1
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Northoff G, Zilio F, Zhang J. Beyond task response-Pre-stimulus activity modulates contents of consciousness. Phys Life Rev 2024; 49:19-37. [PMID: 38492473 DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2024.03.002] [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: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 03/03/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
The current discussion on the neural correlates of the contents of consciousness (NCCc) focuses mainly on the post-stimulus period of task-related activity. This neglects the substantial impact of the spontaneous or ongoing activity of the brain as manifest in pre-stimulus activity. Does the interaction of pre- and post-stimulus activity shape the contents of consciousness? Addressing this gap in our knowledge, we review and converge two recent lines of findings, that is, pre-stimulus alpha power and pre- and post-stimulus alpha trial-to-trial variability (TTV). The data show that pre-stimulus alpha power modulates post-stimulus activity including specifically the subjective features of conscious contents like confidence and vividness. At the same time, alpha pre-stimulus variability shapes post-stimulus TTV reduction including the associated contents of consciousness. We propose that non-additive rather than merely additive interaction of the internal pre-stimulus activity with the external stimulus in the alpha band is key for contents to become conscious. This is mediated by mechanisms on different levels including neurophysiological, neurocomputational, neurodynamic, neuropsychological and neurophenomenal levels. Overall, considering the interplay of pre-stimulus intrinsic and post-stimulus extrinsic activity across wider timescales, not just evoked responses in the post-stimulus period, is critical for identifying neural correlates of consciousness. This is well in line with both processing and especially the Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC).
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Affiliation(s)
- Georg Northoff
- University of Ottawa, Institute of Mental Health Research at the Royal Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Canada.
| | - Federico Zilio
- Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education and Applied Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Jianfeng Zhang
- Center for Brain Disorders and Cognitive Sciences, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
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2
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Tang T, Samaha J, Peters MAK. Behavioral and neural measures of confidence using a novel auditory pitch identification task. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0299784. [PMID: 38950011 PMCID: PMC11216601 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Observers can discriminate between correct versus incorrect perceptual decisions with feelings of confidence. The centro-parietal positivity build-up rate (CPP slope) has been suggested as a likely neural signature of accumulated evidence, which may guide both perceptual performance and confidence. However, CPP slope also covaries with reaction time, which also covaries with confidence in previous studies, and performance and confidence typically covary; thus, CPP slope may index signatures of perceptual performance rather than confidence per se. Moreover, perceptual metacognition-including neural correlates-has largely been studied in vision, with few exceptions. Thus, we lack understanding of domain-general neural signatures of perceptual metacognition outside vision. Here we designed a novel auditory pitch identification task and collected behavior with simultaneous 32-channel EEG in healthy adults. Participants saw two tone labels which varied in tonal distance on each trial (e.g., C vs D, C vs F), then heard a single auditory tone; they identified which label was correct and rated confidence. We found that pitch identification confidence varied with tonal distance, but performance, metacognitive sensitivity (trial-by-trial covariation of confidence with accuracy), and reaction time did not. Interestingly, however, while CPP slope covaried with performance and reaction time, it did not significantly covary with confidence. We interpret these results to mean that CPP slope is likely a signature of first-order perceptual processing and not confidence-specific signals or computations in auditory tasks. Our novel pitch identification task offers a valuable method to examine the neural correlates of auditory and domain-general perceptual confidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamara Tang
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States of America
| | - Jason Samaha
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America
| | - Megan A. K. Peters
- Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States of America
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States of America
- Program in Brain, Mind, & Consciousness, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Canada
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3
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Ko YH, Zhou A, Niessen E, Stahl J, Weiss PH, Hester R, Bode S, Feuerriegel D. Neural correlates of confidence during decision formation in a perceptual judgment task. Cortex 2024; 173:248-262. [PMID: 38432176 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.01.006] [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: 08/14/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
When we make a decision, we also estimate the probability that our choice is correct or accurate. This probability estimate is termed our degree of decision confidence. Recent work has reported event-related potential (ERP) correlates of confidence both during decision formation (the centro-parietal positivity component; CPP) and after a decision has been made (the error positivity component; Pe). However, there are several measurement confounds that complicate the interpretation of these findings. More recent studies that overcome these issues have so far produced conflicting results. To better characterise the ERP correlates of confidence we presented participants with a comparative brightness judgment task while recording electroencephalography. Participants judged which of two flickering squares (varying in luminance over time) was brighter on average. Participants then gave confidence ratings ranging from "surely incorrect" to "surely correct". To elicit a range of confidence ratings we manipulated both the mean luminance difference between the brighter and darker squares (relative evidence) and the overall luminance of both squares (absolute evidence). We found larger CPP amplitudes in trials with higher confidence ratings. This association was not simply a by-product of differences in relative evidence (which covaries with confidence) across trials. We did not identify postdecisional ERP correlates of confidence, except when they were artificially produced by pre-response ERP baselines. These results provide further evidence for neural correlates of processes that inform confidence judgments during decision formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiu Hong Ko
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia; Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Centre Jülich, Germany; Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Andong Zhou
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Eva Niessen
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Jutta Stahl
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Peter H Weiss
- Cognitive Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Research Centre Jülich, Germany; Department of Neurology, University Hospital Cologne and Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne, Germany
| | - Robert Hester
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Stefan Bode
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Daniel Feuerriegel
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Australia.
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4
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Trajkovic J, Di Gregorio F, Thut G, Romei V. Transcranial magnetic stimulation effects support an oscillatory model of ERP genesis. Curr Biol 2024; 34:1048-1058.e4. [PMID: 38377998 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Revised: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/26/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024]
Abstract
Whether prestimulus oscillatory brain activity contributes to the generation of post-stimulus-evoked neural responses has long been debated, but findings remain inconclusive. We first investigated the hypothesized relationship via EEG recordings during a perceptual task with this correlational evidence causally probed subsequently by means of online rhythmic transcranial magnetic stimulation. Both approaches revealed a close link between prestimulus individual alpha frequency (IAF) and P1 latency, with faster IAF being related to shorter latencies, best explained via phase-reset mechanisms. Moreover, prestimulus alpha amplitude predicted P3 size, best explained via additive (correlational and causal evidence) and baseline shift mechanisms (correlational evidence), each with distinct prestimulus alpha contributors. Finally, in terms of performance, faster prestimulus IAF and shorter P1 latencies were both associated with higher task accuracy, while lower prestimulus alpha amplitudes and higher P3 amplitudes were associated with higher confidence ratings. Our results are in favor of the oscillatory model of ERP genesis and modulation, shedding new light on the mechanistic relationship between prestimulus oscillations and functionally relevant evoked components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jelena Trajkovic
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena 47521, Italy; Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 ER Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Francesco Di Gregorio
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena 47521, Italy
| | - Gregor Thut
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, MVLS, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G128QB, UK
| | - Vincenzo Romei
- Centro studi e ricerche in Neuroscienze Cognitive, Dipartimento di Psicologia, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, Campus di Cesena, Cesena 47521, Italy; Facultad de Lenguas y Educación, Universidad Antonio de Nebrija, Madrid 28015, Spain.
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5
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Sylvester S, Sagehorn M, Gruber T, Atzmueller M, Schöne B. SHAP value-based ERP analysis (SHERPA): Increasing the sensitivity of EEG signals with explainable AI methods. Behav Res Methods 2024:10.3758/s13428-023-02335-7. [PMID: 38453828 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02335-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
Conventionally, event-related potential (ERP) analysis relies on the researcher to identify the sensors and time points where an effect is expected. However, this approach is prone to bias and may limit the ability to detect unexpected effects or to investigate the full range of the electroencephalography (EEG) signal. Data-driven approaches circumvent this limitation, however, the multiple comparison problem and the statistical correction thereof affect both the sensitivity and specificity of the analysis. In this study, we present SHERPA - a novel approach based on explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) designed to provide the researcher with a straightforward and objective method to find relevant latency ranges and electrodes. SHERPA is comprised of a convolutional neural network (CNN) for classifying the conditions of the experiment and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) as a post hoc explainer to identify the important temporal and spatial features. A classical EEG face perception experiment is employed to validate the approach by comparing it to the established researcher- and data-driven approaches. Likewise, SHERPA identified an occipital cluster close to the temporal coordinates for the N170 effect expected. Most importantly, SHERPA allows quantifying the relevance of an ERP for a psychological mechanism by calculating an "importance score". Hence, SHERPA suggests the presence of a negative selection process at the early and later stages of processing. In conclusion, our new method not only offers an analysis approach suitable in situations with limited prior knowledge of the effect in question but also an increased sensitivity capable of distinguishing neural processes with high precision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia Sylvester
- Institute of Computer Science, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
- Department of Mental Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Merle Sagehorn
- Institute of Psychology, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Thomas Gruber
- Institute of Psychology, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Martin Atzmueller
- Institute of Computer Science, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
- German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI), Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Benjamin Schöne
- Institute of Psychology, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany.
- Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
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6
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Grogan JP, Rys W, Kelly SP, O’Connell RG. Confidence is predicted by pre- and post-choice decision signal dynamics. IMAGING NEUROSCIENCE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 1:1-23. [PMID: 37719838 PMCID: PMC10503486 DOI: 10.1162/imag_a_00005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 09/19/2023]
Abstract
It is well established that one's confidence in a choice can be influenced by new evidence encountered after commitment has been reached, but the processes through which post-choice evidence is sampled remain unclear. To investigate this, we traced the pre- and post-choice dynamics of electrophysiological signatures of evidence accumulation (Centro-parietal Positivity, CPP) and motor preparation (mu/beta band) to determine their sensitivity to participants' confidence in their perceptual discriminations. Pre-choice CPP amplitudes scaled with confidence both when confidence was reported simultaneously with choice, and when reported 1 second after the initial direction decision with no intervening evidence. When additional evidence was presented during the post-choice delay period, the CPP exhibited sustained activation after the initial choice, with a more prolonged build-up on trials with lower certainty in the alternative that was finally endorsed, irrespective of whether this entailed a change-of-mind from the initial choice or not. Further investigation established that this pattern was accompanied by later lateralisation of motor preparation signals toward the ultimately chosen response and slower confidence reports when participants indicated low certainty in this response. These observations are consistent with certainty-dependent stopping theories according to which post-choice evidence accumulation ceases when a criterion level of certainty in a choice alternative has been reached, but continues otherwise. Our findings have implications for current models of choice confidence, and predictions they may make about EEG signatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- John P. Grogan
- School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Wouter Rys
- School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Simon P. Kelly
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Redmond G. O’Connell
- School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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7
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Loued-Khenissi L, Pfeiffer C, Saxena R, Adarsh S, Scaramuzza D. Microgravity induces overconfidence in perceptual decision-making. Sci Rep 2023; 13:9727. [PMID: 37322248 PMCID: PMC10272216 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36775-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Does gravity affect decision-making? This question comes into sharp focus as plans for interplanetary human space missions solidify. In the framework of Bayesian brain theories, gravity encapsulates a strong prior, anchoring agents to a reference frame via the vestibular system, informing their decisions and possibly their integration of uncertainty. What happens when such a strong prior is altered? We address this question using a self-motion estimation task in a space analog environment under conditions of altered gravity. Two participants were cast as remote drone operators orbiting Mars in a virtual reality environment on board a parabolic flight, where both hyper- and microgravity conditions were induced. From a first-person perspective, participants viewed a drone exiting a cave and had to first predict a collision and then provide a confidence estimate of their response. We evoked uncertainty in the task by manipulating the motion's trajectory angle. Post-decision subjective confidence reports were negatively predicted by stimulus uncertainty, as expected. Uncertainty alone did not impact overt behavioral responses (performance, choice) differentially across gravity conditions. However microgravity predicted higher subjective confidence, especially in interaction with stimulus uncertainty. These results suggest that variables relating to uncertainty affect decision-making distinctly in microgravity, highlighting the possible need for automatized, compensatory mechanisms when considering human factors in space research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leyla Loued-Khenissi
- Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Neuroscience Department, Medical School, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Neuro-X Institute, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Christian Pfeiffer
- Robotics and Perception Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rupal Saxena
- Robotics and Perception Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Shivam Adarsh
- Robotics and Perception Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Davide Scaramuzza
- Robotics and Perception Group, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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8
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Malekmohammadi A, Ehrlich SK, Cheng G. Modulation of theta and gamma oscillations during familiarization with previously unknown music. Brain Res 2023; 1800:148198. [PMID: 36493897 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2022.148198] [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: 06/29/2022] [Revised: 11/24/2022] [Accepted: 12/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Repeated listening to unknown music leads to gradual familiarization with musical sequences. Passively listening to musical sequences could involve an array of dynamic neural responses in reaching familiarization with the musical excerpts. This study elucidates the dynamic brain response and its variation over time by investigating the electrophysiological changes during the familiarization with initially unknown music. Twenty subjects were asked to familiarize themselves with previously unknown 10 s classical music excerpts over three repetitions while their electroencephalogram was recorded. Dynamic spectral changes in neural oscillations are monitored by time-frequency analyses for all frequency bands (theta: 5-9 Hz, alpha: 9-13 Hz, low-beta: 13-21 Hz, high beta: 21-32 Hz, and gamma: 32-50 Hz). Time-frequency analyses reveal sustained theta event-related desynchronization (ERD) in the frontal-midline and the left pre-frontal electrodes which decreased gradually from 1st to 3rd time repetition of the same excerpts (frontal-midline: 57.90 %, left-prefrontal: 75.93 %). Similarly, sustained gamma ERD decreased in the frontal-midline and bilaterally frontal/temporal areas (frontal-midline: 61.47 %, left-frontal: 90.88 %, right-frontal: 87.74 %). During familiarization, the decrease of theta ERD is superior in the first part (1-5 s) whereas the decrease of gamma ERD is superior in the second part (5-9 s) of music excerpts. The results suggest that decreased theta ERD is associated with successfully identifying familiar sequences, whereas decreased gamma ERD is related to forming unfamiliar sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alireza Malekmohammadi
- Chair for Cognitive System, Technical University of Munich, Electrical Engineering, Munich, 80333, Germany.
| | - Stefan K Ehrlich
- Chair for Cognitive System, Technical University of Munich, Electrical Engineering, Munich, 80333, Germany
| | - Gordon Cheng
- Chair for Cognitive System, Technical University of Munich, Electrical Engineering, Munich, 80333, Germany
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9
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Flegel J, Shaaban S, Jia ZJ, Schulte B, Lian Y, Krzyzanowski A, Metz M, Schneidewind T, Wesseler F, Flegel A, Reich A, Brause A, Xue G, Zhang M, Dötsch L, Stender ID, Hoffmann JE, Scheel R, Janning P, Rastinejad F, Schade D, Strohmann C, Antonchick AP, Sievers S, Moura-Alves P, Ziegler S, Waldmann H. The Highly Potent AhR Agonist Picoberin Modulates Hh-Dependent Osteoblast Differentiation. J Med Chem 2022; 65:16268-16289. [PMID: 36459434 PMCID: PMC9791665 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00956] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Identification and analysis of small molecule bioactivity in target-agnostic cellular assays and monitoring changes in phenotype followed by identification of the biological target are a powerful approach for the identification of novel bioactive chemical matter in particular when the monitored phenotype is disease-related and physiologically relevant. Profiling methods that enable the unbiased analysis of compound-perturbed states can suggest mechanisms of action or even targets for bioactive small molecules and may yield novel insights into biology. Here we report the enantioselective synthesis of natural-product-inspired 8-oxotetrahydroprotoberberines and the identification of Picoberin, a low picomolar inhibitor of Hedgehog (Hh)-induced osteoblast differentiation. Global transcriptome and proteome profiling revealed the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) as the molecular target of this compound and identified a cross talk between Hh and AhR signaling during osteoblast differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Flegel
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Saad Shaaban
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Vienna Währinger Str. 38, Vienna 1090, Austria
| | - Zhi Jun Jia
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Key Laboratory of Birth Defects and Related Diseases of Women and Children, Evidence-Based Pharmacy Center, West China Second University Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Britta Schulte
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Yilong Lian
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, United Kingdom
| | - Adrian Krzyzanowski
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Malte Metz
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Tabea Schneidewind
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Fabian Wesseler
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Anke Flegel
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Alisa Reich
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Alexandra Brause
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Gang Xue
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Minghao Zhang
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK
| | - Lara Dötsch
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Isabelle D Stender
- Protein Chemistry Facility, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Jan-Erik Hoffmann
- Protein Chemistry Facility, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Rebecca Scheel
- Faculty of Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Petra Janning
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Fraydoon Rastinejad
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, UK
| | - Dennis Schade
- Dept. of Pharmaceutical & Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Pharmacy, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel 24118, Germany
| | - Carsten Strohmann
- Faculty of Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Andrey P Antonchick
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Department of Chemistry and Forensics, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Lane, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, United Kingdom
| | - Sonja Sievers
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Compound Management and Screening Center, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Pedro Moura-Alves
- Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, United Kingdom.,i3S-Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal.,IBMC-Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
| | - Slava Ziegler
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany
| | - Herbert Waldmann
- Department of Chemical Biology, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund 44227, Germany.,Faculty of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Technical University Dortmund, Dortmund 44227, Germany
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10
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Davidson MJ, Macdonald JSP, Yeung N. Alpha oscillations and stimulus-evoked activity dissociate metacognitive reports of attention, visibility, and confidence in a rapid visual detection task. J Vis 2022; 22:20. [PMID: 36166234 PMCID: PMC9531462 DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.10.20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Variability in the detection and discrimination of weak visual stimuli has been linked to oscillatory neural activity. In particular, the amplitude of activity in the alpha-band (8–12 Hz) has been shown to impact the objective likelihood of stimulus detection, as well as measures of subjective visibility, attention, and decision confidence. Here we investigate how preparatory alpha in a cued pretarget interval influences performance and phenomenology, by recording simultaneous subjective measures of attention and confidence (experiment 1) or attention and visibility (experiment 2) on a trial-by-trial basis in a visual detection task. Across both experiments, alpha amplitude was negatively and linearly correlated with the intensity of subjective attention. In contrast with this linear relationship, we observed a quadratic relationship between the strength of alpha oscillations and subjective ratings of confidence and visibility. We find that this same quadratic relationship links alpha amplitude with the strength of stimulus-evoked responses. Visibility and confidence judgments also corresponded with the strength of evoked responses, but confidence, uniquely, incorporated information about attentional state. As such, our findings reveal distinct psychological and neural correlates of metacognitive judgments of attentional state, stimulus visibility, and decision confidence when these judgments are preceded by a cued target interval.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew J Davidson
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.,
| | | | - Nick Yeung
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.,
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11
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McFadyen J, Tsuchiya N, Mattingley JB, Garrido MI. Surprising Threats Accelerate Conscious Perception. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:797119. [PMID: 35645748 PMCID: PMC9137416 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.797119] [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: 10/18/2021] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The folk psychological notion that "we see what we expect to see" is supported by evidence that we become consciously aware of visual stimuli that match our prior expectations more quickly than stimuli that violate our expectations. Similarly, "we see what we want to see," such that more biologically-relevant stimuli are also prioritised for conscious perception. How, then, is perception shaped by biologically-relevant stimuli that we did not expect? Here, we conducted two experiments using breaking continuous flash suppression (bCFS) to investigate how prior expectations modulated response times to neutral and fearful faces. In both experiments, we found that prior expectations for neutral faces hastened responses, whereas the opposite was true for fearful faces. This interaction between emotional expression and prior expectations was driven predominantly by participants with higher trait anxiety. Electroencephalography (EEG) data collected in Experiment 2 revealed an interaction evident in the earliest stages of sensory encoding, suggesting prediction errors expedite sensory encoding of fearful faces. These findings support a survival hypothesis, where biologically-relevant fearful stimuli are prioritised for conscious access even more so when unexpected, especially for people with high trait anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica McFadyen
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Clayton, VIC, Australia
| | - Naotsugu Tsuchiya
- School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia
- Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Osaka, Japan
- Advanced Telecommunications Research Computational Neuroscience Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Jason B. Mattingley
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Clayton, VIC, Australia
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Marta I. Garrido
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function, Clayton, VIC, Australia
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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12
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Manning C, Hassall CD, Hunt LT, Norcia AM, Wagenmakers EJ, Evans NJ, Scerif G. Behavioural and neural indices of perceptual decision-making in autistic children during visual motion tasks. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6072. [PMID: 35414064 PMCID: PMC9005733 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09885-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies report atypical responses to sensory information in autistic individuals, yet it is not clear which stages of processing are affected, with little consideration given to decision-making processes. We combined diffusion modelling with high-density EEG to identify which processing stages differ between 50 autistic and 50 typically developing children aged 6-14 years during two visual motion tasks. Our pre-registered hypotheses were that autistic children would show task-dependent differences in sensory evidence accumulation, alongside a more cautious decision-making style and longer non-decision time across tasks. We tested these hypotheses using hierarchical Bayesian diffusion models with a rigorous blind modelling approach, finding no conclusive evidence for our hypotheses. Using a data-driven method, we identified a response-locked centro-parietal component previously linked to the decision-making process. The build-up in this component did not consistently relate to evidence accumulation in autistic children. This suggests that the relationship between the EEG measure and diffusion-modelling is not straightforward in autistic children. Compared to a related study of children with dyslexia, motion processing differences appear less pronounced in autistic children. Exploratory analyses also suggest weak evidence that ADHD symptoms moderate perceptual decision-making in autistic children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Manning
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
| | | | | | | | - Eric-Jan Wagenmakers
- Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Nathan J Evans
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Gaia Scerif
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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13
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A leaky evidence accumulation process for perceptual experience. Trends Cogn Sci 2022; 26:451-461. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2022.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2021] [Revised: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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14
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Visual-auditory interactions on explicit and implicit information processing. Cogn Process 2022; 23:179-189. [PMID: 35142948 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-022-01077-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
Interactions among sensory information are important for generating a coherent percept of the external world. Facilitation and inhibition effects in cross-modal perception have been widely studied for decades. The present study tried to confirm the interaction effects between sensory information in a bimodal context and explore these influences when part of the sensory information was presented without participants' subjective awareness. A total of 40 undergraduate participants were recruited in this mixed design study. Participants were required to count the flashing of the black circle (visual task) or the presentation frequency of the beep sound (auditory task) with the presence of either congruent or incongruent sensory signals in the background. Participants in the explicit group generally performed more accurately and also faster with the congruent stimuli than with the incongruent stimuli. Performance accuracy in the visual task in the implicit group was affected by the non-target sound signals which were presented beneath participants' subjective awareness. The better performance yielded in the auditory task than in the visual task was explained by the appropriateness of the auditory stimulation to the task nature. In addition, the supportive findings regarding processing without awareness should be interpreted with caution.
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15
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Robinson AK, Rich AN, Woolgar A. Linking the Brain with Behavior: The Neural Dynamics of Success and Failure in Goal-directed Behavior. J Cogn Neurosci 2022; 34:639-654. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01818] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The human brain is extremely flexible and capable of rapidly selecting relevant information in accordance with task goals. Regions of frontoparietal cortex flexibly represent relevant task information such as task rules and stimulus features when participants perform tasks successfully, but less is known about how information processing breaks down when participants make mistakes. This is important for understanding whether and when information coding recorded with neuroimaging is directly meaningful for behavior. Here, we used magnetoencephalography to assess the temporal dynamics of information processing and linked neural responses with goal-directed behavior by analyzing how they changed on behavioral error. Participants performed a difficult stimulus–response task using two stimulus–response mapping rules. We used time-resolved multivariate pattern analysis to characterize the progression of information coding from perceptual information about the stimulus, cue and rule coding, and finally, motor response. Response-aligned analyses revealed a ramping up of perceptual information before a correct response, suggestive of internal evidence accumulation. Strikingly, when participants made a stimulus-related error, and not when they made other types of errors, patterns of activity initially reflected the stimulus presented, but later reversed, and accumulated toward a representation of the “incorrect” stimulus. This suggests that the patterns recorded at later time points reflect an internally generated stimulus representation that was used to make the (incorrect) decision. These results illustrate the orderly and overlapping temporal dynamics of information coding in perceptual decision-making and show a clear link between neural patterns in the late stages of processing and behavior.
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16
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Neurocomputational mechanisms underlying cross-modal associations and their influence on perceptual decisions. Neuroimage 2021; 247:118841. [PMID: 34952232 PMCID: PMC9127393 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118841] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2021] [Revised: 12/07/2021] [Accepted: 12/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
When exposed to complementary features of information across sensory modalities, our brains formulate cross-modal associations between features of stimuli presented separately to multiple modalities. For example, auditory pitch-visual size associations map high-pitch tones with small-size visual objects, and low-pitch tones with large-size visual objects. Preferential, or congruent, cross-modal associations have been shown to affect behavioural performance, i.e. choice accuracy and reaction time (RT) across multisensory decision-making paradigms. However, the neural mechanisms underpinning such influences in perceptual decision formation remain unclear. Here, we sought to identify when perceptual improvements from associative congruency emerge in the brain during decision formation. In particular, we asked whether such improvements represent ‘early’ sensory processing benefits, or ‘late’ post-sensory changes in decision dynamics. Using a modified version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT), coupled with electroencephalography (EEG), we measured the neural activity underlying the effect of auditory stimulus-driven pitch-size associations on perceptual decision formation. Behavioural results showed that participants responded significantly faster during trials when auditory pitch was congruent, rather than incongruent, with its associative visual size counterpart. We used multivariate Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to characterise the spatiotemporal dynamics of EEG activity underpinning IAT performance. We found an ‘Early’ component (∼100–110 ms post-stimulus onset) coinciding with the time of maximal discrimination of the auditory stimuli, and a ‘Late’ component (∼330–340 ms post-stimulus onset) underlying IAT performance. To characterise the functional role of these components in decision formation, we incorporated a neurally-informed Hierarchical Drift Diffusion Model (HDDM), revealing that the Late component decreases response caution, requiring less sensory evidence to be accumulated, whereas the Early component increased the duration of sensory-encoding processes for incongruent trials. Overall, our results provide a mechanistic insight into the contribution of ‘early’ sensory processing, as well as ‘late’ post-sensory neural representations of associative congruency to perceptual decision formation.
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17
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Markkula G, Uludağ Z, Wilkie RM, Billington J. Accumulation of continuously time-varying sensory evidence constrains neural and behavioral responses in human collision threat detection. PLoS Comput Biol 2021; 17:e1009096. [PMID: 34264935 PMCID: PMC8282001 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2020] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence accumulation models provide a dominant account of human decision-making, and have been particularly successful at explaining behavioral and neural data in laboratory paradigms using abstract, stationary stimuli. It has been proposed, but with limited in-depth investigation so far, that similar decision-making mechanisms are involved in tasks of a more embodied nature, such as movement and locomotion, by directly accumulating externally measurable sensory quantities of which the precise, typically continuously time-varying, magnitudes are important for successful behavior. Here, we leverage collision threat detection as a task which is ecologically relevant in this sense, but which can also be rigorously observed and modelled in a laboratory setting. Conventionally, it is assumed that humans are limited in this task by a perceptual threshold on the optical expansion rate-the visual looming-of the obstacle. Using concurrent recordings of EEG and behavioral responses, we disprove this conventional assumption, and instead provide strong evidence that humans detect collision threats by accumulating the continuously time-varying visual looming signal. Generalizing existing accumulator model assumptions from stationary to time-varying sensory evidence, we show that our model accounts for previously unexplained empirical observations and full distributions of detection response. We replicate a pre-response centroparietal positivity (CPP) in scalp potentials, which has previously been found to correlate with accumulated decision evidence. In contrast with these existing findings, we show that our model is capable of predicting the onset of the CPP signature rather than its buildup, suggesting that neural evidence accumulation is implemented differently, possibly in distinct brain regions, in collision detection compared to previously studied paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustav Markkula
- Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | - Zeynep Uludağ
- School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jac Billington
- School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
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18
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Yau Y, Hinault T, Taylor M, Cisek P, Fellows LK, Dagher A. Evidence and Urgency Related EEG Signals during Dynamic Decision-Making in Humans. J Neurosci 2021; 41:5711-5722. [PMID: 34035140 PMCID: PMC8244970 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2551-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 03/16/2021] [Accepted: 03/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A successful class of models link decision-making to brain signals by assuming that evidence accumulates to a decision threshold. These evidence accumulation models have identified neuronal activity that appears to reflect sensory evidence and decision variables that drive behavior. More recently, an additional evidence-independent and time-variant signal, called urgency, has been hypothesized to accelerate decisions in the face of insufficient evidence. However, most decision-making paradigms tested with fMRI or EEG in humans have not been designed to disentangle evidence accumulation from urgency. Here we use a face-morphing decision-making task in combination with EEG and a hierarchical Bayesian model to identify neural signals related to sensory and decision variables, and to test the urgency-gating model. Forty females and 34 males took part (mean age, 23.4 years). We find that an evoked potential time locked to the decision, the centroparietal positivity, reflects the decision variable from the computational model. We further show that the unfolding of this signal throughout the decision process best reflects the product of sensory evidence and an evidence-independent urgency signal. Urgency varied across subjects, suggesting that it may represent an individual trait. Our results show that it is possible to use EEG to distinguish neural signals related to sensory evidence accumulation, decision variables, and urgency. These mechanisms expose principles of cognitive function in general and may have applications to the study of pathologic decision-making such as in impulse control and addictive disorders.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Perceptual decisions are often described by a class of models that assumes that sensory evidence accumulates gradually over time until a decision threshold is reached. In the present study, we demonstrate that an additional urgency signal impacts how decisions are formed. This endogenous signal encourages one to respond as time elapses. We found that neural decision signals measured by EEG reflect the product of sensory evidence and an evidence-independent urgency signal. A nuanced understanding of human decisions, and the neural mechanisms that support it, can improve decision-making in many situations and potentially ameliorate dysfunction when it has gone awry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yvonne Yau
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Thomas Hinault
- U1077 Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, École pratique des hautes études, Université de Caen Normandie, 14032 Caen, France
| | - Madeline Taylor
- Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario N6A 5C1, Canada
| | - Paul Cisek
- Département de Neuroscience, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec H3T 1T9, Canada
| | - Lesley K Fellows
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Alain Dagher
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal, Québec H3A 2B4, Canada
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19
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Pereira M, Megevand P, Tan MX, Chang W, Wang S, Rezai A, Seeck M, Corniola M, Momjian S, Bernasconi F, Blanke O, Faivre N. Evidence accumulation relates to perceptual consciousness and monitoring. Nat Commun 2021; 12:3261. [PMID: 34059682 PMCID: PMC8166835 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23540-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2020] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
A fundamental scientific question concerns the neural basis of perceptual consciousness and perceptual monitoring resulting from the processing of sensory events. Although recent studies identified neurons reflecting stimulus visibility, their functional role remains unknown. Here, we show that perceptual consciousness and monitoring involve evidence accumulation. We recorded single-neuron activity in a participant with a microelectrode in the posterior parietal cortex, while they detected vibrotactile stimuli around detection threshold and provided confidence estimates. We find that detected stimuli elicited neuronal responses resembling evidence accumulation during decision-making, irrespective of motor confounds or task demands. We generalize these findings in healthy volunteers using electroencephalography. Behavioral and neural responses are reproduced with a computational model considering a stimulus as detected if accumulated evidence reaches a bound, and confidence as the distance between maximal evidence and that bound. We conclude that gradual changes in neuronal dynamics during evidence accumulation relates to perceptual consciousness and perceptual monitoring in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Pereira
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
- University Grenoble Alpes, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France
- Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI), West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA
| | - Pierre Megevand
- Neurology Division, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Mi Xue Tan
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Wenwen Chang
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Shuo Wang
- Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI), West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA
- Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA
| | - Ali Rezai
- Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute (RNI), West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA
| | - Margitta Seeck
- Neurology Division, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Marco Corniola
- Neurosurgery Division, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
- Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Shahan Momjian
- Neurosurgery Division, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
- Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Fosco Bernasconi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Olaf Blanke
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland
- Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Nathan Faivre
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Center for Neuroprosthetics and Brain Mind Institute, Faculty of Life Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Geneva, Switzerland.
- University Grenoble Alpes, University Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, Grenoble, France.
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20
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Abstract
The discovery of neural signals that reflect the dynamics of perceptual decision formation has had a considerable impact. Not only do such signals enable detailed investigations of the neural implementation of the decision-making process but they also can expose key elements of the brain's decision algorithms. For a long time, such signals were only accessible through direct animal brain recordings, and progress in human neuroscience was hampered by the limitations of noninvasive recording techniques. However, recent methodological advances are increasingly enabling the study of human brain signals that finely trace the dynamics of the unfolding decision process. In this review, we highlight how human neurophysiological data are now being leveraged to furnish new insights into the multiple processing levels involved in forming decisions, to inform the construction and evaluation of mathematical models that can explain intra- and interindividual differences, and to examine how key ancillary processes interact with core decision circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Redmond G O'Connell
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland;
| | - Simon P Kelly
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland;
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21
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Wang Y, Yan J, Yin Z, Ren S, Dong M, Zheng C, Zhang W, Liang J. How Native Background Affects Human Performance in Real-World Visual Object Detection: An Event-Related Potential Study. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:665084. [PMID: 33994938 PMCID: PMC8119748 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.665084] [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: 02/07/2021] [Accepted: 03/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual processing refers to the process of perceiving, analyzing, synthesizing, manipulating, transforming, and thinking of visual objects. It is modulated by both stimulus-driven and goal-directed factors and manifested in neural activities that extend from visual cortex to high-level cognitive areas. Extensive body of studies have investigated the neural mechanisms of visual object processing using synthetic or curated visual stimuli. However, synthetic or curated images generally do not accurately reflect the semantic links between objects and their backgrounds, and previous studies have not provided answers to the question of how the native background affects visual target detection. The current study bridged this gap by constructing a stimulus set of natural scenes with two levels of complexity and modulating participants' attention to actively or passively attend to the background contents. Behaviorally, the decision time was elongated when the background was complex or when the participants' attention was distracted from the detection task, and the object detection accuracy was decreased when the background was complex. The results of event-related potentials (ERP) analysis explicated the effects of scene complexity and attentional state on the brain responses in occipital and centro-parietal areas, which were suggested to be associated with varied attentional cueing and sensory evidence accumulation effects in different experimental conditions. Our results implied that efficient visual processing of real-world objects may involve a competition process between context and distractors that co-exist in the native background, and extensive attentional cues and fine-grained but semantically irrelevant scene information were perhaps detrimental to real-world object detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue Wang
- School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jianpu Yan
- School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
| | - Zhongliang Yin
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
| | - Shenghan Ren
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
| | - Minghao Dong
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
| | - Changli Zheng
- Southwest China Research Institute of Electronic Equipment, Chengdu, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Southwest China Research Institute of Electronic Equipment, Chengdu, China
| | - Jimin Liang
- School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
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22
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Pokorny VJ, Lano TJ, Schallmo MP, Olman CA, Sponheim SR. Reduced influence of perceptual context in schizophrenia: behavioral and neurophysiological evidence. Psychol Med 2021; 51:786-794. [PMID: 31858929 PMCID: PMC7444089 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291719003751] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Accurate perception of visual contours is essential for seeing and differentiating objects in the environment. Both the ability to detect visual contours and the influence of perceptual context created by surrounding stimuli are diminished in people with schizophrenia (SCZ). The central aim of the present study was to better understand the biological underpinnings of impaired contour integration and weakened effects of perceptual context. Additionally, we sought to determine whether visual perceptual abnormalities reflect genetic factors in SCZ and are present in other severe mental disorders. METHODS We examined behavioral data and event-related potentials (ERPs) collected during the perception of simple linear contours embedded in similar background stimuli in 27 patients with SCZ, 23 patients with bipolar disorder (BP), 23 first-degree relatives of SCZ, and 37 controls. RESULTS SCZ exhibited impaired visual contour detection while BP exhibited intermediate performance. The orientation of neighboring stimuli (i.e. flankers) relative to the contour modulated perception across all groups, but SCZ exhibited weakened suppression by the perceptual context created by flankers. Late visual (occipital P2) and cognitive (centroparietal P3) neural responses showed group differences and flanker orientation effects, unlike earlier ERPs (occipital P1 and N1). Moreover, behavioral effects of flanker context on contour perception were correlated with modulation in P2 & P3 amplitudes. CONCLUSION In addition to replicating and extending findings of abnormal contour integration and visual context modulation in SCZ, we provide novel evidence that the abnormal use of perceptual context is associated with higher-order sensory and cognitive processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victor J. Pokorny
- Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA
| | - Timothy J. Lano
- Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Michael-Paul Schallmo
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Cheryl A. Olman
- Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Scott R. Sponheim
- Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
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23
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Faramarzi M, Kasten FH, Altaş G, Aleman A, Ćurčić-Blake B, Herrmann CS. Similar EEG Activity Patterns During Experimentally-Induced Auditory Illusions and Veridical Perceptions. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:602437. [PMID: 33867913 PMCID: PMC8047478 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.602437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2020] [Accepted: 03/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Hallucinations and illusions are two instances of perceptual experiences illustrating how perception might diverge from external sensory stimulations and be generated or altered based on internal brain states. The occurrence of these phenomena is not constrained to patient populations. Similar experiences can be elicited in healthy subjects by means of suitable experimental procedures. Studying the neural mechanisms underlying these experiences not only has the potential to expand our understanding of the brain's perceptual machinery but also of how it might get impaired. In the current study, we employed an auditory signal detection task to induce auditory illusions by presenting speech snippets at near detection threshold intensity embedded in noise. We investigated the neural correlates of auditory false perceptions by examining the EEG activity preceding the responses in speech absent (false alarm, FA) trials and comparing them to speech present (hit) trials. The results of the comparison of event-related potentials (ERPs) in the activation period vs. baseline revealed the presence of an early negativity (EN) and a late positivity (LP) similar in both hits and FAs, which were absent in misses, correct rejections (CR) and control button presses (BPs). We postulate that the EN and the LP might represent the auditory awareness negativity (AAN) and centro-parietal positivity (CPP) or P300, respectively. The event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs) exhibited a common power enhancement in low frequencies (<4 Hz) in hits and FAs. The low-frequency power enhancement has been frequently shown to be accompanied with P300 as well as separately being a marker of perceptual awareness, referred to as slow cortical potentials (SCP). Furthermore, the comparison of hits vs. FAs showed a significantly higher LP amplitude and low frequency power in hits compared to FAs. Generally, the observed patterns in the present results resembled some of the major neural correlates associated with perceptual awareness in previous studies. Our findings provide evidence that the neural correlates associated with conscious perception, can be elicited in similar ways in both presence and absence of externally presented sensory stimuli. The present findings did not reveal any pre-stimulus alpha and beta modulations distinguishing conscious vs. unconscious perceptions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryam Faramarzi
- Experimental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, European Medical School, Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4All,” Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Florian H. Kasten
- Experimental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, European Medical School, Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4All,” Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
- Neuroimaging Unit, European Medical School, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - Gamze Altaş
- Experimental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, European Medical School, Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4All,” Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
| | - André Aleman
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Branislava Ćurčić-Blake
- Department of Biomedical Sciences of Cells and Systems, Cognitive Neuroscience Center, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Christoph S. Herrmann
- Experimental Psychology Lab, Department of Psychology, European Medical School, Cluster of Excellence “Hearing4All,” Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
- Neuroimaging Unit, European Medical School, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
- Research Center Neurosensory Science, Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg, Germany
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24
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Imani E, Harati A, Pourreza H, Goudarzi MM. Brain-behavior relationships in the perceptual decision-making process through cognitive processing stages. Neuropsychologia 2021; 155:107821. [PMID: 33684398 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2020] [Revised: 01/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Perceptual decision making - the process of detecting and categorizing information - has been studied extensively over the last two decades. In this study, we aim to bridge the gap between neural and behavioral representations of the perceptual decision-making process. The neural characterization of decision-making was investigated by evaluating the duration and neural signature of the information processing stages. We further evaluated the processing stages of the decision-making process at the behavioral level by estimating the drift rate and non-decision time parameters. We asked whether the neural and behavioral characterizations of the decision-making process provided consistent results under different stimulus coherency levels and spatial attention. Our statistical analysis revealed that, at both representational levels, decision-making was affected more by the coherency factor. We further found that among different information processing stages, the decision stage had the highest role in the performance of the decision-making process. Such that, the shorter decision stage duration at the neural level and higher drift rate at the behavioral level lead to faster decision-making. Through our consistent neural and behavioral results, we have shown that the decision-making components at these two representational levels were significantly associated. Moreover, the neural signature of the processing stages gave information about the regions that contributed more to the decision-making process. Our overall results demonstrate that uncovering the cognitive processing stages provided more insights into the decision-making process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elaheh Imani
- Department of Computer Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
| | - Ahad Harati
- Department of Computer Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
| | - Hamidreza Pourreza
- Department of Computer Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
| | - Morteza Moazami Goudarzi
- The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
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25
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Benwell CSY, Coldea A, Harvey M, Thut G. Low pre-stimulus EEG alpha power amplifies visual awareness but not visual sensitivity. Eur J Neurosci 2021; 55:3125-3140. [PMID: 33655566 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2020] [Revised: 01/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Pre-stimulus oscillatory neural activity has been linked to the level of awareness of sensory stimuli. More specifically, the power of low-frequency oscillations (primarily in the alpha-band, i.e., 8-14 Hz) prior to stimulus onset is inversely related to measures of subjective performance in visual tasks, such as confidence and visual awareness. Intriguingly, the same EEG signature does not seem to influence objective measures of task performance (i.e., accuracy). We here examined whether this dissociation holds when stringent accuracy measures are used. Previous EEG-studies have employed 2-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) discrimination tasks to link pre-stimulus oscillatory activity to correct/incorrect responses as an index of accuracy/objective performance at the single-trial level. However, 2-AFC tasks do not provide a good estimate of single-trial accuracy, as many of the responses classified as correct will be contaminated by guesses (with the chance correct response rate being 50%). Here instead, we employed a 19-AFC letter identification task to measure accuracy and the subjectively reported level of perceptual awareness on each trial. As the correct guess rate is negligible (~5%), this task provides a purer measure of accuracy. Our results replicate the inverse relationship between pre-stimulus alpha/beta-band power and perceptual awareness ratings in the absence of a link to discrimination accuracy. Pre-stimulus oscillatory phase did not predict either subjective awareness or accuracy. Our results hence confirm a dissociation of the pre-stimulus EEG power-task performance link for subjective versus objective measures of performance, and further substantiate pre-stimulus alpha power as a neural predictor of visual awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Andra Coldea
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Monika Harvey
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Gregor Thut
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
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26
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Zhuo C, Tian H, Fang T, Li R, Li Y, Kong L, Cai Z, Zheng L, Lin X, Chen C. Neural mechanisms underlying visual and auditory processing impairments in schizophrenia: insight into the etiology and implications for tailoring preventive and therapeutic interventions. Am J Transl Res 2020; 12:7657-7669. [PMID: 33437351 PMCID: PMC7791494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2020] [Accepted: 10/28/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a complex and devastating neuropsychiatric disorder with an unknown etiology. Patients with schizophrenia have a high prevalence of visual disturbances, commonly accompanied by auditory impairments. In recent review articles, the perceptual deficits of visual and auditory sensory processing have been downplayed. However, visual and auditory impairments are associated with hallucinations, which is characteristic of schizophrenia across all cultures. Despite decades of research, the common neural mechanisms underlying hallucinations remain largely unknown. In recent years, neuroimaging technologies have empowered researchers to investigate the underlying neural mechanisms. In this review article, we performed a literature search of studies that assessed visual and auditory processing impairments, along with their relationship to visual disturbances and auditory hallucinations, in schizophrenia. We proposed that the pulvinar may play a critical role. In addition, disrupted visual and auditory projections from the pulvinar to the visual and auditory cortices could be shared pathways in relation to visual disturbances and auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. Our findings suggest that early visual and auditory processing deficits may occur before the onset of the initial psychotic episode, including hallucinations, and the full manifestation of schizophrenia. Furthermore, we discussed the directions for future studies. Our findings from this review offer unique insights into the distinct underlying neural mechanisms of schizophrenia, which may help develop tailored preventive and therapeutic interventions in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanjun Zhuo
- Key Laboratory of Real Time Brain Circuits Tracing (RTBNP_Lab), Tianjin Fourth Center Hospital, Tianjin Fourth Hospital Affiliated to Nankai UniversityTianjin 300222, China
- Department of Psychiatry, Tianjin Medical UniversityTianjin 300072, China
- Psychiatric-Neuroimaging-Genetics and Comorbidity Laboratory (PNGC_Lab), Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Teaching Hospital of Tianjin Medical UniversityTianjin 300300, China
- Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh Peoples HospitalWenzhou 325000, China
| | - Hongjun Tian
- Key Laboratory of Real Time Brain Circuits Tracing (RTBNP_Lab), Tianjin Fourth Center Hospital, Tianjin Fourth Hospital Affiliated to Nankai UniversityTianjin 300222, China
| | - Tao Fang
- Key Laboratory of Real Time Brain Circuits Tracing (RTBNP_Lab), Tianjin Fourth Center Hospital, Tianjin Fourth Hospital Affiliated to Nankai UniversityTianjin 300222, China
| | - Ranli Li
- Psychiatric-Neuroimaging-Genetics and Comorbidity Laboratory (PNGC_Lab), Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Teaching Hospital of Tianjin Medical UniversityTianjin 300300, China
| | - Yachen Li
- Psychiatric-Neuroimaging-Genetics and Comorbidity Laboratory (PNGC_Lab), Tianjin Anding Hospital, Mental Health Teaching Hospital of Tianjin Medical UniversityTianjin 300300, China
| | - Lingguang Kong
- Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh Peoples HospitalWenzhou 325000, China
| | - Ziyao Cai
- Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh Peoples HospitalWenzhou 325000, China
| | - Lidan Zheng
- Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh Peoples HospitalWenzhou 325000, China
| | - Xiaodong Lin
- Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh Peoples HospitalWenzhou 325000, China
| | - Ce Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, Wenzhou Seventh Peoples HospitalWenzhou 325000, China
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27
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Auditory information enhances post-sensory visual evidence during rapid multisensory decision-making. Nat Commun 2020; 11:5440. [PMID: 33116148 PMCID: PMC7595090 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19306-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite recent progress in understanding multisensory decision-making, a conclusive mechanistic account of how the brain translates the relevant evidence into a decision is lacking. Specifically, it remains unclear whether perceptual improvements during rapid multisensory decisions are best explained by sensory (i.e., ‘Early’) processing benefits or post-sensory (i.e., ‘Late’) changes in decision dynamics. Here, we employ a well-established visual object categorisation task in which early sensory and post-sensory decision evidence can be dissociated using multivariate pattern analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG). We capitalize on these distinct neural components to identify when and how complementary auditory information influences the encoding of decision-relevant visual evidence in a multisensory context. We show that it is primarily the post-sensory, rather than the early sensory, EEG component amplitudes that are being amplified during rapid audiovisual decision-making. Using a neurally informed drift diffusion model we demonstrate that a multisensory behavioral improvement in accuracy arises from an enhanced quality of the relevant decision evidence, as captured by the post-sensory EEG component, consistent with the emergence of multisensory evidence in higher-order brain areas. A conclusive account on how the brain translates audiovisual evidence into a rapid decision is still lacking. Here, using a neurally-informed modelling approach, the authors show that sounds amplify visual evidence later in the decision process, in line with higher-order multisensory effects.
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Hobot J, Koculak M, Paulewicz B, Sandberg K, Wierzchoń M. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation-Induced Motor Cortex Activity Influences Visual Awareness Judgments. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:580712. [PMID: 33177983 PMCID: PMC7593579 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.580712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The influence of non-visual information on visual awareness judgments has recently gained substantial interest. Using single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we investigate the potential contribution of evidence from the motor system to judgment of visual awareness. We hypothesized that TMS-induced activity in the primary motor cortex (M1) would increase reported visual awareness as compared to the control condition. Additionally, we investigated whether TMS-induced motor-evoked potential (MEP) could measure accumulated evidence for stimulus perception. Following stimulus presentation and TMS, participants first rated their visual awareness verbally using the Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS), after which they responded manually to a Gabor orientation identification task. Delivering TMS to M1 resulted in higher average awareness ratings as compared to the control condition, in both correct and incorrect identification task response trials, when the hand with which participants responded was contralateral to the stimulated hemisphere (TMS-response-congruent trials). This effect was accompanied by longer PAS response times (RTs), irrespective of the congruence between TMS and identification response. Moreover, longer identification RTs were observed in TMS-response-congruent trials in the M1 condition as compared to the control condition. Additionally, the amplitudes of MEPs were related to the awareness ratings when response congruence was taken into account. We argue that MEP can serve as an indirect measure of evidence accumulated for stimulus perception and that longer PAS RTs and higher amplitudes of MEPs in the M1 condition reflect integration of additional evidence with visual awareness judgment. In conclusion, we advocate that motor activity influences perceptual awareness judgments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justyna Hobot
- Consciousness Lab, Psychology Institute, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
- Perception and Neuroarchitectural Mapping Group, Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Marcin Koculak
- Consciousness Lab, Psychology Institute, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Borysław Paulewicz
- Faculty of Psychology in Katowice, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Katowice, Poland
| | - Kristian Sandberg
- Perception and Neuroarchitectural Mapping Group, Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Michał Wierzchoń
- Consciousness Lab, Psychology Institute, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
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29
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Rausch M, Zehetleitner M, Steinhauser M, Maier ME. Cognitive modelling reveals distinct electrophysiological markers of decision confidence and error monitoring. Neuroimage 2020; 218:116963. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2020] [Revised: 05/05/2020] [Accepted: 05/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
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30
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Todorova L, Neville DA. Associative and Identity Words Promote the Speed of Visual Categorization: A Hierarchical Drift Diffusion Account. Front Psychol 2020; 11:955. [PMID: 32793015 PMCID: PMC7390986 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00955] [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: 04/16/2019] [Accepted: 04/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Words can either boost or hinder the processing of visual information, which can lead to facilitation or interference of the behavioral response. We investigated the stage (response execution or target processing) of verbal interference/facilitation in the response priming paradigm with a gender categorization task. Participants in our study were asked to judge whether the presented stimulus was a female or male face that was briefly preceded by a gender word either congruent (prime: "man," target: "man"), incongruent (prime: "woman," target: "man") or neutral (prime: "day," target: "man") with respect to the face stimulus. We investigated whether related word-picture pairs resulted in faster reaction times in comparison to the neutral word-picture pairs (facilitation) and whether unrelated word-picture pairs resulted in slower reaction times in comparison to neutral word-picture pairs (interference). We further examined whether these effects (if any) map onto response conflict or aspects of target processing. In addition, identity ("man," "woman") and associative ("tie," "dress") primes were introduced to investigate the cognitive mechanisms of semantic and Stroop-like effects in response priming (introduced respectively by associations and identity words). We analyzed responses and reaction times using the drift diffusion model to examine the effect of facilitation and/or interference as a function of the prime type. We found that regardless of prime type words introduce a facilitatory effect, which maps to the processes of visual attention and response execution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Todorova
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - David A Neville
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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31
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Influence of ligand's directional configuration, chrysenes as model compounds, on the binding activity with aryl hydrocarbon receptor. Sci Rep 2020; 10:13821. [PMID: 32796895 PMCID: PMC7428016 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-70704-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Understanding what and how physico-chemical factors of a ligand configure conditions for ligand-receptor binding is a key to accurate assessment of toxic potencies of environmental pollutants. We investigated influences of the dipole-driven orientation and resulting directional configuration of ligands on receptor binding activities. Using physico-chemical properties calculated by ab initio density functional theory, directional reactivity factors (DRF) were devised as main indicators of toxic potencies, linking molecular ligand-receptor binding to in vitro responses. The directional reactive model was applied to predict variation of aryl hydrocarbon receptor-mediated toxic potencies among homologues of chrysene with structural modifications such as the numbers of constituent benzene rings, methylation and hydroxylation. Results of predictive models were consistent with empirical potencies determined by use of the H4IIE-luc transactivation bioassay. The experiment-free approach based on first principles provides an analytical framework for estimating molecular bioactivity in silico and complements conventional empirical approaches to studying molecular initiating events in adverse outcome pathways.
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32
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Mazzi C, Mazzeo G, Savazzi S. Late Positivity Does Not Meet the Criteria to be Considered a Proper Neural Correlate of Perceptual Awareness. Front Syst Neurosci 2020; 14:36. [PMID: 32733211 PMCID: PMC7358964 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2020.00036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2019] [Accepted: 05/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Contrastive analysis has been widely employed in the search for the electrophysiological neural correlates of consciousness. However, despite its clear logic, it has been argued that it may not succeed in isolating neural processes solely involved in the emergence of perceptual awareness. In fact, data from contrastive analysis would be contaminated by potential confounding factors reflecting distinct, though related, processes either preceding or following the conscious perception. At present, the ERP components representing the proper correlates of perceptual awareness still remain to be identified among those correlating with awareness (i.e., Visual Awareness Negativity, VAN and Late Positivity, LP). In order to dissociate visual awareness from post-perceptual confounds specifically related to decision making, we manipulated the response criterion, which affects how a percept is translated into a decision. In particular, while performing an orientation discrimination task, participants were asked to shift their response criterion across sessions. As a consequence, the resulting modulation should concern the ERP component(s) not exclusively reflecting mechanisms regulating the subjective conscious experience itself but rather the processes accompanying it. Electrophysiological results showed that N1 and P3 were sensitive to the response criterion adopted by participants. Additionally, the more the participants shifted their response criterion, the bigger the ERP modulation was; this was consequently indicative of the critical role of these components in the decision-making processes regardless of awareness level. When considering data independently from the response criterion, the aware vs. unaware contrast showed that both VAN and LP were significant. Crucially, the LP component was also modulated by the interaction of awareness and response criterion, while VAN results to be unaffected. In agreement with previous literature, these findings provide evidence supporting the hypothesis that VAN tracks the emergence of visual awareness by encoding the conscious percept, whereas LP reflects the contribution from post-perceptual processes related to response requirements. This excludes a direct functional role of this later component in giving rise to perceptual awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Mazzi
- Perception and Awareness (PandA) Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Gaetano Mazzeo
- Perception and Awareness (PandA) Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Silvia Savazzi
- Perception and Awareness (PandA) Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
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33
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Rollwage M, Loosen A, Hauser TU, Moran R, Dolan RJ, Fleming SM. Confidence drives a neural confirmation bias. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2634. [PMID: 32457308 PMCID: PMC7250867 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16278-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2019] [Accepted: 04/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
A prominent source of polarised and entrenched beliefs is confirmation bias, where evidence against one’s position is selectively disregarded. This effect is most starkly evident when opposing parties are highly confident in their decisions. Here we combine human magnetoencephalography (MEG) with behavioural and neural modelling to identify alterations in post-decisional processing that contribute to the phenomenon of confirmation bias. We show that holding high confidence in a decision leads to a striking modulation of post-decision neural processing, such that integration of confirmatory evidence is amplified while disconfirmatory evidence processing is abolished. We conclude that confidence shapes a selective neural gating for choice-consistent information, reducing the likelihood of changes of mind on the basis of new information. A central role for confidence in shaping the fidelity of evidence accumulation indicates that metacognitive interventions may help ameliorate this pervasive cognitive bias. People often ignore evidence that disconfirms their prior beliefs. Here, the authors investigate the underlying cognitive, computational and neuronal mechanisms of such confirmation bias, and show that high confidence induces a selective neural processing of choice-consistent information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max Rollwage
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK. .,Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, UK.
| | - Alisa Loosen
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK.,Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Tobias U Hauser
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK.,Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Rani Moran
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK.,Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Raymond J Dolan
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK.,Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Stephen M Fleming
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK.,Max Planck University College London Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, London WC1B 5EH, UK.,Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK
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34
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Evidence accumulation during perceptual decisions in humans varies as a function of dorsal frontoparietal organization. Nat Hum Behav 2020; 4:844-855. [PMID: 32313233 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-0863-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Accepted: 03/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Animal neurophysiological studies have identified neural signals within dorsal frontoparietal areas that trace a perceptual decision by accumulating sensory evidence over time and trigger action upon reaching a threshold. Although analogous accumulation-to-bound signals are identifiable on extracranial human electroencephalography, their cortical origins remain unknown. Here neural metrics of human evidence accumulation, predictive of the speed of perceptual reports, were isolated using electroencephalography and related to dorsal frontoparietal network (dFPN) connectivity using diffusion and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The build-up rate of evidence accumulation mediated the relationship between the white matter macrostructure of dFPN pathways and the efficiency of perceptual reports. This association between steeper build-up rates of evidence accumulation and the dFPN was recapitulated in the resting-state networks. Stronger connectivity between dFPN regions is thus associated with faster evidence accumulation and speeded perceptual decisions. Our findings identify an integrated network for perceptual decisions that may be targeted for neurorehabilitation in cognitive disorders.
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35
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Devine CA, Gaffney C, Loughnane GM, Kelly SP, O'Connell RG. The role of premature evidence accumulation in making difficult perceptual decisions under temporal uncertainty. eLife 2019; 8:e48526. [PMID: 31774396 PMCID: PMC6904213 DOI: 10.7554/elife.48526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The computations and neural processes underpinning decision making have primarily been investigated using highly simplified tasks in which stimulus onsets cue observers to start accumulating choice-relevant information. Yet, in daily life we are rarely afforded the luxury of knowing precisely when choice-relevant information will appear. Here, we examined neural indices of decision formation while subjects discriminated subtle stimulus feature changes whose timing relative to stimulus onset ('foreperiod') was uncertain. Joint analysis of behavioural error patterns and neural decision signal dynamics indicated that subjects systematically began the accumulation process before any informative evidence was presented, and further, that accumulation onset timing varied systematically as a function of the foreperiod of the preceding trial. These results suggest that the brain can adjust to temporal uncertainty by strategically modulating accumulation onset timing according to statistical regularities in the temporal structure of the sensory environment with particular emphasis on recent experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ciara A Devine
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of PsychologyThe University of Dublin, Trinity CollegeDublinIreland
| | - Christine Gaffney
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of PsychologyThe University of Dublin, Trinity CollegeDublinIreland
| | | | - Simon P Kelly
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical EngineeringUniversity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Redmond G O'Connell
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of PsychologyThe University of Dublin, Trinity CollegeDublinIreland
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36
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Benwell CSY, London RE, Tagliabue CF, Veniero D, Gross J, Keitel C, Thut G. Frequency and power of human alpha oscillations drift systematically with time-on-task. Neuroimage 2019; 192:101-114. [PMID: 30844505 PMCID: PMC6503153 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.02.067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2018] [Revised: 01/12/2019] [Accepted: 02/27/2019] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Oscillatory neural activity is a fundamental characteristic of the mammalian brain spanning multiple levels of spatial and temporal scale. Current theories of neural oscillations and analysis techniques employed to investigate their functional significance are based on an often implicit assumption: In the absence of experimental manipulation, the spectral content of any given EEG- or MEG-recorded neural oscillator remains approximately stationary over the course of a typical experimental session (∼1 h), spontaneously fluctuating only around its dominant frequency. Here, we examined this assumption for ongoing neural oscillations in the alpha-band (8-13 Hz). We found that alpha peak frequency systematically decreased over time, while alpha-power increased. Intriguingly, these systematic changes showed partial independence of each other: Statistical source separation (independent component analysis) revealed that while some alpha components displayed concomitant power increases and peak frequency decreases, other components showed either unique power increases or frequency decreases. Interestingly, we also found these components to differ in frequency. Components that showed mixed frequency/power changes oscillated primarily in the lower alpha-band (∼8-10 Hz), while components with unique changes oscillated primarily in the higher alpha-band (∼9-13 Hz). Our findings provide novel clues on the time-varying intrinsic properties of large-scale neural networks as measured by M/EEG, with implications for the analysis and interpretation of studies that aim at identifying functionally relevant oscillatory networks or at driving them through external stimulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher S Y Benwell
- Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK; Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
| | - Raquel E London
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Chiara F Tagliabue
- CIMEC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Università degli Studi di Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Domenica Veniero
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Joachim Gross
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK; Institut für Biomagnetismus und Biosignalanalyse, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Malmedyweg 15, 48149, Münster, Germany
| | - Christian Keitel
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Gregor Thut
- Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
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