  
A. LaBarbera ◽  
G. Flouret

Homogenates of brain, pituitary, liver, lung, ovary, and testes were incubated with [pyro Glu1-3,4-3H]luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone ([3H]LHRH), and the profiles of metabolites generated as a function of time were determined. After 5 min of incubation, 5 was the predominant metabolite in most homogenates. Although the profiles of metabolites varied at different time intervals, metabolites 2, 3, 4, and 5, and in some instances 7 and 9, appeared to form simultaneously and were detectable at 10 min. Neither metabolite 6 nor other larger metabolites formed initially as dominant degradation products. The findings suggest cleavage of LHRH by the simultaneous action of several endopeptidases. After a single vascular transit of [3H]LHRH, metabolites were determined in the venous blood of liver, lung, and brain of rats in vivo. There were no metabolites of [3H]LHRH in venous blood of liver and lung; however, metabolites 2-4 were present in venous blood of the brain. Incubation of rat anterior pituitary cells with [3H]LHRH yielded metabolites 1-4 but not metabolites 5 or 9 as in homogenates. Incubation of [3H]LHRH with porcine follicular granulosa cells resulted in the generation of metabolites 2-7 and 9, similar to the profile in homogenates. Thus, since homogenates contain enzymes of disrupted cells, they do not always reflect mechanisms for in vivo hydrolysis of circulating LHRH. Brain degraded 12.1% of LHRH during a single vascular transit and may account for substantial degradation of the circulating hormone.


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