Neural Mechanisms of Visual Attention: Object-Based Selection of a Region in Space

Objects play an important role in guiding spatial attention through a cluttered visual environment. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (ER-fMRI) to measure brain activity during cued discrimination tasks requiring subjects to orient attention either to a region bounded by an object (object-based spatial attention) or to an unbounded region of space (location-based spatial attention) in anticipation of an upcoming target. Comparison between the two tasks revealed greater activation when attention selected a region bounded by an object. This activation was strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere and formed a widely distributed network including (a) attentional structures in parietal and temporal cortex and thalamus, (b) ventral-stream object processing structures in occipital, inferior-temporal, and parahippocampal cortex, and (c) control structures in medial-and dorsolateral-prefrontal cortex. These results suggest that object-based spatial selection is achieved by imposing additional constraints over and above those processes already operating to achieve selection of an unbounded region. In addition, ER-fMRI methodology allowed a comparison of validly versus invalidly cued trials, thereby delineating brain structures involved in the reorientation of attention after its initial deployment proved incorrect. All areas of activation that differentiated between these two trial types resulted from greater activity during the invalid trials. This outcome suggests that all brain areas involved in attentional orienting and task performance in response to valid cues are also involved on invalid trials. During invalid trials, additional brain regions are recruited when a perceiver recovers from invalid cueing and reorients attention to a target appearing at an uncued location. Activated brain areas specific to attentional reorientation were strongly right-lateralized and included posterior temporal and inferior parietal regions previously implicated in visual attention processes, as well as prefrontal regions that likely subserve control processes, particularly related to inhibition of inappropriate responding.

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Imagined Viewer and Object Rotations Dissociated with Event-Related fMRI

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892903770007399 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (7) ◽

pp. 1002-1018 ◽

Cited By ~ 98

Author(s):

Jeffrey M. Zacks ◽

Jean M. Vettel ◽

Pascale Michelon

Keyword(s):

Parietal Cortex ◽

Spatial Reasoning ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Mental Image ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Processing System ◽

Object Based ◽

Left Parietal Cortex ◽

Image Transformations ◽

Local Brain

Human spatial reasoning may depend in part on two dissociable types of mental image transformations: objectbased transformations, in which an object is imagined to move in space relative to the viewer and the environment, and perspective transformations, in which the viewer imagines the scene from a different vantage point. This study measured local brain activity with event-related fMRI while participants were instructed to either imagine an array of objects rotating (an object-based transformation) or imagine themselves rotating around the array (a perspective transformation). Object-based transformations led to selective increases in right parietal cortex and decreases in left parietal cortex, whereas perspective transformations led to selective increases in left temporal cortex. These results argue against the view that mental image transformations are performed by a unitary neural processing system, and they suggest that different overlapping systems are engaged for different image transformations.

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Investigation of changes in the activity and function of dry eye-associated brain regions using the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations(ALFF)method

Bioscience Reports ◽

10.1042/bsr20210941 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Tie Sun ◽

Hui-Ye Shu ◽

Jie-Li Wu ◽

Ting Su ◽

Yu-Ji Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dry Eye ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Pearson Correlation ◽

Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽

Low Frequency ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Middle Frontal Gyrus ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Spontaneous Brain Activity ◽

Frequency Fluctuations

Objective: The local characteristics of spontaneous brain activity in patients with dry eye (DE) and its relationship with clinical characteristics were evaluated using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) method. Methods: A total of 27 patients with DE (10 males and 17 females) and 28 healthy controls (HCs) (10 males and 18 females) were recruited, matched according to sex, age, weight, and height, classified into the DE and HC groups, and examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Spontaneous brain activity changes were recorded using ALFF technology. Data were recorded and plotted on the receiver operating characteristic curve, reflecting changes in activity in different brain areas. Finally, Pearson correlation analysis was used to calculate the potential relationship between spontaneous brain activity abnormalities in multiple brain regions and clinical features in patients with DE. GraphPad Prism 8 (GraphPad Software, Inc.) was used to analyze the linear correlation between the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and ALFF value. Results: Compared with HCs, the ALFF values of patients with DE were decreased in the right middle frontal gyrus/right inferior orbitofrontal cortex, left triangle inferior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and right superior frontal gyrus. In contrast, the ALFF value of patients with DE was increased in the left calcarine. Conclusion: There are significant fluctuations in the ALFF value of specific brain regions in patients with DE versus HCs. This corroborates previous evidence showing that the symptoms of ocular surface damage in patients with DE are related to dysfunction in specific brain areas.

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How beat perception coopts motor neurophysiology

10.1101/805838 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jonathan J. Cannon ◽

Aniruddh D. Patel

Keyword(s):

Motor System ◽

Supplementary Motor Area ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Dorsal Striatum ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Motor Area ◽

List Type ◽

Neural Firing ◽

Temporal Prediction

AbstractBeat perception is central to music cognition. The motor system is involved in beat perception, even in the absence of movement, yet current frameworks for modeling beat perception do not strongly engage with the motor system’s neurocomputational properties. We believe fundamental progress on modeling beat perception requires a synthesis between cognitive science and motor neuroscience, yielding predictions to guide research. Success on this front would be a landmark in the study of how “embodied cognition” is implemented in brain activity. We illustrate this approach by proposing specific roles for two key motor brain structures (the supplementary motor area, and the dorsal striatum of the basal ganglia) in covert beat maintenance, building on current research on their role in actual movement.Highlights⍰Components of the brain’s motor system are activated by the perception of a musical beat, even in the absence of movement, and may play an important role in beat-based temporal prediction.⍰Two key brain regions involved in movement, the supplementary motor area and dorsal striatum, have neurocomputational properties that lend themselves to beat perception.⍰In supplementary motor area, neural firing rates represent the phase of cyclic sensorimotor processes.⍰Supplementary motor area’s involvement in perceptual suppression of self-generated sounds suggests that it could play a broader role in informing auditory expectations.⍰Dorsal striatum plays a central role in initiating and sequencing units of movement, and may serve similar functions in structuring beat-based temporal anticipation.

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Responses to Rare Visual Target and Distractor Stimuli Using Event-Related fMRI

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.2000.83.5.3133 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 83 (5) ◽

pp. 3133-3139 ◽

Cited By ~ 216

Author(s):

Vincent P. Clark ◽

Sean Fannon ◽

Song Lai ◽

Randall Benson ◽

Lance Bauer

Keyword(s):

Brain Activity ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Fmri Signal ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Evoked Activity ◽

Anatomic Locations

Previous studies have found that the P300 or P3 event-related potential (ERP) component is useful in the diagnosis and treatment of many disorders that influence CNS function. However, the anatomic locations of brain regions involved in this response are not precisely known. In the present event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, methods of stimulus presentation, data acquisition, and data analysis were optimized for the detection of brain activity in response to stimuli presented in the three-stimulus oddball task. This paradigm involves the interleaved, pseudorandom presentation of single block-letter target and distractor stimuli that previously were found to generate the P3b and P3a ERP subcomponents, respectively, and frequent standard stimuli. Target stimuli evoked fMRI signal increases in multiple brain regions including the thalamus, the bilateral cerebellum, and the occipital-temporal cortex as well as bilateral superior, medial, inferior frontal, inferior parietal, superior temporal, precentral, postcentral, cingulate, insular, left middle temporal, and right middle frontal gyri. Distractor stimuli evoked an fMRI signal change bilaterally in inferior anterior cingulate, medial frontal, inferior frontal, and right superior frontal gyri, with additional activity in bilateral inferior parietal lobules, lateral cerebellar hemispheres and vermis, and left fusiform, middle occipital, and superior temporal gyri. Significant variation in the amplitude and polarity of distractor-evoked activity was observed across stimulus repetitions. No overlap was observed between target- and distractor-evoked activity. These event-related fMRI results shed light on the anatomy of responses to target and distractor stimuli that have proven useful in many ERP studies of healthy and clinically impaired populations.

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fMRI reveals neural activity overlap between adult and infant pain

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.06356 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Sezgi Goksan ◽

Caroline Hartley ◽

Faith Emery ◽

Naomi Cockrill ◽

Ravi Poorun ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brain Activity ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Newborn Infants ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Adult Brain ◽

Noxious Stimulation ◽

Pain Experience ◽

Infant Pain ◽

Affective Components

Limited understanding of infant pain has led to its lack of recognition in clinical practice. While the network of brain regions that encode the affective and sensory aspects of adult pain are well described, the brain structures involved in infant nociceptive processing are less well known, meaning little can be inferred about the nature of the infant pain experience. Using fMRI we identified the network of brain regions that are active following acute noxious stimulation in newborn infants, and compared the activity to that observed in adults. Significant infant brain activity was observed in 18 of the 20 active adult brain regions but not in the infant amygdala or orbitofrontal cortex. Brain regions that encode sensory and affective components of pain are active in infants, suggesting that the infant pain experience closely resembles that seen in adults. This highlights the importance of developing effective pain management strategies in this vulnerable population.

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Developmental structure in brain evolution

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x01003958 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 263-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 247

Author(s):

Barbara L. Finlay ◽

Richard B. Darlington ◽

Nicholas Nicastro

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Mammalian Species ◽

Brain Evolution ◽

Brain Structures ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Structural Constraints ◽

Thalamic Nuclei ◽

Brain Expansion ◽

A Minor ◽

Selection Of

How does evolution grow bigger brains? It has been widely assumed that growth of individual structures and functional systems in response to niche-specific cognitive challenges is the most plausible mechanism for brain expansion in mammals. Comparison of multiple regressions on allometric data for 131 mammalian species, however, suggests that for 9 of 11 brain structures taxonomic and body size factors are less important than covariance of these major structures with each other. Which structure grows biggest is largely predicted by a conserved order of neurogenesis that can be derived from the basic axial structure of the developing brain. This conserved order of neurogenesis predicts the relative scaling not only of gross brain regions like the isocortex or mesencephalon, but also the level of detail of individual thalamic nuclei. Special selection of particular areas for specific functions does occur, but it is a minor factor compared to the large-scale covariance of the whole brain. The idea that enlarged isocortex could be a “spandrel,” a by-product of structural constraints later adapted for various behaviors, contrasts with approaches to selection of particular brain regions for cognitively advanced uses, as is commonly assumed in the case of hominid brain evolution.

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Beat Detection Recruits the Visual Cortex in Early Blind Subjects

Life ◽

10.3390/life11040296 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 296

Author(s):

Rodrigo Araneda ◽

Sandra Silva Moura ◽

Laurence Dricot ◽

Anne G. De Volder

Keyword(s):

Brain Plasticity ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Sensory Modality ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Rhythm Perception ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Sensory Modalities ◽

Beat Detection ◽

The Brain ◽

Early Blindness

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, here we monitored the brain activity in 12 early blind subjects and 12 blindfolded control subjects, matched for age, gender and musical experience, during a beat detection task. Subjects were required to discriminate regular (“beat”) from irregular (“no beat”) rhythmic sequences composed of sounds or vibrotactile stimulations. In both sensory modalities, the brain activity differences between the two groups involved heteromodal brain regions including parietal and frontal cortical areas and occipital brain areas, that were recruited in the early blind group only. Accordingly, early blindness induced brain plasticity changes in the cerebral pathways involved in rhythm perception, with a participation of the visually deprived occipital brain areas whatever the sensory modality for input. We conclude that the visually deprived cortex switches its input modality from vision to audition and vibrotactile sense to perform this temporal processing task, supporting the concept of a metamodal, multisensory organization of this cortex.

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Neural underpinnings of morality judgment and moral aesthetic judgment

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-97782-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Qiuping Cheng ◽

Xue Wen ◽

Guozhen Ye ◽

Yanchi Liu ◽

Yilong Kong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brain Activity ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Aesthetic Judgment ◽

Aesthetic Pleasure ◽

Neural Underpinnings ◽

Motor Representations ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Brain

AbstractMorality judgment usually refers to the evaluation of moral behavior`s ability to affect others` interests and welfare, while moral aesthetic judgment often implies the appraisal of moral behavior's capability to provide aesthetic pleasure. Both are based on the behavioral understanding. To our knowledge, no study has directly compared the brain activity of these two types of judgments. The present study recorded and analyzed brain activity involved in the morality and moral aesthetic judgments to reveal whether these two types of judgments differ in their neural underpinnings. Results reveled that morality judgment activated the frontal, parietal and occipital cortex previously reported for motor representations of behavior. Evaluation of goodness and badness showed similar patterns of activation in these brain regions. In contrast, moral aesthetic judgment elicited specific activations in the frontal, parietal and temporal cortex proved to be involved in the behavioral intentions and emotions. Evaluation of beauty and ugliness showed similar patterns of activation in these brain regions. Our findings indicate that morality judgment and moral aesthetic judgment recruit different cortical networks that might decode others' behaviors at different levels. These results contribute to further understanding of the essence of the relationship between morality judgment and aesthetic judgment.

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Regional and Temporal Differences in Brain Activity With Morally Good or Bad Judgments in Men: A Magnetoencephalography Study

Frontiers in Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnins.2021.596711 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Hirotoshi Hiraishi ◽

Takashi Ikeda ◽

Daisuke N. Saito ◽

Chiaki Hasegawa ◽

Sachiko Kitagawa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Left Hemisphere ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Moral Judgments ◽

Temporal Region ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Time Frequency ◽

Functional Connections ◽

Theta Waves

Many neuroimaging studies on morality focus on functional brain areas that relate to moral judgment specifically in morally negative situations. To date, there have been few studies on differences in brain activity under conditions of being morally good and bad along a continuum. To explore not only the brain regions involved but also their functional connections during moral judgments, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG), which is superior to other imaging modalities for analyzing time-dependent brain activities; only men were recruited because sex differences might be a confounding factor. While analyses showed that general patterns of brain activation and connectivity were similar between morally good judgments (MGJs) and morally bad judgments (MBJs), activation in brain areas that subserve emotion and “theory of mind” on the right hemisphere was larger in MGJ than MBJ conditions. In the left local temporal region, the connectivity between brain areas related to emotion and reward/punishment was stronger in MBJ than MGJ conditions. The time-frequency analysis showed distinct laterality (left hemisphere dominant) occurring during early moral information processing in MBJ conditions compared to MGJ conditions and phase-dependent differences in the appearance of theta waves between MBJ and MGJ conditions. During MBJs, connections within the hemispheric regions were more robust than those between hemispheric regions. These results suggested that the local temporal region on the left hemisphere is more important in the execution of MBJs during early moral valence processing than in that with MGJs. Shorter neuronal connections within the hemisphere may allow to make MBJs punctual.

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The connectome

New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry ◽

10.1093/med/9780198713005.003.0013 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 113-121

Author(s):

Olaf Sporns

Keyword(s):

Nervous System ◽

Individual Differences ◽

Brain Connectivity ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Systematic Account ◽

Functional Brain ◽

Connectivity Structure ◽

Complete Set ◽

Selection Of

The connectome refers to a comprehensive network map of the connectivity of the nervous system. Such network maps are composed of sets of neural elements, which may correspond to individual neurons or brain areas, and their interconnections, which may correspond to synaptic links or inter-areal pathways. Connectome maps, at a given level of scale, provide a complete and systematic account of brain connectivity that portrays a complete set of anatomical or physiological relationships. This chapter provides an overview of the origins and definitions of the concept and its application to structural and functional brain connectivity, brief surveys of the major findings on the topology of the human connectome and how its connectivity structure shapes dynamic brain activity, and a selection of current themes in the study of individual differences in development and clinical populations.

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