1
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Bourne JA, Cichy RM, Kiorpes L, Morrone MC, Arcaro MJ, Nielsen KJ. Development of Higher-Level Vision: A Network Perspective. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1291242024. [PMID: 39358020 PMCID: PMC11450542 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1291-24.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2024] [Revised: 07/27/2024] [Accepted: 07/29/2024] [Indexed: 10/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Most studies on the development of the visual system have focused on the mechanisms shaping early visual stages up to the level of primary visual cortex (V1). Much less is known about the development of the stages after V1 that handle the higher visual functions fundamental to everyday life. The standard model for the maturation of these areas is that it occurs sequentially, according to the positions of areas in the adult hierarchy. Yet, the existing literature reviewed here paints a different picture, one in which the adult configuration emerges through a sequence of unique network configurations that are not mere partial versions of the adult hierarchy. In addition to studying higher visual development per se to fill major gaps in knowledge, it will be crucial to adopt a network-level perspective in future investigations to unravel normal developmental mechanisms, identify vulnerabilities to developmental disorders, and eventually devise treatments for these disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- James A Bourne
- Section on Cellular and Cognitive Neurodevelopment, Systems Neurodevelopment Laboratory, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20814
| | - Radoslaw M Cichy
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin 14195, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 10099, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charite-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 10117, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 10099, Germany
| | - Lynne Kiorpes
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York 10003
| | - Maria Concetta Morrone
- IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, Pisa 56128, Italy
- Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa 56126, Italy
| | - Michael J Arcaro
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104
| | - Kristina J Nielsen
- Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205
- Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218
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2
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Wang J, Turesky T, Loh M, Barber J, Hue V, Escalante E, Medina A, Zuk J, Gaab N. Lateralization of activation within the superior temporal gyrus during speech perception in sleeping infants is associated with subsequent language skills in kindergarten: A passive listening task-fMRI study. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2024; 257:105461. [PMID: 39278185 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2024.105461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 06/30/2024] [Accepted: 08/29/2024] [Indexed: 09/18/2024]
Abstract
Brain asymmetries are hypothesized to reduce functional duplication and thus have evolutionary advantages. The goal of this study was to examine whether early brain lateralization contributes to skill development within the speech-language domain. To achieve this goal, 25 infants (2-13 months old) underwent behavioral language examination and fMRI during sleep while listening to forward and backward speech, and then were assessed on various language skills at 55-69 months old. We observed that infant functional lateralization of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) for forward > backward speech was associated with phonological, vocabulary, and expressive language skills 4 to 5 years later. However, we failed to observe that infant language skills or the anatomical lateralization of STG were related to subsequent language skills. Overall, our findings suggest that infant functional lateralization of STG for speech perception may scaffold subsequent language acquisition, supporting the hypothesis that functional hemisphere asymmetries are advantageous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Wang
- School of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Ted Turesky
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Megan Loh
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Ja'Kala Barber
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Victoria Hue
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Adrian Medina
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Jennifer Zuk
- Department of Speech, Language, & Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Nadine Gaab
- Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
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3
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Jacoby N, Landau-Wells M, Pearl J, Paul A, Falk EB, Bruneau EG, Ochsner KN. Partisans process policy-based and identity-based messages using dissociable neural systems. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae368. [PMID: 39270673 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae368] [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: 04/01/2024] [Revised: 08/12/2024] [Accepted: 08/27/2024] [Indexed: 09/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Political partisanship is often conceived as a lens through which people view politics. Behavioral research has distinguished two types of "partisan lenses"-policy-based and identity-based-that may influence peoples' perception of political events. Little is known, however, about the mechanisms through which partisan discourse appealing to policy beliefs or targeting partisan identities operate within individuals. We addressed this question by collecting neuroimaging data while participants watched videos of speakers expressing partisan views. A "partisan lens effect" was identified as the difference in neural synchrony between each participant's brain response and that of their partisan ingroup vs. outgroup. When processing policy-based messaging, a partisan lens effect was observed in socio-political reasoning and affective responding brain regions. When processing negative identity-based attacks, a partisan lens effect was observed in mentalizing and affective responding brain regions. These data suggest that the processing of political discourse that appeals to different forms of partisanship is supported by related but distinguishable neural-and therefore psychological-mechanisms, which may have implications for how we characterize partisanship and ameliorate its deleterious impacts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nir Jacoby
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Moore Hall, 3 Maynard St, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 1190 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Marika Landau-Wells
- Travers Department of Political Science, University of California-Berkeley, 210 Barrows Hall #1950, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Jacob Pearl
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Alexandra Paul
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Emily B Falk
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 3733 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3720 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, 202 S 36th St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Emile G Bruneau
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 3620 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Kevin N Ochsner
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 1190 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027, USA
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4
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Lee GM, Rodríguez Deliz CL, Bushnell BN, Majaj NJ, Movshon JA, Kiorpes L. Developmentally stable representations of naturalistic image structure in macaque visual cortex. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114534. [PMID: 39067025 PMCID: PMC11491121 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114534] [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: 04/01/2024] [Revised: 06/17/2024] [Accepted: 07/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/30/2024] Open
Abstract
To determine whether post-natal improvements in form vision result from changes in mid-level visual cortex, we studied neuronal and behavioral responses to texture stimuli that were matched in local spectral content but varied in "naturalistic" structure. We made longitudinal measurements of visual behavior from 16 to 95 weeks of age, and of neural responses from 20 to 56 weeks. We also measured behavioral and neural responses in near-adult animals more than 3 years old. Behavioral sensitivity reached half-maximum around 25 weeks of age, but neural sensitivities remained stable through all ages tested. Neural sensitivity to naturalistic structure was highest in V4, lower in V2 and inferotemporal cortex (IT), and barely discernible in V1. Our results show a dissociation between stable neural performance and improving behavioral performance, which may reflect improved processing capacity in circuits downstream of visual cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerick M Lee
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | | | | | - Najib J Majaj
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - J Anthony Movshon
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
| | - Lynne Kiorpes
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA.
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5
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Arcaro M, Livingstone M. A Whole-Brain Topographic Ontology. Annu Rev Neurosci 2024; 47:21-40. [PMID: 38360565 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-082823-073701] [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] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
It is a common view that the intricate array of specialized domains in the ventral visual pathway is innately prespecified. What this review postulates is that it is not. We explore the origins of domain specificity, hypothesizing that the adult brain emerges from an interplay between a domain-general map-based architecture, shaped by intrinsic mechanisms, and experience. We argue that the most fundamental innate organization of cortex in general, and not just the visual pathway, is a map-based topography that governs how the environment maps onto the brain, how brain areas interconnect, and ultimately, how the brain processes information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Arcaro
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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6
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Cusack R, Ranzato M, Charvet CJ. Helpless infants are learning a foundation model. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:726-738. [PMID: 38839537 PMCID: PMC11310914 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.05.001] [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: 12/12/2023] [Revised: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024]
Abstract
Humans have a protracted postnatal helplessness period, typically attributed to human-specific maternal constraints causing an early birth when the brain is highly immature. By aligning neurodevelopmental events across species, however, it has been found that humans are not born with especially immature brains compared with animal species with a shorter helpless period. Consistent with this, the rapidly growing field of infant neuroimaging has found that brain connectivity and functional activation at birth share many similarities with the mature brain. Inspired by machine learning, where deep neural networks also benefit from a 'helpless period' of pre-training, we propose that human infants are learning a foundation model: a set of fundamental representations that underpin later cognition with high performance and rapid generalisation.
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7
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Tansey R, Graff K, Rai S, Merrikh D, Godfrey KJ, Vanderwal T, Bray S. Development of human visual cortical function: A scoping review of task- and naturalistic-fMRI studies through the interactive specialization and maturational frameworks. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 162:105729. [PMID: 38763178 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2024] [Revised: 05/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/21/2024]
Abstract
Overarching theories such as the interactive specialization and maturational frameworks have been proposed to describe human functional brain development. However, these frameworks have not yet been systematically examined across the fMRI literature. Visual processing is one of the most well-studied fields in neuroimaging, and research in this area has recently expanded to include naturalistic paradigms that facilitate study in younger age ranges, allowing for an in-depth critical appraisal of these frameworks across childhood. To this end, we conducted a scoping review of 94 developmental visual fMRI studies, including both traditional experimental task and naturalistic studies, across multiple sub-domains (early visual processing, category-specific higher order processing, naturalistic visual processing). We found that across domains, many studies reported progressive development, but few studies describe regressive or emergent changes necessary to fit the maturational or interactive specialization frameworks. Our findings suggest a need for the expansion of developmental frameworks and clearer reporting of both progressive and regressive changes, along with well-powered, longitudinal studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryann Tansey
- Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
| | - Kirk Graff
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Shefali Rai
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Daria Merrikh
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Kate J Godfrey
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Tamara Vanderwal
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Signe Bray
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
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8
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Kosakowski HL, Cohen MA, Herrera L, Nichoson I, Kanwisher N, Saxe R. Cortical Face-Selective Responses Emerge Early in Human Infancy. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0117-24.2024. [PMID: 38871455 PMCID: PMC11258539 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0117-24.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 06/04/2024] [Indexed: 06/15/2024] Open
Abstract
In human adults, multiple cortical regions respond robustly to faces, including the occipital face area (OFA) and fusiform face area (FFA), implicated in face perception, and the superior temporal sulcus (STS) and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), implicated in higher-level social functions. When in development, does face selectivity arise in each of these regions? Here, we combined two awake infant functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets to create a sample size twice the size of previous reports (n = 65 infants; 2.6-9.6 months). Infants watched movies of faces, bodies, objects, and scenes, while fMRI data were collected. Despite variable amounts of data from each infant, individual subject whole-brain activation maps revealed responses to faces compared to nonface visual categories in the approximate location of OFA, FFA, STS, and MPFC. To determine the strength and nature of face selectivity in these regions, we used cross-validated functional region of interest analyses. Across this larger sample size, face responses in OFA, FFA, STS, and MPFC were significantly greater than responses to bodies, objects, and scenes. Even the youngest infants (2-5 months) showed significantly face-selective responses in FFA, STS, and MPFC, but not OFA. These results demonstrate that face selectivity is present in multiple cortical regions within months of birth, providing powerful constraints on theories of cortical development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather L Kosakowski
- Department of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
| | - Michael A Cohen
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
- Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts 01002
| | - Lyneé Herrera
- Psychology Department, University of Denver, Denver, Colorado 80210
| | - Isabel Nichoson
- Tulane Brain Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
| | - Nancy Kanwisher
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
| | - Rebecca Saxe
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
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9
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Dehaene-Lambertz G. Perceptual Awareness in Human Infants: What is the Evidence? J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1599-1609. [PMID: 38527095 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/27/2024]
Abstract
Perceptual awareness in infants during the first year of life is understudied, despite the philosophical, scientific, and clinical importance of understanding how and when consciousness emerges during human brain development. Although parents are undoubtedly convinced that their infant is conscious, the lack of adequate experimental paradigms to address this question in preverbal infants has been a hindrance to research on this topic. However, recent behavioral and brain imaging studies have shown that infants are engaged in complex learning from an early age and that their brains are more structured than traditionally thought. I will present a rapid overview of these results, which might provide indirect evidence of early perceptual awareness and then describe how a more systematic approach to this question could stand within the framework of global workspace theory, which identifies specific signatures of conscious perception in adults. Relying on these brain signatures as a benchmark for conscious perception, we can deduce that it exists in the second half of the first year, whereas the evidence before the age of 5 months is less solid, mainly because of the paucity of studies. The question of conscious perception before term remains open, with the possibility of short periods of conscious perception, which would facilitate early learning. Advances in brain imaging and growing interest in this subject should enable us to gain a better understanding of this important issue in the years to come.
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10
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Ozernov-Palchik O, O’Brien AM, Jiachen Lee E, Richardson H, Romeo R, Lipkin B, Small H, Capella J, Nieto-Castañón A, Saxe R, Gabrieli JDE, Fedorenko E. Precision fMRI reveals that the language network exhibits adult-like left-hemispheric lateralization by 4 years of age. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.15.594172. [PMID: 38798360 PMCID: PMC11118489 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.15.594172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Left hemisphere damage in adulthood often leads to linguistic deficits, but many cases of early damage leave linguistic processing preserved, and a functional language system can develop in the right hemisphere. To explain this early apparent equipotentiality of the two hemispheres for language, some have proposed that the language system is bilateral during early development and only becomes left-lateralized with age. We examined language lateralization using functional magnetic resonance imaging with two large pediatric cohorts (total n=273 children ages 4-16; n=107 adults). Strong, adult-level left-hemispheric lateralization (in activation volume and response magnitude) was evident by age 4. Thus, although the right hemisphere can take over language function in some cases of early brain damage, and although some features of the language system do show protracted development (magnitude of language response and strength of inter-regional correlations in the language network), the left-hemisphere bias for language is robustly present by 4 years of age. These results call for alternative accounts of early equipotentiality of the two hemispheres for language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ola Ozernov-Palchik
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Amanda M. O’Brien
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, United States
| | - Elizabeth Jiachen Lee
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Hilary Richardson
- School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ, United Kingdom
| | - Rachel Romeo
- Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, United States
| | - Benjamin Lipkin
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Hannah Small
- Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21218, United States
| | - Jimmy Capella
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States
| | | | - Rebecca Saxe
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - John D. E. Gabrieli
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
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11
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Kliger L, Yovel G. Distinct Yet Proximal Face- and Body-Selective Brain Regions Enable Clutter-Tolerant Representations of the Face, Body, and Whole Person. J Neurosci 2024; 44:e1871232024. [PMID: 38641406 PMCID: PMC11170945 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1871-23.2024] [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: 10/03/2023] [Revised: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Faces and bodies are processed in separate but adjacent regions in the primate visual cortex. Yet, the functional significance of dividing the whole person into areas dedicated to its face and body components and their neighboring locations remains unknown. Here we hypothesized that this separation and proximity together with a normalization mechanism generate clutter-tolerant representations of the face, body, and whole person when presented in complex multi-category scenes. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a fMRI study, presenting images of a person within a multi-category scene to human male and female participants and assessed the contribution of each component to the response to the scene. Our results revealed a clutter-tolerant representation of the whole person in areas selective for both faces and bodies, typically located at the border between the two category-selective regions. Regions exclusively selective for faces or bodies demonstrated clutter-tolerant representations of their preferred category, corroborating earlier findings. Thus, the adjacent locations of face- and body-selective areas enable a hardwired machinery for decluttering of the whole person, without the need for a dedicated population of person-selective neurons. This distinct yet proximal functional organization of category-selective brain regions enhances the representation of the socially significant whole person, along with its face and body components, within multi-category scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Libi Kliger
- The School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
| | - Galit Yovel
- The School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
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12
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Molloy MF, Saygin ZM, Osher DE. Predicting high-level visual areas in the absence of task fMRI. Sci Rep 2024; 14:11376. [PMID: 38762549 PMCID: PMC11102456 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-62098-9] [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: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024] Open
Abstract
The ventral visual stream is organized into units, or functional regions of interest (fROIs), specialized for processing high-level visual categories. Task-based fMRI scans ("localizers") are typically used to identify each individual's nuanced set of fROIs. The unique landscape of an individual's functional activation may rely in large part on their specialized connectivity patterns; recent studies corroborate this by showing that connectivity can predict individual differences in neural responses. We focus on the ventral visual stream and ask: how well can an individual's resting state functional connectivity localize their fROIs for face, body, scene, and object perception? And are the neural processors for any particular visual category better predicted by connectivity than others, suggesting a tighter mechanistic relationship between connectivity and function? We found, among 18 fROIs predicted from connectivity for each subject, all but one were selective for their preferred visual category. Defining an individual's fROIs based on their connectivity patterns yielded regions that were more selective than regions identified from previous studies or atlases in nearly all cases. Overall, we found that in the absence of a domain-specific localizer task, a 10-min resting state scan can be reliably used for defining these fROIs.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Fiona Molloy
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Zeynep M Saygin
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - David E Osher
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, 1835 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
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13
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Turk-Browne NB, Aslin RN. Infant neuroscience: how to measure brain activity in the youngest minds. Trends Neurosci 2024; 47:338-354. [PMID: 38570212 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2024.02.003] [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: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 01/08/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
The functional properties of the infant brain are poorly understood. Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience are opening new avenues for measuring brain activity in human infants. These include novel uses of existing technologies such as electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG), the availability of newer technologies including functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and optically pumped magnetometry (OPM), and innovative applications of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in awake infants during cognitive tasks. In this review article we catalog these available non-invasive methods, discuss the challenges and opportunities encountered when applying them to human infants, and highlight the potential they may ultimately hold for advancing our understanding of the youngest minds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas B Turk-Browne
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA; Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
| | - Richard N Aslin
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA; Child Study Center, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
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14
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Saccone EJ, Tian M, Bedny M. Developing cortex is functionally pluripotent: Evidence from blindness. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 66:101360. [PMID: 38394708 PMCID: PMC10899073 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101360] [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: 08/25/2023] [Revised: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
How rigidly does innate architecture constrain function of developing cortex? What is the contribution of early experience? We review insights into these questions from visual cortex function in people born blind. In blindness, occipital cortices are active during auditory and tactile tasks. What 'cross-modal' plasticity tells us about cortical flexibility is debated. On the one hand, visual networks of blind people respond to higher cognitive information, such as sentence grammar, suggesting drastic repurposing. On the other, in line with 'metamodal' accounts, sighted and blind populations show shared domain preferences in ventral occipito-temporal cortex (vOTC), suggesting visual areas switch input modality but perform the same or similar perceptual functions (e.g., face recognition) in blindness. Here we bring these disparate literatures together, reviewing and synthesizing evidence that speaks to whether visual cortices have similar or different functions in blind and sighted people. Together, the evidence suggests that in blindness, visual cortices are incorporated into higher-cognitive (e.g., fronto-parietal) networks, which are a major source long-range input to the visual system. We propose the connectivity-constrained experience-dependent account. Functional development is constrained by innate anatomical connectivity, experience and behavioral needs. Infant cortex is pluripotent, the same anatomical constraints develop into different functional outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth J Saccone
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Mengyu Tian
- Center for Educational Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, China
| | - Marina Bedny
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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15
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Lee GM, Rodríguez-Deliz CL, Bushnell BN, Majaj NJ, Movshon JA, Kiorpes L. Developmentally stable representations of naturalistic image structure in macaque visual cortex. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.24.581889. [PMID: 38463955 PMCID: PMC10925106 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.24.581889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
We studied visual development in macaque monkeys using texture stimuli, matched in local spectral content but varying in "naturalistic" structure. In adult monkeys, naturalistic textures preferentially drive neurons in areas V2 and V4, but not V1. We paired behavioral measurements of naturalness sensitivity with separately-obtained neuronal population recordings from neurons in areas V1, V2, V4, and inferotemporal cortex (IT). We made behavioral measurements from 16 weeks of age and physiological measurements as early as 20 weeks, and continued through 56 weeks. Behavioral sensitivity reached half of maximum at roughly 25 weeks of age. Neural sensitivities remained stable from the earliest ages tested. As in adults, neural sensitivity to naturalistic structure increased from V1 to V2 to V4. While sensitivities in V2 and IT were similar, the dimensionality of the IT representation was more similar to V4's than to V2's.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerick M. Lee
- Center for Neural Science New York University New York, NY, USA 10003
| | | | | | - Najib J. Majaj
- Center for Neural Science New York University New York, NY, USA 10003
| | | | - Lynne Kiorpes
- Center for Neural Science New York University New York, NY, USA 10003
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16
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Oakes LM, Hayes TR, Klotz SM, Pomaranski KI, Henderson JM. The role of local meaning in infants' fixations of natural scenes. INFANCY 2024; 29:284-298. [PMID: 38183667 PMCID: PMC10872336 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024]
Abstract
As infants view visual scenes every day, they must shift their eye gaze and visual attention from location to location, sampling information to process and learn. Like adults, infants' gaze when viewing natural scenes (i.e., photographs of everyday scenes) is influenced by the physical features of the scene image and a general bias to look more centrally in a scene. However, it is unknown how infants' gaze while viewing such scenes is influenced by the semantic content of the scenes. Here, we tested the relative influence of local meaning, controlling for physical salience and center bias, on the eye gaze of 4- to 12-month-old infants (N = 92) as they viewed natural scenes. Overall, infants were more likely to fixate scene regions rated as higher in meaning, indicating that, like adults, the semantic content, or local meaning, of scenes influences where they look. More importantly, the effect of meaning on infant attention increased with age, providing the first evidence for an age-related increase in the impact of local meaning on infants' eye movements while viewing natural scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa M. Oakes
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
| | | | - Shannon M. Klotz
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
| | - Katherine I. Pomaranski
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
| | - John M. Henderson
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis
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17
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Skalaban LJ, Chan I, Rapuano KM, Lin Q, Conley MI, Watts RR, Busch EL, Murty VP, Casey BJ. Representational Dissimilarity of Faces and Places during a Working Memory Task is Associated with Subsequent Recognition Memory during Development. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:415-434. [PMID: 38060253 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/08/2023]
Abstract
Nearly 50 years of research has focused on faces as a special visual category, especially during development. Yet it remains unclear how spatial patterns of neural similarity of faces and places relate to how information processing supports subsequent recognition of items from these categories. The current study uses representational similarity analysis and functional imaging data from 9- and 10-year-old youth during an emotional n-back task from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study 3.0 data release to relate spatial patterns of neural similarity during working memory to subsequent out-of-scanner performance on a recognition memory task. Specifically, we examine how similarities in representations within face categories (neutral, happy, and fearful faces) and representations between visual categories (faces and places) relate to subsequent recognition memory of these visual categories. Although working memory performance was higher for faces than places, subsequent recognition memory was greater for places than faces. Representational similarity analysis revealed category-specific patterns in face-and place-sensitive brain regions (fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus) compared with a nonsensitive visual region (pericalcarine cortex). Similarity within face categories and dissimilarity between face and place categories in the parahippocampus was related to better recognition of places from the n-back task. Conversely, in the fusiform, similarity within face categories and their relative dissimilarity from places was associated with better recognition of new faces, but not old faces. These findings highlight how the representational distinctiveness of visual categories influence what information is subsequently prioritized in recognition memory during development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena J Skalaban
- Yale University, New Haven, CT
- Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
| | | | | | - Qi Lin
- Yale University, New Haven, CT
| | | | | | | | | | - B J Casey
- Yale University, New Haven, CT
- Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY
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18
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Chai XJ, Tang L, Gabrieli JDE, Ofen N. From vision to memory: How scene-sensitive regions support episodic memory formation during child development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 65:101340. [PMID: 38218015 PMCID: PMC10825658 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101340] [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: 12/13/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Previous brain imaging studies have identified three brain regions that selectively respond to visual scenes, the parahippocampal place area (PPA), the occipital place area (OPA), and the retrosplenial cortex (RSC). There is growing evidence that these visual scene-sensitive regions process different types of scene information and may have different developmental timelines in supporting scene perception. How these scene-sensitive regions support memory functions during child development is largely unknown. We investigated PPA, OPA and RSC activations associated with episodic memory formation in childhood (5-7 years of age) and young adulthood, using a subsequent scene memory paradigm and a functional localizer for scenes. PPA, OPA, and RSC subsequent memory activation and functional connectivity differed between children and adults. Subsequent memory effects were found in activations of all three scene regions in adults. In children, however, robust subsequent memory effects were only found in the PPA. Functional connectivity during successful encoding was significant among the three regions in adults, but not in children. PPA subsequently memory activations and PPA-RSC subsequent memory functional connectivity correlated with accuracy in adults, but not children. These age-related differences add new evidence linking protracted development of the scene-sensitive regions to the protracted development of episodic memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqian J Chai
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, USA.
| | - Lingfei Tang
- Department of Psychology and the Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, USA
| | - John DE Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Noa Ofen
- Department of Psychology and the Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, USA; Center for Vital Longevity and School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
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19
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Cabral L, Calabro FJ, Foran W, Parr AC, Ojha A, Rasmussen J, Ceschin R, Panigrahy A, Luna B. Multivariate and regional age-related change in basal ganglia iron in neonates. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad456. [PMID: 38059685 PMCID: PMC11494441 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad456] [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: 07/05/2023] [Revised: 10/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023] Open
Abstract
In the perinatal period, reward and cognitive systems begin trajectories, influencing later psychiatric risk. The basal ganglia is important for reward and cognitive processing but early development has not been fully characterized. To assess age-related development, we used a measure of basal ganglia physiology, specifically brain tissue iron, obtained from nT2* signal in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI), associated with dopaminergic processing. We used data from the Developing Human Connectome Project (n = 464) to assess how moving from the prenatal to the postnatal environment affects rsfMRI nT2*, modeling gestational and postnatal age separately for basal ganglia subregions in linear models. We did not find associations with tissue iron and gestational age [range: 24.29-42.29] but found positive associations with postnatal age [range:0-17.14] in the pallidum and putamen, but not the caudate. We tested if there was an interaction between preterm birth and postnatal age, finding early preterm infants (GA < 35 wk) had higher iron levels and changed less over time. To assess multivariate change, we used support vector regression to predict age from voxel-wise-nT2* maps. We could predict postnatal but not gestational age when maps were residualized for the other age term. This provides evidence subregions differentially change with postnatal experience and preterm birth may disrupt trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Cabral
- Department of Radiology University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, United States
| | - Finnegan J Calabro
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, 15213, United States
| | - Will Foran
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States
| | - Ashley C Parr
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States
| | - Amar Ojha
- Center for Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States
- Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States
| | - Jerod Rasmussen
- Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, United States
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, United States
| | - Rafael Ceschin
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, United States
| | - Ashok Panigrahy
- Department of Radiology University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, United States
| | - Beatriz Luna
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States
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20
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Galusca CI, Mermillod M, Dreher JC, van der Henst JB, Pascalis O. Toddlers' sensitivity to dominance traits from faces. Sci Rep 2023; 13:22292. [PMID: 38097711 PMCID: PMC10721615 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49385-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023] Open
Abstract
In adults, seeing individual faces is sufficient to trigger dominance evaluations, even when conflict is absent. From early on, infants represent dyadic dominance relations and they can infer conflict outcomes based on a variety of cues. To date, it is unclear if toddlers also make automatic dominance trait evaluations of individual faces. Here we asked if toddlers are sensitive to dominance traits from faces, and whether their sensitivity depends on their face experience. We employed a visual preference paradigm to study 18- and 24-month-old toddlers' sensitivity to dominance traits from three types of faces: artificial, male, female. When presented with artificial faces (Experiment 1), 18- and 24-month-olds attended longer to the non-dominant faces, but only when they were in upright orientation. For real male faces (Experiment 2), toddlers showed equivalent looking durations to the dominant and non-dominant upright faces. However, when looking at female faces (Experiment 3), toddlers displayed a visual preference for the upright non-dominant faces at 24 months. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that toddlers already display sensitivity to facial cues of dominance from 18 months of age, at least for artificial face stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina-Ioana Galusca
- CNRS-Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, Université Grenoble Alpes, BSHM-1251 Av Centrale|CS40700, 38058, Grenoble Cedex 9, France.
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France.
| | | | - Jean-Claude Dreher
- CNRS-Institut de Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229, Neuroeconomics, Reward, and Decision Making Laboratory; Université Claude Bernard 1, Lyon, Lyon, France
| | | | - Olivier Pascalis
- CNRS-Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, Université Grenoble Alpes, BSHM-1251 Av Centrale|CS40700, 38058, Grenoble Cedex 9, France
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Grenoble, France
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21
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Nordt M, Gomez J, Natu VS, Rezai AA, Finzi D, Kular H, Grill-Spector K. Longitudinal development of category representations in ventral temporal cortex predicts word and face recognition. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8010. [PMID: 38049393 PMCID: PMC10696026 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43146-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Regions in ventral temporal cortex that are involved in visual recognition of categories like words and faces undergo differential development during childhood. However, categories are also represented in distributed responses across high-level visual cortex. How distributed category representations develop and if this development relates to behavioral changes in recognition remains largely unknown. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to longitudinally measure the development of distributed responses across ventral temporal cortex to 10 categories in school-age children over several years. Our results reveal both strengthening and weakening of category representations with age, which was mainly driven by changes across category-selective voxels. Representations became particularly more distinct for words in the left hemisphere and for faces bilaterally. Critically, distinctiveness for words and faces across category-selective voxels in left and right lateral ventral temporal cortex, respectively, predicted individual children's word and face recognition performance. These results suggest that the development of distributed representations in ventral temporal cortex has behavioral ramifications and advance our understanding of prolonged cortical development during childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marisa Nordt
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.
- JARA-Brain Institute II, Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, RWTH Aachen & Research Centre Juelich, Juelich, Germany.
| | - Jesse Gomez
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Vaidehi S Natu
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Alex A Rezai
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Dawn Finzi
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Holly Kular
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Kalanit Grill-Spector
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Neurosciences Program, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
- Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
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22
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Bayne T, Frohlich J, Cusack R, Moser J, Naci L. Consciousness in the cradle: on the emergence of infant experience. Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:1135-1149. [PMID: 37838614 PMCID: PMC10660191 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.08.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/16/2023]
Abstract
Although each of us was once a baby, infant consciousness remains mysterious and there is no received view about when, and in what form, consciousness first emerges. Some theorists defend a 'late-onset' view, suggesting that consciousness requires cognitive capacities which are unlikely to be in place before the child's first birthday at the very earliest. Other theorists defend an 'early-onset' account, suggesting that consciousness is likely to be in place at birth (or shortly after) and may even arise during the third trimester. Progress in this field has been difficult, not just because of the challenges associated with procuring the relevant behavioral and neural data, but also because of uncertainty about how best to study consciousness in the absence of the capacity for verbal report or intentional behavior. This review examines both the empirical and methodological progress in this field, arguing that recent research points in favor of early-onset accounts of the emergence of consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim Bayne
- Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; Brain, Mind, and Consciousness Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Joel Frohlich
- Institute for Neuromodulation and Neurotechnology, University Hospital and University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, Santa Monica, CA, USA
| | - Rhodri Cusack
- Thomas Mitchell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Julia Moser
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Lorina Naci
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
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23
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Dilks DD, Jung Y, Kamps FS. The development of human cortical scene processing. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023; 32:479-486. [PMID: 38283826 PMCID: PMC10815932 DOI: 10.1177/09637214231191772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
Decades of research have uncovered the neural basis of place (or "scene") processing in adulthood, revealing a set of three regions that respond selectively to visual scene information, each hypothesized to support distinct functions within scene processing (e.g., recognizing a particular kind of place versus navigating through it). Despite this considerable progress, surprisingly little is known about how these cortical regions develop. Here we review the limited evidence to date, highlighting the first few studies exploring the origins of cortical scene processing in infancy, and the several studies addressing when the scene regions reach full maturity, unfortunately with inconsistent findings. This inconsistency likely stems from common pitfalls in pediatric functional magnetic resonance imaging, and accordingly, we discuss how these pitfalls may be avoided. Furthermore, we point out that almost all studies to date have focused only on general scene selectivity and argue that greater insight could be gleaned by instead exploring the more distinct functions of each region, as well as their connectivity. Finally, with this last point in mind, we offer a novel hypothesis that scene regions supporting navigation (including the occipital place area and retrosplenial complex) mature later than those supporting scene categorization (including the parahippocampal place area).
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel D. Dilks
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Yaelan Jung
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
| | - Frederik S. Kamps
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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24
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Lesinger K, Rosenthal G, Pierce K, Courchesne E, Dinstein I, Avidan G. Functional connectivity of the human face network exhibits right hemispheric lateralization from infancy to adulthood. Sci Rep 2023; 13:20831. [PMID: 38012206 PMCID: PMC10682179 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-47581-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Adults typically exhibit right hemispheric dominance in the processing of faces. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated age-dependent changes in face processing lateralization from infancy to adulthood (1-48 years old; N = 194). We co-registered anatomical and resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans of toddlers, children, adolescents, and adults into a common space and examined functional connectivity across the face, as well as place, and object-selective regions identified in adults. As expected, functional connectivity between core face-selective regions was stronger in the right compared to the left hemisphere in adults. Most importantly, the same lateralization was evident in all other age groups (infants, children, adolescents) and appeared only in face-selective regions, and not in place or object-selective regions. These findings suggest that the physiological development of face-selective brain areas may differ from that of object and place-selective areas. Specifically, the functional connectivity of the core-face selective regions exhibits rightward lateralization from infancy, years before these areas develop mature face-selective responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Keren Lesinger
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Gideon Rosenthal
- Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Karen Pierce
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, USA
| | - Eric Courchesne
- Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, USA
| | - Ilan Dinstein
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel
| | - Galia Avidan
- Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, POB 653, 8410501, Beer Sheva, Israel.
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25
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Plaza PL, Renier L, Rosemann S, De Volder AG, Rauschecker JP. Sound-encoded faces activate the left fusiform face area in the early blind. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0286512. [PMID: 37992062 PMCID: PMC10664868 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Face perception in humans and nonhuman primates is accomplished by a patchwork of specialized cortical regions. How these regions develop has remained controversial. In sighted individuals, facial information is primarily conveyed via the visual modality. Early blind individuals, on the other hand, can recognize shapes using auditory and tactile cues. Here we demonstrate that such individuals can learn to distinguish faces from houses and other shapes by using a sensory substitution device (SSD) presenting schematic faces as sound-encoded stimuli in the auditory modality. Using functional MRI, we then asked whether a face-selective brain region like the fusiform face area (FFA) shows selectivity for faces in the same subjects, and indeed, we found evidence for preferential activation of the left FFA by sound-encoded faces. These results imply that FFA development does not depend on experience with visual faces per se but may instead depend on exposure to the geometry of facial configurations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula L. Plaza
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Laurent Renier
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States of America
- Neural Rehabilitation Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Stephanie Rosemann
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Anne G. De Volder
- Neural Rehabilitation Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Josef P. Rauschecker
- Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, United States of America
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26
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Molloy MF, Osher DE. A personalized cortical atlas for functional regions of interest. J Neurophysiol 2023; 130:1067-1080. [PMID: 37727907 PMCID: PMC10994647 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00108.2023] [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: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Advances in functional MRI (fMRI) allow mapping an individual's brain function in vivo. Task fMRI can localize domain-specific regions of cognitive processing or functional regions of interest (fROIs) within an individual. Moreover, data from resting state (no task) fMRI can be used to define an individual's connectome, which can characterize that individual's functional organization via connectivity-based parcellations. However, can connectivity-based parcellations alone predict an individual's fROIs? Here, we describe an approach to compute individualized rs-fROIs (i.e., regions that correspond to given fROI constructed using only resting state data) for motor control, working memory, high-level vision, and language comprehension. The rs-fROIs were computed and validated using a large sample of young adults (n = 1,018) with resting state and task fMRI from the Human Connectome Project. First, resting state parcellations were defined across a sequence of resolutions from broadscale to fine-grained networks in a training group of 500 individuals. Second, 21 rs-fROIs were defined from the training group by identifying the rs network that most closely matched task-defined fROIs across all individuals. Third, the selectivity of rs-fROIs was investigated in a training set of the remaining 518 individuals. All computed rs-fROIs were indeed selective for their preferred category. Critically, the rs-fROIs had higher selectivity than probabilistic atlas parcels for nearly all fROIs. In conclusion, we present a potential approach to define selective fROIs on an individual-level circumventing the need for multiple task-based localizers.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We compute individualized resting state parcels that identify an individual's own functional regions of interest (fROIs) for high-level vision, language comprehension, motor control, and working memory, using only their functional connectome. This approach demonstrates a rapid and powerful alternative for finding a large set of fROIs in an individual, using only their unique connectivity pattern, which does not require the costly acquisition of multiple fMRI localizer tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Fiona Molloy
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
| | - David E. Osher
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States
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27
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Cabral L, Calabro FJ, Rasmussen J, Foran W, Moore LA, Graham A, O'Connor TG, Wadhwa PD, Entringer S, Fair D, Buss C, Panigrahy A, Luna B. Gestational and postnatal age associations for striatal tissue iron deposition in early infancy. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2023; 63:101286. [PMID: 37549453 PMCID: PMC10423888 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Striatal development is crucial for later motor, cognitive, and reward behavior, but age-related change in striatal physiology during the neonatal period remains understudied. An MRI-based measure of tissue iron deposition, T2*, is a non-invasive way to probe striatal physiology neonatally, linked to dopaminergic processing and cognition in children and adults. Striatal subregions have distinct functions that may come online at different time periods in early life. To identify if there are critical periods before or after birth, we measured if striatal iron accrued with gestational age at birth [range= 34.57-41.85 weeks] or postnatal age at scan [range= 5-64 days], using MRI to probe the T2* signal in N = 83 neonates in three striatal subregions. We found iron increased with postnatal age in the pallidum and putamen but not the caudate. No significant relationship between iron and gestational age was observed. Using a subset of infants scanned at preschool age (N = 26), we show distributions of iron shift between time points. In infants, the pallidum had the least iron of the three regions but had the most by preschool age. Together, this provides evidence of distinct change for striatal subregions, a possible differentiation between motor and cognitive systems, identifying a mechanism that may impact future trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Cabral
- Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
| | - Finnegan J Calabro
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Jerod Rasmussen
- Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Will Foran
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Lucille A Moore
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, USA
| | - Alice Graham
- Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Thomas G O'Connor
- Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
| | - Pathik D Wadhwa
- Development, Health, and Disease Research Program, Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Epidemiology, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Orange, CA, USA; Departments of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Epidemiology, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Orange, CA, USA
| | - Sonja Entringer
- Development, Health, and Disease Research Program, Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Epidemiology, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Orange, CA, USA; Institute of Medical Psychology, Charité- Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Damien Fair
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, USA
| | - Claudia Buss
- Development, Health, and Disease Research Program, Departments of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Epidemiology, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine, Orange, CA, USA; Institute of Medical Psychology, Charité- Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ashok Panigrahy
- Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Beatriz Luna
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
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28
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Newell FN, McKenna E, Seveso MA, Devine I, Alahmad F, Hirst RJ, O'Dowd A. Multisensory perception constrains the formation of object categories: a review of evidence from sensory-driven and predictive processes on categorical decisions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220342. [PMID: 37545304 PMCID: PMC10404931 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0342] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/29/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Although object categorization is a fundamental cognitive ability, it is also a complex process going beyond the perception and organization of sensory stimulation. Here we review existing evidence about how the human brain acquires and organizes multisensory inputs into object representations that may lead to conceptual knowledge in memory. We first focus on evidence for two processes on object perception, multisensory integration of redundant information (e.g. seeing and feeling a shape) and crossmodal, statistical learning of complementary information (e.g. the 'moo' sound of a cow and its visual shape). For both processes, the importance attributed to each sensory input in constructing a multisensory representation of an object depends on the working range of the specific sensory modality, the relative reliability or distinctiveness of the encoded information and top-down predictions. Moreover, apart from sensory-driven influences on perception, the acquisition of featural information across modalities can affect semantic memory and, in turn, influence category decisions. In sum, we argue that both multisensory processes independently constrain the formation of object categories across the lifespan, possibly through early and late integration mechanisms, respectively, to allow us to efficiently achieve the everyday, but remarkable, ability of recognizing objects. This article is part of the theme issue 'Decision and control processes in multisensory perception'.
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Affiliation(s)
- F. N. Newell
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - E. McKenna
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - M. A. Seveso
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - I. Devine
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - F. Alahmad
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - R. J. Hirst
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland
| | - A. O'Dowd
- School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin D02 PN40, Ireland
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29
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Kosakowski HL, Norman-Haignere S, Mynick A, Takahashi A, Saxe R, Kanwisher N. Preliminary evidence for selective cortical responses to music in one-month-old infants. Dev Sci 2023; 26:e13387. [PMID: 36951215 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13387] [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: 06/13/2022] [Revised: 02/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 03/24/2023]
Abstract
Prior studies have observed selective neural responses in the adult human auditory cortex to music and speech that cannot be explained by the differing lower-level acoustic properties of these stimuli. Does infant cortex exhibit similarly selective responses to music and speech shortly after birth? To answer this question, we attempted to collect functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 45 sleeping infants (2.0- to 11.9-weeks-old) while they listened to monophonic instrumental lullabies and infant-directed speech produced by a mother. To match acoustic variation between music and speech sounds we (1) recorded music from instruments that had a similar spectral range as female infant-directed speech, (2) used a novel excitation-matching algorithm to match the cochleagrams of music and speech stimuli, and (3) synthesized "model-matched" stimuli that were matched in spectrotemporal modulation statistics to (yet perceptually distinct from) music or speech. Of the 36 infants we collected usable data from, 19 had significant activations to sounds overall compared to scanner noise. From these infants, we observed a set of voxels in non-primary auditory cortex (NPAC) but not in Heschl's Gyrus that responded significantly more to music than to each of the other three stimulus types (but not significantly more strongly than to the background scanner noise). In contrast, our planned analyses did not reveal voxels in NPAC that responded more to speech than to model-matched speech, although other unplanned analyses did. These preliminary findings suggest that music selectivity arises within the first month of life. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/c8IGFvzxudk. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Responses to music, speech, and control sounds matched for the spectrotemporal modulation-statistics of each sound were measured from 2- to 11-week-old sleeping infants using fMRI. Auditory cortex was significantly activated by these stimuli in 19 out of 36 sleeping infants. Selective responses to music compared to the three other stimulus classes were found in non-primary auditory cortex but not in nearby Heschl's Gyrus. Selective responses to speech were not observed in planned analyses but were observed in unplanned, exploratory analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather L Kosakowski
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute, of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - Anna Mynick
- Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hannover, New Hampshire, USA
| | - Atsushi Takahashi
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute, of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Rebecca Saxe
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute, of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Nancy Kanwisher
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute, of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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30
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Dopierała AAW, López Pérez D, Mercure E, Pluta A, Malinowska-Korczak A, Evans S, Wolak T, Tomalski P. Watching talking faces: The development of cortical representation of visual syllables in infancy. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2023; 244:105304. [PMID: 37481794 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2023.105304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2022] [Revised: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023]
Abstract
From birth, we perceive speech by hearing and seeing people talk. In adults cortical representations of visual speech are processed in the putative temporal visual speech area (TVSA), but it remains unknown how these representations develop. We measured infants' cortical responses to silent visual syllables and non-communicative mouth movements using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. Our results indicate that cortical specialisation for visual speech may emerge during infancy. The putative TVSA was active to both visual syllables and gurning around 5 months of age, and more active to gurning than to visual syllables around 10 months of age. Multivariate pattern analysis classification of distinct cortical responses to visual speech and gurning was successful at 10, but not at 5 months of age. These findings imply that cortical representations of visual speech change between 5 and 10 months of age, showing that the putative TVSA is initially broadly tuned and becomes selective with age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandra A W Dopierała
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
| | - David López Pérez
- Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
| | | | - Agnieszka Pluta
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Bioimaging Research Center, World Hearing Centre, Warsaw, Poland.
| | | | - Samuel Evans
- University of Westminister, London, UK; Kings College London, London, UK.
| | - Tomasz Wolak
- Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Bioimaging Research Center, World Hearing Centre, Warsaw, Poland.
| | - Przemysław Tomalski
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland; Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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31
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Hauw F, El Soudany M, Rosso C, Daunizeau J, Cohen L. A single case neuroimaging study of tickertape synesthesia. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12185. [PMID: 37500762 PMCID: PMC10374523 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39276-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Reading acquisition is enabled by deep changes in the brain's visual system and language areas, and in the links subtending their collaboration. Disruption of those plastic processes commonly results in developmental dyslexia. However, atypical development of reading mechanisms may occasionally result in ticker-tape synesthesia (TTS), a condition described by Francis Galton in 1883 wherein individuals "see mentally in print every word that is uttered (…) as from a long imaginary strip of paper". While reading is the bottom-up translation of letters into speech, TTS may be viewed as its opposite, the top-down translation of speech into internally visualized letters. In a series of functional MRI experiments, we studied MK, a man with TTS. We showed that a set of left-hemispheric areas were more active in MK than in controls during the perception of normal than reversed speech, including frontoparietal areas involved in speech processing, and the Visual Word Form Area, an occipitotemporal region subtending orthography. Those areas were identical to those involved in reading, supporting the construal of TTS as upended reading. Using dynamic causal modeling, we further showed that, parallel to reading, TTS induced by spoken words and pseudowords relied on top-down flow of information along distinct lexical and phonological routes, involving the middle temporal and supramarginal gyri, respectively. Future studies of TTS should shed new light on the neurodevelopmental mechanisms of reading acquisition, their variability and their disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabien Hauw
- Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, Institut du Cerveau, ICM, Paris, France.
- AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Fédération de Neurologie, Paris, France.
| | - Mohamed El Soudany
- Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, Institut du Cerveau, ICM, Paris, France
| | - Charlotte Rosso
- Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, Institut du Cerveau, ICM, Paris, France
- AP-HP, Urgences Cérébro-Vasculaires, Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France
| | - Jean Daunizeau
- Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, Institut du Cerveau, ICM, Paris, France
| | - Laurent Cohen
- Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Sorbonne Universités, Institut du Cerveau, ICM, Paris, France
- AP-HP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, Fédération de Neurologie, Paris, France
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32
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Cabral L, Calabro F, Rasmussen J, Foran W, Moore LA, Graham A, O'Connor TG, Wadhwa PD, Entringer S, Fair D, Buss C, Panigrahy A, Luna B. Gestational and postnatal age associations for striatal tissue iron deposition in early infancy. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.06.30.547249. [PMID: 37425933 PMCID: PMC10327226 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.30.547249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/11/2023]
Abstract
Striatal development is crucial for later motor, cognitive, and reward behavior, but age-related change in striatal physiology during the neonatal period remains understudied. An MRI-based measure of tissue iron deposition, T2*, is a non-invasive way to probe striatal physiology neonatally, linked to dopaminergic processing and cognition in children and adults. Striatal subregions have distinct functions that may come online at different time periods in early life. To identify if there are critical periods before or after birth, we measured if striatal iron accrued with gestational age at birth [range=34.57-41.85 weeks] or postnatal age at scan [range=5-64 days], using MRI to probe the T2* signal in N=83 neonates in three striatal subregions. We found iron increased with postnatal age in the pallidum and putamen but not the caudate. No significant relationship between iron and gestational age was observed. Using a subset of infants scanned at preschool age (N=26), we show distributions of iron shift between timepoints. In infants, the pallidum had the least iron of the three regions but had the most by preschool age. Together, this provides evidence of distinct change for striatal subregions, a possible differentiation between motor and cognitive systems, identifying a mechanism that may impact future trajectories. Highlights Neonatal striatal tissue iron can be measured using the T2* signal from rsfMRInT2* changed with postnatal age in the pallidum and putamen but not in the caudatenT2* did not change with gestational age in any of the three regionsPatterns of iron deposition (nT2*) among regions shift from infancy to preschool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Cabral
- Department of Radiology University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Finn Calabro
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Jerod Rasmussen
- Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, California, USA 92697
| | - Will Foran
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Luci A Moore
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA 14642
| | - Alice Graham
- Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97239, United States
| | - Thomas G O'Connor
- Departments of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA 14642
| | - Pathik D Wadhwa
- Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, California, USA 92697
| | - Sonja Entringer
- Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, California, USA 92697
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Department of Medical Psychology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Damien Fair
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA 14642
| | - Claudia Buss
- Development, Health and Disease Research Program, University of California, Irvine, California, USA 92697
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Department of Medical Psychology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ashok Panigrahy
- Department of Radiology University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Beatriz Luna
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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Parovel G. Perceiving animacy from kinematics: visual specification of life-likeness in simple geometric patterns. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1167809. [PMID: 37333577 PMCID: PMC10273680 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1167809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Since the seminal work of Heider and Simmel, and Michotte's research, many studies have shown that, under appropriate conditions, displays of simple geometric shapes elicit rich and vivid impressions of animacy and intentionality. The main purpose of this review is to emphasize the close relationship between kinematics and perceived animacy by showing which specific motion cues and spatiotemporal patterns automatically trigger visual perceptions of animacy and intentionality. The animacy phenomenon has been demonstrated to be rather fast, automatic, irresistible, and highly stimulus-driven. Moreover, there is growing evidence that animacy attributions, although usually associated with higher-level cognition and long-term memory, may reflect highly specialized visual processes that have evolved to support adaptive behaviors critical for survival. The hypothesis of a life-detector hardwired in the perceptual system is also supported by recent studies in early development and animal cognition, as well as by the issue of the "irresistibility" criterion, i.e., the persistence of animacy perception in adulthood even in the face of conflicting background knowledge. Finally, further support for the hypothesis that animacy is processed in the earliest stages of vision comes from recent experimental evidence on the interaction of animacy with other visual processes, such as visuomotor performance, visual memory, and speed estimation. Summarizing, the ability to detect animacy in all its nuances may be related to the visual system's sensitivity to those changes in kinematics - considered as a multifactorial relational system - that are associated with the presence of living beings, as opposed to the natural, inert behavior of physically constrained, form-invariant objects, or even mutually independent moving agents. This broad predisposition would allow the observer not only to identify the presence of animates and to distinguish them from inanimate, but also to quickly grasp their psychological, emotional, and social characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Parovel
- Department of Social, Political and Cognitive Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
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34
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Jung Y, Forest TA, Walther DB, Finn AS. Neither Enhanced Nor Lost: The Unique Role of Attention in Children's Neural Representations. J Neurosci 2023; 43:3849-3859. [PMID: 37055182 PMCID: PMC10217988 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0159-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023] Open
Abstract
A defining feature of children's cognition is the especially slow development of their attention. Despite a rich behavioral literature characterizing the development of attention, little is known about how developing attentional abilities modulate neural representations in children. This information is critical to understanding how attentional development shapes the way children process information. One possibility is that attention might be less likely to shape neural representations in children as compared with adults. In particular, representations of attended items may be less likely to be enhanced relative to unattended items. To investigate this possibility, we measured brain activity using fMRI while children (seven to nine years; male and female) and adults (21-31 years; male and female) performed a one-back task in which they were directed to attend to either motion direction or an object in a display where both were present. We used multivoxel pattern analysis to compare decoding accuracy of attended and unattended information. Consistent with attentional enhancement, we found higher decoding accuracy for task-relevant information (i.e., objects in the object-attended condition) than for task-irrelevant information (i.e., motion in the object-attended condition) in adults' visual cortices. However, in children's visual cortices, both task-relevant and task-irrelevant information were decoded equally well. What is more, whole-brain analysis showed that the children represented task-irrelevant information more than adults in multiple regions across the brain, including the prefrontal cortex. These findings show that (1) attention does not modulate neural representations in the child visual cortex, and (2) developing brains can, and do, represent more information than mature brains.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Children have been shown to struggle with maintaining their attention to specific information, and at the same time, can show better learning of "distractors." While these are critical properties of childhood, their underlying neural mechanisms are unknown. To fill in this critical knowledge gap, we explored how attention shapes what is represented in children's and adults' brains using fMRI while both were asked to focus on just one of two things (objects and motion). We found that unlike adults, who prioritize the information they were asked to focus on, children represent both what they were asked to prioritize and what they were asked to ignore. This shows that attention has a fundamentally different impact on children's neural representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaelan Jung
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
| | - Tess Allegra Forest
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
| | - Dirk B Walther
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
| | - Amy S Finn
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
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35
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Walbrin J, Almeida J, Koldewyn K. Alternative Brain Connectivity Underscores Age-Related Differences in the Processing of Interactive Biological Motion. J Neurosci 2023; 43:3666-3674. [PMID: 36963845 PMCID: PMC10198447 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2109-22.2023] [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: 11/11/2022] [Revised: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2023] [Indexed: 03/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Rapidly recognizing and understanding others' social interactions is an important ability that relies on deciphering multiple sources of information, for example, perceiving body information and inferring others' intentions. Despite recent advances in characterizing the brain basis of this ability in adults, its developmental underpinnings are virtually unknown. Here, we used fMRI to investigate which sources of social information support superior temporal sulcus responses to interactive biological motion (i.e., 2 interacting point-light human figures) at different developmental intervals in human participants (of either sex): Children show supportive functional connectivity with key nodes of the mentalizing network, while adults show stronger reliance on regions associated with body- and dynamic social interaction/biological motion processing. We suggest that adults use efficient action-intention understanding via body and biological motion information, while children show a stronger reliance on hidden mental state inferences as a potential means of learning to better understand others' interactive behavior.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Recognizing others' interactive behavior is a critical human skill that depends on different sources of social information (e.g., observable body-action information, inferring others' hidden mental states, etc.). Understanding the brain-basis of this ability and characterizing how it emerges across development are important goals in social neuroscience. Here, we used fMRI to investigate which sources of social information support interactive biological motion processing in children (6-12 years) and adults. These results reveal a striking developmental difference in terms of how wider-brain connectivity shapes functional responses to interactive biological motion that suggests a reliance on distinct neuro-cognitive strategies in service of interaction understanding (i.e., children and adults show a greater reliance on explicit and implicit intentional inference, respectively).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jon Walbrin
- Proaction Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal 3000-481
- CINEICC, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal 3000-481
| | - Jorge Almeida
- Proaction Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal 3000-481
- CINEICC, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal 3000-481
| | - Kami Koldewyn
- School of Human and Behavioural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Wales 3000-481
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36
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Nielsen AN, Graham AM, Sylvester CM. Baby Brains at Work: How Task-Based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Can Illuminate the Early Emergence of Psychiatric Risk. Biol Psychiatry 2023; 93:880-892. [PMID: 36935330 PMCID: PMC10149573 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2023.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Psychiatric disorders are complex, often emerging from multiple atypical processes within specified domains over the course of development. Characterizing the development of the neural circuits supporting these domains may help break down the components of complex disorders and reveal variations in functioning associated with psychiatric risk. This review highlights the current and potential role of infant task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in elucidating the developmental neurobiology of psychiatric disorders. Task-fMRI measures evoked brain activity in response to specific stimuli through changes in the blood oxygen level-dependent signal. First, we review extant studies using task fMRI from birth through the first few years of life and synthesize current evidence for when, where, and how different neural computations are performed across the infant brain. Neural circuits for sensory perception, the perception of abstract categories, and the detection of statistical regularities have been characterized with task fMRI in infants, providing developmental context for identifying and interpreting variation in the functioning of neural circuits related to psychiatric risk. Next, we discuss studies that specifically examine variation in the functioning of these neural circuits during infancy in relation to risk for psychiatric disorders. These studies reveal when maturation of specific neural circuits diverges, the influence of environmental risk factors, and the potential utility for task fMRI to facilitate early treatment or prevention of later psychiatric problems. Finally, we provide considerations for future infant task-fMRI studies with the potential to advance understanding of both functioning of neural circuits during infancy and subsequent risk for psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley N Nielsen
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.
| | - Alice M Graham
- Department of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, Oregon
| | - Chad M Sylvester
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
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37
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Dopierała AAW, Pérez DL, Mercure E, Pluta A, Malinowska-Korczak A, Evans S, Wolak T, Tomalski P. The Development of Cortical Responses to the Integration of Audiovisual Speech in Infancy. Brain Topogr 2023:10.1007/s10548-023-00959-8. [PMID: 37171657 PMCID: PMC10176292 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-023-00959-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 04/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
In adults, the integration of audiovisual speech elicits specific higher (super-additive) or lower (sub-additive) cortical responses when compared to the responses to unisensory stimuli. Although there is evidence that the fronto-temporal network is active during perception of audiovisual speech in infancy, the development of fronto-temporal responses to audiovisual integration remains unknown. In the current study, 5-month-olds and 10-month-olds watched bimodal (audiovisual) and alternating unimodal (auditory + visual) syllables. In this context we use alternating unimodal to denote alternating auditory and visual syllables that are perceived as separate syllables by adults. Using fNIRS we measured responses over large cortical areas including the inferior frontal and superior temporal regions. We identified channels showing different responses to bimodal than alternating unimodal condition and used multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to decode patterns of cortical responses to bimodal (audiovisual) and alternating unimodal (auditory + visual) speech. Results showed that in both age groups integration elicits cortical responses consistent with both super- and sub-additive responses in the fronto-temporal cortex. The univariate analyses revealed that between 5 and 10 months spatial distribution of these responses becomes increasingly focal. MVPA correctly classified responses at 5 months, with key input from channels located in the inferior frontal and superior temporal channels of the right hemisphere. However, MVPA classification was not successful at 10 months, suggesting a potential cortical re-organisation of audiovisual speech perception at this age. These results show the complex and non-gradual development of the cortical responses to integration of congruent audiovisual speech in infancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandra A W Dopierała
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
| | | | | | - Agnieszka Pluta
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
- University of Westminister, London, UK
| | | | - Samuel Evans
- Kings College London, London, UK
- University of Westminister, London, UK
| | - Tomasz Wolak
- Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Bioimaging Research Center, World Hearing Centre, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Przemysław Tomalski
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
- Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
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38
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Stojnić G, Gandhi K, Yasuda S, Lake BM, Dillon MR. Commonsense psychology in human infants and machines. Cognition 2023; 235:105406. [PMID: 36801603 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
Human infants are fascinated by other people. They bring to this fascination a constellation of rich and flexible expectations about the intentions motivating people's actions. Here we test 11-month-old infants and state-of-the-art learning-driven neural-network models on the "Baby Intuitions Benchmark (BIB)," a suite of tasks challenging both infants and machines to make high-level predictions about the underlying causes of agents' actions. Infants expected agents' actions to be directed towards objects, not locations, and infants demonstrated default expectations about agents' rationally efficient actions towards goals. The neural-network models failed to capture infants' knowledge. Our work provides a comprehensive framework in which to characterize infants' commonsense psychology and takes the first step in testing whether human knowledge and human-like artificial intelligence can be built from the foundations cognitive and developmental theories postulate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gala Stojnić
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kanishk Gandhi
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Shannon Yasuda
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Brenden M Lake
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA; Center for Data Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Moira R Dillon
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
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39
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Deficits in Face Recognition and Consequent Quality-of-Life Factors in Individuals with Cerebral Visual Impairment. Vision (Basel) 2023; 7:vision7010009. [PMID: 36810313 PMCID: PMC9944076 DOI: 10.3390/vision7010009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Individuals with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) frequently report challenges with face recognition, and subsequent difficulties with social interactions. However, there is limited empirical evidence supporting poor face recognition in individuals with CVI and the potential impact on social-emotional quality-of-life factors. Moreover, it is unclear whether any difficulties with face recognition represent a broader ventral stream dysfunction. In this web-based study, data from a face recognition task, a glass pattern detection task, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were analyzed from 16 participants with CVI and 25 controls. In addition, participants completed a subset of questions from the CVI Inventory to provide a self-report of potential areas of visual perception that participants found challenging. The results demonstrate a significant impairment in the performance of a face recognition task in participants with CVI compared to controls, which was not observed for the glass pattern task. Specifically, we observed a significant increase in threshold, reduction in the proportion correct, and an increase in response time for the faces, but not for the glass pattern task. Participants with CVI also reported a significant increase in sub-scores of the SDQ for emotional problems and internalizing scores after adjusting for the potential confounding effects of age. Finally, individuals with CVI also reported a greater number of difficulties on items from the CVI Inventory, specifically the five questions and those related to face and object recognition. Together, these results indicate that individuals with CVI may demonstrate significant difficulties with face recognition, which may be linked to quality-of-life factors. This evidence suggests that targeted evaluations of face recognition are warranted in all individuals with CVI, regardless of their age.
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40
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Li J, Kean H, Fedorenko E, Saygin Z. Intact reading ability despite lacking a canonical visual word form area in an individual born without the left superior temporal lobe. Cogn Neuropsychol 2023; 39:249-275. [PMID: 36653302 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2023.2164923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
The visual word form area (VWFA), a region canonically located within left ventral temporal cortex (VTC), is specialized for orthography in literate adults presumbly due to its connectivity with frontotemporal language regions. But is a typical, left-lateralized language network critical for the VWFA's emergence? We investigated this question in an individual (EG) born without the left superior temporal lobe but who has normal reading ability. EG showed canonical typical face-selectivity bilateraly but no wordselectivity either in right VWFA or in the spared left VWFA. Moreover, in contrast with the idea that the VWFA is simply part of the language network, no part of EG's VTC showed selectivity to higher-level linguistic processing. Interestingly, EG's VWFA showed reliable multivariate patterns that distinguished words from other categories. These results suggest that a typical left-hemisphere language network is necessary for acanonical VWFA, and that orthographic processing can otherwise be supported by a distributed neural code.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin Li
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Hope Kean
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences / McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Evelina Fedorenko
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences / McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Zeynep Saygin
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
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41
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Maratos FA, Chu K, Lipka S, Stupple EJN, Parente F. Exploring pattern recognition: what is the relationship between the recognition of words, faces and other objects? Cogn Process 2023; 24:59-70. [PMID: 36376612 PMCID: PMC9898371 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-022-01111-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Debate surrounds processes of visual recognition, with no consensus as to whether recognition of distinct object categories (faces, bodies, cars, and words) is domain specific or subserved by domain-general visual recognition mechanisms. Here, we investigated correlations between the performance of 74 participants on recognition tasks for words, faces and other object categories. Participants completed a counter-balanced test battery of the Cambridge Face, Car and Body Parts Memory tests, as well as a standard four category lexical decision task, with response time and recognition accuracy as dependent variables. Results revealed significant correlations across domains for both recognition accuracy and response time, providing some support for domain-general pattern recognition. Further exploration of the data using principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a two-component model for both the response time and accuracy data. However, how the various word and object recognition tasks fitted these components varied considerably but did hint at familiarity/expertise as a common factor. In sum, we argue a complex relationship exists between domain-specific processing and domain-general processing, but that this is shaped by expertise. To further our understanding of pattern recognition, research investigating the recognition of words, faces and other objects in dyslexic individuals is recommended, as is research exploiting neuroimaging methodologies, with excellent temporal resolution, to chart the temporal specifics of different forms of visual pattern recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- F. A. Maratos
- School of Psychology, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of Derby, Derby, UK
| | - K. Chu
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
| | - S. Lipka
- School of Psychology, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of Derby, Derby, UK
| | - E. J. N. Stupple
- School of Psychology, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of Derby, Derby, UK
| | - F. Parente
- School of Psychology, College of Health, Psychology and Social Care, University of Derby, Derby, UK
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42
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Chen X, Liu X, Parker BJ, Zhen Z, Weiner KS. Functionally and structurally distinct fusiform face area(s) in over 1000 participants. Neuroimage 2023. [PMID: 36427753 DOI: 10.1101/2022.04.08.487562v1.full.pdf] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/22/2023] Open
Abstract
The fusiform face area (FFA) is a widely studied region causally involved in face perception. Even though cognitive neuroscientists have been studying the FFA for over two decades, answers to foundational questions regarding the function, architecture, and connectivity of the FFA from a large (N>1000) group of participants are still lacking. To fill this gap in knowledge, we quantified these multimodal features of fusiform face-selective regions in 1053 participants in the Human Connectome Project. After manually defining over 4,000 fusiform face-selective regions, we report five main findings. First, 68.76% of hemispheres have two cortically separate regions (pFus-faces/FFA-1 and mFus-faces/FFA-2). Second, in 26.69% of hemispheres, pFus-faces/FFA-1 and mFus-faces/FFA-2 are spatially contiguous, yet are distinct based on functional, architectural, and connectivity metrics. Third, pFus-faces/FFA-1 is more face-selective than mFus-faces/FFA-2, and the two regions have distinct functional connectivity fingerprints. Fourth, pFus-faces/FFA-1 is cortically thinner and more heavily myelinated than mFus-faces/FFA-2. Fifth, face-selective patterns and functional connectivity fingerprints of each region are more similar in monozygotic than dizygotic twins and more so than architectural gradients. As we share our areal definitions with the field, future studies can explore how structural and functional features of these regions will inform theories regarding how visual categories are represented in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiayu Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xingyu Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Benjamin J Parker
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
| | - Zonglei Zhen
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Kevin S Weiner
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
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43
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Yates TS, Ellis CT, Turk‐Browne NB. Face processing in the infant brain after pandemic lockdown. Dev Psychobiol 2023; 65:e22346. [PMID: 36567649 PMCID: PMC9877889 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 09/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The role of visual experience in the development of face processing has long been debated. We present a new angle on this question through a serendipitous study that cannot easily be repeated. Infants viewed short blocks of faces during fMRI in a repetition suppression task. The same identity was presented multiple times in half of the blocks (repeat condition) and different identities were presented once each in the other half (novel condition). In adults, the fusiform face area (FFA) tends to show greater neural activity for novel versus repeat blocks in such designs, suggesting that it can distinguish same versus different face identities. As part of an ongoing study, we collected data before the COVID-19 pandemic and after an initial local lockdown was lifted. The resulting sample of 12 infants (9-24 months) divided equally into pre- and post-lockdown groups with matching ages and data quantity/quality. The groups had strikingly different FFA responses: pre-lockdown infants showed repetition suppression (novel > repeat), whereas post-lockdown infants showed the opposite (repeat > novel), often referred to as repetition enhancement. These findings provide speculative evidence that altered visual experience during the lockdown, or other correlated environmental changes, may have affected face processing in the infant brain.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cameron T. Ellis
- Department of PsychologyStanford UniversityStanfordCaliforniaUSA
| | - Nicholas B. Turk‐Browne
- Department of PsychologyYale UniversityNew HavenConnecticutUSA,Wu Tsai InstituteYale UniversityNew HavenConnecticutUSA
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44
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Chen X, Liu X, Parker BJ, Zhen Z, Weiner KS. Functionally and structurally distinct fusiform face area(s) in over 1000 participants. Neuroimage 2023; 265:119765. [PMID: 36427753 PMCID: PMC9889174 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2022] [Revised: 11/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The fusiform face area (FFA) is a widely studied region causally involved in face perception. Even though cognitive neuroscientists have been studying the FFA for over two decades, answers to foundational questions regarding the function, architecture, and connectivity of the FFA from a large (N>1000) group of participants are still lacking. To fill this gap in knowledge, we quantified these multimodal features of fusiform face-selective regions in 1053 participants in the Human Connectome Project. After manually defining over 4,000 fusiform face-selective regions, we report five main findings. First, 68.76% of hemispheres have two cortically separate regions (pFus-faces/FFA-1 and mFus-faces/FFA-2). Second, in 26.69% of hemispheres, pFus-faces/FFA-1 and mFus-faces/FFA-2 are spatially contiguous, yet are distinct based on functional, architectural, and connectivity metrics. Third, pFus-faces/FFA-1 is more face-selective than mFus-faces/FFA-2, and the two regions have distinct functional connectivity fingerprints. Fourth, pFus-faces/FFA-1 is cortically thinner and more heavily myelinated than mFus-faces/FFA-2. Fifth, face-selective patterns and functional connectivity fingerprints of each region are more similar in monozygotic than dizygotic twins and more so than architectural gradients. As we share our areal definitions with the field, future studies can explore how structural and functional features of these regions will inform theories regarding how visual categories are represented in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiayu Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xingyu Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Benjamin J Parker
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
| | - Zonglei Zhen
- Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
| | - Kevin S Weiner
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
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45
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Xie S, Hoehl S, Moeskops M, Kayhan E, Kliesch C, Turtleton B, Köster M, Cichy RM. Visual category representations in the infant brain. Curr Biol 2022; 32:5422-5432.e6. [PMID: 36455560 PMCID: PMC9796816 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.11.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 11/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
Visual categorization is a human core cognitive capacity1,2 that depends on the development of visual category representations in the infant brain.3,4,5,6,7 However, the exact nature of infant visual category representations and their relationship to the corresponding adult form remains unknown.8 Our results clarify the nature of visual category representations from electroencephalography (EEG) data in 6- to 8-month-old infants and their developmental trajectory toward adult maturity in the key characteristics of temporal dynamics,2,9 representational format,10,11,12 and spectral properties.13,14 Temporal dynamics change from slowly emerging, developing representations in infants to quickly emerging, complex representations in adults. Despite those differences, infants and adults already partly share visual category representations. The format of infants' representations is visual features of low to intermediate complexity, whereas adults' representations also encode high-complexity features. Theta band activity contributes to visual category representations in infants, and these representations are shifted to the alpha/beta band in adults. Together, we reveal the developmental neural basis of visual categorization in humans, show how information transmission channels change in development, and demonstrate the power of advanced multivariate analysis techniques in infant EEG research for theory building in developmental cognitive science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siying Xie
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee, Berlin 14195, Germany.
| | - Stefanie Hoehl
- Faculty of Psychology, Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, University of Vienna, Liebiggasse, Wien 1010, Austria; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | - Merle Moeskops
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee, Berlin 14195, Germany
| | - Ezgi Kayhan
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Christian Kliesch
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Developmental Psychology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Bert Turtleton
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee, Berlin 14195, Germany
| | - Moritz Köster
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee, Berlin 14195, Germany; Institute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, Universitätsstraße, 93053 Regensburg, Germany
| | - Radoslaw M Cichy
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Habelschwerdter Allee, Berlin 14195, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden, 10099 Berlin, Germany; Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Unter den Linden, 10099 Berlin, Germany.
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46
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Cabral L, Zubiaurre-Elorza L, Wild CJ, Linke A, Cusack R. Anatomical correlates of category-selective visual regions have distinctive signatures of connectivity in neonates. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2022; 58:101179. [PMID: 36521345 PMCID: PMC9768242 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The ventral visual stream is shaped during development by innate proto-organization within the visual system, such as the strong input from the fovea to the fusiform face area. In adults, category-selective regions have distinct signatures of connectivity to brain regions beyond the visual system, likely reflecting cross-modal and motoric associations. We tested if this long-range connectivity is part of the innate proto-organization, or if it develops with postnatal experience, by using diffusion-weighted imaging to characterize the connectivity of anatomical correlates of category-selective regions in neonates (N = 445), 1-9 month old infants (N = 11), and adults (N = 14). Using the HCP data we identified face- and place- selective regions and a third intermediate region with a distinct profile of selectivity. Using linear classifiers, these regions were found to have distinctive connectivity at birth, to other regions in the visual system and to those outside of it. The results support an extended proto-organization that includes long-range connectivity that shapes, and is shaped by, experience-dependent development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Cabral
- Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh 15224, PA, USA.
| | - Leire Zubiaurre-Elorza
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Deusto, Bilbao 48007, Spain
| | - Conor J Wild
- Western Institute for Neuroscience, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology,Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Annika Linke
- Brain Development Imaging Laboratories, San Diego State University, San Diego 92120, CA, USA
| | - Rhodri Cusack
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
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47
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Liu Y, Sánchez Hernández F, Ting F, Hyde DC. Comparing fixed-array and functionally-defined channel of interest approaches to infant functional near-infrared spectroscopy data. Neuroimage 2022; 261:119520. [PMID: 35901918 PMCID: PMC9480621 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119520] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2022] [Revised: 07/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is increasingly used to study brain function in infants, but the development and standardization of analysis techniques for use with infant fNIRS data have not paced other technical advances. Here we quantify and compare the effects of different methods of analysis of infant fNIRS data on two independent fNIRS datasets involving 6-9-month-old infants and a third simulated infant fNIRS dataset. With each, we contrast results from a traditional, fixed-array analysis with several functional channel of interest (fCOI) analysis approaches. In addition, we tested the effects of varying the number and anatomical location of potential data channels to be included in the fCOI definition. Over three studies we find that fCOI approaches are more sensitive than fixed-array analyses, especially when channels of interests were defined within-subjects. Applying anatomical restriction and/or including multiple channels in the fCOI definition does not decrease and in some cases increases sensitivity of fCOI methods. Based on these results, we recommend that researchers consider employing fCOI approaches to the analysis of infant fNIRS data and provide some guidelines for choosing between particular fCOI approaches and settings for the study of infant brain function and development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiyu Liu
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Psychology, Champaign, United States
| | | | - Fransisca Ting
- Boston University, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston, United States
| | - Daniel C Hyde
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Psychology, Champaign, United States; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Neuroscience Program, Urbana, United States.
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48
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Yates TS, Skalaban LJ, Ellis CT, Bracher AJ, Baldassano C, Turk-Browne NB. Neural event segmentation of continuous experience in human infants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2200257119. [PMID: 36252007 PMCID: PMC9618143 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2200257119] [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] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
How infants experience the world is fundamental to understanding their cognition and development. A key principle of adult experience is that, despite receiving continuous sensory input, we perceive this input as discrete events. Here we investigate such event segmentation in infants and how it differs from adults. Research on event cognition in infants often uses simplified tasks in which (adult) experimenters help solve the segmentation problem for infants by defining event boundaries or presenting discrete actions/vignettes. This presupposes which events are experienced by infants and leaves open questions about the principles governing infant segmentation. We take a different, data-driven approach by studying infant event segmentation of continuous input. We collected whole-brain functional MRI (fMRI) data from awake infants (and adults, for comparison) watching a cartoon and used a hidden Markov model to identify event states in the brain. We quantified the existence, timescale, and organization of multiple-event representations across brain regions. The adult brain exhibited a known hierarchical gradient of event timescales, from shorter events in early visual regions to longer events in later visual and associative regions. In contrast, the infant brain represented only longer events, even in early visual regions, with no timescale hierarchy. The boundaries defining these infant events only partially overlapped with boundaries defined from adult brain activity and behavioral judgments. These findings suggest that events are organized differently in infants, with longer timescales and more stable neural patterns, even in sensory regions. This may indicate greater temporal integration and reduced temporal precision during dynamic, naturalistic perception.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Cameron T. Ellis
- bDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305
| | - Angelika J. Bracher
- cInternational Max Planck Research School NeuroCom, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04303 Leipzig, Germany
- dDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany
| | | | - Nicholas B. Turk-Browne
- aDepartment of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520
- fWu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510
- 1To whom correspondence may be addressed.
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Chien YL, Chen YJ, Tseng WL, Hsu YC, Wu CS, Tseng WYI, Gau SSF. Differences in white matter segments in autistic males, non-autistic siblings, and non-autistic participants: An intermediate phenotype approach. AUTISM : THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 2022; 27:1036-1052. [PMID: 36254873 DOI: 10.1177/13623613221125620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
LAY ABSTRACT White matter is the neural pathway that connects neurons in different brain regions. Although research has shown white matter differences between autistic and non-autistic people, little is known about the properties of white matter in non-autistic siblings. In addition, past studies often focused on the whole neural tracts; it is unclear where differences exist in specific segments of the tracts. This study identified neural segments that differed between autistic people, their non-autistic siblings, and the age- and non-autistic people. We found altered segments within the tracts connected to anterior brain regions corresponding to several higher cognitive functions (e.g. executive functions) in autistic people and non-autistic siblings. Segments connecting to regions for social cognition and Theory of Mind were altered only in autistic people, explaining a large portion of autistic traits and may serve as neuroimaging markers. Segments within the tracts associated with fewer autistic traits or connecting brain regions for diverse highly integrated functions showed compensatory increases in the microstructural properties in non-autistic siblings. Our findings suggest that differential white matter segments that are shared between autistic people and non-autistic siblings may serve as potential "intermediate phenotypes"-biological or neuropsychological characteristics in the causal link between genetics and symptoms-of autism. These findings shed light on a promising neuroimaging model to refine the intermediate phenotype of autism which may facilitate further identification of the genetic and biological bases of autism. Future research exploring links between compensatory segments and neurocognitive strengths in non-autistic siblings may help understand brain adaptation to autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Ling Chien
- National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taiwan.,National Taiwan University, Taiwan
| | | | | | | | - Chi-Shin Wu
- National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taiwan
| | | | - Susan Shur-Fen Gau
- National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, Taiwan.,National Taiwan University, Taiwan
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Martin L, Marie J, Brun M, de Hevia MD, Streri A, Izard V. Abstract representations of small sets in newborns. Cognition 2022; 226:105184. [PMID: 35671541 PMCID: PMC9289748 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 05/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
From the very first days of life, newborns are not tied to represent narrow, modality- and object-specific aspects of their environment. Rather, they sometimes react to abstract properties shared by stimuli of very different nature, such as approximate numerosity or magnitude. As of now, however, there is no evidence that newborns possess abstract representations that apply to small sets: in particular, while newborns can match large approximate numerosities across senses, this ability does not extend to small numerosities. In two experiments, we presented newborn infants (N = 64, age 17 to 98 h) with patterned sets AB or ABB simultaneously in the auditory and visual modalities. Auditory patterns were presented as periodic sequences of sounds (AB: triangle-drum-triangle-drum-triangle-drum …; ABB: triangle-drum-drum-triangle-drum-drum-triangle-drum-drum …), and visual patterns as arrays of 2 or 3 shapes (AB: circle-diamond; ABB: circle-diamond-diamond). In both experiments, we found that participants reacted and looked longer when the patterns matched across the auditory and visual modalities – provided that the first stimulus they received was congruent. These findings uncover the existence of yet another type of abstract representations at birth, applying to small sets. As such, they bolster the hypothesis that newborns are endowed with the capacity to represent their environment in broad strokes, in terms of its most abstract properties. This capacity for abstraction could later serve as a scaffold for infants to learn about the particular entities surrounding them. Newborns were presented with auditory and visual patterns (AB vs. ABB). Participants reacted when the patterns presented were congruent across modalities. Newborns possess abstract representations applying to small sets. These representations may encode numerosity and/or repetitions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucie Martin
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, F-75006 Paris, France
| | - Julien Marie
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, F-75006 Paris, France
| | - Mélanie Brun
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, F-75006 Paris, France
| | - Maria Dolores de Hevia
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, F-75006 Paris, France
| | - Arlette Streri
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, F-75006 Paris, France
| | - Véronique Izard
- Université Paris Cité, CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, F-75006 Paris, France.
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