1
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Huang T, Liu J. A stochastic world model on gravity for stability inference. eLife 2024; 12:RP88953. [PMID: 38712832 DOI: 10.7554/elife.88953] [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: 05/08/2024] Open
Abstract
The fact that objects without proper support will fall to the ground is not only a natural phenomenon, but also common sense in mind. Previous studies suggest that humans may infer objects' stability through a world model that performs mental simulations with a priori knowledge of gravity acting upon the objects. Here we measured participants' sensitivity to gravity to investigate how the world model works. We found that the world model on gravity was not a faithful replica of the physical laws, but instead encoded gravity's vertical direction as a Gaussian distribution. The world model with this stochastic feature fit nicely with participants' subjective sense of objects' stability and explained the illusion that taller objects are perceived as more likely to fall. Furthermore, a computational model with reinforcement learning revealed that the stochastic characteristic likely originated from experience-dependent comparisons between predictions formed by internal simulations and the realities observed in the external world, which illustrated the ecological advantage of stochastic representation in balancing accuracy and speed for efficient stability inference. The stochastic world model on gravity provides an example of how a priori knowledge of the physical world is implemented in mind that helps humans operate flexibly in open-ended environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taicheng Huang
- Department of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences & Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Jia Liu
- Department of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences & Tsinghua Laboratory of Brain and Intelligence, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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2
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Huang S, Ge Y, Wang L, Jiang Y. Life motion signals modulate visual working memory. Psychon Bull Rev 2024; 31:380-388. [PMID: 37620631 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02362-7] [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] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023]
Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that biological motion (BM) cues can induce a reflexive attentional orienting effect, a phenomenon referred to as social attention. However, it remains undetermined whether BM cues can further affect higher-order cognitive processes, such as visual working memory (WM). By combining a modified central pre-cueing paradigm with a traditional WM change detection task, the current study investigated whether the walking direction of BM, as a non-predictive central cue, could modulate the encoding process of WM. Results revealed a significant improvement in WM performance for the items appearing at the location cued by the walking direction of BM. The observed effect disappeared when the BM cues were shown inverted, or when the critical biological characteristics of the cues were removed. Crucially, this effect could be extended to upright feet motion cues without global configuration, reflecting the key role of local BM signals in modulating WM. More importantly, such a BM-induced modulation effect was not observed with inanimate motion cues, although these cues can also elicit attentional effects. Our findings suggest that the attentional effect induced by life motion signals can penetrate to higher-order cognitive processes, and provide compelling evidence for the existence of "life motion detector" in the human brain from a high-level cognitive function perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suqi Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, 26 Science Park Road, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Yiping Ge
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, 26 Science Park Road, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Li Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China.
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, 26 Science Park Road, Beijing, 102206, China.
| | - Yi Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, 26 Science Park Road, Beijing, 102206, China
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3
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Cheng Y, Yuan X, Jiang Y. Eye pupil signals life motion perception. Atten Percept Psychophys 2024; 86:579-586. [PMID: 37258891 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-023-02729-x] [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] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
The ability to readily detect and recognize biological motion (BM) is fundamental to survival and interpersonal communication. However, perception of BM is strongly disrupted when it is shown upside down. This well-known inversion effect is proposed to be caused by a life motion detection mechanism highly tuned to gravity-compatible motion cues. In the current study, we assessed the inversion effect in BM perception using a no-report pupillometry. We found that the pupil size was significantly enlarged when observers viewed upright BMs (gravity-compatible) compared with the inverted counterparts (gravity-incompatible). Importantly, such an effect critically depended on the dynamic biological characteristics, and could be extended to local feet motion signals. These findings demonstrate that the eye pupil can signal gravity-dependent life motion perception. More importantly, with the convenience, objectivity, and noninvasiveness of pupillometry, the current study paves the way for the potential application of pupillary responses in detecting the deficiency of life motion perception in individuals with socio-cognitive disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuhui Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Xiangyong Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206, China.
| | - Yi Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206, China.
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4
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Li Y, Zhao Y, Zhong G, Xu Q, Tan Y, Xing W, Cao D, Wang Y, Liu C, Li J, Du R, Sun W, Yuan X, Li Y, Liu Z, Jin X, Zhao D, Song J, Wang Y, Kan G, Han X, Liu S, Yuan M, Gao F, Shu J, Li Y, Ling S. Vascular smooth muscle cell-specific miRNA-214 deficiency alleviates simulated microgravity-induced vascular remodeling. FASEB J 2024; 38:e23369. [PMID: 38100642 DOI: 10.1096/fj.202300727r] [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: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 11/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
The human cardiovascular system has evolved to accommodate the gravity of Earth. Microgravity during spaceflight has been shown to induce vascular remodeling, leading to a decline in vascular function. The underlying mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Our previous study demonstrated that miR-214 plays a critical role in angiotensin II-induced vascular remodeling by reducing the levels of Smad7 and increasing the phosphorylation of Smad3. However, its role in vascular remodeling evoked by microgravity is not yet known. This study aimed to determine the contribution of miR-214 to the regulation of microgravity-induced vascular remodeling. The results of our study revealed that miR-214 expression was increased in the forebody arteries of both mice and monkeys after simulated microgravity treatment. In vitro, rotation-simulated microgravity-induced VSMC migration, hypertrophy, fibrosis, and inflammation were repressed by miR-214 knockout (KO) in VSMCs. Additionally, miR-214 KO increased the level of Smad7 and decreased the phosphorylation of Smad3, leading to a decrease in downstream gene expression. Furthermore, miR-214 cKO protected against simulated microgravity induced the decline in aorta function and the increase in stiffness. Histological analysis showed that miR-214 cKO inhibited the increases in vascular medial thickness that occurred after simulated microgravity treatment. Altogether, these results demonstrate that miR-214 has potential as a therapeutic target for the treatment of vascular remodeling caused by simulated microgravity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Youyou Li
- Department of Physical Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Yunzhang Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
- Department of Cardiology & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Guohui Zhong
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
- School of Aerospace Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Qing Xu
- Core Facilities Center, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yingjun Tan
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Wenjuan Xing
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
- School of Aerospace Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Dengchao Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Yinbo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Caizhi Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Jianwei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Ruikai Du
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Weijia Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Xinxin Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Yeheng Li
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Zizhong Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoyan Jin
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Dingsheng Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Jinping Song
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Yanqing Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Guanghan Kan
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Xuan Han
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Shujuan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Min Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Feng Gao
- School of Aerospace Medicine, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jingdan Shu
- Department of Physical Education, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Yingxian Li
- State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China
| | - Shukuan Ling
- Oujiang Laboratory (Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health), Wenzhou, China
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5
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Shen L, Lu X, Wang Y, Jiang Y. Audiovisual correspondence facilitates the visual search for biological motion. Psychon Bull Rev 2023; 30:2272-2281. [PMID: 37231177 PMCID: PMC10728268 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02308-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Hearing synchronous sounds may facilitate the visual search for the concurrently changed visual targets. Evidence for this audiovisual attentional facilitation effect mainly comes from studies using artificial stimuli with relatively simple temporal dynamics, indicating a stimulus-driven mechanism whereby synchronous audiovisual cues create a salient object to capture attention. Here, we investigated the crossmodal attentional facilitation effect on biological motion (BM), a natural, biologically significant stimulus with complex and unique dynamic profiles. We found that listening to temporally congruent sounds, compared with incongruent sounds, enhanced the visual search for BM targets. More intriguingly, such a facilitation effect requires the presence of distinctive local motion cues (especially the accelerations in feet movement) independent of the global BM configuration, suggesting a crossmodal mechanism triggered by specific biological features to enhance the salience of BM signals. These findings provide novel insights into how audiovisual integration boosts attention to biologically relevant motion stimuli and extend the function of a proposed life detection system driven by local kinematics of BM to multisensory life motion perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Shen
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Xiqian Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206, China
| | - Ying Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206, China.
| | - Yi Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, 102206, China
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6
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Wang L, Jiang Y. Action observation network: domain-specific or domain-general? Trends Cogn Sci 2023; 27:981-982. [PMID: 37666724 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2023.08.012] [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: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/06/2023]
Abstract
The action observation network (AON) has traditionally been thought to be dedicated to recognizing animate actions. A recent study by Karakose-Akbiyik et al. invites rethinking this assumption by demonstrating that the AON contains a shared neural code for general events, regardless of whether those events involve animate or inanimate entities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China.
| | - Yi Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 16 Lincui Road, Beijing 100101, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China.
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7
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Souto D, Sudkamp J, Nacilla K, Bocian M. Tuning in to a hip-hop beat: Pursuit eye movements reveal processing of biological motion. Hum Mov Sci 2023; 91:103126. [PMID: 37517315 DOI: 10.1016/j.humov.2023.103126] [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: 07/06/2022] [Revised: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023]
Abstract
Smooth pursuit eye movements are mainly driven by motion signals to achieve their goal of reducing retinal motion blur. However, they can also show anticipation of predictable movement patterns. Oculomotor predictions may rely on an internal model of the target kinematics. Most investigations on the nature of those predictions have concentrated on simple stimuli, such as a decontextualized dot. However, biological motion is one of the most important visual stimuli in regulating human interaction and its perception involves integration of form and motion across time and space. Therefore, we asked whether there is a specific contribution of an internal model of biological motion in driving pursuit eye movements. Unlike previous contributions, we exploited the cyclical nature of walking to measure eye movement's ability to track the velocity oscillations of the hip of point-light walkers. We quantified the quality of tracking by cross-correlating pursuit and hip velocity oscillations. We found a robust correlation between signals, even along the horizontal dimension, where changes in velocity during the stepping cycle are very subtle. The inversion of the walker and the presentation of the hip-dot without context incurred the same additional phase lag along the horizontal dimension. These findings support the view that information beyond the hip-dot contributes to the prediction of hip kinematics that controls pursuit. We also found a smaller phase lag in inverted walkers for pursuit along the vertical dimension compared to upright walkers, indicating that inversion does not simply reduce prediction. We suggest that pursuit eye movements reflect the visual processing of biological motion and as such could provide an implicit measure of higher-level visual function.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Souto
- University of Leicester, School of Psychology and Vision Sciences, United Kingdom.
| | - Jennifer Sudkamp
- University of Leicester, School of Psychology and Vision Sciences, United Kingdom
| | - Kyle Nacilla
- University of Leicester, School of Psychology and Vision Sciences, United Kingdom
| | - Mateusz Bocian
- University of Leicester, School of Engineering, United Kingdom; Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Poland
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8
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Zhang X, Tan Q, Mu H. Flying enhances viewing from above bias on ambiguous visual stimuli. J Vis 2023; 23:11. [PMID: 37335570 DOI: 10.1167/jov.23.6.11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The human spatial orientation system is well designed on the ground but is imperfect in the aeronautical three-dimensional (3D) environment. However, human perception systems perform Bayesian statistics based on encountered environments and form shortcuts to improve perceptual efficiency. It is unknown whether our perception of spatial orientation is modified by flying experience and forms perceptual biases. The current study tested pilot perceptual biases on ambiguous visual stimuli, the bistable point-light walkers, and found that flying experiences increased the pilot's tendency to perceive himself as higher than the target and the target as farther away from them. Such perceptual effects due to flight are likely to be attributed to experience of variable vestibular state in a higher position in 3D space, rather than the experience of a higher viewpoint. Our findings suggest that flying experience will modifies our visual perceptual biases, and that more attention should be paid to the enhanced viewing from above bias when flying to avoid overestimating altitude or viewing angle when the visual conditions are ambiguous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xue Zhang
- Institute of Aviation Human Factors and Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Aviation Psychology, Flight Technology College, Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan, China
| | - Qilong Tan
- Institute of Aviation Human Factors and Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Aviation Psychology, Flight Technology College, Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan, China
| | - Haiying Mu
- Institute of Aviation Human Factors and Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Aviation Psychology, Flight Technology College, Civil Aviation Flight University of China, Guanghan, China
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9
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Akhtar MR, Mondal MNI, Rana HK. Bioinformatics approach to identify the impacts of microgravity on the development of bone and joint diseases. INFORMATICS IN MEDICINE UNLOCKED 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.imu.2023.101211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
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10
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Boulenger V, Finos L, Koun E, Salemme R, Desoche C, Roy AC. Up right, not right up: Primacy of verticality in both language and movement. Front Hum Neurosci 2022; 16:981330. [PMID: 36248682 PMCID: PMC9558293 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.981330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
When describing motion along both the horizontal and vertical axes, languages from different families express the elements encoding verticality before those coding for horizontality (e.g., going up right instead of right up). In light of the motor grounding of language, the present study investigated whether the prevalence of verticality in Path expression also governs the trajectory of arm biological movements. Using a 3D virtual-reality setting, we tracked the kinematics of hand pointing movements in five spatial directions, two of which implied the vertical and horizontal vectors equally (i.e., up right +45° and bottom right −45°). Movement onset could be prompted by visual or auditory verbal cues, the latter being canonical in French (“en haut à droite”/up right) or not (“à droite en haut”/right up). In two experiments, analyses of the index finger kinematics revealed a significant effect of gravity, with earlier acceleration, velocity, and deceleration peaks for upward (+45°) than downward (−45°) movements, irrespective of the instructions. Remarkably, confirming the linguistic observations, we found that vertical kinematic parameters occurred earlier than horizontal ones for upward movements, both for visual and congruent verbal cues. Non-canonical verbal instructions significantly affected this temporal dynamic: for upward movements, the horizontal and vertical components temporally aligned, while they reversed for downward movements where the kinematics of the vertical axis was delayed with respect to that of the horizontal one. This temporal dynamic is so deeply anchored that non-canonical verbal instructions allowed for horizontality to precede verticality only for movements that do not fight against gravity. Altogether, our findings provide new insights into the embodiment of language by revealing that linguistic path may reflect the organization of biological movements, giving priority to the vertical axis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Véronique Boulenger
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, CNRS/University Lyon 2, Lyon, France
- *Correspondence: Véronique Boulenger,
| | - Livio Finos
- Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Eric Koun
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - Roméo Salemme
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Neuro-Immersion, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France
| | - Clément Desoche
- Integrative Multisensory Perception Action & Cognition Team (IMPACT), Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS U5292, University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
- Neuro-Immersion, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, Lyon, France
| | - Alice C. Roy
- Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage, UMR 5596, CNRS/University Lyon 2, Lyon, France
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Ma X, Yuan X, Liu J, Shen L, Yu Y, Zhou W, Liu Z, Jiang Y. Gravity-Dependent Animacy Perception in Zebrafish. RESEARCH (WASHINGTON, D.C.) 2022; 2022:9829016. [PMID: 36128180 PMCID: PMC9470206 DOI: 10.34133/2022/9829016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Biological motion (BM), depicted by a handful of point lights attached to the major joints, conveys rich animacy information, which is significantly disrupted if BM is shown upside down. This well-known inversion effect in BM perception is conserved in terrestrial vertebrates and is presumably a manifestation of an evolutionarily endowed perceptual filter (i.e., life motion detector) tuned to gravity-compatible BM. However, it remains unknown whether aquatic animals, living in a completely different environment from terrestrial animals, perceive BM in a gravity-dependent manner. Here, taking advantage of their typical shoaling behaviors, we used zebrafish as a model animal to examine the ability of teleosts to discriminate between upright (gravity-compatible) and inverted (gravity-incompatible) BM signals. We recorded their swimming trajectories and quantified their preference based on dwelling time and head orientation. The results obtained from three experiments consistently showed that zebrafish spent significantly more time swimming in proximity to and orienting towards the upright BM relative to the inverted BM or other gravity-incompatible point-light stimuli (i.e., the non-BM). More intriguingly, when the recorded point-light video clips of fish were directly compared with those of human walkers and pigeons, we could identify a unique and consistent pattern of accelerating movements in the vertical (gravity) direction. These findings, to our knowledge, demonstrate for the first time the inversion effect in BM perception in simple aquatic vertebrates and suggest that the evolutionary origin of gravity-dependent BM processing may be traced back to ancient aquatic animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaohan Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Xiangyong Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Jiahuan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Li Shen
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Yiwen Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Wen Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Zuxiang Liu
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei 230088, China
| | - Yi Jiang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing 102206, China
- Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei 230088, China
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