1
|
Kobayashi K, Kable JW. Neural mechanisms of information seeking. Neuron 2024; 112:1741-1756. [PMID: 38703774 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.04.008] [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: 11/06/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/06/2024]
Abstract
We ubiquitously seek information to make better decisions. Particularly in the modern age, when more information is available at our fingertips than ever, the information we choose to collect determines the quality of our decisions. Decision neuroscience has long adopted empirical approaches where the information available to decision-makers is fully controlled by the researchers, leaving neural mechanisms of information seeking less understood. Although information seeking has long been studied in the context of the exploration-exploitation trade-off, recent studies have widened the scope to investigate more overt information seeking in a way distinct from other decision processes. Insights gained from these studies, accumulated over the last few years, raise the possibility that information seeking is driven by the reward system signaling the subjective value of information. In this piece, we review findings from the recent studies, highlighting the conceptual and empirical relationships between distinct literatures, and discuss future research directions necessary to establish a more comprehensive understanding of how individuals seek information as a part of value-based decision-making.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kenji Kobayashi
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Joseph W Kable
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Poli F, O'Reilly JX, Mars RB, Hunnius S. Curiosity and the dynamics of optimal exploration. Trends Cogn Sci 2024; 28:441-453. [PMID: 38413257 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2024.02.001] [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: 09/28/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/01/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
What drives our curiosity remains an elusive and hotly debated issue, with multiple hypotheses proposed but a cohesive account yet to be established. This review discusses traditional and emergent theories that frame curiosity as a desire to know and a drive to learn, respectively. We adopt a model-based approach that maps the temporal dynamics of various factors underlying curiosity-based exploration, such as uncertainty, information gain, and learning progress. In so doing, we identify the limitations of past theories and posit an integrated account that harnesses their strengths in describing curiosity as a tool for optimal environmental exploration. In our unified account, curiosity serves as a 'common currency' for exploration, which must be balanced with other drives such as safety and hunger to achieve efficient action.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Poli
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Jill X O'Reilly
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Rogier B Mars
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Sabine Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Monosov IE. Curiosity: primate neural circuits for novelty and information seeking. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:195-208. [PMID: 38263217 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-023-00784-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
For many years, neuroscientists have investigated the behavioural, computational and neurobiological mechanisms that support value-based decisions, revealing how humans and animals make choices to obtain rewards. However, many decisions are influenced by factors other than the value of physical rewards or second-order reinforcers (such as money). For instance, animals (including humans) frequently explore novel objects that have no intrinsic value solely because they are novel and they exhibit the desire to gain information to reduce their uncertainties about the future, even if this information cannot lead to reward or assist them in accomplishing upcoming tasks. In this Review, I discuss how circuits in the primate brain responsible for detecting, predicting and assessing novelty and uncertainty regulate behaviour and give rise to these behavioural components of curiosity. I also briefly discuss how curiosity-related behaviours arise during postnatal development and point out some important reasons for the persistence of curiosity across generations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Pain Center, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Hallquist MN, Hwang K, Luna B, Dombrovski AY. Reward-based option competition in human dorsal stream and transition from stochastic exploration to exploitation in continuous space. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadj2219. [PMID: 38394198 PMCID: PMC10889364 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj2219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
Primates exploring and exploiting a continuous sensorimotor space rely on dynamic maps in the dorsal stream. Two complementary perspectives exist on how these maps encode rewards. Reinforcement learning models integrate rewards incrementally over time, efficiently resolving the exploration/exploitation dilemma. Working memory buffer models explain rapid plasticity of parietal maps but lack a plausible exploration/exploitation policy. The reinforcement learning model presented here unifies both accounts, enabling rapid, information-compressing map updates and efficient transition from exploration to exploitation. As predicted by our model, activity in human frontoparietal dorsal stream regions, but not in MT+, tracks the number of competing options, as preferred options are selectively maintained on the map, while spatiotemporally distant alternatives are compressed out. When valuable new options are uncovered, posterior β1/α oscillations desynchronize within 0.4 to 0.7 s, consistent with option encoding by competing β1-stabilized subpopulations. Together, outcomes matching locally cached reward representations rapidly update parietal maps, biasing choices toward often-sampled, rewarded options.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Kai Hwang
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Iowa Neuroscience Institute, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Beatriz Luna
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | | |
Collapse
|
5
|
Singletary NM, Gottlieb J, Horga G. The parieto-occipital cortex is a candidate neural substrate for the human ability to approximate Bayesian inference. Commun Biol 2024; 7:165. [PMID: 38337012 PMCID: PMC10858241 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-024-05821-6] [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: 09/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Adaptive decision-making often requires one to infer unobservable states based on incomplete information. Bayesian logic prescribes that individuals should do so by estimating the posterior probability by integrating the prior probability with new information, but the neural basis of this integration is incompletely understood. We record fMRI during a task in which participants infer the posterior probability of a hidden state while we independently modulate the prior probability and likelihood of evidence regarding the state; the task incentivizes participants to make accurate inferences and dissociates expected value from posterior probability. Here we show that activation in a region of left parieto-occipital cortex independently tracks the subjective posterior probability, combining its subcomponents of prior probability and evidence likelihood, and reflecting the individual participants' systematic deviations from objective probabilities. The parieto-occipital cortex is thus a candidate neural substrate for humans' ability to approximate Bayesian inference by integrating prior beliefs with new information.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas M Singletary
- Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Guillermo Horga
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Panidi K, Vorobiova AN, Feurra M, Klucharev V. Posterior parietal cortex is causally involved in reward valuation but not in probability weighting during risky choice. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad446. [PMID: 38011084 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
This study provides evidence that the posterior parietal cortex is causally involved in risky decision making via the processing of reward values but not reward probabilities. In the within-group experimental design, participants performed a binary lottery choice task following transcranial magnetic stimulation of the right posterior parietal cortex, left posterior parietal cortex, and a right posterior parietal cortex sham (placebo) stimulation. The continuous theta-burst stimulation protocol supposedly downregulating the cortical excitability was used. Both, mean-variance and the prospect theory approach to risky choice showed that the posterior parietal cortex stimulation shifted participants toward greater risk aversion compared with sham. On the behavioral level, after the posterior parietal cortex stimulation, the likelihood of choosing a safer option became more sensitive to the difference in standard deviations between lotteries, compared with sham, indicating greater risk avoidance within the mean-variance framework. We also estimated the shift in prospect theory parameters of risk preferences after posterior parietal cortex stimulation. The hierarchical Bayesian approach showed moderate evidence for a credible change in risk aversion parameter toward lower marginal reward value (and, hence, lower risk tolerance), while no credible change in probability weighting was observed. In addition, we observed anecdotal evidence for a credible increase in the consistency of responses after the left posterior parietal cortex stimulation compared with sham.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ksenia Panidi
- Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, ul. Myasnitskaya 20, Moscow 101000, Russian Federation
| | - Alicia N Vorobiova
- Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, ul. Myasnitskaya 20, Moscow 101000, Russian Federation
| | - Matteo Feurra
- Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, ul. Myasnitskaya 20, Moscow 101000, Russian Federation
| | - Vasily Klucharev
- Centre for Cognition and Decision Making, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, HSE University, ul. Myasnitskaya 20, Moscow 101000, Russian Federation
- Graduate School of Business, HSE University, ul. Shabolovka, 26, Moscow 119049, Russian Federation
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Valdebenito-Oyarzo G, Martínez-Molina MP, Soto-Icaza P, Zamorano F, Figueroa-Vargas A, Larraín-Valenzuela J, Stecher X, Salinas C, Bastin J, Valero-Cabré A, Polania R, Billeke P. The parietal cortex has a causal role in ambiguity computations in humans. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002452. [PMID: 38198502 PMCID: PMC10824459 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002452] [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: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 11/28/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Humans often face the challenge of making decisions between ambiguous options. The level of ambiguity in decision-making has been linked to activity in the parietal cortex, but its exact computational role remains elusive. To test the hypothesis that the parietal cortex plays a causal role in computing ambiguous probabilities, we conducted consecutive fMRI and TMS-EEG studies. We found that participants assigned unknown probabilities to objective probabilities, elevating the uncertainty of their decisions. Parietal cortex activity correlated with the objective degree of ambiguity and with a process that underestimates the uncertainty during decision-making. Conversely, the midcingulate cortex (MCC) encodes prediction errors and increases its connectivity with the parietal cortex during outcome processing. Disruption of the parietal activity increased the uncertainty evaluation of the options, decreasing cingulate cortex oscillations during outcome evaluation and lateral frontal oscillations related to value ambiguous probability. These results provide evidence for a causal role of the parietal cortex in computing uncertainty during ambiguous decisions made by humans.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Valdebenito-Oyarzo
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - María Paz Martínez-Molina
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Patricia Soto-Icaza
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Francisco Zamorano
- Unidad de Neuroimágenes Cuantitativas avanzadas (UNICA), Departamento de Imágenes, Clínica Alemana de Santiago, Santiago, Chile
- Facultad de Ciencias para el Cuidado de la Salud, Campus Los Leones, Universidad San Sebastián, Santiago, Chile
| | - Alejandra Figueroa-Vargas
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Josefina Larraín-Valenzuela
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| | - Ximena Stecher
- Unidad de Neuroimágenes Cuantitativas avanzadas (UNICA), Departamento de Imágenes, Clínica Alemana de Santiago, Santiago, Chile
| | - César Salinas
- Unidad de Neuroimágenes Cuantitativas avanzadas (UNICA), Departamento de Imágenes, Clínica Alemana de Santiago, Santiago, Chile
| | - Julien Bastin
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inserm, U1216, Grenoble Institut Neurosciences, Grenoble, France
| | - Antoni Valero-Cabré
- Causal Dynamics, Plasticity and Rehabilitation Group, FRONTLAB team, Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), CNRS UMR 7225, INSERM U 1127 and Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
- Cognitive Neuroscience and Information Technology Research Program, Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Barcelona, Spain
- Laboratory for Cerebral Dynamics Plasticity and Rehabilitation, Boston University, School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Rafael Polania
- Decision Neuroscience Lab, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Pablo Billeke
- Laboratorio de Neurociencia Social y Neuromodulación, Centro de Investigación en Complejidad Social, (neuroCICS), Facultad de Gobierno, Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Modirshanechi A, Kondrakiewicz K, Gerstner W, Haesler S. Curiosity-driven exploration: foundations in neuroscience and computational modeling. Trends Neurosci 2023; 46:1054-1066. [PMID: 37925342 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2023.10.002] [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: 06/21/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023]
Abstract
Curiosity refers to the intrinsic desire of humans and animals to explore the unknown, even when there is no apparent reason to do so. Thus far, no single, widely accepted definition or framework for curiosity has emerged, but there is growing consensus that curious behavior is not goal-directed but related to seeking or reacting to information. In this review, we take a phenomenological approach and group behavioral and neurophysiological studies which meet these criteria into three categories according to the type of information seeking observed. We then review recent computational models of curiosity from the field of machine learning and discuss how they enable integrating different types of information seeking into one theoretical framework. Combinations of behavioral and neurophysiological studies along with computational modeling will be instrumental in demystifying the notion of curiosity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Kacper Kondrakiewicz
- Neuroelectronics Research Flanders (NERF), Leuven, Belgium; VIB, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Wulfram Gerstner
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Sebastian Haesler
- Neuroelectronics Research Flanders (NERF), Leuven, Belgium; VIB, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, Leuven, Belgium.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Singletary NM, Horga G, Gottlieb J. A Distinct Neural Code Supports Prospection of Future Probabilities During Instrumental Information-Seeking. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.27.568849. [PMID: 38076800 PMCID: PMC10705234 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.27.568849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2023]
Abstract
To make adaptive decisions, we must actively demand information, but relatively little is known about the mechanisms of active information gathering. An open question is how the brain estimates expected information gains (EIG) when comparing the current decision uncertainty with the uncertainty that is expected after gathering information. We examined this question using fMRI in a task in which people placed bids to obtain information in conditions that varied independently by prior decision uncertainty, information diagnosticity, and the penalty for an erroneous choice. Consistent with value of information theory, bids were sensitive to EIG and its components of prior certainty and expected posterior certainty. Expected posterior certainty was decoded above chance from multivoxel activation patterns in the posterior parietal and extrastriate cortices. This representation was independent of instrumental rewards and overlapped with distinct representations of EIG and prior certainty. Thus, posterior parietal and extrastriate cortices are candidates for mediating the prospection of posterior probabilities as a key step to estimate EIG during active information gathering.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas M Singletary
- Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
| | - Guillermo Horga
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| | - Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- These authors contributed equally
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Gao X, Wei T, Xu S, Sun W, Zhang B, Li C, Sui R, Fei N, Li Y, Xu W, Han D. Sleep disorders causally affect the brain cortical structure: A Mendelian randomization study. Sleep Med 2023; 110:243-253. [PMID: 37657176 DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2023.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 07/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND s: Previous studies have reported that patients with sleep disorders have altered brain cortical structures. However, the causality has not been determined. We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) to reveal the causal effect of sleep disorders on brain cortical structure. METHODS We included as exposures 11 phenotypes of sleep disorders including subjective and objective sleep duration, insomnia symptom and poor sleep efficiency, daytime sleepiness (narcolepsy)/napping, morning/evening preference, and four sleep breathing related traits from nine European-descent genome-wide association studies (GWASs). Further, outcome variables were provided by ENIGMA Consortium GWAS for full brain and 34 region-specific cortical thickness (TH) and surface area (SA) of grey matter. Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) was used as the primary estimate whereas alternative MR methods were implemented as sensitivity analysis approaches to ensure results robustness. RESULTS At the global level, both self-reported or accelerometer-measured shorter sleep duration decreases the thickness of full brain both derived from self-reported data (βIVW = 0.03 mm, standard error (SE) = 0.02, P = 0.038; βIVW = 0.02 mm, SE = 0.01, P = 0.010). At the functional level, there were 66 associations of suggestive evidence of causality. Notably, one robust evidence after multiple testing correction (1518 tests) suggests the without global weighted SA of superior parietal lobule was influenced significantly by sleep efficiency (βIVW = -285.28 mm2, SE = 68.59, P = 3.2 × 10-5). CONCLUSIONS We found significant evidence that shorter sleep duration, as estimated by self-reported interview and accelerometer measurements, was causally associated with atrophy in the entire human brain.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Gao
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy and Research Centre, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China
| | - Tao Wei
- Department of Neurology & Innovation Center for Neurological Disorders, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Neurological Disorders, Beijing, 100053, People's Republic of China
| | - Shenglong Xu
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy and Research Centre, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China
| | - Wei Sun
- Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Neurological Disorders, Beijing, 100053, People's Republic of China
| | - Bowen Zhang
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy and Research Centre, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China
| | - Cancan Li
- Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Halth, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, People's Republic of China
| | - Rongcui Sui
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy and Research Centre, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China
| | - Nanxi Fei
- Department of Radiology, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China
| | - Yanru Li
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy and Research Centre, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China.
| | - Wen Xu
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy and Research Centre, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China
| | - Demin Han
- Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Obstructive Sleep Apnea-Hypopnea Syndrome Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy and Research Centre, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China; Key Laboratory of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ministry of Education, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100730, People's Republic of China.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Axelrod V, Rozier C, Sohier E, Lehongre K, Adam C, Lambrecq V, Navarro V, Naccache L. Intracranial study in humans: Neural spectral changes during watching comedy movie of Charlie Chaplin. Neuropsychologia 2023; 185:108558. [PMID: 37061128 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Revised: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/17/2023]
Abstract
Humor plays a prominent role in our lives. Thus, understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms of humor is particularly important. Previous studies that investigated neural substrates of humor used functional MRI and to a lesser extent EEG. In the present study, we conducted intracranial recording in human patients, enabling us to obtain the signal with high temporal precision from within specific brain locations. Our analysis focused on the temporal lobe and the surrounding areas, the temporal lobe was most densely covered in our recording. Thirteen patients watched a fragment of a Charlie Chaplin movie. An independent group of healthy participants rated the same movie fragment, helping us to identify the most funny and the least funny frames of the movie. We compared neural activity occurring during the most funny and least funny frames across frequencies in the range of 1-170 Hz. The most funny compared to least funny parts of the movie were associated with activity modulation in the broadband high-gamma (70-170 Hz; mostly activation) and to a lesser extent gamma band (40-69Hz; activation) and low frequencies (1-12 Hz, delta, theta, alpha bands; mostly deactivation). With regard to regional specificity, we found three types of brain areas: (I) temporal pole, middle and inferior temporal gyrus (both anterior and posterior) in which there was both activation in the high-gamma/gamma bands and deactivation in low frequencies; (II) ventral part of the temporal lobe such as the fusiform gyrus, in which there was mostly deactivation the low frequencies; (III) posterior temporal cortex and its environment, such as the middle occipital and the temporo-parietal junction, in which there was activation in the high-gamma/gamma band. Overall, our results suggest that humor appreciation might be achieved by neural activity across the frequency spectrum.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Vadim Axelrod
- The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel.
| | - Camille Rozier
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau, ICM, INSERM, CNRS, AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Elisa Sohier
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau, ICM, INSERM, CNRS, AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Katia Lehongre
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau, ICM, INSERM, CNRS, AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Claude Adam
- AP-HP, Epilepsy Unit, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, DMU Neurosciences, Paris, France
| | - Virginie Lambrecq
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau, ICM, INSERM, CNRS, AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France; AP-HP, EEG Unit, Neurophysiology Department, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, DMU Neurosciences, Paris, France; AP-HP, Epilepsy Unit, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, DMU Neurosciences, Paris, France
| | - Vincent Navarro
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau, ICM, INSERM, CNRS, AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France; AP-HP, EEG Unit, Neurophysiology Department, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, DMU Neurosciences, Paris, France; AP-HP, Epilepsy Unit, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, DMU Neurosciences, Paris, France; AP-HP, Center of Reference for Rare Epilepsies, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France
| | - Lionel Naccache
- Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute - Institut du Cerveau, ICM, INSERM, CNRS, AP-HP, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France; AP-HP, Groupe hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Department of Neurophysiology, 47-83 boulevard de l'Hôpital, Paris 75013, France
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Peciña M, Chen J, Karp JF, Dombrovski AY. Dynamic Feedback Between Antidepressant Placebo Expectancies and Mood. JAMA Psychiatry 2023; 80:389-398. [PMID: 36857039 PMCID: PMC9979016 DOI: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2023.0010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/02/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023]
Abstract
Importance Despite high antidepressant placebo response rates, the mechanisms underlying the persistence of antidepressant placebo effects are still poorly understood. Objective To investigate the neurobehavioral mechanisms underlying the evolution of antidepressant placebo effects using a reinforcement learning (RL) framework. Design, Setting, and Participants In this acute within-patient cross-sectional study of antidepressant placebos, patients aged 18 to 55 years not receiving medication for major depressive disorder (MDD) were recruited at the University of Pittsburgh between February 21, 2017, to March 1, 2021. Interventions The antidepressant placebo functional magnetic resonance imaging task manipulates placebo-associated expectancies using visually cued fast-acting antidepressant infusions and controls their reinforcement with sham visual neurofeedback while assessing expected and experienced mood improvement. Main Outcomes and Measures The trial-by-trial evolution of expectancies and mood was examined using multilevel modeling and RL, relating model-predicted signals to spatiotemporal dynamics of blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response. Results A bayesian RL model comparison in 60 individuals (mean [SE] age, 24.5 [0.8] years; 51 females [85%]) with MDD revealed that antidepressant placebo trial-wise expectancies were updated by composite learning signals multiplexing sensory evidence (neurofeedback) and trial-wise mood (bayesian omnibus risk <0.001; exceedance probability = 97%). Placebo expectancy, neurofeedback manipulations, and composite learning signals modulated the visual cortex and dorsal attention network (threshold-free cluster enhancement [TFCE] = 1 - P >.95). As participants anticipated antidepressant infusions, learned placebo expectancies modulated the salience network (SN, TFCE = 1 - P >.95), positively scaling with depression severity. Conclusions and Relevance Results of this cross-sectional study suggest that on a timescale of minutes, antidepressant placebo effects were maintained by positive feedback loops between expectancies and mood improvement. During learning, representations of placebos and their perceived effects were enhanced in primary and secondary sensory cortices. Latent learned placebo expectancies were encoded in the SN.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marta Peciña
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Jiazhou Chen
- Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
- Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
13
|
Gottlieb J. Emerging Principles of Attention and Information Demand. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023. [DOI: 10.1177/09637214221142778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2023]
Abstract
I review recent literature on information demand and its implications for attention control. I argue that this literature motivates a view of attention as a mechanism that reduces uncertainty by selectively sampling sensory stimuli on the basis of expected information gain (EIG). I discuss emerging evidence on how individuals estimate the two quantities that determine EIG, prior uncertainty and stimulus diagnosticity (predictive accuracy). I also discuss the neural mechanisms that compute EIG and integrate it with rewards in frontoparietal, executive, and neuromodulatory circuits. I end by considering the implications of this framework for a broader understanding of the factors that assign relevance to sensory stimuli and the role of attention in decision making and other cognitive functions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University
- Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
The composition of the choice set modulates probability weighting in risky decisions. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023:10.3758/s13415-023-01062-y. [PMID: 36702993 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01062-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
Probability distortion-the tendency to underweight larger probabilities and overweight smaller ones-is a robust empirical phenomenon and an important driver of suboptimal choices. We reveal a novel contextual effect on probability distortion that depends on the composition of the choice set. Probability distortion was larger in a magnitude-diverse choice set (in which participants encountered more unique magnitudes than probabilities) but declined, resulting in more veridical weighting, in a probability-diverse choice set (more unique probabilities than magnitudes). This effect was consistent in two, large, independent datasets (N = 481, N = 100) and held for a subset of lotteries that were identical in the two contexts. It also developed gradually as a function of exposure to the choice set, was independent of attentional biases to probability versus magnitude information, and was specific to probability weighting, leaving risk attitudes unaffected. The results highlight the importance of context when processing probabilistic information.
Collapse
|
15
|
Barack DL, Bakkour A, Shohamy D, Salzman CD. Visuospatial information foraging describes search behavior in learning latent environmental features. Sci Rep 2023; 13:1126. [PMID: 36670132 PMCID: PMC9860038 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-27662-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2023] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
In the real world, making sequences of decisions to achieve goals often depends upon the ability to learn aspects of the environment that are not directly perceptible. Learning these so-called latent features requires seeking information about them. Prior efforts to study latent feature learning often used single decisions, used few features, and failed to distinguish between reward-seeking and information-seeking. To overcome this, we designed a task in which humans and monkeys made a series of choices to search for shapes hidden on a grid. On our task, the effects of reward and information outcomes from uncovering parts of shapes could be disentangled. Members of both species adeptly learned the shapes and preferred to select tiles expected to be informative earlier in trials than previously rewarding ones, searching a part of the grid until their outcomes dropped below the average information outcome-a pattern consistent with foraging behavior. In addition, how quickly humans learned the shapes was predicted by how well their choice sequences matched the foraging pattern, revealing an unexpected connection between foraging and learning. This adaptive search for information may underlie the ability in humans and monkeys to learn latent features to support goal-directed behavior in the long run.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- David L Barack
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, USA.
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, USA.
| | - Akram Bakkour
- Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, USA
| | - Daphna Shohamy
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, USA
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, USA
- Kavli Institute for Brain Sciences, Columbia University, New York, USA
| | - C Daniel Salzman
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, USA
- Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, USA
- Kavli Institute for Brain Sciences, Columbia University, New York, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, USA
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Yu S, Stock AK, Münchau A, Frings C, Beste C. Neurophysiological principles of inhibitory control processes during cognitive flexibility. Cereb Cortex 2023:6969136. [PMID: 36610732 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac532] [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: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 12/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Inhibitory control plays an indispensable role in cognitive flexibility. Nevertheless, the neurophysiological principles underlying this are incompletely understood. This owes to the fact that the representational dynamics, as coded in oscillatory neural activity of different frequency bands has not been considered until now-despite being of conceptual relevance. Moreover, it is unclear in how far distinct functional neuroanatomical regions are concomitantly involved in the processing of representational dynamics. We examine these questions using a combination of EEG methods. We show that theta-band activity plays an essential role for inhibitory control processes during cognitive flexibility across informational aspects coded in distinct fractions of the neurophysiological signal. It is shown that posterior parietal structures and the inferior parietal cortex seem to be the most important cortical region for inhibitory control processes during cognitive flexibility. Theta-band activity plays an essential role in processes of retrieving the previously inhibited representations related to the current task during cognitive flexibility. The representational content relevant for inhibitory processes during cognitive flexibility is coded in the theta frequency band. We outline how the observed neural mechanisms inform recent overarching cognitive frameworks on how flexible action control is accomplished.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shijing Yu
- Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Sachsen 01187, Germany
| | - Ann-Kathrin Stock
- Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Sachsen 01187, Germany
| | - Alexander Münchau
- Institute of Systems Motor Science, University of Lübeck, Lübeck 23562, Germany
| | | | - Christian Beste
- Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Sachsen 01187, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Humans trade off search costs and accuracy in a combined visual search and perceptual task. Atten Percept Psychophys 2023; 85:23-40. [PMID: 36451074 PMCID: PMC9816200 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-022-02600-5] [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] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
To interact with one's environment, relevant objects have to be selected as targets for saccadic eye movements. Previous studies have demonstrated that factors such as visual saliency and reward influence saccade target selection, and that humans can dynamically trade off these factors to maximize expected value during visual search. However, expected value in everyday situations not only depends on saliency and reward, but also on the required time to find objects, and the likelihood of a successful object-interaction after search. Here we studied whether search costs and the accuracy to discriminate an object feature can be traded off to maximize expected value. We designed a combined visual search and perceptual discrimination task, where participants chose whether to search for an easy- or difficult-to-discriminate target in search displays populated by distractors that shared features with either the easy or the difficult target. Participants received a monetary reward for correct discriminations and were given limited time to complete as many trials as they could. We found that participants considered their discrimination performance and the search costs when choosing targets and, by this, maximized expected value. However, the accumulated reward was constrained by noise in both the choice of which target to search for, and which elements to fixate during search. We conclude that humans take into account the prospective search time and the likelihood of successful a object-interaction, when deciding what to search for. However, search performance is constrained by noise in decisions about what to search for and how to search for it.
Collapse
|
18
|
A Reinforcement Meta-Learning framework of executive function and information demand. Neural Netw 2023; 157:103-113. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2022.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2021] [Revised: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
|
19
|
Witkowski PP, Geng JJ. Attentional priority is determined by predicted feature distributions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 2022; 48:1201-1212. [PMID: 36048065 PMCID: PMC10249461 DOI: 10.1037/xhp0001041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Visual attention is often characterized as being guided by precise memories for target objects. However, real-world search targets have dynamic features that vary over time, meaning that observers must predict how the target could look based on how features are expected to change. Despite its importance, little is known about how target feature predictions influence feature-based attention, or how these predictions are represented in the target template. In Experiment 1 (N = 60 university students), we show observers readily track the statistics of target features over time and adapt attentional priority to predictions about the distribution of target features. In Experiments 2a and 2b (N = 480 university students), we show that these predictions are encoded into the target template as a distribution of likelihoods over possible target features, which are independent of memory precision for the cued item. These results provide a novel demonstration of how observers represent predicted feature distributions when target features are uncertain and show that these predictions are used to set attentional priority during visual search. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Phillip P. Witkowski
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
- Department of Psychology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
| | - Joy J. Geng
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
- Department of Psychology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Li Y, Daddaoua N, Horan M, Foley NC, Gottlieb J. Uncertainty modulates visual maps during noninstrumental information demand. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5911. [PMID: 36207316 PMCID: PMC9547007 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33585-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals are intrinsically motivated to obtain information independently of instrumental incentives. This motivation depends on two factors: a desire to resolve uncertainty by gathering accurate information and a desire to obtain positively-valenced observations, which predict favorable rather than unfavorable outcomes. To understand the neural mechanisms, we recorded parietal cortical activity implicated in prioritizing stimuli for spatial attention and gaze, in a task in which monkeys were free (but not trained) to obtain information about probabilistic non-contingent rewards. We show that valence and uncertainty independently modulated parietal neuronal activity, and uncertainty but not reward-related enhancement consistently correlated with behavioral sensitivity. The findings suggest uncertainty-driven and valence-driven information demand depend on partially distinct pathways, with the former being consistently related to parietal responses and the latter depending on additional mechanisms implemented in downstream structures. Curiosity is motivated by uncertainty and valence, but how uncertainty and valence are encoded in the brain remains poorly understood. Here, the authors show that parietal neurons are enhanced by both factors, but that they specifically predict visual information seeking based on uncertainty.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yvonne Li
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nabil Daddaoua
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Mattias Horan
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nicholas C Foley
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Anderson BA, Kim H, Kim AJ, Liao MR, Mrkonja L, Clement A, Grégoire L. The past, present, and future of selection history. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 130:326-350. [PMID: 34499927 PMCID: PMC8511179 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2021] [Revised: 07/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
The last ten years of attention research have witnessed a revolution, replacing a theoretical dichotomy (top-down vs. bottom-up control) with a trichotomy (biased by current goals, physical salience, and selection history). This third new mechanism of attentional control, selection history, is multifaceted. Some aspects of selection history must be learned over time whereas others reflect much more transient influences. A variety of different learning experiences can shape the attention system, including reward, aversive outcomes, past experience searching for a target, target‒non-target relations, and more. In this review, we provide an overview of the historical forces that led to the proposal of selection history as a distinct mechanism of attentional control. We then propose a formal definition of selection history, with concrete criteria, and identify different components of experience-driven attention that fit within this definition. The bulk of the review is devoted to exploring how these different components relate to one another. We conclude by proposing an integrative account of selection history centered on underlying themes that emerge from our review.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Brian A Anderson
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States.
| | - Haena Kim
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | - Andy J Kim
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | - Ming-Ray Liao
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | - Lana Mrkonja
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | - Andrew Clement
- Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, United States
| | | |
Collapse
|
22
|
Kaanders P, Nili H, O'Reilly JX, Hunt L. Medial Frontal Cortex Activity Predicts Information Sampling in Economic Choice. J Neurosci 2021; 41:8403-8413. [PMID: 34413207 PMCID: PMC8496191 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0392-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2021] [Revised: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 08/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Decision-making not only requires agents to decide what to choose but also how much information to sample before committing to a choice. Previously established frameworks for economic choice argue for a deliberative process of evidence accumulation across time. These tacitly acknowledge a role of information sampling in that decisions are only made once sufficient evidence is acquired, yet few experiments have explicitly placed information sampling under the participant's control. Here, we use fMRI to investigate the neural basis of information sampling in economic choice by allowing participants (n = 30, sex not recorded) to actively sample information in a multistep decision task. We show that medial frontal cortex (MFC) activity is predictive of further information sampling before choice. Choice difficulty (inverse value difference, keeping sensory difficulty constant) was also encoded in MFC, but this effect was explained away by the inclusion of information sampling as a coregressor in the general linear model. A distributed network of regions across the prefrontal cortex encoded key features of the sampled information at the time it was presented. We propose that MFC is an important controller of the extent to which information is gathered before committing to an economic choice. This role may explain why MFC activity has been associated with evidence accumulation in previous studies in which information sampling was an implicit rather than explicit feature of the decision.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The decisions we make are determined by the information we have sampled before committing to a choice. Accumulator frameworks of decision-making tacitly acknowledge the need to sample further information during the evidence accumulation process until a decision boundary is reached. However, relatively few studies explicitly place this decision to sample further information under the participant's control. In this fMRI study, we find that MFC activity is related to information sampling decisions in a multistep economic choice task. This suggests that an important role of evidence representations within MFC may be to guide adaptive sequential decisions to sample further information before committing to a final decision.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paula Kaanders
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, England
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, England
| | - Hamed Nili
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, England
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, England
| | - Jill X O'Reilly
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, England
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, England
| | - Laurence Hunt
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, England
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, England
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Dissociable mechanisms of information sampling in prefrontal cortex and the dopaminergic system. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
|
24
|
Alcaro A, Brennan A, Conversi D. The SEEKING Drive and Its Fixation: A Neuro-Psycho-Evolutionary Approach to the Pathology of Addiction. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:635932. [PMID: 34475816 PMCID: PMC8406748 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.635932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuro-ethological studies conducted by Panksepp and his colleagues have provided an understanding of how the activity of the mesolimbic dopaminergic (ML DA) system leads to the emotional disposition to SEEK/Explore, which is involved in all appetitive motivated behavior and mental activity. In pathological addiction phenomena, this emotional disposition “fixes” itself on certain obsessive-compulsive habits, losing its versatility and its natural predisposition to spontaneous and unconditioned activation. Overall, the result is a consistent disinterest in everything that is not the object of addiction. From a neuro-psycho-evolutionary point of view, the predisposition to develop addictive behavior can be attributed to a loss of “functional autonomy” of the SEEKING/Explorative disposition. Indeed, as shown by animal and human studies, the tendency to be conditioned by situations and contexts that provide an immediate reward can be closely related to a deficit in the tonic endogenous activity of the ML DA-SEEKING system.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Alcaro
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | | | - David Conversi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Woo TF, Law CK, Ting KH, Chan CCH, Kolling N, Watanabe K, Chau BKH. Distinct Causal Influences of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex and Posterior Parietal Cortex in Multiple-Option Decision Making. Cereb Cortex 2021; 32:1390-1404. [PMID: 34470053 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab278] [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: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Our knowledge about neural mechanisms underlying decision making is largely based on experiments that involved few options. However, it is more common in daily life to choose between many options, in which processing choice information selectively is particularly important. The current study examined whether the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC) are of particular importance to multiple-option decision making. Sixty-eight participants received anodal high definition-transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) to focally enhance dlPFC or PPC in a double-blind sham-controlled design. Participants then performed a multiple-option decision making task. We found longer fixations on poorer options were related to less optimal decisions. Interestingly, this negative impact was attenuated after applying anodal HD-tDCS over dlPFC, especially in choices with many options. This suggests that dlPFC has a causal role in filtering choice-irrelevant information. In contrast, these effects were absent after participants received anodal HD-tDCS over PPC. Instead, the choices made by these participants were more biased towards the best options presented on the side contralateral to the stimulation. This suggests PPC has a causal role in value-based spatial selection. To conclude, the dlPFC has a role in filtering undesirable options, whereas the PPC emphasizes the desirable contralateral options.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tsz-Fung Woo
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| | - Chun-Kit Law
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| | - Kin-Hung Ting
- University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| | - Chetwyn C H Chan
- Department of Psychology, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Nils Kolling
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK.,Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK.,Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity (OHBA), University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK
| | - Kei Watanabe
- Department of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Bolton K H Chau
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong.,University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Wolf C, Lappe M. Vision as oculomotor reward: cognitive contributions to the dynamic control of saccadic eye movements. Cogn Neurodyn 2021; 15:547-568. [PMID: 34367360 PMCID: PMC8286912 DOI: 10.1007/s11571-020-09661-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Revised: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans and other primates are equipped with a foveated visual system. As a consequence, we reorient our fovea to objects and targets in the visual field that are conspicuous or that we consider relevant or worth looking at. These reorientations are achieved by means of saccadic eye movements. Where we saccade to depends on various low-level factors such as a targets' luminance but also crucially on high-level factors like the expected reward or a targets' relevance for perception and subsequent behavior. Here, we review recent findings how the control of saccadic eye movements is influenced by higher-level cognitive processes. We first describe the pathways by which cognitive contributions can influence the neural oculomotor circuit. Second, we summarize what saccade parameters reveal about cognitive mechanisms, particularly saccade latencies, saccade kinematics and changes in saccade gain. Finally, we review findings on what renders a saccade target valuable, as reflected in oculomotor behavior. We emphasize that foveal vision of the target after the saccade can constitute an internal reward for the visual system and that this is reflected in oculomotor dynamics that serve to quickly and accurately provide detailed foveal vision of relevant targets in the visual field.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Christian Wolf
- Institute for Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstrasse 21, 48149 Münster, Germany
| | - Markus Lappe
- Institute for Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstrasse 21, 48149 Münster, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
|
28
|
Petitet P, Attaallah B, Manohar SG, Husain M. The computational cost of active information sampling before decision-making under uncertainty. Nat Hum Behav 2021; 5:935-946. [PMID: 34045719 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-021-01116-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 04/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Humans often seek information to minimize the pervasive effect of uncertainty on decisions. Current theories explain how much knowledge people should gather before a decision, based on the cost-benefit structure of the problem at hand. Here, we demonstrate that this framework omits a crucial agent-related factor: the cognitive effort expended while collecting information. Using an active sampling model, we unveil a speed-efficiency trade-off whereby more informative samples take longer to find. Crucially, under sufficient time pressure, humans can break this trade-off, sampling both faster and more efficiently. Computational modelling demonstrates the existence of a cost of cognitive effort which, when incorporated into theoretical models, provides a better account of people's behaviour and also relates to self-reported fatigue accumulated during active sampling. Thus, the way people seek knowledge to guide their decisions is shaped not only by task-related costs and benefits, but also crucially by the quantifiable computational costs incurred.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pierre Petitet
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | | | - Sanjay G Manohar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Masud Husain
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Li ZW, Bramley NR, Gureckis TM. Expectations about future learning influence moment-to-moment feelings of suspense. Cogn Emot 2021; 35:1099-1120. [PMID: 34165041 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2021.1932429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Suspense is a cognitive and affective state that is often experienced in the anticipation of information and contributes to the enjoyment and consumption of entertainment such as movies or sports. Ely et al. proposed a formal definition of suspense which relies upon predictions about future belief updates. In order to empirically evaluate this theory, we designed a task based on the casino card game Blackjack where a variety of suspense dynamics can be experimentally induced. Our behavioural data confirmed the explanatory power of this theory. We further compared this formulation with other heuristic models inspired by studies in other domains such as narratives and found that most heuristic models cannot well account for the specific temporal dynamics of suspense across wide range of game variants. We additionally propose a way to test whether experiencing greater levels of suspense motivates more game-playing. In summary, this work is an initial attempt to link formal models of information and uncertainty with affective cognitive states and motivation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhi-Wei Li
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Neil R Bramley
- Department of Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Todd M Gureckis
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Abstract
Remapping is a property of some cortical and subcortical neurons that update their responses around the time of an eye movement to account for the shift of stimuli on the retina due to the saccade. Physiologically, remapping is traditionally tested by briefly presenting a single stimulus around the time of the saccade and looking at the onset of the response and the locations in space to which the neuron is responsive. Here we suggest that a better way to understand the functional role of remapping is to look at the time at which the neural signal emerges when saccades are made across a stable scene. Based on data obtained using this approach, we suggest that remapping in the lateral intraparietal area is sufficient to play a role in maintaining visual stability across saccades, whereas in the frontal eye field, remapped activity carries information that affects future saccadic choices and, in a separate subset of neurons, is used to maintain a map of locations in the scene that have been previously fixated.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- James W Bisley
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Department of Psychology and the Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Koorosh Mirpour
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Yelda Alkan
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Mirpour K, Bisley JW. The roles of the lateral intraparietal area and frontal eye field in guiding eye movements in free viewing search behavior. J Neurophysiol 2021; 125:2144-2157. [PMID: 33949898 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00559.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The lateral intraparietal area (LIP) and frontal eye field (FEF) have been shown to play significant roles in oculomotor control, yet most studies have found that the two areas behave similarly. To identify the unique roles each area plays in guiding eye movements, we recorded 200 LIP neurons and 231 FEF neurons from four animals performing a free viewing visual foraging task. We analyzed how neuronal responses were modulated by stimulus identity and the animals' choice of where to make a saccade. We additionally analyzed the comodulation of the sensory signals and the choice signal to identify how the sensory signals drove the choice. We found a clearly defined division of labor: LIP provided a stable map integrating task rules and stimulus identity, whereas FEF responses were dynamic, representing more complex information and, just before the saccade, were integrated with task rules and stimulus identity to decide where to move the eye.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The lateral intrapareital area (LIP) and frontal eye field (FEF) are known to contribute to guiding eye movements, but little is known about the unique roles that each area plays. Using a free viewing visual search task, we found that LIP provides a stable map of the visual world, integrating task rules and stimulus identity. FEF activity is consistently modulated by more complex information but, just before the saccade, integrates all the information to make the final decision about where to move.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Koorosh Mirpour
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California
| | - James W Bisley
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California.,Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, California.,Department of Psychology and the Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, California
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Nakamura K. Information seeking criteria: artificial intelligence, economics, psychology, and neuroscience. Rev Neurosci 2021; 33:31-41. [PMID: 33855841 DOI: 10.1515/revneuro-2020-0137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
There has been an enormous amount of interest in how the brain seeks information. The study of this issue is a rapidly growing field in neuroscience. Information seeking is to make informative choices among multiple alternatives. A central issue in information seeking is how the value of information is assessed in order to choose informative alternatives. This issue has been studied in psychology, economics, and artificial intelligence. The present review is focused on information assessment and summarizes the psychological and computational criteria with which humans and computers assess information. Based on the summary, neurophysiological findings are discussed. In addition, a computational view of the relationships between these criteria is presented.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kiyohiko Nakamura
- School of Computing, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
33
|
Monosov IE, Haber SN, Leuthardt EC, Jezzini A. Anterior Cingulate Cortex and the Control of Dynamic Behavior in Primates. Curr Biol 2020; 30:R1442-R1454. [PMID: 33290716 PMCID: PMC8197026 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The brain mechanism for controlling continuous behavior in dynamic contexts must mediate action selection and learning across many timescales, responding differentially to the level of environmental uncertainty and volatility. In this review, we argue that a part of the frontal cortex known as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is particularly well suited for this function. First, the ACC is interconnected with prefrontal, parietal, and subcortical regions involved in valuation and action selection. Second, the ACC integrates diverse, behaviorally relevant information across multiple timescales, producing output signals that temporally encapsulate decision and learning processes and encode high-dimensional information about the value and uncertainty of future outcomes and subsequent behaviors. Third, the ACC signals behaviorally relevant information flexibly, displaying the capacity to represent information about current and future states in a valence-, context-, task- and action-specific manner. Fourth, the ACC dynamically controls instrumental- and non-instrumental information seeking behaviors to resolve uncertainty about future outcomes. We review electrophysiological and circuit disruption studies in primates to develop this point, discuss its relationship to novel therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders in humans, and conclude by relating ongoing research in primates to studies of medial frontal cortical regions in rodents.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Neurosurgery School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Pain Center, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
| | - Suzanne N Haber
- Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA; Basic Neuroscience, McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
| | - Eric C Leuthardt
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Neurosurgery School of Medicine, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Ahmad Jezzini
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Taghizadeh B, Foley NC, Karimimehr S, Cohanpour M, Semework M, Sheth SA, Lashgari R, Gottlieb J. Reward uncertainty asymmetrically affects information transmission within the monkey fronto-parietal network. Commun Biol 2020; 3:594. [PMID: 33087809 PMCID: PMC7578031 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01320-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2020] [Accepted: 09/25/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
A central hypothesis in research on executive function is that controlled information processing is costly and is allocated according to the behavioral benefits it brings. However, while computational theories predict that the benefits of new information depend on prior uncertainty, the cellular effects of uncertainty on the executive network are incompletely understood. Using simultaneous recordings in monkeys, we describe several mechanisms by which the fronto-parietal network reacts to uncertainty. We show that the variance of expected rewards, independently of the value of the rewards, was encoded in single neuron and population spiking activity and local field potential (LFP) oscillations, and, importantly, asymmetrically affected fronto-parietal information transmission (measured through the coherence between spikes and LFPs). Higher uncertainty selectively enhanced information transmission from the parietal to the frontal lobe and suppressed it in the opposite direction, consistent with Bayesian principles that prioritize sensory information according to a decision maker’s prior uncertainty. Bahareh Taghizadeh and Nicholas Foley et al. show that individual neuronal responses, population spiking activity, and local field potential oscillations encode the variance of expected rewards independent of their value. They also demonstrate that reward uncertainty asymmetrically affects neuronal transmission within the monkey fronto-parietal network.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Bahareh Taghizadeh
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Nicholas C Foley
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Saeed Karimimehr
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,School of Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Michael Cohanpour
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Mulugeta Semework
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sameer A Sheth
- Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Reza Lashgari
- Brain Engineering Research Center, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Tehran, Iran.,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jacqueline Gottlieb
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. .,The Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
35
|
Gottlieb J, Cohanpour M, Li Y, Singletary N, Zabeh E. Curiosity, information demand and attentional priority. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.07.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
|
36
|
Monosov IE. How Outcome Uncertainty Mediates Attention, Learning, and Decision-Making. Trends Neurosci 2020; 43:795-809. [PMID: 32736849 PMCID: PMC8153236 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2020.06.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Revised: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Animals and humans evolved sophisticated nervous systems that endowed them with the ability to form internal-models or beliefs and make predictions about the future to survive and flourish in a world in which future outcomes are often uncertain. Crucial to this capacity is the ability to adjust behavioral and learning policies in response to the level of uncertainty. Until recently, the neuronal mechanisms that could underlie such uncertainty-guided control have been largely unknown. In this review, I discuss newly discovered neuronal circuits in primates that represent uncertainty about future rewards and propose how they guide information-seeking, attention, decision-making, and learning to help us survive in an uncertain world. Lastly, I discuss the possible relevance of these findings to learning in artificial systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience and Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA; Washington University Pain Center, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Abstract
Humans and animals navigate uncertain environments by seeking information about the future. Remarkably, we often seek information even when it has no instrumental value for aiding our decisions - as if the information is a source of value in its own right. In recent years, there has been a flourishing of research into these non-instrumental information preferences and their implementation in the brain. Individuals value information about uncertain future rewards, and do so for multiple reasons, including valuing resolution of uncertainty and overweighting desirable information. The brain motivates this information seeking by tapping into some of the same circuitry as primary rewards like food and water. However, it also employs cortex and basal ganglia circuitry that predicts and values information as distinct from primary reward. Uncovering how these circuits cooperate will be fundamental to understanding information seeking and motivated behavior as a whole, in our increasingly complex and information-rich world.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Ilya E Monosov
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.,Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.,Pain Center, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
| |
Collapse
|
38
|
The ventral striatum dissociates information expectation, reward anticipation, and reward receipt. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:15200-15208. [PMID: 32527855 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1911778117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Do dopaminergic reward structures represent the expected utility of information similarly to a reward? Optimal experimental design models from Bayesian decision theory and statistics have proposed a theoretical framework for quantifying the expected value of information that might result from a query. In particular, this formulation quantifies the value of information before the answer to that query is known, in situations where payoffs are unknown and the goal is purely epistemic: That is, to increase knowledge about the state of the world. Whether and how such a theoretical quantity is represented in the brain is unknown. Here we use an event-related functional MRI (fMRI) task design to disentangle information expectation, information revelation and categorization outcome anticipation, and response-contingent reward processing in a visual probabilistic categorization task. We identify a neural signature corresponding to the expectation of information, involving the left lateral ventral striatum. Moreover, we show a temporal dissociation in the activation of different reward-related regions, including the nucleus accumbens, medial prefrontal cortex, and orbitofrontal cortex, during information expectation versus reward-related processing.
Collapse
|
39
|
The role of the posterior parietal cortex in saccadic error processing. Brain Struct Funct 2020; 225:763-784. [PMID: 32065255 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-020-02034-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2019] [Accepted: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Ocular saccades rapidly displace the fovea from one point of interest to another, thus minimizing the loss of visual information and ensuring the seamless continuity of visual perception. However, because of intrinsic variability in sensory-motor processing, saccades often miss their intended target, necessitating a secondary corrective saccade. Behavioral evidence suggests that the oculomotor system estimates saccadic error by relying on two sources of information: the retinal feedback obtained post-saccadically and an internal extra-retinal signal obtained from efference copy or proprioception. However, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this process remain elusive. We trained two rhesus monkeys to perform visually guided saccades towards a target that was imperceptibly displaced at saccade onset on some trials. We recorded activity from neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), an area implicated in visual, attentional and saccadic processing. We found that a subpopulation of neurons detect saccadic motor error by firing more strongly after an inaccurate saccade. This signal did not depend on retinal feedback or on the execution of a secondary corrective saccade. Moreover, inactivating LIP led to a large and selective increase in the latency of small (i.e., natural) corrective saccade initiation. Our results indicate a key role for LIP in saccadic error processing.
Collapse
|