1
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Dehaene-Lambertz G. Perceptual Awareness in Human Infants: What is the Evidence? J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1599-1609. [PMID: 38527095 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/27/2024]
Abstract
Perceptual awareness in infants during the first year of life is understudied, despite the philosophical, scientific, and clinical importance of understanding how and when consciousness emerges during human brain development. Although parents are undoubtedly convinced that their infant is conscious, the lack of adequate experimental paradigms to address this question in preverbal infants has been a hindrance to research on this topic. However, recent behavioral and brain imaging studies have shown that infants are engaged in complex learning from an early age and that their brains are more structured than traditionally thought. I will present a rapid overview of these results, which might provide indirect evidence of early perceptual awareness and then describe how a more systematic approach to this question could stand within the framework of global workspace theory, which identifies specific signatures of conscious perception in adults. Relying on these brain signatures as a benchmark for conscious perception, we can deduce that it exists in the second half of the first year, whereas the evidence before the age of 5 months is less solid, mainly because of the paucity of studies. The question of conscious perception before term remains open, with the possibility of short periods of conscious perception, which would facilitate early learning. Advances in brain imaging and growing interest in this subject should enable us to gain a better understanding of this important issue in the years to come.
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2
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Marriot Haresign I, A M Phillips E, V Wass S. Why behaviour matters: Studying inter-brain coordination during child-caregiver interaction. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 67:101384. [PMID: 38657470 PMCID: PMC11059326 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101384] [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: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Modern technology allows for simultaneous neuroimaging from interacting caregiver-child dyads. Whereas most analyses that examine the coordination between brain regions within an individual brain do so by measuring changes relative to observed events, studies that examine coordination between two interacting brains generally do this by measuring average intra-brain coordination across entire blocks or experimental conditions. In other words, they do not examine changes in inter-brain coordination relative to individual behavioural events. Here, we discuss the limitations of this approach. First, we present data suggesting that fine-grained temporal interdependencies in behaviour can leave residual artifact in neuroimaging data. We show how artifact can manifest as both power and (through that) phase synchrony effects in EEG and affect wavelet transform coherence in fNIRS analyses. Second, we discuss different possible mechanistic explanations of how inter-brain coordination is established and maintained. We argue that non-event-locked approaches struggle to differentiate between them. Instead, we contend that approaches which examine how interpersonal dynamics change around behavioural events have better potential for addressing possible artifactual confounds and for teasing apart the overlapping mechanisms that drive changes in inter-brain coordination.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Sam V Wass
- Department of Psychology, University of East London, London, UK
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3
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He H, Zhuo Y, He S, Zhang J. The transition from invariant to action-dependent visual object representation in human dorsal pathway. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:5503-5511. [PMID: 35165684 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac030] [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: 09/12/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The human brain can efficiently process action-related visual information, which supports our ability to quickly understand and learn others' actions. The visual information of goal-directed action is extensively represented in the parietal and frontal cortex, but how actions and goal-objects are represented within this neural network is not fully understood. Specifically, which part of this dorsal network represents the identity of goal-objects? Is such goal-object information encoded at an abstract level or highly interactive with action representations? Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging with a large number of participants (n = 94) to investigate the neural representation of goal-objects and actions when participants viewed goal-directed action videos. Our results showed that the goal-directed action information could be decoded across much of the dorsal pathway, but in contrast, the invariant goal-object information independent of action was mainly localized in the early stage of dorsal pathway in parietal cortex rather than the down-stream areas of the parieto-frontal cortex. These results help us to understand the relationship between action and goal-object representations in the dorsal pathway, and the evolution of interactive representation of goal-objects and actions along the dorsal pathway during goal-directed action observation.
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Affiliation(s)
- HuiXia He
- Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yan Zhuo
- Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, 320 Yueyang Road, Shanghai 20031, China
| | - Sheng He
- Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, 320 Yueyang Road, Shanghai 20031, China.,School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Jiedong Zhang
- Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 15 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19(A) Yuquan Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing 100049, China
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4
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Manzi F, Ishikawa M, Di Dio C, Itakura S, Kanda T, Ishiguro H, Massaro D, Marchetti A. Infants’ Prediction of Humanoid Robot’s Goal-Directed Action. Int J Soc Robot 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12369-022-00941-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
AbstractSeveral studies have shown that infants anticipate human goal-directed actions, but not robot’s ones. However, the studies focusing on the robot goal-directed actions have mainly analyzed the effect of mechanical arms on infant’s attention. To date, the prediction of goal-directed actions in infants has not yet been studied when the agent is a humanoid robot. Given this lack of evidence in infancy research, the present study aims at analyzing infants’ action anticipation of both a human’s and a humanoid robot’s goal-directed action. Data were acquired on thirty 17-month-old infants, watching four video clips, where either a human or a humanoid robot performed a goal-directed action, i.e. reaching a target. Infants looking behavior was measured through the eye-tracking technique. The results showed that infants anticipated the goal-directed action of both the human and the robot and there were no differences in the anticipatory gaze behavior between the two agents. Furthermore, the findings indicated different attentional patterns for the human and the robot, showing a greater attention paid to the robot's face than the human’s face. Overall, the results suggest that 17-month-old infants may infer also humanoid robot’ underlying action goals.
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5
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Zhao C, Li D, Guo J, Li B, Kong Y, Hu Y, Du B, Ding Y, Li X, Liu H, Song Y. The neurovascular couplings between electrophysiological and hemodynamic activities in anticipatory selective attention. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:4953-4968. [PMID: 35076708 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Revised: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Selective attention is thought to involve target enhancement and distractor inhibition processes. Here, we recorded simultaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) data from human adults when they were pre-cued by the visual field of coming target, distractor, or both of them. From the EEG data, we found alpha power relatively decreased contralaterally to the to-be-attended target, as reflected by the positive-going alpha modulation index. Late alpha power relatively increased contralaterally to the to-be-suppressed distractor, as reflected by the negative-going alpha modulation index. From the fNIRS data, we found enhancements of hemodynamic activity over the contralateral hemisphere in response to both the target and the distractor anticipation but within nonoverlapping posterior brain regions. More importantly, we described the specific neurovascular modulation between alpha power and oxygenated hemoglobin signal, which showed a positive coupling effect during target anticipation and a negative coupling effect during distractor anticipation. Such flexible neurovascular couplings between EEG oscillation and hemodynamic activity seem to play an essential role in the final behavioral outcomes. These results provide unique neurovascular evidence for the dissociation of the mechanisms of target enhancement and distractor inhibition. Individual behavioral differences can be related to individual differences in neurovascular coupling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenguang Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Cognition and Neuroergonomics, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai 519087, China.,School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Dongwei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Jialiang Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Bingkun Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yuanjun Kong
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yiqing Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Boqi Du
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yulong Ding
- School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
| | - Xiaoli Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Cognition and Neuroergonomics, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai 519087, China
| | - Hanli Liu
- Department of Bioengineering, the University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
| | - Yan Song
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning &IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Cognition and Neuroergonomics, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai 519087, China
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6
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Filippetti ML, Andreu-Perez J, de Klerk C, Richmond C, Rigato S. Are advanced methods necessary to improve infant fNIRS data analysis? An assessment of baseline-corrected averaging, general linear model (GLM) and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) based approaches. Neuroimage 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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7
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Burgess PW, Crum J, Pinti P, Aichelburg C, Oliver D, Lind F, Power S, Swingler E, Hakim U, Merla A, Gilbert S, Tachtsidis I, Hamilton A. Prefrontal cortical activation associated with prospective memory while walking around a real-world street environment. Neuroimage 2022; 258:119392. [PMID: 35714887 PMCID: PMC10509823 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119392] [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: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 05/24/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Rostral PFC (area 10) activation is common during prospective memory (PM) tasks. But it is not clear what mental processes these activations index. Three candidate explanations from cognitive neuroscience theory are: (i) monitoring of the environment; (ii) spontaneous intention retrieval; (iii) a combination of the two. These explanations make different predictions about the temporal and spatial patterns of activation that would be seen in rostral PFC in naturalistic settings. Accordingly, we plotted functional events in PFC using portable fNIRS while people were carrying out a PM task outside the lab and responding to cues when they were encountered, to decide between these explanations. Nineteen people were asked to walk around a street in London, U.K. and perform various tasks while also remembering to respond to prospective memory (PM) cues when they detected them. The prospective memory cues could be either social (involving greeting a person) or non-social (interacting with a parking meter) in nature. There were also a number of contrast conditions which allowed us to determine activation specifically related to the prospective memory components of the tasks. We found that maintaining both social and non-social intentions was associated with widespread activation within medial and right hemisphere rostral prefrontal cortex (BA 10), in agreement with numerous previous lab-based fMRI studies of prospective memory. In addition, increased activation was found within lateral prefrontal cortex (BA 45 and 46) when people were maintaining a social intention compared to a non-social one. The data were then subjected to a GLM-based method for automatic identification of functional events (AIDE), and the position of the participants at the time of the activation events were located on a map of the physical space. The results showed that the spatial and temporal distribution of these events was not random, but aggregated around areas in which the participants appeared to retrieve their future intentions (i.e., where they saw intentional cues), as well as where they executed them. Functional events were detected most frequently in BA 10 during the PM conditions compared to other regions and tasks. Mobile fNIRS can be used to measure higher cognitive functions of the prefrontal cortex in "real world" situations outside the laboratory in freely ambulant individuals. The addition of a "brain-first" approach to the data permits the experimenter to determine not only when haemodynamic changes occur, but also where the participant was when it happened. This can be extremely valuable when trying to link brain and cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul W Burgess
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK.
| | - James Crum
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
| | - Paola Pinti
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, UK
| | | | - Dominic Oliver
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
| | - Frida Lind
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
| | - Sarah Power
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, UK
| | | | - Uzair Hakim
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, UK
| | - Arcangelo Merla
- Infrared Imaging Lab, Institute for Advanced Biomedical Technology (ITAB), Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy
| | - Sam Gilbert
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
| | - Ilias Tachtsidis
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, UK
| | - Antonia Hamilton
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
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8
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Processing third-party social interactions in the human infant brain. Infant Behav Dev 2022; 68:101727. [PMID: 35667276 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The understanding of developing social brain functions during infancy relies on research that has focused on studying how infants engage in first-person social interactions or view individual agents and their actions. Behavioral research suggests that observing and learning from third-party social interactions plays a foundational role in early social and moral development. However, the brain systems involved in observing third-party social interactions during infancy are unknown. The current study tested the hypothesis that brain systems in prefrontal and temporal cortex, previously identified in adults and children, begin to specialize in third-party social interaction processing during infancy. Infants (N = 62), ranging from 6 to 13 months in age, had their brain responses measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) while viewing third-party social interactions and two control conditions, infants viewing two individual actions and infants viewing inverted social interactions. The results show that infants preferentially engage brain regions localized within the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex when viewing third-party social interactions. These findings suggest that brain systems processing third-party social interaction begin to develop early in human ontogeny and may thus play a foundational role in supporting the interpretation of and learning from social interactions.
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9
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Nishiyori R, Harris MK, Baur K, Meehan SK. Changes in cortical hemodynamics with the emergence of skilled motor ability in infants: An fNIRS study. Brain Res 2021; 1772:147666. [PMID: 34571012 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2021.147666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2020] [Revised: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
The brain activity changes during infancy that underpin the emergence of functional motor skills, such as reaching and stepping, are not well understood. The current study used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the hemodynamic response across the frontal, mid-coronal plane (sensorimotor cortex) and external occipital protuberance (cerebellar cortex) regions of typically developing infants (5 to 13 months) during reach-to-grasp or supported treadmill stepping behaviour. Motor ability was assessed using the third edition of the Motor Subscale of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID-III). Infants with enhanced motor ability demonstrated greater oxy-hemoglobin (HbO) concentration in the contralateral anterior mid-coronal and frontal-dorsal areas during right-handed reach-to-grasp. During bilateral reaching behavior, infants with enhanced motor ability showed greater HbO increases in right frontal-dorsal regions and lower HbO increases in left anterior mid-coronal areas. In contrast, infants' motor ability was associated with changes in de-oxyhemoglobin (HbR) concentration in the ipsilateral anterior mid-coronal, contralateral frontal and left external occipital protuberance regions during left-handed reaching behavior. These relationships between upper limb hemodynamics and infant motor ability are consistent with increased lateralization and cognitive-motor coupling as motor skills emerge. During stepping behavior, infants with enhanced motor ability demonstrated smaller increases in HbR concentration in the bilateral external occipital protuberance region consistent with an emerging efficiency as cruising and independent stepping behavior is still nascent. Together, the current results identify several distinct neural markers of functional motor ability during infancy that may be relevant to diagnostic testing and rehabilitation of developmental movement disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Nishiyori
- Division of Research in Children, Youth, and Families, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - M K Harris
- College of Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - K Baur
- Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Maywood, IL, USA
| | - S K Meehan
- Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
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10
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Pinti P, Devoto A, Greenhalgh I, Tachtsidis I, Burgess PW, de C Hamilton AF. The role of anterior prefrontal cortex (area 10) in face-to-face deception measured with fNIRS. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:129-142. [PMID: 32577765 PMCID: PMC7812627 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2020] [Revised: 05/19/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Anterior prefrontal cortex (PFC, Brodmann area 10) activations are often, but not always, found in neuroimaging studies investigating deception, and the precise role of this area remains unclear. To explore the role of the PFC in face-to-face deception, we invited pairs of participants to play a card game involving lying and lie detection while we used functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to record brain activity in the PFC. Participants could win points for successfully lying about the value of their cards or for detecting lies. We contrasted patterns of brain activation when the participants either told the truth or lied, when they were either forced into this or did so voluntarily and when they either succeeded or failed to detect a lie. Activation in the anterior PFC was found in both lie production and detection, unrelated to reward. Analysis of cross-brain activation patterns between participants identified areas of the PFC where the lead player’s brain activity synchronized their partner’s later brain activity. These results suggest that during situations that involve close interpersonal interaction, the anterior PFC supports processing widely involved in deception, possibly relating to the demands of monitoring one’s own and other people’s behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paola Pinti
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AZ, UK
| | - Andrea Devoto
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AZ, UK
| | - Isobel Greenhalgh
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AZ, UK
| | - Ilias Tachtsidis
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Paul W Burgess
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AZ, UK
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11
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Begus K, Curioni A, Knoblich G, Gergely G. Infants understand collaboration: Neural evidence for 9-month-olds' attribution of shared goals to coordinated joint actions. Soc Neurosci 2020; 15:655-667. [PMID: 33210973 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2020.1847730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Interpreting others' actions as goal-directed, even when the actions are unfamiliar, is indispensable for social learning, and can be particularly important for infants, whose own action repertoire is limited. Indeed, young infants have been shown to attribute goals to unfamiliar actions as early as 3 months of age, but this ability appears restricted to actions performed by individuals. In contrast, attributing shared goals to actions performed by multiple individuals seems to emerge only in the second year of life. Considering the restrictions that this would impose on infants' understanding and learning from interactions in their environment, we reexamine this ability by introducing 9-month-old infants to simple joint actions, in which two agents coordinate their actions toward the same goal. To establish whether infants formed an expectation about future actions of these agents, infants' cortical activity was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The hemodynamic response, recorded in (p)STS, indicated that infants attributed goals to simultaneous and coordinated joint actions of two individuals. Thus, even prior to actively engaging in collaborative activities themselves, infants can attribute shared goals to observed joint actions, enabling infants to learn from, and about, the complementary roles of social interactions, a central characteristic of human culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarina Begus
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University , Budapest, Hungary
| | - Arianna Curioni
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University , Budapest, Hungary
| | - Guenther Knoblich
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University , Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gyorgy Gergely
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University , Budapest, Hungary
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12
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Strachan JW, Török G. Efficiency is prioritised over fairness when distributing joint actions. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2020; 210:103158. [PMID: 32768609 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2020.103158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2020] [Revised: 07/15/2020] [Accepted: 07/24/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals have a drive towards maximising action efficiency, which is reflected in action choices that minimise movement costs to reach a goal. In joint actions, actors prioritise joint efficiency or coefficiency, maximising the utility of the joint action even if this comes at a cost to themselves. However, it remains an open question whether actors are willing to unilaterally sacrifice their partner's individual efficiency for the greater good, when forcing a partner to incur additional costs may be interpreted as unfair. In two experiments we explored how participants would choose to distribute a motor task that required either a fair or an unfair distribution of labour. We found that, both whether there was opportunity for reciprocity (Experiment 1) or not (Experiment 2), participants maximised the coefficiency of their joint actions, regardless of how unfair this distribution of labour proved to be regarding the individual action costs. Taken together, our results suggest participants use a rational decision-making framework that prioritises overall efficiency over both individual efficiency and a consideration of fairness.
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13
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Bulgarelli C, de Klerk CCJM, Richards JE, Southgate V, Hamilton A, Blasi A. The developmental trajectory of fronto-temporoparietal connectivity as a proxy of the default mode network: a longitudinal fNIRS investigation. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 41:2717-2740. [PMID: 32128946 PMCID: PMC7294062 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Revised: 02/12/2020] [Accepted: 02/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The default mode network (DMN) is a network of brain regions that is activated while we are not engaged in any particular task. While there is a large volume of research documenting functional connectivity within the DMN in adults, knowledge of the development of this network is still limited. There is some evidence for a gradual increase in the functional connections within the DMN during the first 2 years of life, in contrast to other functional resting‐state networks that support primary sensorimotor functions, which are online from very early in life. Previous studies that investigated the development of the DMN acquired data from sleeping infants using fMRI. However, sleep stages are known to affect functional connectivity. In the current longitudinal study, fNIRS was used to measure spontaneous fluctuations in connectivity within fronto‐temporoparietal areas—as a proxy for the DMN—in awake participants every 6 months from 11 months till 36 months. This study validates a method for recording resting‐state data from awake infants, and presents a data analysis pipeline for the investigation of functional connections with infant fNIRS data, which will be beneficial for researchers in this field. A gradual development of fronto‐temporoparietal connectivity was found, supporting the idea that the DMN develops over the first years of life. Functional connectivity reached its maximum peak at about 24 months, which is consistent with previous findings showing that, by 2 years of age, DMN connectivity is similar to that observed in adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Bulgarelli
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, UK.,Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK
| | - Carina C J M de Klerk
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK.,Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK
| | - John E Richards
- Institute for Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina
| | | | - Antonia Hamilton
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Anna Blasi
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, UK
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14
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de Klerk CCJM, Bulgarelli C, Hamilton A, Southgate V. Selective facial mimicry of native over foreign speakers in preverbal infants. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 183:33-47. [PMID: 30856416 PMCID: PMC6478146 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2018] [Revised: 01/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Mimicry, the spontaneous copying of others' behaviors, plays an important role in social affiliation, with adults selectively mimicking in-group members over out-group members. Despite infants' early documented sensitivity to cues to group membership, previous work suggests that it is not until 4 years of age that spontaneous mimicry is modulated by group status. Here we demonstrate that mimicry is sensitive to cues to group membership at a much earlier age if the cues presented are more relevant to infants. 11-month-old infants observed videos of facial actions (e.g., mouth opening, eyebrow raising) performed by models who either spoke the infants' native language or an unfamiliar foreign language while we measured activation of the infants' mouth and eyebrow muscle regions using electromyography to obtain an index of mimicry. We simultaneously used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying differential mimicry responses. We found that infants showed greater facial mimicry of the native speaker compared to the foreign speaker and that the left temporal parietal cortex was activated more strongly during the observation of facial actions performed by the native speaker compared to the foreign speaker. Although the exact mechanisms underlying this selective mimicry response will need to be investigated in future research, these findings provide the first demonstration of the modulation of facial mimicry by cues to group status in preverbal infants and suggest that the foundations for the role that mimicry plays in facilitating social bonds seem to be present during the first year of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carina C J M de Klerk
- Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Essex CO4 3SQ, UK; Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK.
| | - Chiara Bulgarelli
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck College, University of London, London WC1E 7HX, UK; Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Antonia Hamilton
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Victoria Southgate
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, DK-1017 Copenhagen, Denmark
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15
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Kelsey CM, Krol KM, Kret ME, Grossmann T. Infants' brain responses to pupillary changes in others are affected by race. Sci Rep 2019; 9:4317. [PMID: 30867473 PMCID: PMC6416351 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-40661-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2018] [Accepted: 02/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Sensitive responding to eye cues plays a key role during human social interactions. Observed changes in pupillary size provide a range of socially-relevant information including cues regarding a person's emotional and arousal states. Recently, infants have been found to mimic observed pupillary changes in others, instantiating a foundational mechanism for eye-based social communication. Among adults, perception of pupillary changes is affected by race. Here, we examined whether and how race impacts the neural processing of others' pupillary changes in early ontogeny. We measured 9-month-old infants' brain responses to dilating and constricting pupils in the context of viewing own-race and other-race eyes using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Our results show that only when responding to own-race eyes, infants' brains distinguished between changes in pupillary size. Specifically, infants showed enhanced responses in the right superior temporal cortex when observing own-race pupil dilation. Moreover, when processing other-race pupillary changes, infants recruited the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region linked to cognitive control functions. These findings suggest that, early in development, the fundamental process of responding to pupillary changes is impacted by race and interracial interactions may afford greater cognitive control or effort. This critically informs our understanding of the early origins of responding to pupillary signals in others and further highlights the impact of race on the processing of social signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline M Kelsey
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Kathleen M Krol
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Mariska E Kret
- Institute of Psychology, Cognitive Psychology Unit, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Leiden University, Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Tobias Grossmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
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16
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Shared right-hemispheric representations of sensorimotor goals in dynamic task environments. Exp Brain Res 2019; 237:977-987. [PMID: 30694342 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-019-05478-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Accepted: 01/14/2019] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Functional behaviour affords that we form goals to integrate sensory information about the world around us with suitable motor actions, such as when we plan to grab an object with a hand. However, much research has tested grasping in static scenarios where goals are pursued with repetitive movements, whereas dynamic contexts require goals to be pursued even when changes in the environment require a change in the actions to attain them. To study grasp goals in dynamic environments here, we employed a task where the goal remained the same but the execution of the movement changed; we primed participants to grasp objects either with their right or left hand, and occasionally they had to switch to grasping with both. Switch costs should be minimal if grasp goal representations were used continuously, for example, within the left dominant hemisphere. But remapped or re-computed goal representations should delay movements. We found that switching from right-hand grasping to bimanual grasping delayed reaction times but switching from left-hand grasping to bimanual grasping did not. Further, control experiments showed that the lateralized switch costs were not caused by asymmetric inhibition between hemispheres or switches between usual and unusual tasks. Our results show that the left hemisphere does not serve a general role of sensorimotor grasp goal representation. Instead, sensorimotor grasp goals appear to be represented at intermediate levels of abstraction, downstream from cognitive task representations, yet upstream from the control of the grasping effectors.
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17
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Era V, Candidi M, Gandolfo M, Sacheli LM, Aglioti SM. Inhibition of left anterior intraparietal sulcus shows that mutual adjustment marks dyadic joint-actions in humans. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2018; 13:492-500. [PMID: 29660090 PMCID: PMC6007351 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2017] [Accepted: 03/28/2018] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Creating real-life dynamic contexts to study interactive behaviors is a fundamental challenge for the social neuroscience of interpersonal relations. Real synchronic interpersonal motor interactions involve online, inter-individual mutual adaptation (the ability to adapt one’s movements to those of another in order to achieve a shared goal). In order to study the contribution of the left anterior Intra Parietal Sulcus (aIPS) (i.e. a region supporting motor functions) to mutual adaptation, here, we combined a behavioral grasping task where pairs of participants synchronized their actions when performing mutually adaptive imitative and complementary movements, with the inhibition of activity of aIPS via non-invasive brain stimulation. This approach allowed us to investigate whether aIPS supports online complementary and imitative interactions. Behavioral results showed that inhibition of aIPS selectively impairs pair performance during complementary compared to imitative interactions. Notably, this effect depended on pairs’ mutual adaptation skills and was higher for pairs composed of participants who were less capable of adapting to each other. Thus, we provide the first causative evidence for a role of the left aIPS in supporting mutually adaptive interactions and show that the inhibition of the neural resources of one individual of a pair is compensated at the dyadic level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Era
- SCNLab, Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.,IRCCS, Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00100 Rome, Italy
| | - Matteo Candidi
- SCNLab, Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.,IRCCS, Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00100 Rome, Italy
| | - Marco Gandolfo
- SCNLab, Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.,IRCCS, Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00100 Rome, Italy
| | - Lucia Maria Sacheli
- IRCCS, Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00100 Rome, Italy.,Department of Psychology and Milan Center for Neuroscience (NeuroMi), University of Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
| | - Salvatore Maria Aglioti
- SCNLab, Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.,IRCCS, Fondazione Santa Lucia, 00100 Rome, Italy
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18
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Bulgarelli C, Blasi A, Arridge S, Powell S, de Klerk CCJM, Southgate V, Brigadoi S, Penny W, Tak S, Hamilton A. Dynamic causal modelling on infant fNIRS data: A validation study on a simultaneously recorded fNIRS-fMRI dataset. Neuroimage 2018; 175:413-424. [PMID: 29655936 PMCID: PMC5971219 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.04.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2018] [Revised: 03/19/2018] [Accepted: 04/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Tracking the connectivity of the developing brain from infancy through childhood is an area of increasing research interest, and fNIRS provides an ideal method for studying the infant brain as it is compact, safe and robust to motion. However, data analysis methods for fNIRS are still underdeveloped compared to those available for fMRI. Dynamic causal modelling (DCM) is an advanced connectivity technique developed for fMRI data, that aims to estimate the coupling between brain regions and how this might be modulated by changes in experimental conditions. DCM has recently been applied to adult fNIRS, but not to infants. The present paper provides a proof-of-principle for the application of this method to infant fNIRS data and a demonstration of the robustness of this method using a simultaneously recorded fMRI-fNIRS single case study, thereby allowing the use of this technique in future infant studies. fMRI and fNIRS were simultaneously recorded from a 6-month-old sleeping infant, who was presented with auditory stimuli in a block design. Both fMRI and fNIRS data were preprocessed using SPM, and analysed using a general linear model approach. The main challenges that adapting DCM for fNIRS infant data posed included: (i) the import of the structural image of the participant for spatial pre-processing, (ii) the spatial registration of the optodes on the structural image of the infant, (iii) calculation of an accurate 3-layer segmentation of the structural image, (iv) creation of a high-density mesh as well as (v) the estimation of the NIRS optical sensitivity functions. To assess our results, we compared the values obtained for variational Free Energy (F), Bayesian Model Selection (BMS) and Bayesian Model Average (BMA) with the same set of possible models applied to both the fMRI and fNIRS datasets. We found high correspondence in F, BMS, and BMA between fMRI and fNIRS data, therefore showing for the first time high reliability of DCM applied to infant fNIRS data. This work opens new avenues for future research on effective connectivity in infancy by contributing a data analysis pipeline and guidance for applying DCM to infant fNIRS data. Connectivity studies give important insights into infant brain development. fNIRS is a valuable method for infancy studies, but can we analyse connectivity? On fMRI-fNIRS acquired simultaneously, we estimate effective connectivity with DCM. We showed high correspondence of DCM values between fMRI and fNIRS data. We validated DCM on fNIRS infant data, providing guidance for future projects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Bulgarelli
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom.
| | - Anna Blasi
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom
| | - Simon Arridge
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, University College London, United Kingdom
| | - Samuel Powell
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, United Kingdom
| | - Carina C J M de Klerk
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Sabrina Brigadoi
- Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Padova, Italy
| | - William Penny
- School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Sungho Tak
- Bioimaging Research Team, Korea Basic Science Institute, South Korea
| | - Antonia Hamilton
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, United Kingdom
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19
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Powell LJ, Deen B, Saxe R. Using individual functional channels of interest to study cortical development with fNIRS. Dev Sci 2017; 21:e12595. [PMID: 28944612 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2015] [Accepted: 06/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a noninvasive neuroimaging technique that could be uniquely effective for investigating cortical function in human infants. However, prior efforts have been hampered by the difficulty of aligning arrays of fNIRS optodes placed on the scalp to anatomical or functional regions of underlying cortex. This challenge can be addressed by identifying channels of interest in individual participants, and then testing the reliability of those channels' response profiles in independent data. Using this approach, cortical regions with preferential responses to faces versus scenes, and to scenes versus faces, were observed reliably in both adults and infants. By contrast, standard analysis techniques did not reliably identify significant responses to both categories in either age group. These results reveal scene-responsive regions, and confirm face-responsive regions, in preverbal infants. More generally, the analysis approach will be a robust and sensitive tool for future characterization of the early functional development of the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsey J Powell
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Ben Deen
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.,Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, New York, USA
| | - Rebecca Saxe
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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20
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Modeling self on others: An import theory of subjectivity and selfhood. Conscious Cogn 2017; 49:347-362. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2017.01.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2016] [Revised: 01/23/2017] [Accepted: 01/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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21
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Emberson LL, Cannon G, Palmeri H, Richards JE, Aslin RN. Using fNIRS to examine occipital and temporal responses to stimulus repetition in young infants: Evidence of selective frontal cortex involvement. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2017; 23:26-38. [PMID: 28012401 PMCID: PMC5253300 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2016] [Revised: 09/06/2016] [Accepted: 11/11/2016] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
How does the developing brain respond to recent experience? Repetition suppression (RS) is a robust and well-characterized response of to recent experience found, predominantly, in the perceptual cortices of the adult brain. We use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate how perceptual (temporal and occipital) and frontal cortices in the infant brain respond to auditory and visual stimulus repetitions (spoken words and faces). In Experiment 1, we find strong evidence of repetition suppression in the frontal cortex but only for auditory stimuli. In perceptual cortices, we find only suggestive evidence of auditory RS in the temporal cortex and no evidence of visual RS in any ROI. In Experiments 2 and 3, we replicate and extend these findings. Overall, we provide the first evidence that infant and adult brains respond differently to stimulus repetition. We suggest that the frontal lobe may support the development of RS in perceptual cortices.
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22
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Anderson CA, Lazard DS, Hartley DEH. Plasticity in bilateral superior temporal cortex: Effects of deafness and cochlear implantation on auditory and visual speech processing. Hear Res 2017; 343:138-149. [PMID: 27473501 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2016.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2016] [Revised: 07/20/2016] [Accepted: 07/25/2016] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
While many individuals can benefit substantially from cochlear implantation, the ability to perceive and understand auditory speech with a cochlear implant (CI) remains highly variable amongst adult recipients. Importantly, auditory performance with a CI cannot be reliably predicted based solely on routinely obtained information regarding clinical characteristics of the CI candidate. This review argues that central factors, notably cortical function and plasticity, should also be considered as important contributors to the observed individual variability in CI outcome. Superior temporal cortex (STC), including auditory association areas, plays a crucial role in the processing of auditory and visual speech information. The current review considers evidence of cortical plasticity within bilateral STC, and how these effects may explain variability in CI outcome. Furthermore, evidence of audio-visual interactions in temporal and occipital cortices is examined, and relation to CI outcome is discussed. To date, longitudinal examination of changes in cortical function and plasticity over the period of rehabilitation with a CI has been restricted by methodological challenges. The application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in studying cortical function in CI users is becoming increasingly recognised as a potential solution to these problems. Here we suggest that fNIRS offers a powerful neuroimaging tool to elucidate the relationship between audio-visual interactions, cortical plasticity during deafness and following cochlear implantation, and individual variability in auditory performance with a CI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly A Anderson
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, Ropewalk House, 113 The Ropewalk, Nottingham, NG1 5DU, United Kingdom; Otology and Hearing Group, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom.
| | - Diane S Lazard
- Institut Arthur Vernes, ENT Surgery, Paris, 75006, France; Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Derby Road, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom.
| | - Douglas E H Hartley
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Hearing Biomedical Research Unit, Ropewalk House, 113 The Ropewalk, Nottingham, NG1 5DU, United Kingdom; Otology and Hearing Group, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom; Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Derby Road, Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom; Medical Research Council (MRC) Institute of Hearing Research, The University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, United Kingdom.
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23
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Nordt M, Hoehl S, Weigelt S. The use of repetition suppression paradigms in developmental cognitive neuroscience. Cortex 2016; 80:61-75. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2015] [Revised: 02/29/2016] [Accepted: 04/04/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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24
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Nishiyori R. fNIRS: An Emergent Method to Document Functional Cortical Activity during Infant Movements. Front Psychol 2016; 7:533. [PMID: 27148141 PMCID: PMC4837143 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2015] [Accepted: 03/30/2016] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The neural basis underlying the emergence of goal-directed actions in infants has been severely understudied, with minimal empirical evidence for hypotheses proposed. This was largely due to the technological constraints of traditional neuroimaging techniques. Recently, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technology has emerged as a tool developmental scientists are finding useful to examine cortical activity, particularly in young children and infants due to its greater tolerance to movements than other neuroimaging techniques. fNIRS provides an opportunity to finally begin to examine the neural underpinnings as infants develop goal-directed actions. In this methodological paper, I will outline the utility, challenges, and outcomes of using fNIRS to measure the changes in cortical activity as infants reach for an object. I will describe the advantages and limitations of the technology, the setup I used to study primary motor cortex activity during infant reaching, and example steps in the analyses processes. I will present exemplar data to illustrate the feasibility of this technique to quantify changes in hemodynamic activity as infants move. The viability of this research method opens the door to expanding studies of the development of neural activity related to goal-directed actions in infants. I encourage others to share details of techniques used, as well, including analyticals, to help this neuroimaging technology grow as others, such as EEG and fMRI have.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryota Nishiyori
- Developmental Neuromotor Control Lab, School of Kinesiology, University of MichiganAnn Arbor, MI, USA
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25
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Filippi CA, Cannon EN, Fox NA, Thorpe SG, Ferrari PF, Woodward AL. Motor System Activation Predicts Goal Imitation in 7-Month-Old Infants. Psychol Sci 2016; 27:675-84. [PMID: 27071750 DOI: 10.1177/0956797616632231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2015] [Accepted: 01/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The current study harnessed the variability in infants' neural and behavioral responses as a novel method for evaluating the potential relations between motor system activation and social behavior. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to record neural activity as 7-month-old infants observed and responded to the actions of an experimenter. To determine whether motor system activation predicted subsequent imitation behavior, we assessed event-related desynchronization (ERD) at central sites during action observation as a function of subsequent behavior. Greater mu desynchronization over central sites was observed when infants subsequently reproduced the experimenter's goal than when they did not reproduce the goal and instead selected the nongoal object. We also found that mu desynchronization during action execution predicted the infants' later propensity to reproduce the experimenter's goal-directed behavior. These results provide the first evidence that motor system activation predicts the imitation of other individuals' goals during infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Erin N Cannon
- Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park
| | - Nathan A Fox
- Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park
| | - Samuel G Thorpe
- Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park
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26
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Cannon EN, Simpson EA, Fox NA, Vanderwert RE, Woodward AL, Ferrari PF. Relations between infants' emerging reach-grasp competence and event-related desynchronization in EEG. Dev Sci 2016; 19:50-62. [PMID: 25754667 PMCID: PMC7470427 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2013] [Accepted: 12/17/2014] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Recent reports of similar patterns of brain electrical activity (electroencephalogram: EEG) during action execution and observation, recorded from scalp locations over motor-related regions in infants and adults, have raised the possibility that two foundational abilities--controlling one's own intentional actions and perceiving others' actions--may be integrally related during ontogeny. However, to our knowledge, there are no published reports of the relations between developments in motor skill (i.e. recording actual motor skill performance) and EEG during both action execution and action observation. In the present study we collected EEG from 21 9-month-olds who were given opportunities to reach for toys and who also observed an experimenter reach for toys. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) was computed from the EEG during the reaching events. We assessed infants' reaching-grasping competence, including reach latency, errors, preshaping of the hand, and bimanual reaches, and found that desynchronization recorded in scalp electrodes over motor-related regions during action observation was associated with action competence during execution. Infants who were more competent reachers, compared to less competent reachers, exhibited greater ERD while observing reaching-grasping. These results provide initial evidence for an early emerging neural system integrating one's own actions with the perception of others' actions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin N Cannon
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Simpson
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Italy
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, Poolesville, USA
| | - Nathan A Fox
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, USA
| | - Ross E Vanderwert
- Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, USA
| | | | - Pier F Ferrari
- Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Parma, Italy
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27
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Bouchon C, Nazzi T, Gervain J. Hemispheric Asymmetries in Repetition Enhancement and Suppression Effects in the Newborn Brain. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0140160. [PMID: 26485434 PMCID: PMC4618998 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2014] [Accepted: 09/22/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The repeated presentation of stimuli typically attenuates neural responses (repetition suppression) or, less commonly, increases them (repetition enhancement) when stimuli are highly complex, degraded or presented under noisy conditions. In adult functional neuroimaging research, these repetition effects are considered as neural correlates of habituation. The development and respective functional significance of these effects in infancy remain largely unknown. Objective This study investigates repetition effects in newborns using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and specifically the role of stimulus complexity in evoking a repetition enhancement vs. a repetition suppression response, following up on Gervain et al. (2008). In that study, abstract rule-learning was found at birth in cortical areas specific to speech processing, as evidenced by a left-lateralized repetition enhancement of the hemodynamic response to highly variable speech sequences conforming to a repetition-based ABB artificial grammar, but not to a random ABC grammar. Methods Here, the same paradigm was used to investigate how simpler stimuli (12 different sequences per condition as opposed to 140), and simpler presentation conditions (blocked rather than interleaved) would influence repetition effects at birth. Results Results revealed that the two grammars elicited different dynamics in the two hemispheres. In left fronto-temporal areas, we reproduce the early perceptual discrimination of the two grammars, with ABB giving rise to a greater response at the beginning of the experiment than ABC. In addition, the ABC grammar evoked a repetition enhancement effect over time, whereas a stable response was found for the ABB grammar. Right fronto-temporal areas showed neither initial discrimination, nor change over time to either pattern. Conclusion Taken together with Gervain et al. (2008), this is the first evidence that manipulating methodological factors influences the presence or absence of neural repetition enhancement effects in newborns and stimulus variability appears a particularly important factor. Further, this temporal modulation is restricted to the left hemisphere, confirming its specialization for learning linguistic regularities from birth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camillia Bouchon
- Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
- CNRS–Laboratoire de Psychologie de la Perception (UMR 8242), Paris, France
- Center for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- * E-mail:
| | - Thierry Nazzi
- Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
- CNRS–Laboratoire de Psychologie de la Perception (UMR 8242), Paris, France
| | - Judit Gervain
- Université Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
- CNRS–Laboratoire de Psychologie de la Perception (UMR 8242), Paris, France
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28
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Infant capacities related to building internal working models of attachment figures: A theoretical and empirical review. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2015.06.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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29
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Wilcox T, Biondi M. fNIRS in the developmental sciences. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2015; 6:263-83. [PMID: 26263229 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2014] [Revised: 09/18/2014] [Accepted: 01/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
With the introduction of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) into the experimental setting, developmental scientists have, for the first time, the capacity to investigate the functional activation of the infant brain in awake, engaged participants. The advantages of fNIRS clearly outweigh the limitations, and a description of how this technology is implemented in infant populations is provided. Most fNIRS research falls into one of three content domains: object processing, processing of biologically and socially relevant information, and language development. Within these domains, there are ongoing debates about the origins and development of human knowledge, making early neuroimaging particularly advantageous. The use of fNIRS has allowed investigators to begin to identify the localization of early object, social, and linguistic knowledge in the immature brain and the ways in which this changes with time and experience. In addition, there is a small but growing body of research that provides insight into the neural mechanisms that support and facilitate learning during the first year of life. At the same time, as with any emerging field, there are limitations to the conclusions that can be drawn on the basis of current findings. We offer suggestions as to how to optimize the use of this technology to answer questions of theoretical and practical importance to developmental scientists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Wilcox
- Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Marisa Biondi
- Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
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30
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Abstract
Over the past 20 years, the field of cognitive neuroscience has relied heavily on hemodynamic measures of blood oxygenation in local regions of the brain to make inferences about underlying cognitive processes. These same functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) techniques have recently been adapted for use with human infants. We review the advantages and disadvantages of these two neuroimaging methods for studies of infant cognition, with a particular emphasis on their technical limitations and the linking hypotheses that are used to draw conclusions from correlational data. In addition to summarizing key findings in several domains of infant cognition, we highlight the prospects of improving the quality of fNIRS data from infants to address in a more sophisticated way how cognitive development is mediated by changes in underlying neural mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard N Aslin
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627; ,
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Boas DA, Elwell CE, Ferrari M, Taga G. Twenty years of functional near-infrared spectroscopy: introduction for the special issue. Neuroimage 2014; 85 Pt 1:1-5. [PMID: 24321364 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.11.033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 302] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2013] [Accepted: 06/03/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Papers from four different groups were published in 1993 demonstrating the ability of functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to non-invasively measure hemoglobin concentration responses to brain function in humans. This special issue commemorates the first 20years of fNIRS research. The 9 reviews and 49 contributed papers provide a comprehensive survey of the exciting advances driving the field forward and of the myriad of applications that will benefit from fNIRS.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A Boas
- Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA
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Hunnius S, Bekkering H. What are you doing? How active and observational experience shape infants' action understanding. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2014; 369:20130490. [PMID: 24778386 PMCID: PMC4006192 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
From early in life, infants watch other people's actions. How do young infants come to make sense of actions they observe? Here, we review empirical findings on the development of action understanding in infancy. Based on this review, we argue that active action experience is crucial for infants' developing action understanding. When infants execute actions, they form associations between motor acts and the sensory consequences of these acts. When infants subsequently observe these actions in others, they can use their motor system to predict the outcome of the ongoing actions. Also, infants come to an understanding of others' actions through the repeated observation of actions and the effects associated with them. In their daily lives, infants have plenty of opportunities to form associations between observed events and learn about statistical regularities of others' behaviours. We argue that based on these two forms of experience-active action experience and observational experience-infants gradually develop more complex action understanding capabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Montessorilaan 3, Nijmegen 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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