Faculty Opinions recommendation of Ant colonies outperform individuals when a sensory discrimination task is difficult but not when it is easy.

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) are broadly linked to various aspects of behavior. During sensory discrimination, PFC neurons can encode a range of task related information, including the identity of sensory stimuli and related behavioral outcome. However, it remains largely unclear how different neuron subtypes and local field potential (LFP) oscillation features in the mouse PFC are modulated during sensory discrimination. To understand how excitatory and inhibitory PFC neurons are selectively engaged during sensory discrimination and how their activity relates to LFP oscillations, we used tetrode recordings to probe well-isolated individual neurons, and LFP oscillations, in mice performing a three-choice auditory discrimination task. We found that a majority of PFC neurons, 78% of the 711 recorded individual neurons, exhibited sensory discrimination related responses that are context and task dependent. Using spike waveforms, we classified these responsive neurons into putative excitatory neurons with broad waveforms or putative inhibitory neurons with narrow waveforms, and found that both neuron subtypes were transiently modulated, with individual neurons’ responses peaking throughout the entire duration of the trial. While the number of responsive excitatory neurons remain largely constant throughout the trial, an increasing fraction of inhibitory neurons were gradually recruited as the trial progressed. Further examination of the coherence between individual neurons and LFPs revealed that inhibitory neurons exhibit higher spike-field coherence with LFP oscillations than excitatory neurons during all aspects of the trial and across multiple frequency bands. Together, our results demonstrate that PFC excitatory neurons are continuously engaged during sensory discrimination, whereas PFC inhibitory neurons are increasingly recruited as the trial progresses and preferentially coordinated with LFP oscillations. These results demonstrate increasing involvement of inhibitory neurons in shaping the overall PFC dynamics toward the completion of the sensory discrimination task.

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Analysing neuronal correlates of the comparison of two sequentially presented sensory stimuli

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2002.1167 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 357 (1428) ◽

pp. 1843-1850 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Carlos D. Brody ◽

Adrián Hernández ◽

Antonio Zainos ◽

Luis Lemus ◽

Ranulfo Romo

Keyword(s):

Macaca Mulatta ◽

Cortical Area ◽

Discrimination Task ◽

Memory Trace ◽

Sensory Stimulus ◽

Neuronal Responses ◽

Sensory Stimuli ◽

Sensory Discrimination ◽

Cortical Areas ◽

Highly Correlated

In a typical sequential sensory discrimination task, subjects are required to make a decision based on comparing a sensory stimulus against the memory trace left by a previous stimulus. What is the neuronal substrate for such comparisons and the resulting decisions? This question was studied by recording neuronal responses in a variety of cortical areas of awake monkeys ( Macaca mulatta ), trained to carry out a vibrotactile sequential discrimination task. We describe methods to analyse responses obtained during the comparison and decision phases of the task, and describe the resulting findings from recordings in secondary somatosensory cortical area (S2). A subset of neurons in S2 become highly correlated with the monkey's decision in the task.

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Effects of 2, 5-Dimethoxy-4-Methylamphetamine (DOM, STP) on Successive Sensory Discrimination Behavior Maintained by Electrical Stimulation of the Brain Reinforcement in the Rat

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1976.38.3c.1083 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 38 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1083-1092 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

John H. Vincent ◽

Irmingard I. Lenzer

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Discrimination Task ◽

Lever Press ◽

Behavioral Effects ◽

Sprague Dawley ◽

Response Latencies ◽

Sensory Discrimination ◽

Sprague Dawley Rats ◽

The Brain ◽

Stimulation Of

The effects of DOM (2, 5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine) on behavior reinforced by electrical stimulation of the brain were observed in five male Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals were trained on a successive discrimination task: the SD interval lasted as long as it took the animal to make one lever-press; the SΔ interval was variable, with a mean duration of 60 sec. Following DOM administration, response latencies to the SD were longer during the first 75 min. and SΔ responding was augmented over the 2-hr. session. Gross behavioral effects such as hypokinesia and ataxia were observed for a large part of the session. While increased response latencies may be attributed to hypokinesia and ataxia, increases in SΔ responding reflect a breakdown of discrimination itself. Severe behavioral depression was not observed, suggesting that electrical stimulation of the brain may have counteracted the depressive effect of the amphetamine.

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Spatio-Temporal Cortical Patterns Evoked in Monkeys by a Discrimination Task

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.1991.3.3.242 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 242-251 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Don Krieger ◽

Robert J. Sclabassi ◽

Richard Coppola ◽

Richard Nakamura

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Task ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Sequence Information ◽

Response Preparation ◽

Multivariate Statistical ◽

Maximum Information ◽

Sensory Discrimination ◽

Prestriate Cortex ◽

Stimulus Classification ◽

Task Conditions

The primary experimental objective of this work was to demonstrate localization and temporal sequencing of the functional steps carried out by nonhuman primate subjects during performance of a sensory discrimination task, i.e., to identify the locale and sequence of activation of regions that participate in sensory discrimination, stimulus classification, and response preparation. Multivariate statistical procedures were applied to evoked transcortical recordings to identify the location and order of occurrence of signals that are effective in discriminating task conditions and parameters. (1) Sensory discrimination, (2) stimulus classification, and (3) response preparation occurred in the expected sequence. Information that enabled discrimination using these procedures was distributed widely across the cortex; however, the maximum information content was localized to striate and prestriate cortex, anterior inferior parietal cortex, and temporal and premotor cortex, respectively. This work provides a perspective on brain mechanisms responsible for cognition and demonstrates a set of powerful multivariate analytic tools for functional mapping, i.e., identifying the location and sequencing of cognitive functions.

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Temporal prediction elicits rhythmic pre-activation of relevant sensory cortices

10.1101/2020.10.20.347005 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Louise Catheryne Barne ◽

Andre Mascioli Cravo ◽

Floris P. de Lange ◽

Eelke Spaak

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Task ◽

Sensory Cortex ◽

Oscillatory Activity ◽

Neural Oscillations ◽

Sensory Discrimination ◽

Temporal Prediction ◽

Sensory Cortices ◽

Feature Based ◽

Stimulus Features

Being able to anticipate events before they happen facilitates stimulus processing. The anticipation of the contents of events is thought to be implemented by the elicitation of prestimulus templates in sensory cortex. In contrast, the anticipation of the timing of events is typically associated with entrainment of neural oscillations. It is so far unknown whether and in which conditions temporal expectations interact with feature-based expectations, and, consequently, whether entrainment modulates the generation of content-specific sensory templates. In this study, we investigated the role of temporal expectations in a sensory discrimination task. We presented participants with rhythmically interleaved visual and auditory streams of relevant and irrelevant stimuli while measuring neural activity using magnetoencephalography. We found no evidence that rhythmic stimulation induced prestimulus feature templates. However, we did observe clear anticipatory rhythmic pre-activation of the relevant sensory cortices. This oscillatory activity peaked at behaviourally relevant, in-phase, intervals. Our results suggest that temporal expectations about stimulus features do not behave similarly to explicitly cued, non-rhythmic, expectations; yet elicit a distinct form of modality-specific pre-activation.

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Intelligence Predicts Sensory Discrimination Ability but not Implicit Reward Learning

10.31234/osf.io/qcgj3 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tyler Sassenberg ◽

Muchen Xi ◽

Daiqing Zhao ◽

Scott D. Blain ◽

Colin G. DeYoung

Keyword(s):

Reinforcement Schedule ◽

Discrimination Task ◽

Differential Reinforcement ◽

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Community Sample ◽

Reward Learning ◽

Reinforcement Schedules ◽

Sensory Discrimination ◽

Discrimination Ability ◽

Iq Test

Previous research has made use of sensory discrimination tasks that incorporate differential reinforcement schedules as a method for measuring individual differences in implicit reward learning. One such task utilizing a differential reinforcement schedule was popularized by Pizzagalli et al. (2005) with the intent of behaviorally assessing anhedonia and reward sensitivity. Various studies have examined implicit reward learning in relation to clinical symptoms and personality traits, including anhedonia, depression, and Extraversion. Despite extensive use of these tasks, they have not been extensively examined in relation to intelligence. Other research suggests positive associations of intelligence with sensory discrimination ability. The present study utilized a probabilistic reward task incorporating differential reinforcement in a large community sample to determine the relations among IQ, sensory discrimination ability, and implicit reward learning. Participants (N = 298) completed a sensory discrimination task, as well as an IQ test. IQ was not associated with participants’ levels of implicit reward learning but was positively associated with sensory discrimination ability. These findings provide further understanding of the complex relations among implicit learning, sensory discrimination ability, and intelligence.

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Articulatory Effectiveness, Stimulability, and Children’s Performances on Perceptual and Memory Tasks

Journal of Speech and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.1503.579 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 15 (3) ◽

pp. 579-589 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Ronald K. Sommers ◽

Shannon Cox ◽

Cynthia West

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Task ◽

Speech Sound ◽

First Grade ◽

Sensory Discrimination ◽

Oral Sensory ◽

Auditory Tasks

The performances of 70 children, 35 from kindergarten and 35 from first grade, were studied on four auditory measures and one oral sensory discrimination task. Each group of 35 children included seven subjects with superior articulation, seven with deviant articulation and poor speech sound stimulability, seven with deviant articulation and good stimulability, seven with articulation defects and poor stimulability, and seven with articulation defects and good stimulability. Performances on a speech sound stimulability task were not found to be related to performances on any of the auditory measures and only slightly to the oral sensory task. Superior articulators had significantly better scores than the deviant and defectives on the oral sensory discrimination task, but scores on the auditory tasks were not significantly different. Comparison of the performances of /s/ and /r/ defectives revealed the latter group to be inferior on some auditory tasks compared with the superior articulators. Some relationships were found between subject performances on certain auditory tasks.

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Stimulus Ratio Effects on Speech Discrimination by Children and Adults

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/jshr.3403.671 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 671-678 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Joan E. Sussman

Keyword(s):

Discrimination Task ◽

Response Pattern ◽

Response Patterns ◽

Speech Discrimination ◽

Adult Group ◽

Discrimination Accuracy ◽

Formant Frequency ◽

Response Strategies ◽

Place Of Articulation ◽

Adults And Children

This investigation examined the response strategies and discrimination accuracy of adults and children aged 5–10 as the ratio of same to different trials was varied across three conditions of a “change/no-change” discrimination task. The conditions varied as follows: (a) a ratio of one-third same to two-thirds different trials (33% same), (b) an equal ratio of same to different trials (50% same), and (c) a ratio of two-thirds same to one-third different trials (67% same). Stimuli were synthetic consonant-vowel syllables that changed along a place of articulation dimension by formant frequency transition. Results showed that all subjects changed their response strategies depending on the ratio of same-to-different trials. The most lax response pattern was observed for the 50% same condition, and the most conservative pattern was observed for the 67% same condition. Adult response patterns were most conservative across condition. Differences in discrimination accuracy as measured by P(C) were found, with the largest difference in the 5- to 6-year-old group and the smallest change in the adult group. These findings suggest that children’s response strategies, like those of adults, can be manipulated by changing the ratio of same-to-different trials. Furthermore, interpretation of sensitivity measures must be referenced to task variables such as the ratio of same-to-different trials.

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