scholarly journals An afferent white matter pathway from the pulvinar to the amygdala facilitates fear recognition

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica McFadyen ◽  
Jason B Mattingley ◽  
Marta I Garrido
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Editorial Note ◽  
Dynamic Coupling ◽  
Diffusion Weighted Images ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Fearful Face ◽  
Neuroimaging Study ◽  
Haemodynamic Activity ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Subcortical Pathway

Our ability to rapidly detect threats is thought to be subserved by a subcortical pathway that quickly conveys visual information to the amygdala. This neural shortcut has been demonstrated in animals but has rarely been shown in the human brain. Importantly, it remains unclear whether such a pathway might influence neural activity and behavior. We conducted a multimodal neuroimaging study of 622 participants from the Human Connectome Project. We applied probabilistic tractography to diffusion-weighted images, reconstructing a subcortical pathway to the amygdala from the superior colliculus via the pulvinar. We then computationally modeled the flow of haemodynamic activity during a face-viewing task and found evidence for a functionally afferent pulvinar-amygdala pathway. Critically, individuals with greater fibre density in this pathway also had stronger dynamic coupling and enhanced fearful face recognition. Our findings provide converging evidence for the recruitment of an afferent subcortical pulvinar connection to the amygdala that facilitates fear recognition.Editorial note: This article has been through an editorial process in which the authors decide how to respond to the issues raised during peer review. The Reviewing Editor's assessment is that minor issues remain unresolved (<xref ref-type="decision-letter" rid="SA1">see decision letter</xref>).

scholarly journals An afferent white matter pathway from the pulvinar to the amygdala facilitates fear recognition

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica McFadyen ◽  
Jason B Mattingley ◽  
Marta I Garrido
Keyword(s):  
Neural Activity ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Probabilistic Tractography ◽  
Dynamic Coupling ◽  
Multimodal Neuroimaging ◽  
Diffusion Weighted Images ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Fearful Face ◽  
Neuroimaging Study ◽  
Subcortical Pathway

Our ability to rapidly detect threats is thought to be subserved by a subcortical pathway that quickly conveys visual information to the amygdala. This neural shortcut has been demonstrated in animals but has rarely been shown in the human brain. Importantly, it remains unclear whether such a pathway might influence neural activity and behaviour. We conducted a multimodal neuroimaging study of 622 participants from the Human Connectome Project. We applied probabilistic tractography to diffusion-weighted images, reconstructing a subcortical pathway to the amygdala from the superior colliculus via the pulvinar. We then computationally modelled the flow of neural activity during a face-viewing task and found evidence for a functionally-afferent pulvinar-amygdala pathway. Critically, individuals with greater fibre density in this pathway also had stronger dynamic coupling and enhanced fearful face recognition. Our findings provide converging evidence for the recruitment of an afferent subcortical pulvinar connection to the amygdala that facilitates fear recognition.

Individual Uniqueness in the Neonatal Functional Connectome

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiushi Wang ◽  
Yuehua Xu ◽  
Tengda Zhao ◽  
Zhilei Xu ◽  
Yong He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Individual Identification ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
Functional Connectome ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Identification Analysis ◽  
The Brain

Abstract The functional connectome is highly distinctive in adults and adolescents, underlying individual differences in cognition and behavior. However, it remains unknown whether the individual uniqueness of the functional connectome is present in neonates, who are far from mature. Here, we utilized the multiband resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 40 healthy neonates from the Developing Human Connectome Project and a split-half analysis approach to characterize the uniqueness of the functional connectome in the neonatal brain. Through functional connectome-based individual identification analysis, we found that all the neonates were correctly identified, with the most discriminative regions predominantly confined to the higher-order cortices (e.g., prefrontal and parietal regions). The connectivities with the highest contributions to individual uniqueness were primarily located between different functional systems, and the short- (0–30 mm) and middle-range (30–60 mm) connectivities were more distinctive than the long-range (&gt;60 mm) connectivities. Interestingly, we found that functional data with a scanning length longer than 3.5 min were able to capture the individual uniqueness in the functional connectome. Our results highlight that individual uniqueness is present in the functional connectome of neonates and provide insights into the brain mechanisms underlying individual differences in cognition and behavior later in life.

scholarly journals The visual white matter connecting human area prostriata and the thalamus is retinotopically organized

2020 ◽  
Vol 225 (6) ◽  
pp. 1839-1853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan W. Kurzawski ◽  
Kyriaki Mikellidou ◽  
Maria Concetta Morrone ◽  
Franco Pestilli
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Peripheral Visual Field ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
Central Visual Field ◽  
Field Representation ◽  
Computing Platform ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Plane Extraction

Abstract The human visual system is capable of processing visual information from fovea to the far peripheral visual field. Recent fMRI studies have shown a full and detailed retinotopic map in area prostriata, located ventro-dorsally and anterior to the calcarine sulcus along the parieto-occipital sulcus with strong preference for peripheral and wide-field stimulation. Here, we report the anatomical pattern of white matter connections between area prostriata and the thalamus encompassing the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). To this end, we developed and utilized an automated pipeline comprising a series of Apps that run openly on the cloud computing platform brainlife.io to analyse 139 subjects of the Human Connectome Project (HCP). We observe a continuous and extended bundle of white matter fibers from which two subcomponents can be extracted: one passing ventrally parallel to the optic radiations (OR) and another passing dorsally circumventing the lateral ventricle. Interestingly, the loop travelling dorsally connects the thalamus with the central visual field representation of prostriata located anteriorly, while the other loop travelling more ventrally connects the LGN with the more peripheral visual field representation located posteriorly. We then analyse an additional cohort of 10 HCP subjects using a manual plane extraction method outside brainlife.io to study the relationship between the two extracted white matter subcomponents and eccentricity, myelin and cortical thickness gradients within prostriata. Our results are consistent with a retinotopic segregation recently demonstrated in the OR, connecting the LGN and V1 in humans and reveal for the first time a retinotopic segregation regarding the trajectory of a fiber bundle between the thalamus and an associative visual area.

scholarly journals Spatial Attention Evokes Similar Activation Patterns for Visual and Auditory Stimuli

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
David V. Smith ◽  
Ben Davis ◽  
Kathy Niu ◽  
Eric W. Healy ◽  
Leonardo Bonilha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Central Target ◽  
Neuroimaging Study ◽  
Auditory Tasks ◽  
Selection Of

Neuroimaging studies suggest that a fronto-parietal network is activated when we expect visual information to appear at a specific spatial location. Here we examined whether a similar network is involved for auditory stimuli. We used sparse fMRI to infer brain activation while participants performed analogous visual and auditory tasks. On some trials, participants were asked to discriminate the elevation of a peripheral target. On other trials, participants made a nonspatial judgment. We contrasted trials where the participants expected a peripheral spatial target to those where they were cued to expect a central target. Crucially, our statistical analyses were based on trials where stimuli were anticipated but not presented, allowing us to directly infer perceptual orienting independent of perceptual processing. This is the first neuroimaging study to use an orthogonal-cuing paradigm (with cues predicting azimuth and responses involving elevation discrimination). This aspect of our paradigm is important, as behavioral cueing effects in audition are classically only observed when participants are asked to make spatial judgments. We observed similar fronto-parietal activation for both vision and audition. In a second experiment that controlled for stimulus properties and task difficulty, participants made spatial and temporal discriminations about musical instruments. We found that the pattern of brain activation for spatial selection of auditory stimuli was remarkably similar to what we found in our first experiment. Collectively, these results suggest that the neural mechanisms supporting spatial attention are largely similar across both visual and auditory modalities.

The development of joint attention in blind infants

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANN E. BIGELOW
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Joint Attention ◽  
Late Stage ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Ecological Self ◽  
Stage 4 ◽  
External Cues ◽  
Self Knowledge ◽  
And Behavior

There is little documentation of how and when joint attention emerges in blind infants because the study of this ability has been predominantly reliant on visual information. Ecological self-knowledge, which is necessary for joint attention, is impaired in blind infants and is evidenced by their reaching for objects on external cues, which also marks the beginning of their Stage 4 understanding of space and object. Entry into Stage 4 should occur before joint attention emerges in these infants. In a case study of two totally blind infants, the development of joint attention was longitudinally examined during Stage 4 in monthly sessions involving interactions with objects and familiar adults. The interactions were scored for behavior preliminary to joint attention, behavior liberally construed as joint attention, and behavior conservatively construed as joint attention. Behavior preliminary to joint attention occurred throughout Stage 4; behavior suggestive of joint attention by both liberal and conservative standards emerged initially in Stage 4 and became prevalent by mid to late Stage 4. The findings are discussed in terms of how they inform our thinking about the development of joint attention with respect to the importance of vision, cognition, social context, language, and early self-knowledge.

‘Visual’ acuity of the congenitally blind using visual-to-auditory sensory substitution

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 191
Author(s):  
Ella Striem-Amit ◽  
Miriam Guendelman ◽  
Amir Amedi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Sensory Substitution ◽  
World Health ◽  
Visual Rehabilitation ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Potential Capacity ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Neuroimaging Study ◽  
Health Organization

Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs) convey visual information through sounds or touch, thus theoretically enabling a form of visual rehabilitation in the blind. However, for clinical use, these devices must provide fine-detailed visual information which was not shown yet for this or other means of visual restoration. To test the possible functional acuity conveyed by such devices, we used the Snellen acuity test conveyed through a high-resolution visual-to-auditory SSD (The vOICe). We show that congenitally fully blind adults can exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) blindness acuity threshold using SSDs, reaching the highest acuity reported yet with any visual rehabilitation approach. Preliminary findings of a neuroimaging study of a similar reading task using SSDs suggest the specific involvement of the congenitally blind visual cortex in processing sights-from-sounds. These results demonstrate the potential capacity of SSDs as inexpensive, non-invasive visual rehabilitation aids, as well as their advantage in charting the retention of functional properties of the visual cortex of the blind.

scholarly journals NOise Reduction with DIstribution Corrected (NORDIC) PCA in dMRI with complex-valued parameter-free locally low-rank processing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steen Moeller ◽  
Pramod Kumar Pisharady ◽  
Sudhir Ramanna ◽  
Christophe Lenglet ◽  
Xiaoping Wu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Noise Reduction ◽  
Thermal Noise ◽  
Low Rank ◽  
List Type ◽  
Denoising Method ◽  
Diffusion Weighted Images ◽  
Diffusion Weighted ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Complex Valued

AbstractDiffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) has found great utility for a wide range of neuroscientific and clinical applications. However, high-resolution dMRI, which is required for improved delineation of fine brain structures and connectomics, is hampered by its low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Since dMRI relies on the acquisition of multiple different diffusion weighted images of the same anatomy, it is well-suited for denoising methods that utilize correlations across the image series to improve the apparent SNR and the subsequent data analysis. In this work, we introduce and quantitatively evaluate a comprehensive framework, NOise Reduction with Distribution Corrected (NORDIC) PCA method for processing dMRI. NORDIC uses low-rank modeling of g-factor-corrected complex dMRI reconstruction and non-asymptotic random matrix distributions to remove signal components which cannot be distinguished from thermal noise. The utility of the proposed framework for denoising dMRI is demonstrated on both simulations and experimental data obtained at 3 Tesla with different resolutions using human connectome project style acquisitions. The proposed framework leads to substantially enhanced quantitative performance for estimating diffusion tractography related measures and for resolving crossing fibers as compared to a conventional/state-of-the-art dMRI denoising method.HighlightsWe propose a framework, NORDIC, for denoising complex valued dMRI data using Gaussian statisticsThe effectiveness of the proposed denoising method is distinguished by the ability to remove only signal which cannot be distinguished from thermal noiseThe proposed method outperforms a state-of-art method for denoising dMRI in terms of fiber orientation dispersionQuantitative evaluation of NORDIC across different resolutions and SNR using human connectome type acquisitions and analysis shows up to 6 fold improvement in apparent SNR for 0.9mm whole brain dMRI at 3T.

scholarly journals Reward Rapidly Enhances Visual Perception

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762110218
Author(s):  
Phillip (Xin) Cheng ◽  
Anina N. Rich ◽  
Mike E. Le Pelley
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Response Accuracy ◽  
Modulation Effect ◽  
High Reward ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Reward Information

Rewards exert a deep influence on our cognition and behavior. Here, we used a paradigm in which reward information was provided at either encoding or retrieval of a brief, masked stimulus to show that reward can also rapidly modulate perceptual encoding of visual information. Experiment 1 ( n = 30 adults) showed that participants’ response accuracy was enhanced when a to-be-encoded grating signaled high reward relative to low reward, but only when the grating was presented very briefly and participants reported that they were not consciously aware of it. Experiment 2 ( n = 29 adults) showed that there was no difference in participants’ response accuracy when reward information was instead provided at the stage of retrieval, ruling out an explanation of the reward-modulation effect in terms of differences in motivated retrieval. Taken together, our findings provide behavioral evidence consistent with a rapid reward modulation of visual perception, which may not require consciousness.

scholarly journals Dynamic reorganization of human resting-state networks during visuospatial attention

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (26) ◽  
pp. 8112-8117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Spadone ◽  
Stefania Della Penna ◽  
Carlo Sestieri ◽  
Viviana Betti ◽  
Annalisa Tosoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Task Performance ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Visuospatial Attention ◽  
Attention Task ◽  
Attention Selection ◽  
And Behavior

Fundamental problems in neuroscience today are understanding how patterns of ongoing spontaneous activity are modified by task performance and whether/how these intrinsic patterns influence task-evoked activation and behavior. We examined these questions by comparing instantaneous functional connectivity (IFC) and directed functional connectivity (DFC) changes in two networks that are strongly correlated and segregated at rest: the visual (VIS) network and the dorsal attention network (DAN). We measured how IFC and DFC during a visuospatial attention task, which requires dynamic selective rerouting of visual information across hemispheres, changed with respect to rest. During the attention task, the two networks remained relatively segregated, and their general pattern of within-network correlation was maintained. However, attention induced a decrease of correlation in the VIS network and an increase of the DAN→VIS IFC and DFC, especially in a top-down direction. In contrast, within the DAN, IFC was not modified by attention, whereas DFC was enhanced. Importantly, IFC modulations were behaviorally relevant. We conclude that a stable backbone of within-network functional connectivity topography remains in place when transitioning between resting wakefulness and attention selection. However, relative decrease of correlation of ongoing “idling” activity in visual cortex and synchronization between frontoparietal and visual cortex were behaviorally relevant, indicating that modulations of resting activity patterns are important for task performance. Higher order resting connectivity in the DAN was relatively unaffected during attention, potentially indicating a role for simultaneous ongoing activity as a “prior” for attention selection.

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