scholarly journals Neural Responses in Dorsal Prefrontal Cortex Reflect Proactive Interference during an Auditory Reversal Task

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolas A. Francis ◽  
Susanne Radtke-Schuller ◽  
Jonathan B. Fritz ◽  
Shihab A. Shamma
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Proactive Interference ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Reversal Task ◽  
Neural Correlate ◽  
The Brain

AbstractTask-related plasticity in the brain is triggered by changes in the behavioral meaning of sounds. We investigated plasticity in ferret dorsolateral frontal cortex (dlFC) during an auditory reversal task to study the neural correlates of proactive interference, i.e., perseveration of previously learned behavioral meanings that are no longer task-appropriate. Although the animals learned the task, target recognition decreased after reversals, indicating proactive interference. Frontal cortex responsiveness was consistent with previous findings that dlFC encodes the behavioral meaning of sounds. However, the neural responses observed here were more complex. For example, target responses were strongly enhanced, while responses to non-target tones and noises were weakly enhanced and strongly suppressed, respectively. Moreover, dlFC responsiveness reflected the proactive interference observed in behavior: target responses decreased after reversals, most significantly during incorrect behavioral responses. These findings suggest that the weak representation of behavioral meaning in dlFC may be a neural correlate of proactive interference.Significance StatementNeural activity in prefrontal cortex (PFC) is believed to enable cognitive flexibility during sensory-guided behavior. Since PFC encodes the behavioral meaning of sensory events, we hypothesized that weak representation of behavioral meaning in PFC may limit cognitive flexibility. To test this hypothesis, we recorded neural activity in ferret PFC, while ferrets performed an auditory reversal task in which the behavioral meanings of sounds were reversed during experiments. The reversal task enabled us study PFC responses during proactive interference, i.e. perseveration of previously learned behavioral meanings that are no longer task-appropriate. We found that task performance errors increased after reversals while PFC representation of behavioral meaning diminished. Our findings suggest that proactive interference may occur when PFC forms weak sensory-cognitive associations.

scholarly journals Can binocular rivalry reveal neural correlates of consciousness?

2014 ◽  
Vol 369 (1641) ◽  
pp. 20130211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph Blake ◽  
Jan Brascamp ◽  
David J. Heeger
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Neural Dynamics ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Neural Correlate ◽  
Neural Correlates Of Consciousness ◽  
Neural Correlate Of Consciousness

This essay critically examines the extent to which binocular rivalry can provide important clues about the neural correlates of conscious visual perception. Our ideas are presented within the framework of four questions about the use of rivalry for this purpose: (i) what constitutes an adequate comparison condition for gauging rivalry's impact on awareness, (ii) how can one distinguish abolished awareness from inattention, (iii) when one obtains unequivocal evidence for a causal link between a fluctuating measure of neural activity and fluctuating perceptual states during rivalry, will it generalize to other stimulus conditions and perceptual phenomena and (iv) does such evidence necessarily indicate that this neural activity constitutes a neural correlate of consciousness? While arriving at sceptical answers to these four questions, the essay nonetheless offers some ideas about how a more nuanced utilization of binocular rivalry may still provide fundamental insights about neural dynamics, and glimpses of at least some of the ingredients comprising neural correlates of consciousness, including those involved in perceptual decision-making.

scholarly journals Olfaction Modulates Early Neural Responses to Matching Visual Objects

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 832-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda K. Robinson ◽  
Judith Reinhard ◽  
Jason B. Mattingley
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Early Visual Processing ◽  
Considerable Research ◽  
Matter Concentration

Sensory information is initially registered within anatomically and functionally segregated brain networks but is also integrated across modalities in higher cortical areas. Although considerable research has focused on uncovering the neural correlates of multisensory integration for the modalities of vision, audition, and touch, much less attention has been devoted to understanding interactions between vision and olfaction in humans. In this study, we asked how odors affect neural activity evoked by images of familiar visual objects associated with characteristic smells. We employed scalp-recorded EEG to measure visual ERPs evoked by briefly presented pictures of familiar objects, such as an orange, mint leaves, or a rose. During presentation of each visual stimulus, participants inhaled either a matching odor, a nonmatching odor, or plain air. The N1 component of the visual ERP was significantly enhanced for matching odors in women, but not in men. This is consistent with evidence that women are superior in detecting, discriminating, and identifying odors and that they have a higher gray matter concentration in olfactory areas of the OFC. We conclude that early visual processing is influenced by olfactory cues because of associations between odors and the objects that emit them, and that these associations are stronger in women than in men.

scholarly journals Reward-Related Suppression of Neural Activity in Macaque Visual Area V4

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 4871-4881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine A Shapcott ◽  
Joscha T Schmiedt ◽  
Kleopatra Kouroupaki ◽  
Ricardo Kienitz ◽  
Andreea Lazar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Correct Choice ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Visual Area ◽  
Perceptual Judgment ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Area V4 ◽  
Differential Reward ◽  
Visual Area V4 ◽  
The Brain

Abstract In order for organisms to survive, they need to detect rewarding stimuli, for example, food or a mate, in a complex environment with many competing stimuli. These rewarding stimuli should be detected even if they are nonsalient or irrelevant to the current goal. The value-driven theory of attentional selection proposes that this detection takes place through reward-associated stimuli automatically engaging attentional mechanisms. But how this is achieved in the brain is not very well understood. Here, we investigate the effect of differential reward on the multiunit activity in visual area V4 of monkeys performing a perceptual judgment task. Surprisingly, instead of finding reward-related increases in neural responses to the perceptual target, we observed a large suppression at the onset of the reward indicating cues. Therefore, while previous research showed that reward increases neural activity, here we report a decrease. More suppression was caused by cues associated with higher reward than with lower reward, although neither cue was informative about the perceptually correct choice. This finding of reward-associated neural suppression further highlights normalization as a general cortical mechanism and is consistent with predictions of the value-driven attention theory.

scholarly journals A psychiatric disease-related circular RNA controls synaptic gene expression and cognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 2712-2727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amber J. Zimmerman ◽  
Alexander K. Hafez ◽  
Stephen K. Amoah ◽  
Brian A. Rodriguez ◽  
Michela Dell’Orco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Rna Binding ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Psychiatric Disease ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Neuronal Cultures

Abstract Although circular RNAs (circRNAs) are enriched in the mammalian brain, very little is known about their potential involvement in brain function and psychiatric disease. Here, we show that circHomer1a, a neuronal-enriched circRNA abundantly expressed in the frontal cortex, derived from Homer protein homolog 1 (HOMER1), is significantly reduced in both the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neuronal cultures from patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). Moreover, alterations in circHomer1a were positively associated with the age of onset of SCZ in both the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). No correlations between the age of onset of SCZ and linear HOMER1 mRNA were observed, whose expression was mostly unaltered in BD and SCZ postmortem brain. Using in vivo circRNA-specific knockdown of circHomer1a in mouse PFC, we show that it modulates the expression of numerous alternative mRNA transcripts from genes involved in synaptic plasticity and psychiatric disease. Intriguingly, in vivo circHomer1a knockdown in mouse OFC resulted in specific deficits in OFC-mediated cognitive flexibility. Lastly, we demonstrate that the neuronal RNA-binding protein HuD binds to circHomer1a and can influence its synaptic expression in the frontal cortex. Collectively, our data uncover a novel psychiatric disease-associated circRNA that regulates synaptic gene expression and cognitive flexibility.

Editorial introduction to Greenwood/West dialogue

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 704-704
Author(s):  
JASON BRANDT
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Pathological Gambling ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Frontal Lobe ◽  
Editorial Introduction ◽  
Frontal Lobe Dysfunction ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Artistic Skill

Although a U.S. Presidential Proclamation designated the 1990s “The Decade of the Brain,” not all cerebral constituents shared equally in the limelight. By anyone's accounting, the prefrontal cortex was the darling of clinicians and neuroscientists throughout the '90s, with everything from schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa to pathological gambling and the emergence of artistic skill attributed to “frontal lobe dysfunction” (David, 1992; Miller et al., 1998; Rugle & Melamed, 1993). It should come as no surprise, then, that that most universal of cognitive afflictions, aging, should be linked to changes in frontal cortex.

scholarly journals Neuro-computational account of arbitration between imitation and emulation during human observational learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline C. Charpentier ◽  
Kiyohito Iigaya ◽  
John P. O’Doherty
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Observational Learning ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Behavioral Task ◽  
Reliable Prediction ◽  
Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Brain

AbstractIn observational learning (OL), organisms learn from observing the behavior of others. There are at least two distinct strategies for OL. Imitation involves learning to repeat the previous actions of other agents, while in emulation, learning proceeds from inferring the goals and intentions of others. While putative neural correlates for these forms of learning have been identified, a fundamental question remains unaddressed: how does the brain decides which strategy to use in a given situation? Here we developed a novel computational model in which arbitration between the strategies is determined by the predictive reliability, such that control over behavior is adaptively weighted toward the strategy with the most reliable prediction. To test the theory, we designed a novel behavioral task in which our experimental manipulations produced dissociable effects on the reliability of the two strategies. Participants performed this task while undergoing fMRI in two independent studies (the second a pre-registered replication of the first). Behavior manifested patterns consistent with both emulation and imitation and flexibly changed between the two strategies as expected from the theory. Computational modelling revealed that behavior was best described by an arbitration model, in which the reliability of the emulation strategy determined the relative weights allocated to behavior for each strategy. Emulation reliability - the model’s arbitration signal - was encoded in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction and rostral cingulate cortex. Being replicated across two fMRI studies, these findings suggest a neuro-computational mechanism for allocating control between emulation and imitation during observational learning.

scholarly journals The eyes reflect an internal cognitive state hidden in the population activity of cortical neurons

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Johnston ◽  
Adam C. Snyder ◽  
Sanjeev B. Khanna ◽  
Deepa Issar ◽  
Matthew A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Detection Task ◽  
Change Detection Task ◽  
Population Activity ◽  
Slow Drift ◽  
Global Brain ◽  
The Brain

SummaryDecades of research have shown that global brain states such as arousal can be indexed by measuring the properties of the eyes. Neural signals from individual neurons, populations of neurons, and field potentials measured throughout much of the brain have been associated with the size of the pupil, small fixational eye movements, and vigor in saccadic eye movements. However, precisely because the eyes have been associated with modulation of neural activity across the brain, and many different kinds of measurements of the eyes have been made across studies, it has been difficult to clearly isolate how internal states affect the behavior of the eyes, and vice versa. Recent work in our laboratory identified a latent dimension of neural activity in macaque visual cortex on the timescale of minutes to tens of minutes. This ‘slow drift’ was associated with perceptual performance on an orientation-change detection task, as well as neural activity in visual and prefrontal cortex (PFC), suggesting it might reflect a shift in a global brain state. This motivated us to ask if the neural signature of this internal state is correlated with the action of the eyes in different behavioral tasks. We recorded from visual cortex (V4) while monkeys performed a change detection task, and the prefrontal cortex, while they performed a memory-guided saccade task. On both tasks, slow drift was associated with a pattern that is indicative of changes in arousal level over time. When pupil size was large, and the subjects were in a heighted state of arousal, microsaccade rate and reaction time decreased while saccade velocity increased. These results show that the action of the eyes is associated with a dominant mode of neural activity that is pervasive and task-independent, and can be accessed in the population activity of neurons across the cortex.

scholarly journals Dissociating the neural correlates of subjective visibility from those of decision confidence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matan Mazor ◽  
Nadine Dijkstra ◽  
Stephen M Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Frontal Cortex ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Cortical Circuits ◽  
Target Presence ◽  
Threshold Detection ◽  
Decision Confidence ◽  
Frontoparietal Network ◽  
Stimulus Identity

A key goal of consciousness science is identifying neural signatures of being aware vs. unaware of simple stimuli. This is often investigated in the context of near-threshold detection, with reports of stimulus awareness being linked to heightened activation in a frontoparietal network. However, due to the fact that reports of stimulus presence are also associated with higher confidence than reports of stimulus absence, these results could be explained by frontoparietal regions encoding stimulus visibility, decision confidence or both. Consistent with this view, previously we showed that prefrontal regions encode confidence in decisions about target presence (Mazor, Friston & Fleming, 2020). Here, we further ask if prefrontal cortex also encodes information about stimulus visibility over and above confidence. We first show that, whereas stimulus identity was best decoded from the visual cortex, stimulus visibility (presence vs. absence) was best decoded from prefrontal regions. To control for effects of confidence, we then selectively sampled trials prior to decoding to equalize the confidence distributions between absence and presence responses. This analysis revealed that posterior medial frontal cortex encoded stimulus visibility over and above decision confidence. We interpret our findings as providing support for a representation of stimulus visibility in specific higher-order cortical circuits, one that is dissociable from representations of both decision confidence and stimulus identity.

scholarly journals A neural representation of invisibility: when stimulus-specific neural activity negatively correlates with conscious experience

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J Davidson ◽  
Will Mithen ◽  
Hinze Hogendoorn ◽  
Jeroen J.A. van Boxtel ◽  
Naotsugu Tsuchiya
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Conscious Experience ◽  
Visual Awareness ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Focus Of Attention ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Visually Evoked Potentials ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Human Participants

AbstractAlthough visual awareness of an object typically increases neural responses, we identify a neural response that increases prior to perceptual disappearances, and that scales with the amount of invisibility reported during perceptual filling-in. These findings challenge long-held assumptions regarding the neural correlates of consciousness and entrained visually evoked potentials, by showing that the strength of stimulus-specific neural activity can encode the conscious absence of a stimulus.Significance StatementThe focus of attention and the contents of consciousness frequently overlap. Yet what happens if this common correlation is broken? To test this, we asked human participants to attend and report on the invisibility of four visual objects which seemed to disappear, yet actually remained on screen. We found that neural activity increased, rather than decreased, when targets became invisible. This coincided with measures of attention that also increased when stimuli disappeared. Together, our data support recent suggestions that attention and conscious perception are distinct and separable. In our experiment, neural measures more strongly follow attention.

scholarly journals The neural correlates of two forms of spiritual love: an EEG study

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. S. Louise Faber
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Gamma Oscillations ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Spiritual Practices ◽  
Loving Kindness ◽  
Beta Power ◽  
Delta Activity ◽  
Gamma Power ◽  
The Brain

AbstractSpiritual practices are gaining an increasingly wider audience as a means to enhance positive affect in healthy individuals and to treat neurological disorders such as anxiety and depression. The current study aimed to examine the neural correlates of two different forms of love generated by spiritual practices using EEG; love generated during a loving kindness meditation performed by Buddhist meditators, and love generated during prayer, in a separate group of participants from a Christian-based faith. The loving kindness meditation was associated with significant increases in delta, alpha 1, alpha 2 and beta power compared to baseline, while prayer induced significant increases in power of alpha 1 and gamma oscillations, together with an increase in the gamma: theta ratio. An increase in delta activity occurred during the loving kindness meditation but not during prayer. In contrast increases in theta, alpha 1, alpha 2, beta and gamma power were observed when comparing both types of practice to baseline, suggesting that increases in these frequency bands are the neural correlates of spiritual love, independent of the type of practice used to attain the state of this type of love. These findings show that both spiritual love practices are associated with widespread changes in neural activity across the brain, in particular at frequency ranges that have been implicated in positive emotional experience, integration of distributed neural activity, and changes in short-term and longterm neural circuitry.

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