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Lee DH, Kim JS, Ryun S, Chung CK. Discrete tactile feature comparison subprocess in human brain during a decision-making process. Cortex 2024; 171:383-396. [PMID: 38101274 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
From sensory input to motor action, encoded sensory features flow sequentially along cortical networks for decision-making. Despite numerous studies probing the decision-making process, the subprocess that compares encoded sensory features before making a decision has not been fully elucidated in humans. In this study, we investigated sensory feature comparison by presenting two different tasks (a discrimination task, in which participants made decisions by comparing two sequential tactile stimuli; and a detection task, in which participants responded to the second tactile stimulus in two sequential stimuli) to epilepsy patients while recording electrocorticography (ECoG). By comparing tactile-specific gamma band (30-200 Hz) power between the two tasks, the decision-making process was divided into three subprocesses-categorization, comparison, and decision-consistent with a previous study (Heekeren et al., 2004). These subprocesses occurred sequentially in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, secondary somatosensory cortex, and parietal lobe. Gamma power showed two different patterns of correlation with response time. In the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), there was a negative correlation. This means that as gamma power increased, response time decreased. In the secondary somatosensory cortex (S2), there was a positive correlation. Here, as gamma power increased, response time also increased. These results indicate that the IPL and S2 encode tactile feature comparison differently. Our connectivity analysis showed that the S2 transmitted tactile information to the IPL. Our findings suggest that multiple areas in the parietal lobe encode sensory feature comparison differently before making a decision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dong Hyeok Lee
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - June Sic Kim
- The Research Institute of Basic Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Seokyun Ryun
- Neuroscience Research Institute, Medical Research Center, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Chun Kee Chung
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Neuroscience Research Institute, Medical Research Center, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
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Huang L, Wang J, He Q, Li C, Sun Y, Seger CA, Zhang X. A source for category-induced global effects of feature-based attention in human prefrontal cortex. Cell Rep 2023; 42:113080. [PMID: 37659080 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2023] [Revised: 06/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Global effects of feature-based attention (FBA) are generally limited to stimuli sharing the same or similar features, as hypothesized in the "feature-similarity gain model." Visual perception, however, often reflects categories acquired via experience/learning; whether the global-FBA effect can be induced by the categorized features remains unclear. Here, human subjects were trained to classify motion directions into two discrete categories and perform a classical motion-based attention task. We found a category-induced global-FBA effect in both the middle temporal area (MT+) and frontoparietal areas, where attention to a motion direction globally spread to unattended motion directions within the same category, but not to those in a different category. Effective connectivity analysis showed that the category-induced global-FBA effect in MT+ was derived by feedback from the inferior frontal junction (IFJ). Altogether, our study reveals a category-induced global-FBA effect and identifies a source for this effect in human prefrontal cortex, implying that FBA is of greater ecological significance than previously thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ling Huang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China
| | - Jingyi Wang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China
| | - Qionghua He
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China
| | - Chu Li
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China
| | - Yueling Sun
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China
| | - Carol A Seger
- School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China; Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Xilin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Brain, Cognition and Education Sciences, Ministry of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China; School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631, China.
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Cai Y, Hofstetter S, Harvey BM, Dumoulin SO. Attention drives human numerosity-selective responses. Cell Rep 2022; 39:111005. [PMID: 35767956 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2021] [Revised: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Numerosity, the set size of a group of items, helps guide behavior and decisions. Previous studies have shown that neural populations respond selectively to numerosities. How numerosity is extracted from the visual scene is a longstanding debate, often contrasting low-level visual with high-level cognitive processes. Here, we investigate how attention influences numerosity-selective responses. The stimuli consisted of black and white dots within the same display. Participants' attention was focused on either black or white dots, while we systematically changed the numerosity of black, white, and total dots. Using 7 T fMRI, we show that the numerosity-tuned neural populations respond only when attention is focused on their preferred numerosity, irrespective of the unattended or total numerosities. Without attention, responses to preferred numerosity are suppressed. Unlike traditional effects of attention in the visual cortex, where attention enhances already existing responses, these results suggest that attention is required to drive numerosity-selective responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxuan Cai
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Meibergdreef 75, 1105BK Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Computational Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Shir Hofstetter
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Meibergdreef 75, 1105BK Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Computational Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Ben M Harvey
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Serge O Dumoulin
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Meibergdreef 75, 1105BK Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Computational Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Experimental and Applied Psychology, Vrije University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
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Abstract
Voluntary attention selects behaviorally relevant signals for further processing while filtering out distracter signals. Neural correlates of voluntary visual attention have been reported across multiple areas of the primate visual processing streams, with the earliest and strongest effects isolated in the prefrontal cortex. In this article, I review evidence supporting the hypothesis that signals guiding the allocation of voluntary attention emerge in areas of the prefrontal cortex and reach upstream areas to modulate the processing of incoming visual information according to its behavioral relevance. Areas located anterior and dorsal to the arcuate sulcus and the frontal eye fields produce signals that guide the allocation of spatial attention. Areas located anterior and ventral to the arcuate sulcus produce signals for feature-based attention. Prefrontal microcircuits are particularly suited to supporting voluntary attention because of their ability to generate attentional template signals and implement signal gating and their extensive connectivity with the rest of the brain. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Vision Science, Volume 8 is September 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julio Martinez-Trujillo
- Department of Physiology, Pharmacology and Psychiatry, Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada;
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