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The involvement of monocular channels in the face pareidolia effect. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 29:809-818. [PMID: 34918272 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-02027-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Studies examining the neural mechanisms of face perception in humans have mainly focused on cortical networks of face-selective regions. However, subcortical regions are known to play a significant role in face perception as well. For instance, upon presenting pairs of faces sequentially to the same eye or to different eyes, superior performance is observed in the former condition. This superiority was explained by monocular, pre-striate processing of face stimuli. One of the intriguing face-related effects is the face pareidolia phenomenon, wherein observers perceive faces in inanimate objects. In this study, we examined whether face pareidolia involves similar low-level neural substrates to those that are involved in face perception. We presented participants with pairs of houses or face-like houses using a stereoscope to manipulate the information presented to each eye and asked them to determine whether the stimuli were similar or different. We managed to examine the contribution of monocular channels (mostly subcortical) in processing face-like stimuli. We hypothesized that besides their involvement in actual face perception, subcortical structures are engaged in face pareidolia as well. To test our hypothesis, we conducted three experiments to replicate and strengthen the reliability of our results and rule out alternative explanations. We demonstrated a perceptual benefit when presenting similar face-like houses to the same eye in comparison to their presentation to different eyes. This finding matches previous results found for images of real faces and indicates subcortical involvement not only in face perception but also in processing face-like objects.
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Right Hemisphere Dominance for Unconscious Emotionally Salient Stimuli. Brain Sci 2021; 11:brainsci11070823. [PMID: 34206214 PMCID: PMC8301990 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11070823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2021] [Revised: 06/13/2021] [Accepted: 06/18/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The present review will focus on evidence demonstrating the prioritization in visual processing of fear-related signals in the absence of awareness. Evidence in hemianopic patients without any form of blindsight or affective blindsight in classical terms will be presented, demonstrating that fearful faces, via a subcortical colliculo-pulvinar-amygdala pathway, have a privileged unconscious visual processing and facilitate responses towards visual stimuli in the intact visual field. Interestingly, this fear-specific implicit visual processing in hemianopics has only been observed after lesions to the visual cortices in the left hemisphere, while no effect was found in patients with damage to the right hemisphere. This suggests that the subcortical route for emotional processing in the right hemisphere might provide a pivotal contribution to the implicit processing of fear, in line with evidence showing enhanced right amygdala activity and increased connectivity in the right colliculo-pulvinar-amygdala pathway for unconscious fear-conditioned stimuli and subliminal fearful faces. These findings will be discussed within a theoretical framework that considers the amygdala as an integral component of a constant and continuous vigilance system, which is preferentially invoked with stimuli signaling ambiguous environmental situations of biological relevance, such as fearful faces.
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3
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Fear-related signals are prioritised in visual, somatosensory and spatial systems. Neuropsychologia 2020; 150:107698. [PMID: 33253690 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The human brain has evolved a multifaceted fear system, allowing threat detection to enable rapid adaptive responses crucial for survival. Although many cortical and subcortical brain areas are believed to be involved in the survival circuits detecting and responding to threat, the amygdala has reportedly a crucial role in the fear system. Here, we review evidence demonstrating that fearful faces, a specific category of salient stimuli indicating the presence of threat in the surrounding, are preferentially processed in the fear system and in the connected sensory cortices, even when they are presented outside of awareness or are irrelevant to the task. In the visual domain, we discuss evidence showing in hemianopic patients that fearful faces, via a subcortical colliculo-pulvinar-amygdala pathway, have a privileged visual processing even in the absence of awareness and facilitate responses towards visual stimuli in the intact visual field. Moreover, evidence showing that somatosensory cortices prioritise fearful-related signals, to the extent that tactile processing is enhanced in the presence of fearful faces, will be also reported. Finally, we will review evidence revealing that fearful faces have a pivotal role in modulating responses in peripersonal space, in line with the defensive functional definition of PPS.
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Pedersini CA, Lingnau A, Sanchez-Lopez J, Cardobi N, Savazzi S, Marzi CA. Visuo-spatial attention to the blind hemifield of hemianopic patients: Can it survive the impairment of visual awareness? Neuropsychologia 2020; 149:107673. [PMID: 33186572 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2020] [Revised: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The general aim of this study was to assess the effect produced by visuo-spatial attention on both behavioural performance and brain activation in hemianopic patients following visual stimulus presentation to the blind hemifield. To do that, we tested five hemianopic patients and six age-matched healthy controls in an MRI scanner during the execution of a Posner-like paradigm using a predictive central cue. Participants were instructed to covertly orient attention toward the blind or sighted hemifield in different blocks while discriminating the orientation of a visual grating. In patients, we found significantly faster reaction times (RT) in valid and neutral than invalid trials not only in the sighted but also in the blind hemifield, despite the impairment of consciousness and performance at chance. As to the fMRI signal, in valid trials we observed the activation of ipsilesional visual areas (mainly lingual gyrus - area 19) during the orientation of attention toward the blind hemifield. Importantly, this activation was similar in patients and controls. In order to assess the related functional network, we performed a psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analysis that revealed an increased functional connectivity (FC) in patients with respect to controls between the ipsilesional lingual gyrus and ipsilateral fronto-parietal as well as contralesional parietal regions. Moreover, the shift of attention from the blind to the sighted hemifield revealed stronger FC between the contralesional visual areas V3/V4 and ipsilateral parietal regions in patients than controls. These results indicate a higher cognitive effort in patients when paying attention to the blind hemifiled or when shifting attention from the blind to the sighted hemfield, possibly as an attempt to compensate for the visual loss. Taken together, these results show that hemianopic patients can covertly orient attention toward the blind hemifield with a top-down mechanism by activating a functional network mainly including fronto-parietal regions belonging to the dorsal attentional network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caterina A Pedersini
- Physiology and Psychology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
| | - Angelika Lingnau
- Faculty of Psychology, Education and Sport Science, Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Germany; Centre For Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Italy
| | - Javier Sanchez-Lopez
- Physiology and Psychology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Nicolo Cardobi
- Physiology and Psychology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Silvia Savazzi
- Physiology and Psychology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; Perception and Awareness (PandA) Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; National Institute of Neuroscience, Verona, Italy
| | - Carlo A Marzi
- Physiology and Psychology Section, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy; National Institute of Neuroscience, Verona, Italy
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Having a live huntsman spider on a rubber hand does not modulate the rubber-hand illusion in a top-down manner. Exp Brain Res 2020; 238:2053-2066. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-05869-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2019] [Accepted: 06/18/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Rima S, Christoph Schmid M. V1-bypassing thalamo-cortical visual circuits in blindsight and developmental dyslexia. CURRENT OPINION IN PHYSIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cophys.2020.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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7
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Làdavas E, Tosatto L, Bertini C. Behavioural and functional changes in neglect after multisensory stimulation. Neuropsychol Rehabil 2020; 32:662-689. [DOI: 10.1080/09602011.2020.1786411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Làdavas
- Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | | | - Caterina Bertini
- Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Grasso PA, Gallina J, Bertini C. Shaping the visual system: cortical and subcortical plasticity in the intact and the lesioned brain. Neuropsychologia 2020; 142:107464. [PMID: 32289349 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 04/08/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Visual system is endowed with an incredibly complex organization composed of multiple visual pathway affording both hierarchical and parallel processing. Even if most of the visual information is conveyed by the retina to the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus and then to primary visual cortex, a wealth of alternative subcortical pathways is present. This complex organization is experience dependent and retains plastic properties throughout the lifespan enabling the system with a continuous update of its functions in response to variable external needs. Changes can be induced by several factors including learning and experience but can also be promoted by the use non-invasive brain stimulation techniques. Furthermore, besides the astonishing ability of our visual system to spontaneously reorganize after injuries, we now know that the exposure to specific rehabilitative training can produce not only important functional modifications but also long-lasting changes within cortical and subcortical structures. The present review aims to update and address the current state of the art on these topics gathering studies that reported relevant modifications of visual functioning together with plastic changes within cortical and subcortical structures both in the healthy and in the lesioned visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paolo A Grasso
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, 50135, Italy.
| | - Jessica Gallina
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, 40127, Italy; CsrNC, Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, 47521, Italy
| | - Caterina Bertini
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, 40127, Italy; CsrNC, Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, 47521, Italy
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Kumpik DP, Campbell C, Schnupp JWH, King AJ. Re-weighting of Sound Localization Cues by Audiovisual Training. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:1164. [PMID: 31802997 PMCID: PMC6873890 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2019] [Accepted: 10/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Sound localization requires the integration in the brain of auditory spatial cues generated by interactions with the external ears, head and body. Perceptual learning studies have shown that the relative weighting of these cues can change in a context-dependent fashion if their relative reliability is altered. One factor that may influence this process is vision, which tends to dominate localization judgments when both modalities are present and induces a recalibration of auditory space if they become misaligned. It is not known, however, whether vision can alter the weighting of individual auditory localization cues. Using virtual acoustic space stimuli, we measured changes in subjects’ sound localization biases and binaural localization cue weights after ∼50 min of training on audiovisual tasks in which visual stimuli were either informative or not about the location of broadband sounds. Four different spatial configurations were used in which we varied the relative reliability of the binaural cues: interaural time differences (ITDs) and frequency-dependent interaural level differences (ILDs). In most subjects and experiments, ILDs were weighted more highly than ITDs before training. When visual cues were spatially uninformative, some subjects showed a reduction in auditory localization bias and the relative weighting of ILDs increased after training with congruent binaural cues. ILDs were also upweighted if they were paired with spatially-congruent visual cues, and the largest group-level improvements in sound localization accuracy occurred when both binaural cues were matched to visual stimuli. These data suggest that binaural cue reweighting reflects baseline differences in the relative weights of ILDs and ITDs, but is also shaped by the availability of congruent visual stimuli. Training subjects with consistently misaligned binaural and visual cues produced the ventriloquism aftereffect, i.e., a corresponding shift in auditory localization bias, without affecting the inter-subject variability in sound localization judgments or their binaural cue weights. Our results show that the relative weighting of different auditory localization cues can be changed by training in ways that depend on their reliability as well as the availability of visual spatial information, with the largest improvements in sound localization likely to result from training with fully congruent audiovisual information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel P Kumpik
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Connor Campbell
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Jan W H Schnupp
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew J King
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Bertini C, Pietrelli M, Braghittoni D, Làdavas E. Pulvinar Lesions Disrupt Fear-Related Implicit Visual Processing in Hemianopic Patients. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2329. [PMID: 30524351 PMCID: PMC6261973 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The processing of emotional stimuli in the absence of awareness has been widely investigated in patients with lesions to the primary visual pathway since the classical studies on affective blindsight. In addition, recent evidence has shown that in hemianopic patients without blindsight only unseen fearful faces can be implicitly processed, inducing enhanced visual encoding (Cecere et al., 2014) and response facilitation (Bertini et al., 2013, 2017) to stimuli presented in their intact field. This fear-specific facilitation has been suggested to be mediated by activity in the spared visual subcortical pathway, comprising the superior colliculus (SC), the pulvinar and the amygdala. This suggests that the pulvinar might represent a critical relay structure, conveying threat-related visual information through the subcortical visual circuit. To test this hypothesis, hemianopic patients, with or without pulvinar lesions, performed a go/no-go task in which they had to discriminate simple visual stimuli, consisting in Gabor patches, displayed in their intact visual field, during the simultaneous presentation of faces with fearful, happy, and neutral expressions in their blind visual field. In line with previous evidence, hemianopic patients without pulvinar lesions showed response facilitation to stimuli displayed in the intact field, only while concurrent fearful faces were shown in their blind field. In contrast, no facilitatory effect was found in hemianopic patients with lesions of the pulvinar. These findings reveal that pulvinar lesions disrupt the implicit visual processing of fearful stimuli in hemianopic patients, therefore suggesting a pivotal role of this structure in relaying fear-related visual information from the SC to the amygdala.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caterina Bertini
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Mattia Pietrelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Davide Braghittoni
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Elisabetta Làdavas
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
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Lu Q, Wang X, Li L, Qiu B, Wei S, Sabel BA, Zhou Y. Visual rehabilitation training alters attentional networks in hemianopia: An fMRI study. Clin Neurophysiol 2018; 129:1832-1841. [PMID: 29981958 DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2018.05.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Revised: 05/17/2018] [Accepted: 05/28/2018] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Hemianopia is a visual field defect following post-chiasmatic damage. We now applied functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in hemianopic patients before and after visual rehabilitation training (VRT) to examine the impact of VRT on attentional function networks. METHODS Seven chronic hemianopic patients with post- chiasmatic lesions carried out a VRT for five weeks under fixation control. Before vs. after intervention, we assessed the area of residual vision (ARV), contrast sensitivity function (CSF) and functional MRI data and correlated them with each other. RESULTS VRT significantly improved the visual function of grating detection at the training location. Using fMRI, we found that the training led to a strengthening of connectivity between the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) to the insula and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), all of which belong to the cortical attentional network. However, no significant correlation between alterations of brain activity and improvements of either CSF or ARV was found. CONCLUSION Visual rehabilitation training partially restored the deficient visual field sectors and could improve attentional network function in hemianopia. SIGNIFICANCE Our MRI results highlight the role of attention and the rTPJ activation as one, but not the only, component of VRT in hemianopia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qilin Lu
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Xiaoxiao Wang
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China; Centers for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, PR China
| | - Lin Li
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China
| | - Bensheng Qiu
- Centers for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, PR China
| | - Shihui Wei
- Department of Ophthalmology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, PR China.
| | - Bernhard A Sabel
- Institute of Medical Psychology, Medical Faculty, Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Yifeng Zhou
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China.
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