scholarly journals Inferior parietal lobule and early visual areas support elicitation of individualized meanings during narrative listening

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Saalasti ◽  
J. Alho ◽  
M. Bar ◽  
E. Glerean ◽  
T. Honkela ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Latent Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Parietal Lobule

AbstractWhen listening to a narrative, the verbal expressions translate into meanings and flow of mental imagery, at best vividly immersing the keen listener into the sights, sounds, scents, objects, actions, and events in the story. However, the same narrative can be heard quite differently based on differences in listeners’ previous experiences and knowledge, as the semantics and mental imagery elicited by words and phrases in the story vary extensively between any given two individuals. Here, we capitalized on such inter-individual differences to disclose brain regions that support transformation of narrative into individualized propositional meanings and associated mental imagery by analyzing brain activity associated with behaviorally-assessed individual meanings elicited by a narrative. Sixteen subjects listed words best describing what had come to their minds during each 3–5 sec segment of an eight-minute narrative that they listened during fMRI of brain hemodynamic activity. Similarities in these word listings between subjects, estimated using latent-semantic analysis combined with WordNet knowledge, predicted similarities in brain hemodynamic activity in supramarginal and angular gyri as well as in cuneus. Our results demonstrate how inter-individual differences in semantic representations can be measured and utilized to identify specific brain regions that support the elicitation of individual propositional meanings and the associated mental imagery when one listens to a narrative.

Individual Differences in Mental Imagery Modulate Effective Connectivity of Scene-Selective Regions During Resting State

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Giulia Tullo ◽  
Hannes Almgren ◽  
Frederik Van de Steen ◽  
Valentina Sulpizio ◽  
Daniele Marinazzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Effective Connectivity ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Intrinsic Activity ◽  
Inhibitory Influence ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Intrinsic Fluctuation

Abstract Successful navigation relies on the ability to identify, perceive, and correctly process the spatial structure of a scene. It is well known that visual mental imagery plays a crucial role in navigation. Indeed, cortical regions encoding navigationally relevant information are also active during mental imagery of navigational scenes. However, it remains unknown whether their intrinsic activity and connectivity reflect the individuals’ ability to imagine a scene. Here, we primarily investigated the intrinsic causal interactions among scene-selective brain regions such as Parahipoccampal Place Area (PPA), Retrosplenial Complex (RSC), and Occipital Place Area (OPA) using Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) for resting-state functional magnetic resonance (rs-fMRI) data. Second, we tested whether resting-state effective connectivity parameters among scene-selective regions could reflect individual differences in mental imagery in our sample, as assessed by the self-reported Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ). We found an inhibitory influence of occipito-medial on temporal regions, and an excitatory influence of more anterior on more medial and posterior brain regions. Moreover, we found that a key role in imagery is played by the connection strength from OPA to PPA, especially in the left hemisphere, since the influence of the signal between these scene-selective regions positively correlated with good mental imagery ability. Our investigation contributes to the understanding of the complexity of the causal interaction among brain regions involved in navigation and provides new insight in understanding how an essential ability, such as mental imagery, can be explained by the intrinsic fluctuation of brain signal.

Biological Evidence of Imagery Abilities: Intraindividual Differences

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D. Seiler ◽  
Eva V. Monsma ◽  
Roger D. Newman-Norlund
Keyword(s):  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Brain Scans ◽  
Movement Imagery ◽  
The Neural Networks ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
Biological Evidence

This study extended motor imagery theories by establishing specificity and verification of expected brain activation patterns during imagery. Eighteen female participants screened with the Movement Imagery Questionnaire-3 (MIQ-3) as having good imagery abilities were scanned to determine the neural networks active during an arm rotation task. Four experimental conditions (i.e., KINESTHETIC, INTERNAL Perspective, EXTERNAL Perspective, and REST) were randomly presented (counterbalanced for condition) during three brain scans. Behaviorally, moderate interscale correlations were found between the MIQ-3 and Vividness of Movement Imagery Questionnaire-2, indicating relatedness between the questionnaires. Partially confirming our hypotheses, common and distinct brain activity provides initial biological validation for imagery abilities delineated in the MIQ-3: kinesthetic imagery activated motor-related areas, internal visual imagery activated inferior parietal lobule, and external visual imagery activated temporal, but no occipital areas. Lastly, inconsistent neuroanatomical intraindividual differences per condition were found. These findings relative to recent biological evidence of imagery abilities are highlighted.

scholarly journals Semantic diversity is best measured with unscaled vectors: Reply to Cevoli, Watkins and Rastle (2020)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Hoffman ◽  
Matthew A. Lambon Ralph ◽  
Timothy T. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Latent Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Singular Values ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Diversity Measure ◽  
Contextual Variability ◽  
Original Measure ◽  
Special Case

AbstractSemantic diversity refers to the degree of semantic variability in the contexts in which a particular word is used. We have previously proposed a method for measuring semantic diversity based on latent semantic analysis (LSA). In a recent paper, Cevoli et al. (2020) attempted to replicate our method and obtained different semantic diversity values. They suggested that this discrepancy occurred because they scaled their LSA vectors by their singular values, while we did not. Using their new results, they argued that semantic diversity is not related to ambiguity in word meaning, as we originally proposed. In this reply, we demonstrate that the use of unscaled vectors provides better fits to human semantic judgements than scaled ones. Thus we argue that our original semantic diversity measure should be preferred over the Cevoli et al. version. We replicate Cevoli et al.’s analysis using the original semantic diversity measure and find (a) our original measure is a better predictor of word recognition latencies than the Cevoli et al. equivalent and (b) that, unlike Cevoli et al.’s measure, our semantic diversity is reliably associated with a measure of polysemy based on dictionary definitions. We conclude that the Hoffman et al. semantic diversity measure is better-suited to capturing the contextual variability among words and that words appearing in a more diverse set of contexts have more variable semantic representations. However, we found that homonyms did not have higher semantic diversity values than non-homonyms, suggesting that the measure does not capture this special case of ambiguity.

scholarly journals Decoding images in the mind’s eye: The temporal dynamics of visual imagery

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophia M. Shatek ◽  
Tijl Grootswagers ◽  
Amanda K. Robinson ◽  
Thomas A. Carlson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Santa Claus ◽  
Physical Stimuli ◽  
Multivariate Pattern ◽  
The Mind

AbstractMental imagery is the ability to generate images in the mind in the absence of sensory input. Both perceptual visual processing and internally generated imagery engage large, overlapping networks of brain regions. However, it is unclear whether they are characterized by similar temporal dynamics. Recent magnetoencephalography work has shown that object category information was decodable from brain activity during mental imagery, but the timing was delayed relative to perception. The current study builds on these findings, using electroencephalography to investigate the dynamics of mental imagery. Sixteen participants viewed two images of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and two images of Santa Claus. On each trial, they viewed a sequence of the four images and were asked to imagine one of them, which was cued retroactively by its temporal location in the sequence. Time-resolved multivariate pattern analysis was used to decode the viewed and imagined stimuli. Our results indicate that the dynamics of imagery processes are more variable across, and within, participants compared to perception of physical stimuli. Although category and exemplar information was decodable for viewed stimuli, there were no informative patterns of activity during mental imagery. The current findings suggest stimulus complexity, task design and individual differences may influence the ability to successfully decode imagined images. We discuss the implications of these results for our understanding of the neural processes underlying mental imagery.

scholarly journals Coda: Creativity in psychological research versus in linguistics – Same but different?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selina Weiss ◽  
Oliver Wilhelm
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Latent Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
General Process ◽  
Interdisciplinary Work ◽  
Verbal Creativity ◽  
Societal Relevance ◽  
Creativity Research ◽  
Similarities And Differences

Understanding the very nature of creativity is a hot topic in research across various disciplines and has profound societal relevance. In this contribution, we discuss verbal creativity by highlighting its definition, psy-chometric measurement, and relations with other personality dispositions. We relate psychological research with findings from linguistics presented in this issue and depict similarities and differences between both approaches. More specifically, we relate the linguistic terminology of F-creativity to flu-ency and flexibility, whereas we identify E-creativity as akin to originality. We propose latent semantic analysis as a possible approach for evaluating originality and compare this approach with more commonly applied human ratings. Based on contributions in this issue, we discuss creativity as a domain-general process that is (e.g., in applied arts) often driven by the recombination of mental elements. Lastly, we propose several intelligence and personality dispositions as determinants of individual differences in creativity. We conclude that creativity research in linguistic and psycholo-gy has many communalities and interdisciplinary work bears strong prom-ises for the future.

Study of brain asymmetries in sporadic and familial first episode patients with schizophrenia

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 919-919 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Deng ◽  
L. Zou ◽  
L. Cui ◽  
C. Huang ◽  
Z. Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
First Episode ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Superior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Patient Groups ◽  
Drug Naïve ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
The Difference ◽  
First Episode Schizophrenia

IntroductionAlthough the deviations of brain volume deficits in sporadic and familial first-episode schizophrenia patients (FEP) had been presented, the difference of brain asymmetries remained unidentified.ObjectivesTo assess the potential differences of volumetric asymmetries of gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) between groups.AimsTo find out the different injury alteration of sporadic FEP and familial FEP.Methods42 sporadic and 30 familiar drug-naïve FEP with and 72 matched normal controls (NC) were recruited. Participants were assessed with neuropsychological tests and scanned by a 3.0T MRI to obtain T1-weighted and DTI images. Lateralization distribution maps of GM and WM volume were generated by employing optimized voxel-based morphometry. The asymmetries were analyzed by comparing calculating Laterality Index (LI) voxel by voxel.ResultsAll three groups showed similar overall brain torque. Familiar FEP have more regional extensive GM asymmetry brain lesions compared to sporadic FEP. There was no shared regional lesion between two groups. LIGM and LIWM in right superior temporal were negatively correlated. Significant negative correlations were also found between LIGM of left superior parietal lobule and LIWM of right superior parietal lobule, and between LIGM of right inferior parietal lobule and LIWM of left inferior parietal lobule. The asymmetry in distinct brain regions were related to cognitive deficits especially in the domains of language and memory.ConclusionsThe two patient groups had different alteration in injuries of brain asymmetry. Familiar FEP has more GM extensive asymmetry brain region, which may correlate with their high genetic burdens.

scholarly journals Alterations of Regional Spontaneous Brain Activity and Gray Matter Volume in the Blind

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aili Jiang ◽  
Jing Tian ◽  
Rui Li ◽  
Yong Liu ◽  
Tianzi Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gray Matter ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Visual Deprivation ◽  
Onset Age ◽  
Spontaneous Brain Activity ◽  
Matter Volume ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
High Level

Visual deprivation can induce alterations of regional spontaneous brain activity (RSBA). However, the effects of onset age of blindness on the RSBA and the association between the alterations of RSBA and brain structure are still unclear in the blind. In this study, we performed resting-state functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging on 50 sighted controls and 91 blind subjects (20 congenitally blind, 27 early blind, and 44 late blind individuals). Compared with the sighted control, we identified increased RSBA in the blind in primary and high-level visual areas and decreased RSBA in brain regions which are ascribed to sensorimotor and salience networks. In contrast, blind subjects exhibited significantly decreased gray matter volume (GMV) in the visual areas, while they exhibited significantly increased GMV in the sensorimotor areas. Moreover, the onset age of blindness was negatively correlated with the GMV of visual areas in blind subjects, whereas it exerted complex influences on the RSBA. Finally, significant negative correlations were shown between RSBA and GMV values. Our results demonstrated system-dependent, inverse alterations in RSBA and GMV after visual deprivation. Furthermore, the onset age of blindness has different effects on the reorganizations in RSBA and GMV.

scholarly journals Developmental brain structural atypicalities in autism: A voxel-based morphometry analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Wang ◽  
Zeng-Hui Ma ◽  
Ling-Zi Xu ◽  
Liu Yang ◽  
Zhao-Zheng Ji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gray Matter ◽  
Gray Matter Volume ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Voxel Based Morphometry ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Autism Group ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Parietal Lobule

Abstract Background Accumulating structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (sMRI) studies have showed atypicalities in developmental changes of structural regional brain in autism, with largely inconsistent results. Methods The current study investigated the brain structural abnormal features of autistic individuals aged 6~30 years. We included 52 autism individuals and 50 age, gender, and IQ matched typically developing individuals (TD), who were divided into three groups: childhood (6-12 years old), adolescent (13-18 years old) and adulthood (19-30 years old). Whole brain volume and Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) analyses were employed on the sMRI data collected from our participants. Results We found no significant difference in the volume of whole brain, gray matter and white matter between autism and TD groups of the three age groups. For VBM analyses, the volumes of gray matter in right superior temporal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule in children autism group were smaller than those in TD group; the volume of gray matter in left inferior parietal lobule in adolescent autism group was larger than that in TD group; the volume of gray matter in right middle occipital gyrus in adult autism group was larger than that in TD group, and the gray matter in left posterior cingulate gyrus was smaller than that in TD group. Conclusions Findings suggest autism individuals showed different atypical brain regions of gray matter volume in childhood, adolescent, and adulthood relative to their normal peers respectively, indiciating that it is essential to take developmental perspectives into consideration when exploring brain structural abnormalities in autism.

scholarly journals Episodic specificity induction impacts activity in a core brain network during construction of imagined future experiences

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (38) ◽  
pp. 10696-10701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin P. Madore ◽  
Karl K. Szpunar ◽  
Donna Rose Addis ◽  
Daniel L. Schacter
Keyword(s):  
Brain Regions ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Inferior Parietal Lobule ◽  
Episodic Retrieval ◽  
Core Network ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Brief Training ◽  
Parietal Lobule ◽  
Semantic Object

Recent behavioral work suggests that an episodic specificity induction—brief training in recollecting the details of a past experience—enhances performance on subsequent tasks that rely on episodic retrieval, including imagining future experiences, solving open-ended problems, and thinking creatively. Despite these far-reaching behavioral effects, nothing is known about the neural processes impacted by an episodic specificity induction. Related neuroimaging work has linked episodic retrieval with a core network of brain regions that supports imagining future experiences. We tested the hypothesis that key structures in this network are influenced by the specificity induction. Participants received the specificity induction or one of two control inductions and then generated future events and semantic object comparisons during fMRI scanning. After receiving the specificity induction compared with the control, participants exhibited significantly more activity in several core network regions during the construction of imagined events over object comparisons, including the left anterior hippocampus, right inferior parietal lobule, right posterior cingulate cortex, and right ventral precuneus. Induction-related differences in the episodic detail of imagined events significantly modulated induction-related differences in the construction of imagined events in the left anterior hippocampus and right inferior parietal lobule. Resting-state functional connectivity analyses with hippocampal and inferior parietal lobule seed regions and the rest of the brain also revealed significantly stronger core network coupling following the specificity induction compared with the control. These findings provide evidence that an episodic specificity induction selectively targets episodic processes that are commonly linked to key core network regions, including the hippocampus.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document