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Klautke J, Foster C, Medendorp WP, Heed T. Dynamic spatial coding in parietal cortex mediates tactile-motor transformation. Nat Commun 2023; 14:4532. [PMID: 37500625 PMCID: PMC10374589 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39959-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Movements towards touch on the body require integrating tactile location and body posture information. Tactile processing and movement planning both rely on posterior parietal cortex (PPC) but their interplay is not understood. Here, human participants received tactile stimuli on their crossed and uncrossed feet, dissociating stimulus location relative to anatomy versus external space. Participants pointed to the touch or the equivalent location on the other foot, which dissociates sensory and motor locations. Multi-voxel pattern analysis of concurrently recorded fMRI signals revealed that tactile location was coded anatomically in anterior PPC but spatially in posterior PPC during sensory processing. After movement instructions were specified, PPC exclusively represented the movement goal in space, in regions associated with visuo-motor planning and with regional overlap for sensory, rule-related, and movement coding. Thus, PPC flexibly updates its spatial codes to accommodate rule-based transformation of sensory input to generate movement to environment and own body alike.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janina Klautke
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Celia Foster
- Biopsychology & Cognitive Neuroscience, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
- Center of Excellence in Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - W Pieter Medendorp
- Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Tobias Heed
- Biopsychology & Cognitive Neuroscience, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
- Center of Excellence in Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
- Cognitive Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
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Loriette C, Amengual JL, Ben Hamed S. Beyond the brain-computer interface: Decoding brain activity as a tool to understand neuronal mechanisms subtending cognition and behavior. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:811736. [PMID: 36161174 PMCID: PMC9492914 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.811736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the major challenges in system neurosciences consists in developing techniques for estimating the cognitive information content in brain activity. This has an enormous potential in different domains spanning from clinical applications, cognitive enhancement to a better understanding of the neural bases of cognition. In this context, the inclusion of machine learning techniques to decode different aspects of human cognition and behavior and its use to develop brain-computer interfaces for applications in neuroprosthetics has supported a genuine revolution in the field. However, while these approaches have been shown quite successful for the study of the motor and sensory functions, success is still far from being reached when it comes to covert cognitive functions such as attention, motivation and decision making. While improvement in this field of BCIs is growing fast, a new research focus has emerged from the development of strategies for decoding neural activity. In this review, we aim at exploring how the advanced in decoding of brain activity is becoming a major neuroscience tool moving forward our understanding of brain functions, providing a robust theoretical framework to test predictions on the relationship between brain activity and cognition and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Célia Loriette
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France
| | | | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS UMR 5229, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Bron, France
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Prasad AR, Bhattacharya TK, Chatterjee RN, Divya D, Bhanja SK, Shanmugam M, Sagar NG. Silencing acetyl-CoA carboxylase A and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 genes through RNAi reduce serum and egg cholesterol in chicken. Sci Rep 2022; 12:1191. [PMID: 35075178 PMCID: PMC8786841 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05204-z] [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: 06/26/2021] [Accepted: 01/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Cholesterol is synthesized in chicken through de novo lipid biosynthetic pathway where two most important genes viz. SREBP1 and ACACA play immense role. To minimize cholesterol synthesis, RNAi approach was adopted and accordingly, we developed transgenic chicken possessing ACACA and SREBP1 shRNA constructs, which showed lower level of ACACA and SREBP1 in serum. The serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL cholesterol was significantly lower by 23.8, 35.6, 26.6 and 20.9%, respectively in SREBP1 transgenic birds compared to the control. The egg total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol content was numerically lower in both ACACA and SREBP1 transgenic birds by 14.3 and 13.2%, and 10.4 and 13.7%, respectively compared to the control. It is concluded that the protocol was perfected to develop transgenic chicken through RNAi for knocking down the expression of ACACA and SREBP1 proteins, which minimized the cholesterol and triglycerides contents in serum and eggs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - T K Bhattacharya
- ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India.
| | - R N Chatterjee
- ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India
| | - D Divya
- ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India
| | - S K Bhanja
- ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India
| | - M Shanmugam
- ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India
| | - N G Sagar
- ICAR-Directorate of Poultry Research, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, India
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Vuong QC, Shaaban AM, Black C, Smith J, Nassar M, Abozied A, Degenaar P, Al-Atabany W. Detection of Simulated Tactile Gratings by Electro-Static Friction Show a Dependency on Bar Width for Blind and Sighted Observers, and Preliminary Neural Correlates in Sighted Observers. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:548030. [PMID: 33177973 PMCID: PMC7591789 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.548030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The three-dimensional micro-structure of physical surfaces produces frictional forces that provide sensory cues about properties of felt surfaces such as roughness. This tactile information activates somatosensory cortices, and frontal and temporal brain regions. Recent advances in haptic-feedback technologies allow the simulation of surface micro-structures via electro-static friction to produce touch sensations on otherwise flat screens. These sensations may benefit those with visual impairment or blindness. The primary aim of the current study was to test blind and sighted participants' perceptual sensitivity to simulated tactile gratings. A secondary aim was to explore which brain regions were involved in simulated touch to further understand the somatosensory brain network for touch. We used a haptic-feedback touchscreen which simulated tactile gratings using digitally manipulated electro-static friction. In Experiment 1, we compared blind and sighted participants' ability to detect the gratings by touch alone as a function of their spatial frequency (bar width) and intensity. Both blind and sighted participants showed high sensitivity to detect simulated tactile gratings, and their tactile sensitivity functions showed both linear and quadratic dependency on spatial frequency. In Experiment 2, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we conducted a preliminary investigation to explore whether brain activation to physical vibrations correlated with blindfolded (but sighted) participants' performance with simulated tactile gratings outside the scanner. At the neural level, blindfolded (but sighted) participants' detection performance correlated with brain activation in bi-lateral supplementary motor cortex, left frontal cortex and right occipital cortex. Taken together with previous studies, these results suggest that there are similar perceptual and neural mechanisms for real and simulated touch sensations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quoc C Vuong
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Aya M Shaaban
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Helwan, Egypt
| | - Carla Black
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Jess Smith
- Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Mahmoud Nassar
- Newcastle Eye Centre, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.,Faculty of Medicine, Minia University Hospital, Al Minia, Egypt
| | - Ahmed Abozied
- Electronics and Communications Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
| | - Patrick Degenaar
- School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Merz Court, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
| | - Walid Al-Atabany
- Biomedical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Helwan, Egypt
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Kim J, Bülthoff I, Bülthoff HH. Cortical Representation of Tactile Stickiness Evoked by Skin Contact and Glove Contact. Front Integr Neurosci 2020; 14:19. [PMID: 32327980 PMCID: PMC7160846 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2020.00019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Even when we are wearing gloves, we can easily detect whether a surface that we are touching is sticky or not. However, we know little about the similarities between brain activations elicited by this glove contact and by direct contact with our bare skin. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated which brain regions represent stickiness intensity information obtained in both touch conditions, i.e., skin contact and glove contact. First, we searched for neural representations mediating stickiness for each touch condition separately and found regions responding to both mainly in the supramarginal gyrus and the secondary somatosensory cortex. Second, we explored whether surface stickiness is encoded in common neural patterns irrespective of how participants touched the sticky stimuli. Using a cross-condition decoding method, we tested whether the stickiness intensities could be decoded from fMRI signals evoked by skin contact using a classifier trained on the responses elicited by glove contact, and vice versa. Our results found shared neural encoding patterns in the bilateral angular gyri and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and suggest that these areas represent stickiness intensity information regardless of how participants touched the sticky stimuli. Interestingly, we observed that neural encoding patterns of these areas were reflected in participants’ intensity ratings. This study revealed common and distinct brain activation patterns of tactile stickiness using two different touch conditions, which may broaden the understanding of neural mechanisms related to surface texture perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junsuk Kim
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany.,Department of Industrial ICT Engineering, Dong-Eui University, Busan, South Korea
| | - Isabelle Bülthoff
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Heinrich H Bülthoff
- Department of Human Perception, Cognition and Action, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
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Jiang X, Wang Y, Li X, Wang L, Zhou YD, Wang H. A Simple and Compact MR-Compatible Electromagnetic Vibrotactile Stimulator. Front Neurosci 2020; 13:1403. [PMID: 32009884 PMCID: PMC6978794 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.01403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Accepted: 12/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
We have developed a low-cost electromagnetic vibrotactile stimulator that uses the magnetic field of an MR scanner as a permanent magnet to power a vibrating motor. A simple variable current power supply is controlled by software using a USB data acquisition controller. In our study, the function of our novel stimulator was verified in a vibration frequency discrimination working memory task, in which various ranges of frequencies and amplitudes are delivered in MRI scanner. Furthermore, our functional MRI study revealed activations of the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices during the perception of tactile stimulation. Therefore, the new designed electromagnetic vibrotactile stimulator is capable of generating various frequencies of tactile stimuli and represents a powerful and useful tool for studying somatosensory functions with functional MRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xinjian Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yueqian Wang
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaojin Li
- Department of Electronic Engineering, School of Information Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Liping Wang
- Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Yong-Di Zhou
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Huimin Wang
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
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