scholarly journals Content-based dissociation of hippocampal involvement in prediction

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kok ◽  
Lindsay I. Rait ◽  
Nicholas B. Turk-Browne
Keyword(s):  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Complex Object ◽  
Complex Objects ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Simple Features

AbstractIt has recently become clear that one of the key functions of the hippocampus is to predict future inputs. In line with this, previous research has revealed prediction-related signals in the hippocampus for complex visual objects, such as fractals and abstract shapes. Based on this, it has been suggested that the hippocampus may generate perceptual expectations, especially when relying on rapidly learned predictive associations between arbitrary stimuli. However, it is currently unknown whether the hippocampus implements general-purpose computations that subserve all associative predictions, regardless of stimulus properties, or whether the involvement of the hippocampus is stimulus-dependent. To investigate this, we exposed male and female human participants to complex auditory cues predicting either the shape of a complex object (Experiment 1) or the orientation of a simple line grating (Experiment 2). We measured brain activity using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in combination with inverted encoding models to reconstruct shape and orientation representations in visual cortex and the hippocampus. Our results revealed that expectations about shape and orientation evoked distinct representations in the hippocampus. For complex shapes, the hippocampus represented which shape was expected, potentially serving as a source of top-down predictions. In contrast, for simple gratings, the hippocampus represented only unexpected orientations, more reminiscent of a prediction error. We discuss several potential explanations for this dissociation, concluding that the computational role of the hippocampus in predictive processing depends upon the nature and complexity of stimuli.Significance StatementTo deal with the noisy and ambiguous sensory signals received by our brain, it is crucial to use prior knowledge of the world to guide perception. Previous research suggests that the hippocampus is involved in predicting upcoming visual stimuli based on prior knowledge. In the current study, we show that hippocampal prediction is specific to expectations of complex objects, whereas for simple features the hippocampus generates an opposite prediction error signal instead. These findings demonstrate that the computational role of the hippocampus can be content-sensitive and refine our understanding of the involvement of memory systems in predictive processing.

scholarly journals Content-based Dissociation of Hippocampal Involvement in Prediction

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kok ◽  
Lindsay I. Rait ◽  
Nicholas B. Turk-Browne
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Auditory Cues ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Visual Objects ◽  
Complex Shapes ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Abstract Shapes

Recent work suggests that a key function of the hippocampus is to predict the future. This is thought to depend on its ability to bind inputs over time and space and to retrieve upcoming or missing inputs based on partial cues. In line with this, previous research has revealed prediction-related signals in the hippocampus for complex visual objects, such as fractals and abstract shapes. Implicit in such accounts is that these computations in the hippocampus reflect domain-general processes that apply across different types and modalities of stimuli. An alternative is that the hippocampus plays a more domain-specific role in predictive processing, with the type of stimuli being predicted determining its involvement. To investigate this, we compared hippocampal responses to auditory cues predicting abstract shapes (Experiment 1) versus oriented gratings (Experiment 2). We measured brain activity in male and female human participants using high-resolution fMRI, in combination with inverted encoding models to reconstruct shape and orientation information. Our results revealed that expectations about shape and orientation evoked distinct representations in the hippocampus. For complex shapes, the hippocampus represented which shape was expected, potentially serving as a source of top–down predictions. In contrast, for simple gratings, the hippocampus represented only unexpected orientations, more reminiscent of a prediction error. We discuss several potential explanations for this content-based dissociation in hippocampal function, concluding that the computational role of the hippocampus in predictive processing may depend on the nature and complexity of stimuli.

scholarly journals Neurophysiological evidence for rapid processing of verbal and gestural information in understanding communicative actions

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Tomasello ◽  
Cora Kim ◽  
Felix R. Dreyer ◽  
Luigi Grisoni ◽  
Friedemann Pulvermüller
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Brain Correlates ◽  
Speed Up ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Communicative Actions ◽  
Rapid Processing

Abstract During everyday social interaction, gestures are a fundamental part of human communication. The communicative pragmatic role of hand gestures and their interaction with spoken language has been documented at the earliest stage of language development, in which two types of indexical gestures are most prominent: the pointing gesture for directing attention to objects and the give-me gesture for making requests. Here we study, in adult human participants, the neurophysiological signatures of gestural-linguistic acts of communicating the pragmatic intentions of naming and requesting by simultaneously presenting written words and gestures. Already at ~150 ms, brain responses diverged between naming and request actions expressed by word-gesture combination, whereas the same gestures presented in isolation elicited their earliest neurophysiological dissociations significantly later (at ~210 ms). There was an early enhancement of request-evoked brain activity as compared with naming, which was due to sources in the frontocentral cortex, consistent with access to action knowledge in request understanding. In addition, an enhanced N400-like response indicated late semantic integration of gesture-language interaction. The present study demonstrates that word-gesture combinations used to express communicative pragmatic intentions speed up the brain correlates of comprehension processes – compared with gesture-only understanding – thereby calling into question current serial linguistic models viewing pragmatic function decoding at the end of a language comprehension cascade. Instead, information about the social-interactive role of communicative acts is processed instantaneously.

scholarly journals Eye-movement reinstatement and neural reactivation during mental imagery

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Bone ◽  
Marie St-Laurent ◽  
Christa Dang ◽  
Douglas A. McQuiggan ◽  
Jennifer D. Ryan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movement ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Supportive Role ◽  
Constructive Process ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Multivariate Pattern ◽  
With Memory

AbstractHalf a century ago, Donald Hebb posited that mental imagery is a constructive process that emulates perception. Specifically, Hebb claimed that visual imagery results from the reactivation of neural activity associated with viewing images. He also argued that neural reactivation and imagery benefit from the re-enactment of eye movement patterns that first occurred at viewing (fixation reinstatement). To investigate these claims, we applied multivariate pattern analyses to functional MRI (fMRI) and eye-tracking data collected while healthy human participants repeatedly viewed and visualized complex images. We observed that the specificity of neural reactivation correlated positively with vivid imagery and with memory for stimulus image details. Moreover, neural reactivation correlated positively with fixation reinstatement, meaning that image-specific eye movements accompanied image-specific patterns of brain activity during visualization. These findings support the conception of mental imagery as a simulation of perception, and provide evidence of the supportive role of eye-movement in neural reactivation.

scholarly journals BDNF Val66Met polymorphism as putative genetic substrate of music-induced plasticity in auditory prediction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia EP Bruzzone ◽  
Leonardo Bonetti ◽  
Tiina Paunio ◽  
Katri Kantojarvi ◽  
Marina Kliuchko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Predictive Processing ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
The Individual

Predictive processing of sounds depends on the constant updating of priors based on exposure to posteriors, which through repeated exposure mediates learning. The result of such corrections to the model is seen in musicians, whose lifelong training results in measurable plasticity of audio-motor brain anatomy and functionality. It has been suggested that the plasticity of auditory predictive processes depends on the interaction between the environment and the individual genetic substrate. However, empirical evidence to this is still missing. BDNF is a critical genetic factor affecting learning and plasticity, and its widely studied functional variant Val66Met single-nucleotide polymorphism offers a unique opportunity to investigate neuroplastic functional changes occurring upon a years-long training. We hypothesised that BDNF gene variations would be driving neuroplasticity of the auditory cortex in musically trained human participants. To this goal, musicians and non-musicians were recruited and divided in Val/Val and Met carriers and their brain activity measured with magnetoencephalography (MEG) while they listened to a regular auditory sequence containing different types of prediction errors. The auditory cortex responses to prediction errors was enhanced in Val/Val carriers who underwent intensive musical training, compared to Met and non-musicians. Our results point at a role of gene-regulated neurotrophic factors in the neural adaptations of auditory processing after long-term training.

scholarly journals The value of the whole or the sum of the parts: The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in multi-attribute object evaluation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Pelletier ◽  
Nadav Aridan ◽  
Lesley K Fellows ◽  
Tom Schonberg
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Configural Processing ◽  
Complex Object ◽  
Complex Objects ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Attribute Evaluation ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Multiple Value

ABSTRACTEveryday decision-making commonly involves assigning values to complex objects with multiple value-relevant attributes. Drawing on what is known about complex object recognition, we hypothesized two routes to multi-attribute evaluation: assessing the value of the whole object based on attribute configuration, or summing individual attribute-values. In two samples of healthy human participants undergoing eye-tracking and fMRI while evaluating novel pseudo-objects, we found evidence for distinct forms of multi-attribute evaluation. Fixations to, and transitions between attributes differed systematically when value was associated with individual attributes or attribute configurations. Further, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the perirhinal cortex were engaged during evaluation specifically when configural processing was required. These results converge with our recent findings that damage to vmPFC disrupts decisions when evaluation requires configural processing, and not in evaluating “the sum of the parts”. This suggests that multi-attribute decisions may engage distinct evaluation mechanisms relying on partially dissociable neural substrates.

Inferences and Confidence in Warning Texts: The Role of Age and Prior Knowledge

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Adams ◽  
Wendy A. Rogers ◽  
Arthur D. Fisk
Keyword(s):  
Prior Knowledge

Modality and folk psychology

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-27
Author(s):  
Ja. O. Petik
Keyword(s):  
Modal Logic ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Formal System ◽  
Philosophy Of Logic ◽  
Psychological States ◽  
Formal Systems ◽  
Modern Psychology ◽  
Philosophical Interpretation ◽  
Important Direction

The connection of the modern psychology and formal systems remains an important direction of research. This paper is centered on philosophical problems surrounding relations between mental and logic. Main attention is given to philosophy of logic but certain ideas are introduced that can be incorporated into the practical philosophical logic. The definition and properties of basic modal logic and descending ones which are used in study of mental activity are in view. The defining role of philosophical interpretation of modality for the particular formal system used for research in the field of psychological states of agents is postulated. Different semantics of modal logic are studied. The hypothesis about the connection of research in cognitive psychology (semantics of brain activity) and formal systems connected to research of psychological states is stated.

Hierarchical composition in complex object drawing

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michiru Makuuchi
Keyword(s):  
Hierarchical Structure ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Hierarchical Structures ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Complex Object ◽  
Complex Objects ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Adult Participants ◽  
Symbolic Cognition

Symbolic behaviours such as language, music, drawing, dance, etc. are unique to humans and are found universally in every culture on earth1. These behaviours operate in different cognitive domains, but they are commonly characterised as linear sequences of symbols2,3. One of the most prominent features of language is hierarchical structure4, which is also found in music5,6 and mathematics7. Current research attempts to address whether hierarchical structure exists in drawing. When we draw complex objects, such as a face, we draw part by part in a hierarchical manner guided by visual semantic knowledge8. More specifically, we predicted how hierarchical structure emerges in drawing as follows. Although the drawing order of the constituent parts composing the target object is different amongst individuals, some parts will be drawn in succession consistently, thereby forming chunks. These chunks of parts would then be further integrated with other chunks into superordinate chunks, while showing differential affinity amongst chunks. The integration of chunks to an even higher chunk level repeats until finally reaching the full object. We analysed the order of drawing strokes of twenty-two complex objects by twenty-five young healthy adult participants with a cluster analysis9 and demonstrated reasonable hierarchical structures. The results suggest that drawing involves a linear production of symbols with a hierarchical structure. From an evolutionary point of view, we argue that ancient engravings and paintings manifest Homo sapiens’ capability for hierarchical symbolic cognition.

scholarly journals Delta band activity contributes to the identification of command following in disorder of consciousness

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonzalo Rivera-Lillo ◽  
Emmanuel A. Stamatakis ◽  
Tristan A. Bekinschtein ◽  
David K. Menon ◽  
Srivas Chennu
Keyword(s):  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Disorder Of Consciousness ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Electrical Brain Activity ◽  
Delta Band ◽  
Delta Modulation ◽  
Command Following ◽  
Band Activity

AbstractThe overt or covert ability to follow commands in patients with disorders of consciousness is considered a sign of awareness and has recently been defined as cortically mediated behaviour. Despite its clinical relevance, the brain signatures of the perceptual processing supporting command following have been elusive. This multimodal study investigates the temporal spectral pattern of electrical brain activity to identify features that differentiated healthy controls from patients both able and unable to follow commands. We combined evidence from behavioural assessment, functional neuroimaging during mental imagery and high-density electroencephalography collected during auditory prediction, from 21 patients and 10 controls. We used a penalised regression model to identify command following using features from electroencephalography. We identified seven well-defined spatiotemporal signatures in the delta, theta and alpha bands that together contribute to identify DoC subjects with and without the ability to follow command, and further distinguished these groups of patients from controls. A fine-grained analysis of these seven signatures enabled us to determine that increased delta modulation at the frontal sensors was the main feature in command following patients. In contrast, higher frequency theta and alpha modulations differentiated controls from both groups of patients. Our findings highlight a key role of spatiotemporally specific delta modulation in supporting cortically mediated behaviour including the ability to follow command. However, patients able to follow commands nevertheless have marked differences in brain activity in comparison with healthy volunteers.

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