1
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Spens E, Burgess N. A generative model of memory construction and consolidation. Nat Hum Behav 2024; 8:526-543. [PMID: 38242925 PMCID: PMC10963272 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01799-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2024]
Abstract
Episodic memories are (re)constructed, share neural substrates with imagination, combine unique features with schema-based predictions and show schema-based distortions that increase with consolidation. Here we present a computational model in which hippocampal replay (from an autoassociative network) trains generative models (variational autoencoders) to (re)create sensory experiences from latent variable representations in entorhinal, medial prefrontal and anterolateral temporal cortices via the hippocampal formation. Simulations show effects of memory age and hippocampal lesions in agreement with previous models, but also provide mechanisms for semantic memory, imagination, episodic future thinking, relational inference and schema-based distortions including boundary extension. The model explains how unique sensory and predictable conceptual elements of memories are stored and reconstructed by efficiently combining both hippocampal and neocortical systems, optimizing the use of limited hippocampal storage for new and unusual information. Overall, we believe hippocampal replay training generative models provides a comprehensive account of memory construction, imagination and consolidation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor Spens
- UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Neil Burgess
- UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK.
- UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
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2
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Stendardi D, Giordani LG, Gambino S, Kaplan R, Ciaramelli E. Who am I really? The ephemerality of the self-schema following vmPFC damage. Neuropsychologia 2023; 188:108651. [PMID: 37481034 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108651] [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: 10/24/2022] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 07/24/2023]
Abstract
We studied the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in supporting the self-schema, by asking vmPFC patients, along with healthy and brain-damaged controls, to judge the degree to which they (or another person) were likely to engage in a series of activities, and how confident they were in their responses. Critically, participants provided their judgments on two separate occasions, a week apart. Our underlying assumption was that a strong self-schema would lead to confident and stable self-related judgments. We observed that control groups exhibited higher across-session consistency for self-related compared to other-related judgments, while this self-advantage was absent in vmPFC patients. In addition, regression analyses showed that in control groups the level of confidence associated with a specific (self- or other-related) judgment predicted the stability of that judgment across sessions. In contrast, vmPFC patients' confidence and rating consistency were aligned only for other-related judgments. By contrast, self-related judgments changed across sessions regardless of the confidence level with which they were initially endorsed. These findings indicate that the vmPFC is crucial to maintaining the self-schema and supporting the reliable retrieval of self-related information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debora Stendardi
- Dipartimento di Psicologia 'Renzo Canestrari', Università di Bologna, Bologna, 40126, Italy; Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, 47521, Italy.
| | - Luca Giacometti Giordani
- Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, 47521, Italy
| | - Silvia Gambino
- Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, 47521, Italy
| | - Raphael Kaplan
- Department of Basic Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychobiology, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló de La Plana, 12071, Spain
| | - Elisa Ciaramelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia 'Renzo Canestrari', Università di Bologna, Bologna, 40126, Italy; Centro di Studi e Ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, 47521, Italy.
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3
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Ryom KI, Stendardi D, Ciaramelli E, Treves A. Computational constraints on the associative recall of spatial scenes. Hippocampus 2023; 33:635-645. [PMID: 36762712 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23511] [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: 09/18/2022] [Revised: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
We consider a model of associative storage and retrieval of compositional memories in an extended cortical network. Our model network is comprised of Potts units, which represent patches of cortex, interacting through long-range connections. The critical assumption is that a memory, for example of a spatial view, is composed of a limited number of items, each of which has a pre-established representation: storing a new memory only involves acquiring the connections, if novel, among the participating items. The model is shown to have a much lower storage capacity than when it stores simple unitary representations. It is also shown that an input from the hippocampus facilitates associative retrieval. When it is absent, it is advantageous to cue rare rather than frequent items. The implications of these results for emerging trends in empirical research are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Debora Stendardi
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Renzo Canestrari, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Elisa Ciaramelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia Renzo Canestrari, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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4
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Rolls ET. The hippocampus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and episodic and semantic memory. Prog Neurobiol 2022; 217:102334. [PMID: 35870682 DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2022.102334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 06/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC)/anterior cingulate cortex is implicated in reward and emotion, but also in memory. It is shown how the human orbitofrontal cortex connecting with the vmPFC and anterior cingulate cortex provide a route to the hippocampus for reward and emotional value to be incorporated into episodic memory, enabling memory of where a reward was seen. It is proposed that this value component results in primarily episodic memories with some value component to be repeatedly recalled from the hippocampus so that they are more likely to become incorporated into neocortical semantic and autobiographical memories. The same orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate regions also connect in humans to the septal and basal forebrain cholinergic nuclei, thereby helping to consolidate memory, and helping to account for why damage to the vMPFC impairs memory. The human hippocampus and vmPFC thus contribute in complementary ways to forming episodic and semantic memories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edmund T Rolls
- Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Oxford, UK; University of Warwick, Department of Computer Science, Coventry, UK.
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5
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Gibson EC, Ford L, Robinson GA. Investigating the role of future thinking in highly superior autobiographical memory. Cortex 2022; 149:188-201. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Revised: 11/22/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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6
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Viol A, Treves A, Ciaramelli E. Navigating through the ebbs and flows of language. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2021; 70:130-136. [PMID: 34801786 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2021.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2021] [Revised: 09/23/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Is progress in understanding the neural basis for spatial navigation relevant to the human language faculty? Not so much at the shortest scale, where movement is continuous, a recent study in the space of vowels suggests. At a much larger scale, however, that of the verbalization of run-away thoughts, a rich phenomenology appears to involve critical contributions by some of the brain structures also involved in spatial cognition. Their interactions may have to be approached with models operating at an integrated cortical level and allowing for the compositionality of multiple local attractor states. A useful window on the latching dynamics enabled by cortico-cortical interactions may be offered by altered states of consciousness. As an example, psychedelic states have been reported to alter the graph properties of functional connectivity in the cortex so as to facilitate wide-ranging trips.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aline Viol
- SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience, Via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy
| | - Alessandro Treves
- SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience, Via Bonomea 265, 34136, Trieste, Italy.
| | - Elisa Ciaramelli
- Dip. di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Viale Berti-Pichat 5, 40126, Bologna, Italy
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7
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La perception multisource : une nouvelle approche de la perception de scènes. PSYCHOLOGIE FRANCAISE 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.psfr.2021.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
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8
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Ciaramelli E, De Luca F, Kwan D, Mok J, Bianconi F, Knyagnytska V, Craver C, Green L, Myerson J, Rosenbaum RS. The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in reward valuation and future thinking during intertemporal choice. eLife 2021; 10:67387. [PMID: 34342577 PMCID: PMC8331177 DOI: 10.7554/elife.67387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 07/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Intertemporal choices require trade-offs between short-term and long-term outcomes. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) damage causes steep discounting of future rewards (delay discounting [DD]) and impoverished episodic future thinking (EFT). The role of vmPFC in reward valuation, EFT, and their interaction during intertemporal choice is still unclear. Here, 12 patients with lesions to vmPFC and 41 healthy controls chose between smaller-immediate and larger-delayed hypothetical monetary rewards while we manipulated reward magnitude and the availability of EFT cues. In the EFT condition, participants imagined personal events to occur at the delays associated with the larger-delayed rewards. We found that DD was steeper in vmPFC patients compared to controls, and not modulated by reward magnitude. However, EFT cues downregulated DD in vmPFC patients as well as controls. These findings indicate that vmPFC integrity is critical for the valuation of (future) rewards, but not to instill EFT in intertemporal choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Ciaramelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Flavia De Luca
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Donna Kwan
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Jenkin Mok
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Francesca Bianconi
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Violetta Knyagnytska
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Università di Bologna, Cesena, Italy.,Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada
| | - Carl Craver
- Department of Philosophy, Washington University, St. Louis, United States
| | - Leonard Green
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, United States
| | - Joel Myerson
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, United States
| | - R Shayna Rosenbaum
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada.,Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Canada
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9
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Ciaramelli E, Anelli F, Frassinetti F. An asymmetry in past and future mental time travel following vmPFC damage. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:315-325. [PMID: 33382070 PMCID: PMC7943363 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2020] [Revised: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in mental time travel toward the past and the future is debated. Here, patients with focal lesions to the vmPFC and brain-damaged and healthy controls mentally projected themselves to a past, present or future moment of subjective time (self-projection) and classified a series of events as past or future relative to the adopted temporal self-location (self-reference). We found that vmPFC patients were selectively impaired in projecting themselves to the future and in recognizing relative-future events. These findings indicate that vmPFC damage hinders the mental processing of and movement toward future events, pointing to a prominent, multifaceted role of vmPFC in future-oriented mental time travel.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Ciaramelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy
- Center for Studies and Research of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Cesena 47521, Italy
| | - Filomena Anelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy
- Department of Surgical and Medical Sciences, “Magna Graecia” University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro 88100, Italy
| | - Francesca Frassinetti
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy
- Istituti Clinici Scientifici Maugeri IRCCS, Operative Unit for Recovery and Functional Rehabilitation, Institute of Castel Goffredo, Mantova 46042, Italy
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10
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McCormick C, Dalton MA, Zeidman P, Maguire EA. Characterising the hippocampal response to perception, construction and complexity. Cortex 2021; 137:1-17. [PMID: 33571913 PMCID: PMC8048772 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.12.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The precise role played by the hippocampus in supporting cognitive functions such as episodic memory and future thinking is debated, but there is general agreement that it involves constructing representations comprised of numerous elements. Visual scenes have been deployed extensively in cognitive neuroscience because they are paradigmatic multi-element stimuli. However, questions remain about the specificity and nature of the hippocampal response to scenes. Here, we devised a paradigm in which we had participants search pairs of images for either colour or layout differences, thought to be associated with perceptual or spatial constructive processes respectively. Importantly, images depicted either naturalistic scenes or phase-scrambled versions of the same scenes, and were either simple or complex. Using this paradigm during functional MRI scanning, we addressed three questions: 1. Is the hippocampus recruited specifically during scene processing? 2. If the hippocampus is more active in response to scenes, does searching for colour or layout differences influence its activation? 3. Does the complexity of the scenes affect its response? We found that, compared to phase-scrambled versions of the scenes, the hippocampus was more responsive to scene stimuli. Moreover, a clear anatomical distinction was evident, with colour detection in scenes engaging the posterior hippocampus whereas layout detection in scenes recruited the anterior hippocampus. The complexity of the scenes did not influence hippocampal activity. These findings seem to align with perspectives that propose the hippocampus is especially attuned to scenes, and its involvement occurs irrespective of the cognitive process or the complexity of the scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cornelia McCormick
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Marshall A Dalton
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Peter Zeidman
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Eleanor A Maguire
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, WC1N 3AR, UK.
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11
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Boundary extension as a tool for detection of cognitive change among individuals with mild cognitive impairment: A preliminary study. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 2021; 94:104329. [PMID: 33472095 DOI: 10.1016/j.archger.2020.104329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2020] [Revised: 12/20/2020] [Accepted: 12/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Recent neuropathological research suggests that recognition memory supported by familiarity rather than recollection may be the earliest cognitive change in course of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nonetheless, the findings on the issue of familiarity capacity in the prodromal AD remain inconsistent. Boundary extension (BE), in which the view recollected by the subject covers a wider angle than was actually observed, is a form of false memory. Given that BE occurs implicitly and automatically, it may be a candidate for assessing familiarity functioning in cases of AD. This was the issue explored in the current study. METHODS One-hundred and six participants comprising a younger adult group (YA, n = 40), a healthy older adult group (OA, n = 40), and a group of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 26) underwent testing for BE and neuropsychological functions. Parts of OA and MCI underwent analysis for plasma tau levels. Receiver-operating characteristic analysis was used to assess memory associated with familiarity and recollection among participants. RESULTS The OA and MCI groups could be differentiated by the degree of familiarity associated with BE, wherein the latter group displayed minimal familiarity. Among OAs, familiarity was positively associated with education level. We observed a correlation between plasma tau levels and various neuropsychological functions. Most of the associations between plasma tau levels and neuropsychological functions were mediated by education level. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that BE could detect early decline in familiarity and assess preserved cognitive functions in aging.
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12
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Abstract
It has been suggested that the mental construction of scene imagery is a core process underpinning functions such as autobiographical memory, future thinking and spatial navigation. Damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in humans can cause deficits in all of these cognitive domains. Moreover, it has also been reported that patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions are impaired at imagining fictitious scenes, although they seem able to describe specific scenes from autobiographical events. In general, not much is known about how ventromedial prefrontal cortex patients process scenes. Here, we deployed a recently-developed task to provide insights into this issue, which involved detecting either semantic (e.g. an elephant with butterflies for ears) or constructive (e.g. an endless staircase) violations in scene images. Identifying constructive violations typically provokes the formation of internal scene models in healthy control participants. We tested patients with bilateral ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage, brain-damaged control patients and healthy control participants. We found no evidence for statistically significant differences between the groups in detecting either type of violation. These results suggest that an intact ventromedial prefrontal cortex is not necessary for some aspects of scene processing, with implications for understanding its role in functions such as autobiographical memory and future thinking.
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13
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Wilson NA, Ramanan S, Roquet D, Goldberg ZL, Hodges JR, Piguet O, Irish M. Scene construction impairments in frontotemporal dementia: Evidence for a primary hippocampal contribution. Neuropsychologia 2019; 137:107327. [PMID: 31887311 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2019] [Revised: 12/15/2019] [Accepted: 12/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Abstract
The capacity to generate naturalistic three-dimensional and spatially coherent representations of the world, i.e., scene construction, is posited to lie at the heart of a wide range of complex cognitive endeavours. Clinical populations with selective damage to key nodes of a putative scene construction network of the brain have provided important insights regarding the contribution of medial temporal and prefrontal regions in this regard. Here, we explored the capacity for atemporal scene construction, and its associated neural substrates, in the behavioural-variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD); a neurodegenerative brain disorder in which atrophy systematically erodes medial and lateral prefrontal cortices with variable medial temporal lobe involvement. Nineteen bvFTD patients were compared to 18 typical Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and 25 healthy older Control participants on a scene construction task. Relative to Controls, both patient groups displayed marked impairments in generating contextually detailed and spatially coherent scenes, with bvFTD indistinguishable from AD patients across the majority of task metrics. Voxel-based morphometry, based on structural brain MRI, revealed divergent neural substrates of scene construction performance in each patient group. Despite widespread medial and lateral prefrontal atrophy, the capacity to generate richly detailed and spatially coherent scenes in bvFTD was found to rely predominantly upon the integrity of right medial temporal structures, including the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus. Scene construction impairments in AD, by contrast, hinged upon the integrity of posterior parietal brain regions. Our findings in bvFTD resonate with a large body of work implicating the right hippocampus in the construction of spatially integrated scene imagery. How these impairments relate to changes in autobiographical memory and prospection in bvFTD will be an important question for future studies to address.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikki-Anne Wilson
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Siddharth Ramanan
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Daniel Roquet
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Zoë-Lee Goldberg
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - John R Hodges
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; The University of Sydney, School of Medical Sciences, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Olivier Piguet
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Muireann Irish
- The University of Sydney, School of Psychology and Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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14
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Ciaramelli E, Sellitto M, Tosarelli G, di Pellegrino G. Imagining Events Alternative to the Present Can Attenuate Delay Discounting. Front Behav Neurosci 2019; 13:269. [PMID: 31920579 PMCID: PMC6923661 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that delay discounting (DD), the tendency to prefer smaller-immediate to larger-delayed rewards, decreases following vivid imagination of future events. Here, we test the hypothesis that imagining complex events alternative to direct (perceptual) experience, whether located in the future, the past, or even the present, would reduce DD. Participants (N = 250) imagined future events (Future condition), remembered past events (Past condition), imagined present events (Present-imagine condition), or reported on the current events (Present-attend condition), and then made a series of intertemporal choices about money and food. Compared to attending to the present, imagining the future reduced DD, but this only held for individuals who claimed vivid pre-experiencing of future events. Importantly, a similar attenuation of DD was found in the Past and Present-imagine conditions, suggesting that a shift in perspective from the perceptual present towards mentally constructed experience can downplay the appraisal of immediate rewards in favor of larger-delayed rewards, regardless of the location of the imagined experience in subjective time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Ciaramelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- The Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Manuela Sellitto
- Department of Comparative Psychology, Institute of Experimental Psychology, Heinrich-Heine University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Giulia Tosarelli
- The Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Giuseppe di Pellegrino
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
- The Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
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15
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Yu LQ, Kan IP, Kable JW. Beyond a rod through the skull: A systematic review of lesion studies of the human ventromedial frontal lobe. Cogn Neuropsychol 2019; 37:97-141. [PMID: 31739752 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2019.1690981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Neuropsychological studies from the past century have associated damage to the ventromedial frontal lobes (VMF) with impairments in a variety of domains, including memory, executive function, emotion, social cognition, and valuation. A central question in the literature is whether these seemingly distinct functions are subserved by different sub-regions within the VMF, or whether VMF supports a broader cognitive process that is crucial to these varied domains. In this comprehensive review of the neuropsychological literature from the last two decades, we present a qualitative synthesis of 184 papers that have examined the psychological impairments that result from VMF damage. We discuss these findings in the context of several theoretical frameworks and advocate for the view that VMF is critical for the formation and representation of schema and cognitive maps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda Q Yu
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Irene P Kan
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA
| | - Joseph W Kable
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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16
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Vaidya AR, Pujara MS, Petrides M, Murray EA, Fellows LK. Lesion Studies in Contemporary Neuroscience. Trends Cogn Sci 2019; 23:653-671. [PMID: 31279672 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2019.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2019] [Revised: 05/22/2019] [Accepted: 05/23/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Studies of humans with focal brain damage and non-human animals with experimentally induced brain lesions have provided pivotal insights into the neural basis of behavior. As the repertoire of neural manipulation and recording techniques expands, the utility of studying permanent brain lesions bears re-examination. Studies on the effects of permanent lesions provide vital data about brain function that are distinct from those of reversible manipulations. Focusing on work carried out in humans and nonhuman primates, we address the inferential strengths and limitations of lesion studies, recent methodological developments, the integration of this approach with other methods, and the clinical and ecological relevance of this research. We argue that lesion studies are essential to the rigorous assessment of neuroscience theories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avinash R Vaidya
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Carney Institute for Brain Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
| | - Maia S Pujara
- Section on the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Michael Petrides
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Elisabeth A Murray
- Section on the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Lesley K Fellows
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Ciaramelli E, De Luca F, Monk AM, McCormick C, Maguire EA. What "wins" in VMPFC: Scenes, situations, or schema? Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 100:208-210. [PMID: 30836123 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2019] [Accepted: 03/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Ciaramelli
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, viale C. Berti-Pichat 5, 40126, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Flavia De Luca
- Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Bologna, viale C. Berti-Pichat 5, 40126, Bologna, Italy.
| | - Anna M Monk
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
| | - Cornelia McCormick
- Department for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Geriatric Psychiatry, University Hospital Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, 53127, Bonn, Germany.
| | - Eleanor A Maguire
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.
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The Neural Dynamics of Novel Scene Imagery. J Neurosci 2019; 39:4375-4386. [PMID: 30902867 PMCID: PMC6538850 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2497-18.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2018] [Revised: 03/06/2019] [Accepted: 03/07/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Retrieval of long-term episodic memories is characterized by synchronized neural activity between hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), with additional evidence that vmPFC activity leads that of the hippocampus. It has been proposed that the mental generation of scene imagery is a crucial component of episodic memory processing. If this is the case, then a comparable interaction between the two brain regions should exist during the construction of novel scene imagery. To address this question, we leveraged the high temporal resolution of MEG to investigate the construction of novel mental imagery. We tasked male and female humans with imagining scenes and single isolated objects in response to one-word cues. We performed source-level power, coherence, and causality analyses to characterize the underlying interregional interactions. Both scene and object imagination resulted in theta power changes in the anterior hippocampus. However, higher theta coherence was observed between the hippocampus and vmPFC in the scene compared with the object condition. This interregional theta coherence also predicted whether imagined scenes were subsequently remembered. Dynamic causal modeling of this interaction revealed that vmPFC drove activity in hippocampus during novel scene construction. Additionally, theta power changes in the vmPFC preceded those observed in the hippocampus. These results constitute the first evidence in humans that episodic memory retrieval and scene imagination rely on similar vmPFC–hippocampus neural dynamics. Furthermore, they provide support for theories emphasizing similarities between both cognitive processes and perspectives that propose the vmPFC guides the construction of context-relevant representations in the hippocampus. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Episodic memory retrieval is characterized by a dialog between hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). It has been proposed that the mental generation of scene imagery is a crucial component of episodic memory processing. An ensuing prediction would be of a comparable interaction between the two brain regions during the construction of novel scene imagery. Here, we leveraged the high temporal resolution of MEG and combined it with a scene imagination task. We found that a hippocampal–vmPFC dialog existed and that it took the form of vmPFC driving the hippocampus. We conclude that episodic memory and scene imagination share fundamental neural dynamics and the process of constructing vivid, spatially coherent, contextually appropriate scene imagery is strongly modulated by vmPFC.
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