scholarly journals A magnetoencephalography study of visual processing of pain anticipation

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 276-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre G. Machado ◽  
Raghavan Gopalakrishnan ◽  
Ela B. Plow ◽  
Richard C. Burgess ◽  
John C. Mosher
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Chronic Pain Patients ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Pain Conditioning ◽  
Pain Patients ◽  
Contextual Meaning

Anticipating pain is important for avoiding injury; however, in chronic pain patients, anticipatory behavior can become maladaptive, leading to sensitization and limiting function. Knowledge of networks involved in pain anticipation and conditioning over time could help devise novel, better-targeted therapies. With the use of magnetoencephalography, we evaluated in 10 healthy subjects the neural processing of pain anticipation. Anticipatory cortical activity elicited by consecutive visual cues that signified imminent painful stimulus was compared with cues signifying nonpainful and no stimulus. We found that the neural processing of visually evoked pain anticipation involves the primary visual cortex along with cingulate and frontal regions. Visual cortex could quickly and independently encode and discriminate between visual cues associated with pain anticipation and no pain during preconscious phases following object presentation. When evaluating the effect of task repetition on participating cortical areas, we found that activity of prefrontal and cingulate regions was mostly prominent early on when subjects were still naive to a cue's contextual meaning. Visual cortical activity was significant throughout later phases. Although visual cortex may precisely and time efficiently decode cues anticipating pain or no pain, prefrontal areas establish the context associated with each cue. These findings have important implications toward processes involved in pain anticipation and maladaptive pain conditioning.

scholarly journals Neural Correlates of Motion-induced Blindness in the Human Brain

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1235-1243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke L. Schölvinck ◽  
Geraint Rees
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Visual Awareness ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Bistable Perception ◽  
Visual Phenomenon ◽  
High Level ◽  
Visual Cortical

Motion-induced blindness (MIB) is a visual phenomenon in which highly salient visual targets spontaneously disappear from visual awareness (and subsequently reappear) when superimposed on a moving background of distracters. Such fluctuations in awareness of the targets, although they remain physically present, provide an ideal paradigm to study the neural correlates of visual awareness. Existing behavioral data on MIB are consistent both with a role for structures early in visual processing and with involvement of high-level visual processes. To further investigate this issue, we used high field functional MRI to investigate signals in human low-level visual cortex and motion-sensitive area V5/MT while participants reported disappearance and reappearance of an MIB target. Surprisingly, perceptual invisibility of the target was coupled to an increase in activity in low-level visual cortex plus area V5/MT compared with when the target was visible. This increase was largest in retinotopic regions representing the target location. One possibility is that our findings result from an active process of completion of the field of distracters that acts locally in the visual cortex, coupled to a more global process that facilitates invisibility in general visual cortex. Our findings show that the earliest anatomical stages of human visual cortical processing are implicated in MIB, as with other forms of bistable perception.

scholarly journals Early cross-modal interactions and adult human visual cortical plasticity revealed by binocular rivalry

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Lunghi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Binocular Rivalry ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Cortical Plasticity ◽  
Monocular Deprivation ◽  
Homeostatic Plasticity ◽  
Multisensory Perception ◽  
Modal Interactions ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Cortical

In this research binocular rivalry is used as a tool to investigate different aspects of visual and multisensory perception. Several experiments presented here demonstrated that touch specifically interacts with vision during binocular rivalry and that the interaction likely occurs at early stages of visual processing, probably V1 or V2. Another line of research also presented here demonstrated that human adult visual cortex retains an unexpected high degree of experience-dependent plasticity by showing that a brief period of monocular deprivation produced important perceptual consequences on the dynamics of binocular rivalry, reflecting a homeostatic plasticity. In summary, this work shows that binocular rivalry is a powerful tool to investigate different aspects of visual perception and can be used to reveal unexpected properties of early visual cortex.

scholarly journals Selective Modulation of Early Visual Cortical Activity by Movement Intention

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 4662-4678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason P Gallivan ◽  
Craig S Chapman ◽  
Daniel J Gale ◽  
J Randall Flanagan ◽  
Jody C Culham
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Movement Planning ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Cortical

Abstract The primate visual system contains myriad feedback projections from higher- to lower-order cortical areas, an architecture that has been implicated in the top-down modulation of early visual areas during working memory and attention. Here we tested the hypothesis that these feedback projections also modulate early visual cortical activity during the planning of visually guided actions. We show, across three separate human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies involving object-directed movements, that information related to the motor effector to be used (i.e., limb, eye) and action goal to be performed (i.e., grasp, reach) can be selectively decoded—prior to movement—from the retinotopic representation of the target object(s) in early visual cortex. We also find that during the planning of sequential actions involving objects in two different spatial locations, that motor-related information can be decoded from both locations in retinotopic cortex. Together, these findings indicate that movement planning selectively modulates early visual cortical activity patterns in an effector-specific, target-centric, and task-dependent manner. These findings offer a neural account of how motor-relevant target features are enhanced during action planning and suggest a possible role for early visual cortex in instituting a sensorimotor estimate of the visual consequences of movement.

scholarly journals Intermodal Auditory, Visual, and Tactile Attention Modulates Early Stages of Neural Processing

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 669-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina M. Karns ◽  
Robert T. Knight
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Association Cortex ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Secondary Association ◽  
Tactile Attention ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Visual Onset

We used event-related potentials (ERPs) and gamma band oscillatory responses (GBRs) to examine whether intermodal attention operates early in the auditory, visual, and tactile modalities. To control for the effects of spatial attention, we spatially coregistered all stimuli and varied the attended modality across counterbalanced blocks in an intermodal selection task. In each block, participants selectively responded to either auditory, visual, or vibrotactile stimuli from the stream of intermodal events. Auditory and visual ERPs were modulated at the latencies of early cortical processing, but attention manifested later for tactile ERPs. For ERPs, auditory processing was modulated at the latency of the Na (29 msec), which indexes early cortical or thalamocortical processing and the subsequent P1 (90 msec) ERP components. Visual processing was modulated at the latency of the early phase of the C1 (62–72 msec) thought to be generated in the primary visual cortex and the subsequent P1 and N1 (176 msec). Tactile processing was modulated at the latency of the N160 (165 msec) likely generated in the secondary association cortex. Intermodal attention enhanced early sensory GBRs for all three modalities: auditory (onset 57 msec), visual (onset 47 msec), and tactile (onset 27 msec). Together, these results suggest that intermodal attention enhances neural processing relatively early in the sensory stream independent from differential effects of spatial and intramodal selective attention.

Temporal Analysis of the Flow From V1 to the Extrastriate Cortex in Humans

2006 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 775-784 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koji Inui ◽  
Ryusuke Kakigi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Extrastriate Cortex ◽  
Cortical Processing ◽  
Occipital Area ◽  
Biphasic Waveform

We previously examined the cortical processing in response to somatosensory, auditory and noxious stimuli, using magnetoencephalography in humans. Here, we performed a similar analysis of the processing in the human visual cortex for comparative purposes. After flash stimuli applied to the right eye, activations were found in eight cortical areas: the left medial occipital area around the calcarine fissure (primary visual cortex, V1), the left dorsomedial area around the parietooccipital sulcus (DM), the ventral (MOv) and dorsal (MOd) parts of the middle occipital area of bilateral hemispheres, the left temporo-occipito-parietal cortex corresponding to human MT/V5 (hMT), and the ventral surface of the medial occipital area (VO) of the bilateral hemispheres. The mean onset latencies of each cortical activity were (in ms): 27.5 (V1), 31.8 (DM), 32.8 (left MOv), 32.2 (right MOv), 33.4 (left MOd), 32.3 (right MOv), 37.8 (hMT), 46.9 (left VO), and 46.4 (right VO). Therefore the cortico-cortical connection time of visual processing at the early stage was 4–6 ms, which is very similar to the time delay between sequential activations in somatosensory and auditory processing. In addition, the activities in V1, MOd, DM, and hMT showed a similar biphasic waveform with a reversal of polarity after 10 ms, which is a common activation profile of the cortical activity for somatosensory, auditory, and pain-evoked responses. These results suggest similar mechanisms of the serial cortico-cortical processing of sensory information among all sensory areas of the cortex.

scholarly journals Regulation of the expression of the cholinergic receptors in the visual cortex following long-term enhancement of visual cortical activity by cholinergic stimulation

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Groleau ◽  
Mira Chamoun ◽  
Menakshi Bhat ◽  
Frédéric Huppé-Gourgues ◽  
Réjean Couture ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Cholinergic Receptors ◽  
Cholinergic Stimulation ◽  
Visual Cortical

scholarly journals Focal cortical seizures start as standing waves and propagate respecting homotopic connectivity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
L Federico Rossi ◽  
Robert C Wykes ◽  
Dimitri M Kullmann ◽  
Matteo Carandini
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Focal Epilepsy ◽  
Standing Waves ◽  
Field Potential ◽  
Cortical Activity ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Calcium Indicator ◽  
Retinotopic Organization ◽  
Higher Visual Areas

Focal epilepsy involves excessive cortical activity that propagates both locally and distally. Does this propagation follow the same routes as normal cortical activity? We pharmacologically induced focal seizures in primary visual cortex (V1) of awake mice, and compared their propagation to the retinotopic organization of V1 and higher visual areas. We used simultaneous local field potential recordings and widefield imaging of a genetically encoded calcium indicator to measure prolonged seizures (ictal events) and brief interictal events. Both types of event are orders of magnitude larger than normal visual responses, and both start as standing waves: synchronous elevated activity in the V1 focus and in homotopic locations in higher areas, i.e. locations with matching retinotopic preference. Following this common beginning, however, seizures persist and propagate both locally and into homotopic distal regions, and eventually invade all of visual cortex and beyond. We conclude that seizure initiation resembles the initiation of interictal events, and seizure propagation respects the connectivity underlying normal visual processing.

scholarly journals A global map of orientation tuning in mouse visual cortex

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul G. Fahey ◽  
Taliah Muhammad ◽  
Cameron Smith ◽  
Emmanouil Froudarakis ◽  
Erick Cobos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Two Photon ◽  
Visual Hierarchy ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Mouse Visual Cortex ◽  
Salt And Pepper

In primates and most carnivores, neurons in primary visual cortex are spatially organized by their functional properties. For example, neurons with similar orientation preferences are grouped together in iso-orientation domains that smoothly vary over the cortical sheet. In rodents, on the other hand, neurons with different orientation preferences are thought to be spatially intermingled, a feature which has been termed “salt-and-pepper” organization. The apparent absence of any systematic structure in orientation tuning has been considered a defining feature of the rodent visual system for more than a decade, with broad implications for brain development, visual processing, and comparative neurophysiology. Here, we revisited this question using new techniques for wide-field two-photon calcium imaging that enabled us to collect nearly complete population tuning preferences in layers 2-4 across a large fraction of the mouse visual hierarchy. Examining the orientation tuning of these hundreds of thousands of neurons, we found a global map spanning multiple visual cortical areas in which orientation bias was organized around a single pinwheel centered in V1. This pattern was consistent across animals and cortical depth. The existence of this global organization in rodents has implications for our understanding of visual processing and the principles governing the ontogeny and phylogeny of the visual cortex of mammals.

Pain Influences Several Levels of Attention

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid von Bueren Jarchow ◽  
Bogdan P. Radanov ◽  
Lutz Jäncke
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Covert Attention ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Attentional Deficits ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
Chronic Pain Patients ◽  
Divided Attention Task ◽  
Pain Stimuli ◽  
Pain Patients

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent chronic pain has an impact on various attentional processes. To measure these attention processes a set of experimental standard tests of the “Testbatterie zur Aufmerksamkeitsprüfung” (TAP), a neuropsychological battery testing different levels of attention, were used: alertness, divided attention, covert attention, vigilance, visual search, and Go-NoGo tasks. 24 chronic outpatients and 24 well-matched healthy control subjects were tested. The control subjects were matched for age, gender, and education. The group of chronic pain patients exhibited marked deficiencies in all attentional functions except for the divided attention task. Thus, the data supports the notion that chronic pain negatively influences attention because pain patients` attention is strongly captivated by the internal pain stimuli. Only the more demanding divided attention task has the capability to distract the focus of attention to the pain stimuli. Therefore, the pain patients are capable of performing within normal limits. Based on these findings chronic pain patients' attentional deficits should be appropriately evaluated and considered for insurance and work related matters. The effect of a successful distraction away from the pain in the divided attention task can also open new therapeutic aspects.

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