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von Gal A, Boccia M, Nori R, Verde P, Giannini AM, Piccardi L. Neural networks underlying visual illusions: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Neuroimage 2023; 279:120335. [PMID: 37591478 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2023] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Visual illusions have long been used to study visual perception and contextual integration. Neuroimaging studies employ illusions to identify the brain regions involved in visual perception and how they interact. We conducted an Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) meta-analysis and meta-analytic connectivity modeling on fMRI studies using static and motion illusions to reveal the neural signatures of illusory processing and to investigate the degree to which different areas are commonly recruited in perceptual inference. The resulting networks encompass ventral and dorsal regions, including the inferior and middle occipital cortices bilaterally in both types of illusions. The static and motion illusion networks selectively included the right posterior parietal cortex and the ventral premotor cortex respectively. Overall, these results describe a network of areas crucially involved in perceptual inference relying on feed-back and feed-forward interactions between areas of the ventral and dorsal visual pathways. The same network is proposed to be involved in hallucinogenic symptoms characteristic of schizophrenia and other disorders, with crucial implications in the use of illusions as biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Maddalena Boccia
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; Cognitive and Motor Rehabilitation and Neuroimaging Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Raffaella Nori
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - Paola Verde
- Italian Air Force Experimental Flight Center, Aerospace Medicine Department, Pratica di Mare, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Laura Piccardi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy; San Raffaele Cassino Hospital, Cassino, FR, Italy
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Ishioka T, Hirayama K, Hosokai Y, Takeda A, Suzuki K, Nishio Y, Sawada Y, Abe N, Mori E. Impaired perception of illusory contours and cortical hypometabolism in patients with Parkinson's disease. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2021; 32:102779. [PMID: 34418792 PMCID: PMC8385116 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2021.102779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Revised: 07/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
We assessed the perception of illusory contours in patients with PD. PD patients showed difficulty in perceiving Kanizsa illusory figures. Impaired perception of Kanizsa illusory figures was related to LOC hypometabolism.
Neuroimaging evidence suggests that areas of the higher-order visual cortex, including the lateral occipital complex (LOC), are engaged in the perception of illusory contours; however, these findings remain unsubstantiated by human lesion data. Therefore, we assessed the presentation time necessary to perceive two types of illusory contours formed by Kanizsa figures or aligned line ends in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Additionally, we used 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) to measure regional cerebral glucose metabolism in PD patients. Although there were no significant differences in the stimulus durations required for perception of illusory contours formed by aligned line ends between PD patients and controls, PD patients required significantly longer stimulus durations for the perception of Kanizsa illusory figures. Difficulty in perceiving Kanizsa illusory figures was correlated with hypometabolism in the higher-order visual cortical areas, including the posterior inferior temporal gyrus. These findings indicate an association between dysfunction in the posterior inferior temporal gyrus, a region corresponding to a portion of the LOC, and impaired perception of Kanizsa illusory figures in PD patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Toshiyuki Ishioka
- Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Health and Social Services, Saitama Prefectural University, Japan; Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan.
| | - Kazumi Hirayama
- Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan; Department of Occupational Therapy, Yamagata Prefectural University of Health Science, Japan
| | - Yoshiyuki Hosokai
- Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan; Department of Radiological Sciences, International University of Health and Welfare, Japan
| | - Atsushi Takeda
- Department of Neurology, Sendai Nishitaga Hospital, Japan
| | - Kyoko Suzuki
- Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan
| | - Yoshiyuki Nishio
- Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan; Department of Psychiatry, Tokyo Metropolitan Matsuzawa Hospital, Japan
| | - Yoichi Sawada
- Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan; Department of Health and Welfare Science, Okayama Prefectural University, Japan
| | - Nobuhito Abe
- Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan; Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Japan
| | - Etsuro Mori
- Department of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, Japan; Department of Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Japan
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No evidence for surface organization in Kanizsa configurations during continuous flash suppression. Atten Percept Psychophys 2016; 78:902-14. [PMID: 26704563 DOI: 10.3758/s13414-015-1043-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Does one need to be aware of a visual stimulus for it to be perceptually organized into a coherent whole? The answer to this question regarding the interplay between Gestalts and visual awareness remains unclear. Using interocular suppression as the paradigm for rendering stimuli invisible, conflicting evidence has been obtained as to whether the traditional Kanizsa surface is constructed during interocular suppression. While Sobel and Blake (2003) and Harris, Schwarzkopf, Song, Bahrami, and Rees (2011) failed to find evidence for this, Wang, Weng, and He (2012) showed that standard configurations of Kanizsa pacmen would break interocular suppression faster than their rotated counterparts. In the current study, we replicated the findings by Wang et al. (2012) but show that neither an account based on the construction of a surface nor one based on the long-range collinearities in the standard Kanizsa configuration stimulus could fully explain the difference in breakthrough times. We discuss these findings in the context of differences in the amplitudes of the Fourier orientation spectra for all stimulus types. Thus, we find no evidence that the integration of separate elements takes place during interocular suppression of Kanizsa stimuli, suggesting that this Gestalt involving figure-ground assignment is not constructed when rendered nonconscious using interocular suppression.
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Vancleef K, Acke E, Torfs K, Demeyere N, Lafosse C, Humphreys G, Wagemans J, de-Wit L. Reliability and validity of the Leuven Perceptual Organization Screening Test (L-POST). J Neuropsychol 2014; 9:271-98. [PMID: 25042381 DOI: 10.1111/jnp.12050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2014] [Revised: 05/22/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Neuropsychological tests of visual perception mostly assess high-level processes like object recognition. Object recognition, however, relies on distinct mid-level processes of perceptual organization that are only implicitly tested in classical tests. Furthermore, the psychometric properties of the existing instruments are limited. To fill this gap, the Leuven perceptual organization screening test (L-POST) was developed, in which a wide range of mid-level phenomena are measured in 15 subtests. In this study, we evaluated reliability and validity of the L-POST. Performance on the test is evaluated relative to a norm sample of more than 1,500 healthy control participants. Cronbach's alpha of the norm sample and test-retest correlations for 20 patients provide evidence for adequate reliability of L-POST performance. The convergent and discriminant validity of the test was assessed in 40 brain-damaged patients, whose performance on the L-POST was compared with standard clinical tests of visual perception and other measures of cognitive function. The L-POST showed high sensitivity to visual dysfunction and decreased performance was specific to visual problems. In conclusion, the L-POST is a reliable and valid screening test for perceptual organization. It offers a useful online tool for researchers and clinicians to get a broader overview of the mid-level processes that are preserved or disrupted in a given patient.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen Vancleef
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium
| | - Elia Acke
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium
| | - Katrien Torfs
- Institute of Neuroscience, University of Louvain, Louvain-la-neuve, Belgium
| | - Nele Demeyere
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK
| | | | - Glyn Humphreys
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK
| | - Johan Wagemans
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium
| | - Lee de-Wit
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium
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Seifert M, Hock HS. The independent detection of motion energy and counterchange: flexibility in motion detection. Vision Res 2014; 98:61-71. [PMID: 24657433 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2014.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2013] [Revised: 02/16/2014] [Accepted: 03/11/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Motion perception is determined by changing patterns of neural activation initiated by spatiotemporal changes in stimulus features. Motion specified by 1st-order motion energy entails neural patterns that are initiated by spatiotemporal changes in luminance, whereas motion specified by counterchange entails oppositely signed changes in neural activation that can be initiated by spatiotemporal changes in any feature. A constraint in furthering this distinction is that motion energy and counterchange are co-specified by most visual stimuli. In the current study, counterchange was isolated for stimuli composed of translating subjective (Kanizsa) squares, surfaces created by the visual system. Motion energy was isolated for stimuli composed of sequences of luminance increments that spread across perceptually stationary, literal surfaces. Counterchange-specified motion was perceived over a wide range of frame durations, and preferentially for short motion paths. Motion specified by motion energy was diminished for relatively long frame durations, and was unaffected by the length of the motion path. Finally, it was found that blank inter-frame intervals can restore counterchange-specified motion perception for frame durations that are otherwise too brief for motion to be perceived. The results of these and earlier experiments suggest that 1st-order motion energy mechanisms, dedicated to the detection of changes in neural activation initiated by spatiotemporal changes in luminance, provide the basis for objectless motion perception (Wertheimer's phi motion). In contrast, counterchanging neural activation initiated by spatiotemporal changes in any feature, including features created by the visual system, provides a flexible basis for the perception of object motion (Wertheimer's beta motion).
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Seifert
- Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA
| | - Howard S Hock
- Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA; Center for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
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Structural and functional changes across the visual cortex of a patient with visual form agnosia. J Neurosci 2013; 33:12779-91. [PMID: 23904613 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.4853-12.2013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Loss of shape recognition in visual-form agnosia occurs without equivalent losses in the use of vision to guide actions, providing support for the hypothesis of two visual systems (for "perception" and "action"). The human individual DF received a toxic exposure to carbon monoxide some years ago, which resulted in a persisting visual-form agnosia that has been extensively characterized at the behavioral level. We conducted a detailed high-resolution MRI study of DF's cortex, combining structural and functional measurements. We present the first accurate quantification of the changes in thickness across DF's occipital cortex, finding the most substantial loss in the lateral occipital cortex (LOC). There are reduced white matter connections between LOC and other areas. Functional measures show pockets of activity that survive within structurally damaged areas. The topographic mapping of visual areas showed that ordered retinotopic maps were evident for DF in the ventral portions of visual cortical areas V1, V2, V3, and hV4. Although V1 shows evidence of topographic order in its dorsal portion, such maps could not be found in the dorsal parts of V2 and V3. We conclude that it is not possible to understand fully the deficits in object perception in visual-form agnosia without the exploitation of both structural and functional measurements. Our results also highlight for DF the cortical routes through which visual information is able to pass to support her well-documented abilities to use visual information to guide actions.
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Perception of illusory contours forms intermodulation responses of steady state visual evoked potentials as a neural signature of spatial integration. Biol Psychol 2013; 94:55-60. [PMID: 23665197 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.04.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2012] [Revised: 03/27/2013] [Accepted: 04/23/2013] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Perception of illusory contours was shown to be a consequence of neural activity related to spatial integration in early visual areas. Candidates for such filling-in phenomena are long-range horizontal connections of neurons in V1/V2, and feedback from higher order visual areas. To get a direct measure of spatial integration in early visual cortex, we presented two differently flickering inducers, which evoked steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) while manipulating the formation of an illusory rectangle. As a neural marker of integration we tested differences in amplitudes of intermodulation frequencies i.e. linear combinations of the driving frequencies. These were significantly increased when an illusory rectangle was perceived. Increases were neither due to changes of any of the two driving frequencies nor in the frequency that tagged the processing of the compound object, indicating that results are not a consequence of paying more attention to inducers when the illusory rectangle was visible.
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Towards a resolution of conflicting models of illusory contour processing in humans. Neuroimage 2012; 59:2808-17. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.09.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2011] [Revised: 09/12/2011] [Accepted: 09/15/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
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Abstract
Motion detection is typically spared in blindsight, which results from damage to the striate cortex (area V1) of the brain that is sufficient to eliminate conscious visual awareness and severely reduce sensitivity to luminance contrast, especially for high spatial and low temporal frequencies. Here we show that the discrimination of motion direction within cortically blind fields is not attributable to feature tracking (the detection of changes in position or shape), but is due instead to the detection of first-order motion energy (spatiotemporal changes in luminance). The key to this finding was a version of the line motion illusion entailing reverse-phi motion in which opposing motion directions are simultaneously cued by motion energy and changes in stimulus shape. In forced-choice tests, a blindsighted test subject selected the direction cued by shape change when the stimulus was presented in his intact field, but reliably selected the direction cued by motion energy when the same stimulus was presented in his blind field, where relevant position information was either inaccessible or invalid. Motion energy has been characterized as objectless, so reliance on motion energy detection is consistent with impaired access to shape information in blindsight. The dissociation of motion direction by visual field (cortically blind vs. intact) provides evidence that two pathways from the retina to MT/V5 (the cortical area specialized for motion perception) are functionally distinct: the retinogeniculate pathway through V1 is specialized for feature-based motion perception, whereas the retinocollicular pathway, which bypasses V1, is specialized for detecting motion energy.
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