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Thayer DD, Sprague TC. Feature-Specific Salience Maps in Human Cortex. J Neurosci 2023; 43:8785-8800. [PMID: 37907257 PMCID: PMC10727177 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1104-23.2023] [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: 06/12/2023] [Revised: 09/29/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Priority map theory is a leading framework for understanding how various aspects of stimulus displays and task demands guide visual attention. Per this theory, the visual system computes a priority map, which is a representation of visual space indexing the relative importance, or priority, of locations in the environment. Priority is computed based on both salience, defined based on image-computable properties; and relevance, defined by an individual's current goals, and is used to direct attention to the highest-priority locations for further processing. Computational theories suggest that priority maps identify salient locations based on individual feature dimensions (e.g., color, motion), which are integrated into an aggregate priority map. While widely accepted, a core assumption of this framework, the existence of independent feature dimension maps in visual cortex, remains untested. Here, we tested the hypothesis that retinotopic regions selective for specific feature dimensions (color or motion) in human cortex act as neural feature dimension maps, indexing salient locations based on their preferred feature. We used fMRI activation patterns to reconstruct spatial maps while male and female human participants viewed stimuli with salient regions defined by relative color or motion direction. Activation in reconstructed spatial maps was localized to the salient stimulus position in the display. Moreover, the strength of the stimulus representation was strongest in the ROI selective for the salience-defining feature. Together, these results suggest that feature-selective extrastriate visual regions highlight salient locations based on local feature contrast within their preferred feature dimensions, supporting their role as neural feature dimension maps.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Identifying salient information is important for navigating the world. For example, it is critical to detect a quickly approaching car when crossing the street. Leading models of computer vision and visual search rely on compartmentalized salience computations based on individual features; however, there has been no direct empirical demonstration identifying neural regions as responsible for performing these dissociable operations. Here, we provide evidence of a critical double dissociation that neural activation patterns from color-selective regions prioritize the location of color-defined salience while minimally representing motion-defined salience, whereas motion-selective regions show the complementary result. These findings reveal that specialized cortical regions act as neural "feature dimension maps" that are used to index salient locations based on specific features to guide attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel D Thayer
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106
| | - Thomas C Sprague
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106
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2
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Suzuki M, Pennartz CMA, Aru J. How deep is the brain? The shallow brain hypothesis. Nat Rev Neurosci 2023; 24:778-791. [PMID: 37891398 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00756-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/25/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023]
Abstract
Deep learning and predictive coding architectures commonly assume that inference in neural networks is hierarchical. However, largely neglected in deep learning and predictive coding architectures is the neurobiological evidence that all hierarchical cortical areas, higher or lower, project to and receive signals directly from subcortical areas. Given these neuroanatomical facts, today's dominance of cortico-centric, hierarchical architectures in deep learning and predictive coding networks is highly questionable; such architectures are likely to be missing essential computational principles the brain uses. In this Perspective, we present the shallow brain hypothesis: hierarchical cortical processing is integrated with a massively parallel process to which subcortical areas substantially contribute. This shallow architecture exploits the computational capacity of cortical microcircuits and thalamo-cortical loops that are not included in typical hierarchical deep learning and predictive coding networks. We argue that the shallow brain architecture provides several critical benefits over deep hierarchical structures and a more complete depiction of how mammalian brains achieve fast and flexible computational capabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mototaka Suzuki
- Department of Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Cyriel M A Pennartz
- Department of Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Jaan Aru
- Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.
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3
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Liang J, Maher S, Zhaoping L. Eye movement evidence for the V1 Saliency Hypothesis and the Central-peripheral Dichotomy theory in an anomalous visual search task. Vision Res 2023; 212:108308. [PMID: 37659334 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2023.108308] [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: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/04/2023]
Abstract
Typically, searching for a target among uniformly tilted non-targets is easier when this target is perpendicular, rather than parallel, to the non-targets. The V1 Saliency Hypothesis (V1SH) - that V1 creates a saliency map to guide attention exogenously - predicts exactly the opposite in a special case: each target or non-target is a pair of equally-sized disks, a homo-pair of two disks of the same color, black or white, or a hetero-pair of two disks of the opposite color; the inter-disk displacement defines its orientation. This prediction - parallel advantage - was supported by the finding that parallel targets require shorter reaction times (RTs) to report targets' locations. Furthermore, it is stronger for targets further from the center of search images, as predicted by the Central-peripheral Dichotomy (CPD) theory entailing that saliency effects are stronger in peripheral than in central vision. However, the parallel advantage could arise from a shorter time required to recognize - rather than to shift attention to - the parallel target. By gaze tracking, the present study confirms that the parallel advantage is solely due to the RTs for the gaze to reach the target. Furthermore, when the gaze is sufficiently far from the target during search, saccade to a parallel, rather than perpendicular, target is more likely, demonstrating the Central-peripheral Dichotomy more directly. Parallel advantage is stronger among observers encouraged to let their search be guided by spontaneous gaze shifts, which are presumably guided by bottom-up saliency rather than top-down factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junhao Liang
- Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Severin Maher
- Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Li Zhaoping
- Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.
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4
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Wang T, Zhao Y, Jia J. Nonadditive integration of visual information in ensemble processing. iScience 2023; 26:107988. [PMID: 37822498 PMCID: PMC10562869 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Revised: 09/03/2023] [Accepted: 09/16/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Statistically summarizing information from a stimulus array into an ensemble representation (e.g., the mean) improves the efficiency of visual processing. However, little is known about how the brain computes the ensemble statistics. Here, we propose that ensemble processing is realized by nonadditive integration, rather than linear averaging, of individual items. We used a linear regression model approach to extract EEG responses to three levels of information: the individual items, their local interactions, and their global interaction. The local and global interactions, representing nonadditive integration of individual items, elicited rapid and independent neural responses. Critically, only the neural representation of the global interaction predicted the precision of the ensemble perception at the behavioral level. Furthermore, spreading attention over the global pattern to enhance ensemble processing directly promoted rapid neural representation of the global interaction. Taken together, these findings advocate a global, nonadditive mechanism of ensemble processing in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tongyu Wang
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, Zhejiang, China
| | - Yuqing Zhao
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, Zhejiang, China
| | - Jianrong Jia
- Department of Psychology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, Zhejiang, China
- Zhejiang Philosophy and Social Science Laboratory for Research in Early Development and Childcare, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, Zhejiang, China
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5
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Chen N, Ai H, Lu X. Context-dependent attentional spotlight in pulvinar-V1 interaction. Neuroimage 2023; 279:120341. [PMID: 37619793 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Spatial attention is often described as a mental spotlight that enhances information processing at the attended location. Using fMRI, we investigated background connectivity between the pulvinar and V1 in relation to focused versus diffused attention allocation, in weak and strong crowding contexts. Our findings revealed that focused attention led to enhanced correlations between the pulvinar and V1. Notably, this modulation was initiated by the pulvinar, and the strength of the modulation was dependent on the saliency of the target. These findings suggest that the pulvinar initiates information reweighting to V1, which underlies attentional selection in cluttered scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nihong Chen
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China; THU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
| | - Hailin Ai
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China
| | - Xincheng Lu
- Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China
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6
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Westerberg JA, Schall JD, Woodman GF, Maier A. Feedforward attentional selection in sensory cortex. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5993. [PMID: 37752171 PMCID: PMC10522696 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41745-1] [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: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Salient objects grab attention because they stand out from their surroundings. Whether this phenomenon is accomplished by bottom-up sensory processing or requires top-down guidance is debated. We tested these alternative hypotheses by measuring how early and in which cortical layer(s) neural spiking distinguished a target from a distractor. We measured synaptic and spiking activity across cortical columns in mid-level area V4 of male macaque monkeys performing visual search for a color singleton. A neural signature of attentional capture was observed in the earliest response in the input layer 4. The magnitude of this response predicted response time and accuracy. Errant behavior followed errant selection. Because this response preceded top-down influences and arose in the cortical layer not targeted by top-down connections, these findings demonstrate that feedforward activation of sensory cortex can underlie attentional priority.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Westerberg
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
- Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
- Vision: Science to Applications Program, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
- Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Geoffrey F Woodman
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
| | - Alexander Maier
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
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7
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Bevilacqua M, Huxlin KR, Hummel FC, Raffin E. Pathway and directional specificity of Hebbian plasticity in the cortical visual motion processing network. iScience 2023; 26:107064. [PMID: 37408682 PMCID: PMC10319215 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 02/14/2023] [Accepted: 06/02/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation (ccPAS), which repeatedly pairs single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over two distant brain regions, is thought to modulate synaptic plasticity. We explored its spatial selectivity (pathway and direction specificity) and its nature (oscillatory signature and perceptual consequences) when applied along the ascending (Forward) and descending (Backward) motion discrimination pathway. We found unspecific connectivity increases in bottom-up inputs in the low gamma band, probably reflecting visual task exposure. A clear distinction in information transfer occurred in the re-entrant alpha signals, which were only modulated by Backward-ccPAS, and predictive of visual improvements in healthy participants. These results suggest a causal involvement of the re-entrant MT-to-V1 low-frequency inputs in motion discrimination and integration in healthy participants. Modulating re-entrant input activity could provide single-subject prediction scenarios for visual recovery. Visual recovery might indeed partly rely on these residual inputs projecting to spared V1 neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele Bevilacqua
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (NRX) and Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Geneva, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (NRX) and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion, Switzerland
| | - Krystel R. Huxlin
- The Flaum Eye Institute and Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Friedhelm C. Hummel
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (NRX) and Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Geneva, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (NRX) and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion, Switzerland
- Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Estelle Raffin
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (NRX) and Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Geneva, Switzerland
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Neuro-X Institute (NRX) and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion, Switzerland
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8
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Doostani N, Hossein-Zadeh GA, Cichy RM, Vaziri-Pashkam M. Attention Modulates Human Visual Responses to Objects by Tuning Sharpening. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.06.01.543205. [PMID: 37333078 PMCID: PMC10274640 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.01.543205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
Visual stimuli compete with each other for cortical processing and attention biases this competition in favor of the attended stimulus. How does the relationship between the stimuli affect the strength of this attentional bias? Here, we used functional MRI to explore the effect of target-distractor similarity in neural representation on attentional modulation in the human visual cortex using univariate and multivariate pattern analyses. Using stimuli from four object categories (human bodies, cats, cars and houses), we investigated attentional effects in the primary visual area V1, the object-selective regions LO and pFs, the body-selective region EBA, and the scene-selective region PPA. We demonstrated that the strength of the attentional bias towards the target is not fixed but decreases with increasing distractor-target similarity. Simulations provided evidence that this result pattern is explained by tuning sharpening rather than an increase in gain. Our findings provide a mechanistic explanation for behavioral effects of target-distractor similarity on attentional biases and suggest tuning sharpening as the underlying mechanism in object-based attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Narges Doostani
- School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Gholam-Ali Hossein-Zadeh
- School of Electrical Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
- School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Radoslaw Martin Cichy
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Faculty of Philosophy, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, USA
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9
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Becker SI, Grubert A, Horstmann G, Ansorge U. Which processes dominate visual search: Bottom-up feature contrast, top-down tuning or trial history? Cognition 2023; 236:105420. [PMID: 36905828 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105420] [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: 01/06/2022] [Revised: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has identified three mechanisms that guide visual attention: bottom-up feature contrasts, top-down tuning, and the trial history (e.g., priming effects). However, only few studies have simultaneously examined all three mechanisms. Hence, it is currently unclear how they interact or which mechanisms dominate over others. With respect to local feature contrasts, it has been claimed that a pop-out target can only be selected immediately in dense displays when the target has a high local feature contrast, but not when the displays are sparse, which leads to an inverse set-size effect. The present study critically evaluated this view by systematically varying local feature contrasts (i.e., set size), top-down knowledge, and the trial history in pop-out search. We used eye tracking to distinguish between early selection and later identification-related processes. The results revealed that early visual selection was mainly dominated by top-down knowledge and the trial history: When attention was biased to the target feature, either by valid pre-cueing (top-down) or automatic priming, the target could be localised immediately, regardless of display density. Bottom-up feature contrasts only modulated selection when the target was unknown and attention was biased to the non-targets. We also replicated the often-reported finding of reliable feature contrast effects in the mean RTs, but showed that these were due to later, target identification processes (e.g., in the target dwell times). Thus, contrary to the prevalent view, bottom-up feature contrasts in dense displays do not seem to directly guide attention, but only facilitate nontarget rejection, probably by facilitating nontarget grouping.
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10
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Barros F, Soares SC, Rocha M, Bem-Haja P, Silva S, Lundqvist D. The angry versus happy recognition advantage: the role of emotional and physical properties. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:108-123. [PMID: 35113209 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01648-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Facial emotional expressions are pivotal for social communication. Their fast and accurate recognition is crucial to promote adaptive responses to social demands, for the development of functional relationships, and for well-being. However, the literature has been inconsistent in showing differentiated recognition patterns for positive vs. negative facial expressions (e.g., happy and angry expressions, respectively), likely due to affective and perceptual factors. Accordingly, the present study explored differences in recognition performance between angry and happy faces, while specifically assessing the role of emotional intensity and global/regional low-level visual features. 98 participants categorized angry and happy faces morphed between neutral and emotional across 9 levels of expression intensity (10-90%). We observed a significantly higher recognition efficiency (higher accuracy and shorter response latencies) for angry compared to happy faces in lower levels of expression intensity, suggesting that our cognitive resources are biased to prioritize the recognition of potentially harmful stimuli, especially when briefly presented at an ambiguous stage of expression. Conversely, an advantage for happy faces was observed from the midpoint of expression intensity, regarding response speed. However, when compensating for the contribution of regional low-level properties of distinct facial key regions, the effect of emotion was maintained only for response accuracy. Altogether, these results shed new light on the processing of facial emotional stimuli, emphasizing the need to consider emotional intensity and regional low-level image properties in emotion recognition analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa Barros
- William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. .,Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Sandra C Soares
- William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal. .,Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.
| | - Marta Rocha
- William James Center for Research (WJCR), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.,Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Pedro Bem-Haja
- Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS), Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Samuel Silva
- Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics (DETI), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal.,Institute of Electronics and Informatics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA), University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Daniel Lundqvist
- NatMEG, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Nobels väg 9, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden
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11
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Ebert N, Ackermann KA, Bearth A. When information security depends on font size: how the saliency of warnings affects protection behavior. JOURNAL OF RISK RESEARCH 2022; 26:233-255. [PMID: 36896244 PMCID: PMC9988306 DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2022.2142952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Revised: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Prior research on how to improve the effectiveness of information security warnings has predominantly focused on either the informational content of warnings or their visual saliency. In an online experiment (N = 1'486), we disentangle the effect of both manipulations and demonstrate that both factors simultaneously influence decision making. Our data indicate that the proportion of people who engage in protection behavior can be increased by roughly 65% by making a particular warning message more visually salient (i.e. a more conspicuous visual design is used). We also show that varying the message's saliency can make people behave very differently when confronted with the same threat or behave very similarly when confronted with threats that differ widely in terms of severity of outcomes. Our results suggest that the visual design of a warning may warrant at least as much attention as the informational content that the warning message conveys.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nico Ebert
- Center for Process Management & Information Security, Institute of Business Information Technology (IWI), ZHAW SML, Winterthur, Switzerland
| | - Kurt A. Ackermann
- Center for Behavioral Insights & Pricing, Institute of Marketing Management (IMM), ZHAW SML
| | - Angela Bearth
- Consumer Behavior, Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED), ETH Zurich
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12
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Lancer BH, Evans BJE, Fabian JM, O'Carroll DC, Wiederman SD. Preattentive facilitation of target trajectories in a dragonfly visual neuron. Commun Biol 2022; 5:829. [PMID: 35982305 PMCID: PMC9388622 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03798-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to pursue targets in visually cluttered and distraction-rich environments is critical for predators such as dragonflies. Previously, we identified Centrifugal Small-Target Motion Detector 1 (CSTMD1), a dragonfly visual neuron likely involved in such target-tracking behaviour. CSTMD1 exhibits facilitated responses to targets moving along a continuous trajectory. Moreover, CSTMD1 competitively selects a single target out of a pair. Here, we conducted in vivo, intracellular recordings from CSTMD1 to examine the interplay between facilitation and selection, in response to the presentation of paired targets. We find that neuronal responses to both individual trajectories of simultaneous, paired targets are facilitated, rather than being constrained to the single, selected target. Additionally, switches in selection elicit suppression which is likely an important attribute underlying target pursuit. However, binocular experiments reveal these results are constrained to paired targets within the same visual hemifield, while selection of a target in one visual hemifield establishes ocular dominance that prevents facilitation or response to contralaterally presented targets. These results reveal that the dragonfly brain preattentively represents more than one target trajectory, to balance between attentional flexibility and resistance against distraction. A dragonfly visual neuron independently facilitates responses to rival targets within the same visual field, mediating selective attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin H Lancer
- School of Biomedicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
| | - Bernard J E Evans
- School of Biomedicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Joseph M Fabian
- School of Biomedicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
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13
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Eye-specific attentional bias driven by selection history. Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 29:2155-2166. [PMID: 35680761 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02121-0] [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: 05/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Attention helps in selection among competing stimuli, but attentional selection also biases subsequent information processing as a prior experience. Previous studies have demonstrated that intertrial repetition of target features or locations facilitates perceptual processing as selection history guides attention. In the current study, we found that eye selection history in binocular rivalry induces eye-specific attentional bias. In four experiments, participants responded to the target presented at one of the locations on either eye. The results showed that the target was detected faster when presented to the same eye as in the previous trial under binocular rivalry. However, the effect of eye repetition was not observed when the interocular conflict was reduced by presenting stimuli to only one eye on each trial. Our result indicates that eye selection history can affect eye dominance during binocular rivalry as attention amplifies selected information among competing inputs. These findings suggest that prior experience of attentional deployment modulates subsequent information processing owing to the residual effect of attentional amplification.
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14
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Beffara B, Hadj-Bouziane F, Hamed SB, Boehler CN, Chelazzi L, Santandrea E, Macaluso E. Dynamic causal interactions between occipital and parietal cortex explain how endogenous spatial attention and stimulus-driven salience jointly shape the distribution of processing priorities in 2D visual space. Neuroimage 2022; 255:119206. [PMID: 35427770 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Visuo-spatial attention prioritizes the processing of relevant inputs via different types of signals, including current goals and stimulus salience. Complex mixtures of these signals engage in everyday life situations, but little is known about how these signals jointly modulate distributed patterns of activity across the occipital regions that represent visual space. Here, we measured spatio-topic, quadrant-specific occipital activity during the processing of visual displays containing both task-relevant targets and salient color-singletons. We computed spatial bias vectors indexing the effect of attention in 2D space, as coded by distributed activity in the occipital cortex. We found that goal-directed spatial attention biased activity towards the target and that salience further modulated this endogenous effect: salient distractors decreased the spatial bias, while salient targets increased it. Analyses of effective connectivity revealed that the processing of salient distractors relied on the modulation of the bidirectional connectivity between the occipital and the posterior parietal cortex, as well as the modulation of the lateral interactions within the occipital cortex. These findings demonstrate that goal-directed attention and salience jointly contribute to shaping processing priorities in the occipital cortex and highlight that multiple functional paths determine how spatial information about these signals is distributed across occipital regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bertrand Beffara
- IMPACT Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, University of Lyon, Bron Cedex, France.
| | - Fadila Hadj-Bouziane
- IMPACT Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, University of Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, Lyon, UMR5229, CNRS, Université de Lyon, France
| | - C Nico Boehler
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium
| | - Leonardo Chelazzi
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy
| | - Elisa Santandrea
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy
| | - Emiliano Macaluso
- IMPACT Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, U1028, CNRS, UMR5292, University of Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
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15
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Lev-Ari T, Beeri H, Gutfreund Y. The Ecological View of Selective Attention. Front Integr Neurosci 2022; 16:856207. [PMID: 35391754 PMCID: PMC8979825 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2022.856207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Accumulating evidence is supporting the hypothesis that our selective attention is a manifestation of mechanisms that evolved early in evolution and are shared by many organisms from different taxa. This surge of new data calls for the re-examination of our notions about attention, which have been dominated mostly by human psychology. Here, we present an hypothesis that challenges, based on evolutionary grounds, a common view of attention as a means to manage limited brain resources. We begin by arguing that evolutionary considerations do not favor the basic proposition of the limited brain resources view of attention, namely, that the capacity of the sensory organs to provide information exceeds the capacity of the brain to process this information. Moreover, physiological studies in animals and humans show that mechanisms of selective attention are highly demanding of brain resources, making it paradoxical to see attention as a means to release brain resources. Next, we build on the above arguments to address the question why attention evolved in evolution. We hypothesize that, to a certain extent, limiting sensory processing is adaptive irrespective of brain capacity. We call this hypothesis the ecological view of attention (EVA) because it is centered on interactions of an animal with its environment rather than on internal brain resources. In its essence is the notion that inherently noisy and degraded sensory inputs serve the animal’s adaptive, dynamic interactions with its environment. Attention primarily functions to resolve behavioral conflicts and false distractions. Hence, we evolved to focus on a particular target at the expense of others, not because of internal limitations, but to ensure that behavior is properly oriented and committed to its goals. Here, we expand on this notion and review evidence supporting it. We show how common results in human psychophysics and physiology can be reconciled with an EVA and discuss possible implications of the notion for interpreting current results and guiding future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tidhar Lev-Ari
- The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, The Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Hadar Beeri
- The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, The Technion, Haifa, Israel
| | - Yoram Gutfreund
- The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute, The Technion, Haifa, Israel
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16
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Evans BJE, O’Carroll DC, Fabian JM, Wiederman SD. Dragonfly Neurons Selectively Attend to Targets Within Natural Scenes. Front Cell Neurosci 2022; 16:857071. [PMID: 35450210 PMCID: PMC9017788 DOI: 10.3389/fncel.2022.857071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Aerial predators, such as the dragonfly, determine the position and movement of their prey even when both are moving through complex, natural scenes. This task is likely supported by a group of neurons in the optic lobe which respond to moving targets that subtend less than a few degrees. These Small Target Motion Detector (STMD) neurons are tuned to both target size and velocity, whilst also exhibiting facilitated responses to targets traveling along continuous trajectories. When presented with a pair of targets, some STMDs generate spiking activity that represent a competitive selection of one target, as if the alternative does not exist (i.e., selective attention). Here, we describe intracellular responses of CSTMD1 (an identified STMD) to the visual presentation of targets embedded within cluttered, natural scenes. We examine CSTMD1 response changes to target contrast, as well as a range of target and background velocities. We find that background motion affects CSTMD1 responses via the competitive selection between features within the natural scene. Here, robust discrimination of our artificially embedded “target” is limited to scenarios when its velocity is matched to, or greater than, the background velocity. Additionally, the background’s direction of motion affects discriminability, though not in the manner observed in STMDs of other flying insects. Our results highlight that CSTMD1’s competitive responses are to those features best matched to the neuron’s underlying spatiotemporal tuning, whether from the embedded target or other features in the background clutter. In many scenarios, CSTMD1 responds robustly to targets moving through cluttered scenes. However, whether this neuronal system could underlie the task of competitively selecting slow moving prey against fast-moving backgrounds remains an open question.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bernard John Essex Evans
- School of Biomedicine, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
- *Correspondence: Bernard John Essex Evans
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17
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Westerberg JA, Sigworth EA, Schall JD, Maier A. Pop-out search instigates beta-gated feature selectivity enhancement across V4 layers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2103702118. [PMID: 34893538 PMCID: PMC8685673 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2103702118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual search is a workhorse for investigating how attention interacts with processing of sensory information. Attentional selection has been linked to altered cortical sensory responses and feature preferences (i.e., tuning). However, attentional modulation of feature selectivity during search is largely unexplored. Here we map the spatiotemporal profile of feature selectivity during singleton search. Monkeys performed a search where a pop-out feature determined the target of attention. We recorded laminar neural responses from visual area V4. We first identified "feature columns" which showed preference for individual colors. In the unattended condition, feature columns were significantly more selective in superficial relative to middle and deep layers. Attending a stimulus increased selectivity in all layers but not equally. Feature selectivity increased most in the deep layers, leading to higher selectivity in extragranular layers as compared to the middle layer. This attention-induced enhancement was rhythmically gated in phase with the beta-band local field potential. Beta power dominated both extragranular laminar compartments, but current source density analysis pointed to an origin in superficial layers, specifically. While beta-band power was present regardless of attentional state, feature selectivity was only gated by beta in the attended condition. Neither the beta oscillation nor its gating of feature selectivity varied with microsaccade production. Importantly, beta modulation of neural activity predicted response times, suggesting a direct link between attentional gating and behavioral output. Together, these findings suggest beta-range synaptic activation in V4's superficial layers rhythmically gates attentional enhancement of feature tuning in a way that affects the speed of attentional selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Westerberg
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240;
| | | | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Centre for Vision Research, Vision: Science to Applications Program, Department of Biology and Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Alexander Maier
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240
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18
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Raffin E, Witon A, Salamanca-Giron RF, Huxlin KR, Hummel FC. Functional Segregation within the Dorsal Frontoparietal Network: A Multimodal Dynamic Causal Modeling Study. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:3187-3205. [PMID: 34864941 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab409] [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: 04/20/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Discrimination and integration of motion direction requires the interplay of multiple brain areas. Theoretical accounts of perception suggest that stimulus-related (i.e., exogenous) and decision-related (i.e., endogenous) factors affect distributed neuronal processing at different levels of the visual hierarchy. To test these predictions, we measured brain activity of healthy participants during a motion discrimination task, using electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We independently modeled the impact of exogenous factors (task demand) and endogenous factors (perceptual decision-making) on the activity of the motion discrimination network and applied Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) to both modalities. DCM for event-related potentials (DCM-ERP) revealed that task demand impacted the reciprocal connections between the primary visual cortex (V1) and medial temporal areas (V5). With practice, higher visual areas were increasingly involved, as revealed by DCM-fMRI. Perceptual decision-making modulated higher levels (e.g., V5-to-Frontal Eye Fields, FEF), in a manner predictive of performance. Our data suggest that lower levels of the visual network support early, feature-based selection of responses, especially when learning strategies have not been implemented. In contrast, perceptual decision-making operates at higher levels of the visual hierarchy by integrating sensory information with the internal state of the subject.
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Affiliation(s)
- Estelle Raffin
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Geneva CH-1201, Switzerland.,Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion CH-1950, Switzerland
| | - Adrien Witon
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Geneva CH-1201, Switzerland.,Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion CH-1950, Switzerland.,Health IT, IT Department, Hôpital du Valais, Sion, Switzerland
| | - Roberto F Salamanca-Giron
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Geneva CH-1201, Switzerland.,Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion CH-1950, Switzerland
| | - Krystel R Huxlin
- The Flaum Eye Institute and Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY-14642, USA
| | - Friedhelm C Hummel
- Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, EPFL, Geneva CH-1201, Switzerland.,Defitech Chair in Clinical Neuroengineering, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Clinique Romande de Readaptation (CRR), EPFL Valais, Sion CH-1950, Switzerland.,Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva Medical School, Geneva CH-1205, Switzerland
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19
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Krajbich I, Mitsumasu A, Polania R, Ruff CC, Fehr E. A causal role for the right frontal eye fields in value comparison. eLife 2021; 10:e67477. [PMID: 34779767 PMCID: PMC8592572 DOI: 10.7554/elife.67477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have suggested close functional links between overt visual attention and decision making. This suggests that the corresponding mechanisms may interface in brain regions known to be crucial for guiding visual attention - such as the frontal eye field (FEF). Here, we combined brain stimulation, eye tracking, and computational approaches to explore this possibility. We show that inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the right FEF has a causal impact on decision making, reducing the effect of gaze dwell time on choice while also increasing reaction times. We computationally characterize this putative mechanism by using the attentional drift diffusion model (aDDM), which reveals that FEF inhibition reduces the relative discounting of the non-fixated option in the comparison process. Our findings establish an important causal role of the right FEF in choice, elucidate the underlying mechanism, and provide support for one of the key causal hypotheses associated with the aDDM.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Krajbich
- Departments of Psychology, Economics, The Ohio State UniversityColumbusUnited States
| | - Andres Mitsumasu
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Rafael Polania
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
- Decision Neuroscience Lab, Depterment of Heatlh Sciences and Technology, ETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Christian C Ruff
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
| | - Ernst Fehr
- Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, Department of Economics, University of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
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20
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Burg MF, Cadena SA, Denfield GH, Walker EY, Tolias AS, Bethge M, Ecker AS. Learning divisive normalization in primary visual cortex. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009028. [PMID: 34097695 PMCID: PMC8211272 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 04/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Divisive normalization (DN) is a prominent computational building block in the brain that has been proposed as a canonical cortical operation. Numerous experimental studies have verified its importance for capturing nonlinear neural response properties to simple, artificial stimuli, and computational studies suggest that DN is also an important component for processing natural stimuli. However, we lack quantitative models of DN that are directly informed by measurements of spiking responses in the brain and applicable to arbitrary stimuli. Here, we propose a DN model that is applicable to arbitrary input images. We test its ability to predict how neurons in macaque primary visual cortex (V1) respond to natural images, with a focus on nonlinear response properties within the classical receptive field. Our model consists of one layer of subunits followed by learned orientation-specific DN. It outperforms linear-nonlinear and wavelet-based feature representations and makes a significant step towards the performance of state-of-the-art convolutional neural network (CNN) models. Unlike deep CNNs, our compact DN model offers a direct interpretation of the nature of normalization. By inspecting the learned normalization pool of our model, we gained insights into a long-standing question about the tuning properties of DN that update the current textbook description: we found that within the receptive field oriented features were normalized preferentially by features with similar orientation rather than non-specifically as currently assumed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max F. Burg
- Institute for Theoretical Physics and Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Tübingen, Germany
- Institute of Computer Science and Campus Institute Data Science, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Santiago A. Cadena
- Institute for Theoretical Physics and Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Tübingen, Germany
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - George H. Denfield
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Edgar Y. Walker
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Andreas S. Tolias
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Tübingen, Germany
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Matthias Bethge
- Institute for Theoretical Physics and Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Tübingen, Germany
- Center for Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Alexander S. Ecker
- Institute of Computer Science and Campus Institute Data Science, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany
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21
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Chholak P, Maksimenko VA, Hramov AE, Pisarchik AN. Voluntary and Involuntary Attention in Bistable Visual Perception: A MEG Study. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:597895. [PMID: 33414711 PMCID: PMC7782248 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.597895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In this study, voluntary and involuntary visual attention focused on different interpretations of a bistable image, were investigated using magnetoencephalography (MEG). A Necker cube with sinusoidally modulated pixels' intensity in the front and rear faces with frequencies 6.67 Hz (60/9) and 8.57 Hz (60/7), respectively, was presented to 12 healthy volunteers, who interpreted the cube as either left- or right-oriented. The tags of these frequencies and their second harmonics were identified in the average Fourier spectra of the MEG data recorded from the visual cortex. In the first part of the experiment, the subjects were asked to voluntarily control their attention by interpreting the cube orientation as either being on the left or right. Accordingly, we observed the dominance of the corresponding spectral component, and voluntary attention performance was measured. In the second part of the experiment, the subjects were asked to focus their gaze on a red marker at the center of the cube image without putting forth effort in its interpretation. The alternation of the dominant spectral energies at the second harmonics of the stimulation frequencies was treated as changes in the cube orientation. Based on the results of the first experimental stage and using a wavelet analysis, we developed a method which allowed us to identify the currently perceived cube orientation. Finally, we characterized involuntary attention using the distribution of dominance times when focusing attention on one of the cube orientations, which was related to voluntary attention performance and brain noise. In particular, we confirmed our hypothesis that higher attention performance is associated with stronger brain noise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Parth Chholak
- Center for Biomedical Technology, Technical University of Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
| | - Vladimir A. Maksimenko
- Laboratory of Neuroscience and Cognitive Technology, Center for Technologies in Robotics and Mechatronics Component, Innolpolis University, Innopolis, Russia
| | - Alexander E. Hramov
- Laboratory of Neuroscience and Cognitive Technology, Center for Technologies in Robotics and Mechatronics Component, Innolpolis University, Innopolis, Russia
- Department of Automation, Control and Mechatronics, Saratov State Medical University, Saratov, Russia
| | - Alexander N. Pisarchik
- Center for Biomedical Technology, Technical University of Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain
- Laboratory of Neuroscience and Cognitive Technology, Center for Technologies in Robotics and Mechatronics Component, Innolpolis University, Innopolis, Russia
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22
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Balsamo M, Carlucci L, Padulo C, Perfetti B, Fairfield B. A Bottom-Up Validation of the IAPS, GAPED, and NAPS Affective Picture Databases: Differential Effects on Behavioral Performance. Front Psychol 2020; 11:2187. [PMID: 33013565 PMCID: PMC7498678 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 08/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The concept of emotion is a complex neural and psychological phenomenon, central to the organization of human social behavior. As the result of subjective experience, emotions involve bottom-up cognitive styles responsible for efficient adaptation of human behavior to the environment based on salient goals. Indeed, bottom-up cognitive processes are mandatory for clarifying emotion-cognition interactions. Accordingly, a huge number of studies and standardized affective stimuli databases have been developed (i.e., International Affective Picture System (IAPS), Geneva Affective Picture Database (GAPED), and Nencki Affective Picture System (NAPS)). However, these neither accurately reflect the complex neural system underlying emotional responses nor do they offer a comprehensive framework for researchers. The present article aims to provide an additional bottom-up validation of affective stimuli that are independent from cognitive processing and control mechanisms, related to the implicit relevance and evolutionistic significance of stimuli. A subset of 360 images from the original NAPS, GAPED, and IAPS datasets was selected in order to proportionally cover the whole dimensional affective space. Among these, using a two-step analysis strategy, we identified three clusters (“good performance”, “poor performance”, and “false alarm”) of stimuli with similar cognitive response profiles. Results showed that the three clusters differed in terms of arousal and database membership, but not in terms of valence. The new database, with accompanying ratings and image parameters, allows researchers to select visual stimuli independent from dimensional/discrete-categories, and provides information on the implicit effects triggered by such stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michela Balsamo
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy
| | - Leonardo Carlucci
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy
| | - Caterina Padulo
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy
| | - Bernardo Perfetti
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy
| | - Beth Fairfield
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, University of Chieti, Chieti, Italy
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23
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Le A, Cole GG, Wilkins A. Trypophobia: Heart rate, heart rate variability and cortical haemodynamic response. J Affect Disord 2020; 274:1147-1151. [PMID: 32663944 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2019] [Revised: 05/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Trypophobia is a common condition in which sufferers are averse to images of small holes arranged in clusters. METHODS We used photo-plethysmography to examine cardiovascular correlates and near infrared spectroscopy to examine cortical correlates of the phenomenon in order to validate the Trypophobia Questionnaire and explore the several interlinked explanations of the disorder. RESULTS Trypophobic images were found to increase both heart rate and heart rate variability, but only in individuals with high scores on the Trypophobia Questionnaire. Trypophobic images were also found to elicit larger haemodynamic responses in posterior cortical areas, but again only in individuals with high scores. LIMITATIONS The results are consistent with a contribution from both parasympathetic and sympathetic systems. CONCLUSION The data demonstrate the validity of the Trypophobia Questionnaire and show an involvement not only of the autonomic system but cortical mechanisms including cortical hyperexcitability.
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Affiliation(s)
- An Le
- Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK
| | - Geoff G Cole
- Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK
| | - Arnold Wilkins
- Department of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK.
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24
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Bennett M. An Attempt at a Unified Theory of the Neocortical Microcircuit in Sensory Cortex. Front Neural Circuits 2020; 14:40. [PMID: 32848632 PMCID: PMC7416357 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2020.00040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The neocortex performs a wide range of functions, including working memory, sensory perception, and motor planning. Despite this diversity in function, evidence suggests that the neocortex is made up of repeating subunits ("macrocolumns"), each of which is largely identical in circuitry. As such, the specific computations performed by these macrocolumns are of great interest to neuroscientists and AI researchers. Leading theories of this microcircuit include models of predictive coding, hierarchical temporal memory (HTM), and Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART). However, these models have not yet explained: (1) how microcircuits learn sequences input with delay (i.e., working memory); (2) how networks of columns coordinate processing on precise timescales; or (3) how top-down attention modulates sensory processing. I provide a theory of the neocortical microcircuit that extends prior models in all three ways. Additionally, this theory provides a novel working memory circuit that extends prior models to support simultaneous multi-item storage without disrupting ongoing sensory processing. I then use this theory to explain the functional origin of a diverse set of experimental findings, such as cortical oscillations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max Bennett
- Independent Researcher, New York, NY, United States
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25
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26
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27
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Guillermo S, Correll J. Beyond stereotypes: The complexity of attention to racial out‐group faces. JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/jts5.58] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Joshua Correll
- Psychology and Neuroscience University of Colorado Boulder CO USA
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28
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Chen X, Zirnsak M, Vega GM, Govil E, Lomber SG, Moore T. Parietal Cortex Regulates Visual Salience and Salience-Driven Behavior. Neuron 2020; 106:177-187.e4. [PMID: 32048996 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2019] [Revised: 12/11/2019] [Accepted: 01/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Unique stimuli stand out. Despite an abundance of competing sensory stimuli, the detection of the most salient ones occurs without effort, and that detection contributes to the guidance of adaptive behavior. Neurons sensitive to the salience of visual stimuli are widespread throughout the primate visual system and are thought to shape the selection of visual targets. However, a neural source of salience remains elusive. In an attempt to identify a source of visual salience, we reversibly inactivated parietal cortex and simultaneously recorded salience signals in prefrontal cortex. Inactivation of parietal cortex not only caused pronounced and selective reductions of salience signals in prefrontal cortex but also diminished the influence of salience on visually guided behavior. These observations demonstrate a causal role of parietal cortex in regulating salience signals within the brain and in controlling salience-driven behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomo Chen
- Department of Neurobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Marc Zirnsak
- Department of Neurobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Gabriel M Vega
- Department of Neurobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Eshan Govil
- Department of Neurobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Stephen G Lomber
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Department of Psychology, and Brain and Mind Institute, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5K8, Canada; Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montréal, QC H3G 1Y6, Canada
| | - Tirin Moore
- Department of Neurobiology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
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29
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Abstract
Spatial attention is comprised of neural mechanisms that boost sensory processing at a behaviorally relevant location while filtering out competing information. The present review examines functional specialization in the network of brain regions that directs such preferential processing. This attention network includes both cortical (e.g., frontal and parietal cortices) and subcortical (e.g., the superior colliculus and the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus) structures. Here, we piece together existing evidence that these various nodes of the attention network have dissociable functional roles by synthesizing results from electrophysiology and neuroimaging studies. We describe functional specialization across several dimensions (e.g., at different processing stages and within different behavioral contexts), while focusing on spatial attention as a dynamic process that unfolds over time. Functional contributions from each node of the attention network can change on a moment-to-moment timescale, providing the necessary cognitive flexibility for sampling from highly dynamic environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian C Fiebelkorn
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA;
| | - Sabine Kastner
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA;
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Grossberg S. The resonant brain: How attentive conscious seeing regulates action sequences that interact with attentive cognitive learning, recognition, and prediction. Atten Percept Psychophys 2019; 81:2237-2264. [PMID: 31218601 PMCID: PMC6848053 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01789-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
This article describes mechanistic links that exist in advanced brains between processes that regulate conscious attention, seeing, and knowing, and those that regulate looking and reaching. These mechanistic links arise from basic properties of brain design principles such as complementary computing, hierarchical resolution of uncertainty, and adaptive resonance. These principles require conscious states to mark perceptual and cognitive representations that are complete, context sensitive, and stable enough to control effective actions. Surface-shroud resonances support conscious seeing and action, whereas feature-category resonances support learning, recognition, and prediction of invariant object categories. Feedback interactions between cortical areas such as peristriate visual cortical areas V2, V3A, and V4, and the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) and inferior parietal sulcus (IPS) of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) control sequences of saccadic eye movements that foveate salient features of attended objects and thereby drive invariant object category learning. Learned categories can, in turn, prime the objects and features that are attended and searched. These interactions coordinate processes of spatial and object attention, figure-ground separation, predictive remapping, invariant object category learning, and visual search. They create a foundation for learning to control motor-equivalent arm movement sequences, and for storing these sequences in cognitive working memories that can trigger the learning of cognitive plans with which to read out skilled movement sequences. Cognitive-emotional interactions that are regulated by reinforcement learning can then help to select the plans that control actions most likely to acquire valued goal objects in different situations. Many interdisciplinary psychological and neurobiological data about conscious and unconscious behaviors in normal individuals and clinical patients have been explained in terms of these concepts and mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Grossberg
- Center for Adaptive Systems, Room 213, Graduate Program in Cognitive and Neural Systems, Departments of Mathematics & Statistics, Psychological & Brain Sciences, and Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 677 Beacon Street, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.
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Adelhöfer N, Gohil K, Passow S, Beste C, Li SC. Lateral prefrontal anodal transcranial direct current stimulation augments resolution of auditory perceptual-attentional conflicts. Neuroimage 2019; 199:217-227. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Revised: 05/01/2019] [Accepted: 05/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
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A Target-Detecting Visual Neuron in the Dragonfly Locks on to Selectively Attended Targets. J Neurosci 2019; 39:8497-8509. [PMID: 31519823 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1431-19.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2019] [Revised: 09/04/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The visual world projects a complex and rapidly changing image onto the retina of many animal species. This presents computational challenges for those animals reliant on visual processing to provide an accurate representation of the world. One such challenge is parsing a visual scene for the most salient targets, such as the selection of prey amid a swarm. The ability to selectively prioritize processing of some stimuli over others is known as 'selective attention'. We recently identified a dragonfly visual neuron called 'Centrifugal Small Target Motion Detector 1' (CSTMD1) that exhibits selective attention when presented with multiple, equally salient targets. Here we conducted in vivo, electrophysiological recordings from CSTMD1 in wild-caught male dragonflies (Hemicordulia tau), while presenting visual stimuli on an LCD monitor. To identify the target selected in any given trial, we uniquely modulated the intensity of the moving targets (frequency tagging). We found that the frequency information of the selected target is preserved in the neuronal response, while the distracter is completely ignored. We also show that the competitive system that underlies selection in this neuron can be biased by the presentation of a preceding target on the same trajectory, even when it is of lower contrast than an abrupt, novel distracter. With this improved method for identifying and biasing target selection in CSTMD1, the dragonfly provides an ideal animal model system to probe the neuronal mechanisms underlying selective attention.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We present the first application of frequency tagging to intracellular neuronal recordings, demonstrating that the frequency component of a stimulus is encoded in the spiking response of an individual neuron. Using this technique as an identifier, we demonstrate that CSTMD1 'locks on' to a selected target and encodes the absolute strength of this target, even in the presence of abruptly appearing, high-contrast distracters. The underlying mechanism also permits the selection mechanism to switch between targets mid-trial, even among equivalent targets. Together, these results demonstrate greater complexity in this selective attention system than would be expected in a winner-takes-all network. These results are in contrast to typical findings in the primate and avian brain, but display intriguing resemblance to observations in human psychophysics.
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Jung K, Jeong J, Kralik JD. A Computational Model of Attention Control in Multi-Attribute, Context-Dependent Decision Making. Front Comput Neurosci 2019; 13:40. [PMID: 31354461 PMCID: PMC6635580 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2019.00040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2019] [Accepted: 06/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Real-life decisions often require a comparison of multi-attribute options with various benefits and costs, and the evaluation of each option depends partly on the others in the choice set (i.e., the choice context). Although reinforcement learning models have successfully described choice behavior, how to account for multi-attribute information when making a context-dependent decision remains unclear. Here we develop a computational model of attention control that includes context effects on multi-attribute decisions, linking a context-dependent choice model with a reinforcement learning model. The overall model suggests that the distinctiveness of attributes guides an individual's preferences among multi-attribute options via an attention-control mechanism that determines whether choices are selectively biased toward the most distinctive attribute (selective attention) or proportionally distributed based on the relative distinctiveness of attributes (divided attention). To test the model, we conducted a behavioral experiment in rhesus monkeys, in which they made simple multi-attribute decisions over three conditions that manipulated the degree of distinctiveness between alternatives: (1) four foods of different size and calorie; (2) four pieces of the same food in different colors; and (3) four identical pieces of food. The model simulation of the choice behavior captured the preference bias (i.e., overall preference structure) and the choice persistence (repeated choices) in the empirical data, providing evidence for the respective influences of attention and memory on preference bias and choice persistence. Our study provides insights into computations underlying multi-attribute decisions, linking attentional control to decision-making processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kanghoon Jung
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States
| | - Jaeseung Jeong
- Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea
| | - Jerald D Kralik
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States
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Pitts MA, Lutsyshyna LA, Hillyard SA. Reply to Montemayor and Haladjian. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 374:20190003. [DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Michael A. Pitts
- Psychology, Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Boulevard, Portland, OR, USA
| | | | - Steven A. Hillyard
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diago, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
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Shulman RG, Rothman DL. A Non-cognitive Behavioral Model for Interpreting Functional Neuroimaging Studies. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 13:28. [PMID: 30914933 PMCID: PMC6421518 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2018] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The dominant model for interpreting brain imaging experiments, which we refer to as the Standard Cognitive Model (SCM), assumes that the brain is organized in support of mental processes that control behavior. However, functional neuroimaging experiments of cognitive tasks have not shown clear anatomic segregation between mental processes originally proposed by this model. This failing has been blamed on limitations in imaging technology and non-linearity in the brain’s implementation of these processes. However, the validity of the underlying cognitive models used to describe the brain has rarely been questioned or directly tested against imaging results. We propose an alternative model of brain function, that we term the Non-cognitive Behavioral Model (NBM), which correlates observed human behavior directly with measured brain activity without making assumptions about intervening cognitive processes. Our model derives from behavioral psychology but is extended to include brain activity, in addition to behavior, as observables. A further extension is the role of neuroplasticity, as opposed to innate cognitive processes, in developing the brain’s support of cognitive behavior. We present the theoretical basis with which the SCM maps cognitive processes onto functional magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography images and compare and contrast with the NBM. We also describe how the NBM can be used experimentally to study how the brain supports behavior. Two applications are presented that support the usefulness of the NBM. In one, the NBM use of the total functional imaging signal (not just the differences between states) provides a stronger correlation of neural activity with the behavioral state of consciousness than the SCM approach in both anesthesia and coma. The second example reviews studies of facial and object recognition that provide evidence for the NBM proposal that neuroplasticity and experience play key roles in the brain’s support of recognition and other behaviors. The conclusions regarding neuroplasticity are then generalized to explain the incomplete functional segregation observed in the application of the SCM to neuroimaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert G Shulman
- Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Department of Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.,Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Douglas L Rothman
- Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Department of Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
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Krueger J, Disney AA. Structure and function of dual-source cholinergic modulation in early vision. J Comp Neurol 2018; 527:738-750. [PMID: 30520037 DOI: 10.1002/cne.24590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2018] [Revised: 10/29/2018] [Accepted: 11/01/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral states such as arousal and attention have profound effects on sensory processing, determining how-even whether-a stimulus is perceived. This state-dependence is believed to arise, at least in part, in response to inputs from subcortical structures that release neuromodulators such as acetylcholine, often nonsynaptically. The mechanisms that underlie the interaction between these nonsynaptic signals and the more point-to-point synaptic cortical circuitry are not well understood. This review highlights the state of the field, with a focus on cholinergic action in early visual processing. Key anatomical and physiological features of both the cholinergic and the visual systems are discussed. Furthermore, presenting evidence of cholinergic modulation in visual thalamus and primary visual cortex, we explore potential functional roles of acetylcholine and its effects on the processing of visual input over the sleep-wake cycle, sensory gain control during wakefulness, and consider evidence for cholinergic support of visual attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juliane Krueger
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Anita A Disney
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
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Cooke JE, King AJ, Willmore BDB, Schnupp JWH. Contrast gain control in mouse auditory cortex. J Neurophysiol 2018; 120:1872-1884. [PMID: 30044164 PMCID: PMC6230796 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00847.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Revised: 07/18/2018] [Accepted: 07/20/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The neocortex is thought to employ a number of canonical computations, but little is known about whether these computations rely on shared mechanisms across different neural populations. In recent years, the mouse has emerged as a powerful model organism for the dissection of the circuits and mechanisms underlying various aspects of neural processing and therefore provides an important avenue for research into putative canonical computations. One such computation is contrast gain control, the systematic adjustment of neural gain in accordance with the contrast of sensory input, which helps to construct neural representations that are robust to the presence of background stimuli. Here, we characterized contrast gain control in the mouse auditory cortex. We performed laminar extracellular recordings in the auditory cortex of the anesthetized mouse while varying the contrast of the sensory input. We observed that an increase in stimulus contrast resulted in a compensatory reduction in the gain of neural responses, leading to representations in the mouse auditory cortex that are largely contrast invariant. Contrast gain control was present in all cortical layers but was found to be strongest in deep layers, indicating that intracortical mechanisms may contribute to these gain changes. These results lay a foundation for investigations into the mechanisms underlying contrast adaptation in the mouse auditory cortex. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We investigated whether contrast gain control, the systematic reduction in neural gain in response to an increase in sensory contrast, exists in the mouse auditory cortex. We performed extracellular recordings in the mouse auditory cortex while presenting sensory stimuli with varying contrasts and found this form of processing was widespread. This finding provides evidence that contrast gain control may represent a canonical cortical computation and lays a foundation for investigations into the underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- James E Cooke
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford , Oxford , United Kingdom
- University College London , United Kingdom
| | - Andrew J King
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford , Oxford , United Kingdom
| | - Ben D B Willmore
- 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
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, City University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong
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Loukas C, Varytimidis C, Rapantzikos K, Kanakis MA. Keyframe extraction from laparoscopic videos based on visual saliency detection. COMPUTER METHODS AND PROGRAMS IN BIOMEDICINE 2018; 165:13-23. [PMID: 30337068 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2018.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2018] [Revised: 06/01/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Laparoscopic surgery offers the potential for video recording of the operation, which is important for technique evaluation, cognitive training, patient briefing and documentation. An effective way for video content representation is to extract a limited number of keyframes with semantic information. In this paper we present a novel method for keyframe extraction from individual shots of the operational video. METHODS The laparoscopic video was first segmented into video shots using an objectness model, which was trained to capture significant changes in the endoscope field of view. Each frame of a shot was then decomposed into three saliency maps in order to model the preference of human vision to regions with higher differentiation with respect to color, motion and texture. The accumulated responses from each map provided a 3D time series of saliency variation across the shot. The time series was modeled as a multivariate autoregressive process with hidden Markov states (HMMAR model). This approach allowed the temporal segmentation of the shot into a predefined number of states. A representative keyframe was extracted from each state based on the highest state-conditional probability of the corresponding saliency vector. RESULTS Our method was tested on 168 video shots extracted from various laparoscopic cholecystectomy operations from the publicly available Cholec80 dataset. Four state-of-the-art methodologies were used for comparison. The evaluation was based on two assessment metrics: Color Consistency Score (CCS), which measures the color distance between the ground truth (GT) and the closest keyframe, and Temporal Consistency Score (TCS), which considers the temporal proximity between GT and extracted keyframes. About 81% of the extracted keyframes matched the color content of the GT keyframes, compared to 77% yielded by the second-best method. The TCS of the proposed and the second-best method was close to 1.9 and 1.4 respectively. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrated that the proposed method yields superior performance in terms of content and temporal consistency to the ground truth. The extracted keyframes provided highly semantic information that may be used for various applications related to surgical video content representation, such as workflow analysis, video summarization and retrieval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constantinos Loukas
- Laboratory of Medical Physics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Mikras Asias 75 str., Athens 11527, Greece.
| | - Christos Varytimidis
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National and Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Konstantinos Rapantzikos
- School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National and Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Meletios A Kanakis
- Cardiothoracic Surgery Unit, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK
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Contextual-Dependent Attention Effect on Crowded Orientation Signals in Human Visual Cortex. J Neurosci 2018; 38:8433-8440. [PMID: 30120209 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0805-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Revised: 08/03/2018] [Accepted: 08/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A target becomes hard to identify with nearby visual stimuli. This phenomenon, known as crowding, places a fundamental limit on conscious perception and object recognition. To understand the neural representation of crowded stimuli, we used fMRI and a forward encoding model to reconstruct the target-specific feature from multivoxel activation patterns evoked by orientation patches. Orientation-selective response profiles were constructed in V1-V4 for a target embedded in different contexts. Subjects of both sexes either directed their attention over all the orientation patches or selectively to the target. In the context with a weak crowding effect, attending to the target enhanced the orientation selectivity of the response profile; such effect increased along the visual pathway. In the context with a strong crowding effect, attending to the target enhanced the orientation selectivity of the response profile in the earlier visual area, but not in V4. The increase and decrease of orientation selectivity along the visual hierarchy demonstrate a contextual-dependent attention effect on crowded orientation signals: in the context with a weak crowding effect, selective attention gradually resolves the target from nearby distractors along the hierarchy; in the context with a strong crowding effect, while selective attention maintains the target feature in the earlier visual area, its effect decreases in the downstream area. Our findings reveal how the human visual system represents the target-specific feature at multiple stages under the limit of attention selection in a cluttered scene.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Using fMRI and a forward encoding model, we reconstructed orientation-selective response profiles for a target embedded in crowded contexts. In the context with a weak crowding effect, attention gradually resolves the target from nearby distractors along the visual hierarchy. In the context with a strong crowding effect, while the feature of the target is preserved in the early visual cortex, it degrades in the later visual processing stage. The increase and decrease of orientation selectivity along the visual hierarchy reveal how the human visual system strikes to present the target-specific feature under the limit of attention selection in a cluttered scene.
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Enhancing the Visibility of Delamination during Pulsed Thermography of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plates Using a Stacked Autoencoder. SENSORS 2018; 18:s18092809. [PMID: 30149654 PMCID: PMC6164668 DOI: 10.3390/s18092809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2018] [Revised: 08/19/2018] [Accepted: 08/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
The effectiveness of pulsed thermography (PT) for detecting delamination in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates has been widely verified. However, delaminations are usually characterized by weak visibility due to the influences of inspection factors and the delaminations with weak visibility are easily missed in real inspections. In this study, by introducing a deep learning algorithm—stacked autoencoder (SAE)—to PT, we propose a novel approach (SAE-PT) to enhance the visibility of delaminations. Based on the ability of SAE to learn unsupervised features from data, the thermal features of delaminations are extracted from the raw thermograms. The extracted features are then employed to construct SAE images, in which the visibility of delaminations is expected to be enhanced. To test the performance of SAE-PT, we inspected CFRP plates with prefabricated delaminations. By implementing SAE-PT on the raw inspection data, the delaminations were more clearly indicated in the constructed SAE images. We also compare SAE-PT to the widely used principal component thermography (PCT) method to further verify the validity of the proposed approach. The results reveal that compared to PCT, SAE-PT can show delaminations in CFRP with higher contrast. By effectively enhancing the delamination visibility, SAE-PT thus has potential for improving the inspection accuracy of PT for non-destructive testing (NDT) of CFRP.
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Multiscale and Multifeature Segmentation of High-Spatial Resolution Remote Sensing Images Using Superpixels with Mutual Optimal Strategy. REMOTE SENSING 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/rs10081289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
High spatial resolution (HSR) image segmentation is considered to be a major challenge for object-oriented remote sensing applications that have been extensively studied in the past. In this paper, we propose a fast and efficient framework for multiscale and multifeatured hierarchical image segmentation (MMHS). First, the HSR image pixels were clustered into a small number of superpixels using a simple linear iterative clustering algorithm (SLIC) on modern graphic processing units (GPUs), and then a region adjacency graph (RAG) and nearest neighbors graph (NNG) were constructed based on adjacent superpixels. At the same time, the RAG and NNG successfully integrated spectral information, texture information, and structural information from a small number of superpixels to enhance its expressiveness. Finally, a multiscale hierarchical grouping algorithm was implemented to merge these superpixels using local-mutual best region merging (LMM). We compared the experiments with three state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms, i.e., the watershed transform segmentation (WTS) method, the mean shift (MS) method, the multiresolution segmentation (MRS) method integrated in commercial software, eCognition9, on New York HSR image datasets, and the ISPRS Potsdam dataset. Computationally, our algorithm was dozens of times faster than the others, and it also had the best segmentation effect through visual assessment. The supervised and unsupervised evaluation results further proved the superiority of the MMHS algorithm.
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Sanda N, Cerliani L, Authié CN, Sabbah N, Sahel JA, Habas C, Safran AB, Thiebaut de Schotten M. Visual brain plasticity induced by central and peripheral visual field loss. Brain Struct Funct 2018; 223:3473-3485. [PMID: 29936553 PMCID: PMC6132657 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-018-1700-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2017] [Accepted: 06/15/2018] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Disorders that specifically affect central and peripheral vision constitute invaluable models to study how the human brain adapts to visual deafferentation. We explored cortical changes after the loss of central or peripheral vision. Cortical thickness (CoTks) and resting-state cortical entropy (rs-CoEn), as a surrogate for neural and synaptic complexity, were extracted in 12 Stargardt macular dystrophy, 12 retinitis pigmentosa (tunnel vision stage), and 14 normally sighted subjects. When compared to controls, both groups with visual loss exhibited decreased CoTks in dorsal area V3d. Peripheral visual field loss also showed a specific CoTks decrease in early visual cortex and ventral area V4, while central visual field loss in dorsal area V3A. Only central visual field loss exhibited increased CoEn in LO-2 area and FG1. Current results revealed biomarkers of brain plasticity within the dorsal and the ventral visual streams following central and peripheral visual field defects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolae Sanda
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR S968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France.
- INSERM, U968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France.
- CNRS, UMR 7210, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France.
- Centre d'investigation clinique, Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, INSERM-DHOS CIC 1423, 75012, Paris, France.
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospital and Geneva University School of Medicine, Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Leonardo Cerliani
- Frontlab, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm, CNRS, Institut du cerveau et la moelle (ICM), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Boulevard de l'hôpital, 75013, Paris, France
- Brain Connectivity and Behaviour Group, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
- Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Colas N Authié
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR S968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- INSERM, U968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- CNRS, UMR 7210, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- Centre d'investigation clinique, Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, INSERM-DHOS CIC 1423, 75012, Paris, France
| | - Norman Sabbah
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR S968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- INSERM, U968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- CNRS, UMR 7210, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- Centre d'investigation clinique, Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, INSERM-DHOS CIC 1423, 75012, Paris, France
| | - José-Alain Sahel
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR S968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- INSERM, U968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- CNRS, UMR 7210, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- Centre d'investigation clinique, Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, INSERM-DHOS CIC 1423, 75012, Paris, France
- Institute of Ophthalmology, University College of London, London, UK
- Fondation Ophtalmologique Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris, France
- Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburg, Pittsburg, USA
| | - Christophe Habas
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR S968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- INSERM, U968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- CNRS, UMR 7210, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- Centre de Neuroimagerie, Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, 75012, Paris, France
| | - Avinoam B Safran
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, UMR S968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- INSERM, U968, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- CNRS, UMR 7210, Institut de la Vision, 75012, Paris, France
- Centre d'investigation clinique, Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, INSERM-DHOS CIC 1423, 75012, Paris, France
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Geneva University Hospital and Geneva University School of Medicine, Gabrielle-Perret-Gentil 4, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Michel Thiebaut de Schotten
- Frontlab, UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm, CNRS, Institut du cerveau et la moelle (ICM), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Boulevard de l'hôpital, 75013, Paris, France
- Brain Connectivity and Behaviour Group, Sorbonne University, Paris, France
- Groupe d'Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, CNRS, CEA University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
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Chaves-Coira I, Rodrigo-Angulo ML, Nuñez A. Bilateral Pathways from the Basal Forebrain to Sensory Cortices May Contribute to Synchronous Sensory Processing. Front Neuroanat 2018; 12:5. [PMID: 29410616 PMCID: PMC5787133 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2018.00005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2017] [Accepted: 01/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Sensory processing in the cortex should integrate inputs arriving from receptive fields located on both sides of the body. This role could be played by the corpus callosum through precise projections between both hemispheres. However, different studies suggest that cholinergic projections from the basal forebrain (BF) could also contribute to the synchronization and integration of cortical activities. Using tracer injections and optogenetic techniques in transgenic mice, we investigated whether the BF cells project bilaterally to sensory cortical areas, and have provided anatomical evidence to support a modulatory role for the cholinergic projections in sensory integration. Application of the retrograde tracer Fluor-Gold or Fast Blue in both hemispheres of the primary somatosensory (S1), auditory or visual cortical areas showed labeled neurons in the ipsi- and contralateral areas of the diagonal band of Broca and substantia innominata. The nucleus basalis magnocellularis only showed ipsilateral projections to the cortex. Optogenetic stimulation of the horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca facilitated whisker responses in the S1 cortex of both hemispheres through activation of muscarinic cholinergic receptors and this effect was diminished by atropine injection. In conclusion, our findings have revealed that specific areas of the BF project bilaterally to sensory cortices and may contribute to the coordination of neuronal activity on both hemispheres.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Chaves-Coira
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Margarita L Rodrigo-Angulo
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Angel Nuñez
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Attention Priority Map of Face Images in Human Early Visual Cortex. J Neurosci 2017; 38:149-157. [PMID: 29133433 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1206-17.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2017] [Revised: 10/28/2017] [Accepted: 11/06/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention priority maps are topographic representations that are used for attention selection and guidance of task-related behavior during visual processing. Previous studies have identified attention priority maps of simple artificial stimuli in multiple cortical and subcortical areas, but investigating neural correlates of priority maps of natural stimuli is complicated by the complexity of their spatial structure and the difficulty of behaviorally characterizing their priority map. To overcome these challenges, we reconstructed the topographic representations of upright/inverted face images from fMRI BOLD signals in human early visual areas primary visual cortex (V1) and the extrastriate cortex (V2 and V3) based on a voxelwise population receptive field model. We characterized the priority map behaviorally as the first saccadic eye movement pattern when subjects performed a face-matching task relative to the condition in which subjects performed a phase-scrambled face-matching task. We found that the differential first saccadic eye movement pattern between upright/inverted and scrambled faces could be predicted from the reconstructed topographic representations in V1-V3 in humans of either sex. The coupling between the reconstructed representation and the eye movement pattern increased from V1 to V2/3 for the upright faces, whereas no such effect was found for the inverted faces. Moreover, face inversion modulated the coupling in V2/3, but not in V1. Our findings provide new evidence for priority maps of natural stimuli in early visual areas and extend traditional attention priority map theories by revealing another critical factor that affects priority maps in extrastriate cortex in addition to physical salience and task goal relevance: image configuration.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Prominent theories of attention posit that attention sampling of visual information is mediated by a series of interacting topographic representations of visual space known as attention priority maps. Until now, neural evidence of attention priority maps has been limited to studies involving simple artificial stimuli and much remains unknown about the neural correlates of priority maps of natural stimuli. Here, we show that attention priority maps of face stimuli could be found in primary visual cortex (V1) and the extrastriate cortex (V2 and V3). Moreover, representations in extrastriate visual areas are strongly modulated by image configuration. These findings extend our understanding of attention priority maps significantly by showing that they are modulated, not only by physical salience and task-goal relevance, but also by the configuration of stimuli images.
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The channel capacity of visual awareness divided among multiple moving objects. Atten Percept Psychophys 2017; 78:2469-2493. [PMID: 27357842 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-016-1162-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
If attention is distributed among multiple moving objects, how does this divided attention affect the temporal process for detecting a specific target motion? Well-trained observers in three experiments monitored ongoing random motions of multiple objects, trying to rapidly detect non-random target motions. Response time hazard rates revealed a simple lawful structure of the detection processes. Target detection rates (hazard rates, in bits /s) were inversely proportional to the number of observed objects. Detection rates at any response time and in any condition equaled a product of two parallel (functionally independent and concurrent) visual processes: visual awareness and motion integration. The rate of visual awareness was inversely proportional to Set Size (n = 1-12), constant over time, and invariant with integrated motion information. Thus, a single rate parameter, indicating a constant channel capacity of visual awareness, described detection rates over a wide range of conditions and response times. During an initial interval of roughly 0.5 s, detection rates increased proportionally with the duration and length of motion; but after this initial integration, detection rates were constant, independent of the time the target remained undetected. The relationship between the quantity of visual information and detection rates was simpler than anticipated by contemporary theories of attention, perception, and performance.
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Van der Jagt APN, Craig T, Brewer MJ, Pearson DG. A view not to be missed: Salient scene content interferes with cognitive restoration. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0169997. [PMID: 28723975 PMCID: PMC5516974 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169997] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2016] [Accepted: 12/27/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Attention Restoration Theory (ART) states that built scenes place greater load on attentional resources than natural scenes. This is explained in terms of "hard" and "soft" fascination of built and natural scenes. Given a lack of direct empirical evidence for this assumption we propose that perceptual saliency of scene content can function as an empirically derived indicator of fascination. Saliency levels were established by measuring speed of scene category detection using a Go/No-Go detection paradigm. Experiment 1 shows that built scenes are more salient than natural scenes. Experiment 2 replicates these findings using greyscale images, ruling out a colour-based response strategy, and additionally shows that built objects in natural scenes affect saliency to a greater extent than the reverse. Experiment 3 demonstrates that the saliency of scene content is directly linked to cognitive restoration using an established restoration paradigm. Overall, these findings demonstrate an important link between the saliency of scene content and related cognitive restoration.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tony Craig
- The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
| | - Mark J. Brewer
- Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
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Ni AM, Maunsell JHR. Spatially tuned normalization explains attention modulation variance within neurons. J Neurophysiol 2017; 118:1903-1913. [PMID: 28701536 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00218.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2017] [Revised: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 07/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Spatial attention improves perception of attended parts of a scene, a behavioral enhancement accompanied by modulations of neuronal firing rates. These modulations vary in size across neurons in the same brain area. Models of normalization explain much of this variance in attention modulation with differences in tuned normalization across neurons (Lee J, Maunsell JHR. PLoS One 4: e4651, 2009; Ni AM, Ray S, Maunsell JHR. Neuron 73: 803-813, 2012). However, recent studies suggest that normalization tuning varies with spatial location both across and within neurons (Ruff DA, Alberts JJ, Cohen MR. J Neurophysiol 116: 1375-1386, 2016; Verhoef BE, Maunsell JHR. eLife 5: e17256, 2016). Here we show directly that attention modulation and normalization tuning do in fact covary within individual neurons, in addition to across neurons as previously demonstrated. We recorded the activity of isolated neurons in the middle temporal area of two rhesus monkeys as they performed a change-detection task that controlled the focus of spatial attention. Using the same two drifting Gabor stimuli and the same two receptive field locations for each neuron, we found that switching which stimulus was presented at which location affected both attention modulation and normalization in a correlated way within neurons. We present an equal-maximum-suppression spatially tuned normalization model that explains this covariance both across and within neurons: each stimulus generates equally strong suppression of its own excitatory drive, but its suppression of distant stimuli is typically less. This new model specifies how the tuned normalization associated with each stimulus location varies across space both within and across neurons, changing our understanding of the normalization mechanism and how attention modulations depend on this mechanism.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Tuned normalization studies have demonstrated that the variance in attention modulation size seen across neurons from the same cortical area can be largely explained by between-neuron differences in normalization strength. Here we demonstrate that attention modulation size varies within neurons as well and that this variance is largely explained by within-neuron differences in normalization strength. We provide a new spatially tuned normalization model that explains this broad range of observed normalization and attention effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy M Ni
- Department of Neuroscience and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.,Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and
| | - John H R Maunsell
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; and .,Department of Neurobiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
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Sani I, Santandrea E, Morrone MC, Chelazzi L. Temporally evolving gain mechanisms of attention in macaque area V4. J Neurophysiol 2017; 118:964-985. [PMID: 28468996 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00522.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2016] [Revised: 05/03/2017] [Accepted: 05/03/2017] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive attention and perceptual saliency jointly govern our interaction with the environment. Yet, we still lack a universally accepted account of the interplay between attention and luminance contrast, a fundamental dimension of saliency. We measured the attentional modulation of V4 neurons' contrast response functions (CRFs) in awake, behaving macaque monkeys and applied a new approach that emphasizes the temporal dynamics of cell responses. We found that attention modulates CRFs via different gain mechanisms during subsequent epochs of visually driven activity: an early contrast-gain, strongly dependent on prestimulus activity changes (baseline shift); a time-limited stimulus-dependent multiplicative modulation, reaching its maximal expression around 150 ms after stimulus onset; and a late resurgence of contrast-gain modulation. Attention produced comparable time-dependent attentional gain changes on cells heterogeneously coding contrast, supporting the notion that the same circuits mediate attention mechanisms in V4 regardless of the form of contrast selectivity expressed by the given neuron. Surprisingly, attention was also sometimes capable of inducing radical transformations in the shape of CRFs. These findings offer important insights into the mechanisms that underlie contrast coding and attention in primate visual cortex and a new perspective on their interplay, one in which time becomes a fundamental factor.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We offer an innovative perspective on the interplay between attention and luminance contrast in macaque area V4, one in which time becomes a fundamental factor. We place emphasis on the temporal dynamics of attentional effects, pioneering the notion that attention modulates contrast response functions of V4 neurons via the sequential engagement of distinct gain mechanisms. These findings advance understanding of attentional influences on visual processing and help reconcile divergent results in the literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Sani
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy.,The Rockefeller University, New York, New York
| | - Elisa Santandrea
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy
| | - Maria Concetta Morrone
- Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Italy.,Stella Maris Foundation, Pisa, Italy; and
| | - Leonardo Chelazzi
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy; .,National Institute of Neuroscience, Verona, Italy
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Grossberg S. Towards solving the hard problem of consciousness: The varieties of brain resonances and the conscious experiences that they support. Neural Netw 2016; 87:38-95. [PMID: 28088645 DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2016.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2016] [Revised: 10/21/2016] [Accepted: 11/20/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The hard problem of consciousness is the problem of explaining how we experience qualia or phenomenal experiences, such as seeing, hearing, and feeling, and knowing what they are. To solve this problem, a theory of consciousness needs to link brain to mind by modeling how emergent properties of several brain mechanisms interacting together embody detailed properties of individual conscious psychological experiences. This article summarizes evidence that Adaptive Resonance Theory, or ART, accomplishes this goal. ART is a cognitive and neural theory of how advanced brains autonomously learn to attend, recognize, and predict objects and events in a changing world. ART has predicted that "all conscious states are resonant states" as part of its specification of mechanistic links between processes of consciousness, learning, expectation, attention, resonance, and synchrony. It hereby provides functional and mechanistic explanations of data ranging from individual spikes and their synchronization to the dynamics of conscious perceptual, cognitive, and cognitive-emotional experiences. ART has reached sufficient maturity to begin classifying the brain resonances that support conscious experiences of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing. Psychological and neurobiological data in both normal individuals and clinical patients are clarified by this classification. This analysis also explains why not all resonances become conscious, and why not all brain dynamics are resonant. The global organization of the brain into computationally complementary cortical processing streams (complementary computing), and the organization of the cerebral cortex into characteristic layers of cells (laminar computing), figure prominently in these explanations of conscious and unconscious processes. Alternative models of consciousness are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Grossberg
- Center for Adaptive Systems, Boston University, 677 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Graduate Program in Cognitive and Neural Systems, Departments of Mathematics & Statistics, Psychological & Brain Sciences, and Biomedical Engineering Boston University, 677 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
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