1
|
Gagliardi CM, Normandin ME, Keinath AT, Julian JB, Lopez MR, Ramos-Alvarez MM, Epstein RA, Muzzio IA. Distinct neural mechanisms for heading retrieval and context recognition in the hippocampus during spatial reorientation. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5968. [PMID: 39013846 PMCID: PMC11252339 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50112-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Reorientation, the process of regaining one's bearings after becoming lost, requires identification of a spatial context (context recognition) and recovery of facing direction within that context (heading retrieval). We previously showed that these processes rely on the use of features and geometry, respectively. Here, we examine reorientation behavior in a task that creates contextual ambiguity over a long timescale to demonstrate that male mice learn to combine both featural and geometric cues to recover heading. At the neural level, most CA1 neurons persistently align to geometry, and this alignment predicts heading behavior. However, a small subset of cells remaps coherently in a context-sensitive manner, which serves to predict context. Efficient heading retrieval and context recognition correlate with rate changes reflecting integration of featural and geometric information in the active ensemble. These data illustrate how context recognition and heading retrieval are coded in CA1 and how these processes change with experience.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Celia M Gagliardi
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52245, USA
| | - Marc E Normandin
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52245, USA
| | - Alexandra T Keinath
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA
| | - Joshua B Julian
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA
| | - Matthew R Lopez
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52245, USA
| | | | - Russell A Epstein
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Isabel A Muzzio
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, 52245, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Fernandino L, Binder JR. How does the "default mode" network contribute to semantic cognition? BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2024; 252:105405. [PMID: 38579461 PMCID: PMC11135161 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2024.105405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
This review examines whether and how the "default mode" network (DMN) contributes to semantic processing. We review evidence implicating the DMN in the processing of individual word meanings and in sentence- and discourse-level semantics. Next, we argue that the areas comprising the DMN contribute to semantic processing by coordinating and integrating the simultaneous activity of local neuronal ensembles across multiple unimodal and multimodal cortical regions, creating a transient, global neuronal ensemble. The resulting ensemble implements an integrated simulation of phenomenological experience - that is, an embodied situation model - constructed from various modalities of experiential memory traces. These situation models, we argue, are necessary not only for semantic processing but also for aspects of cognition that are not traditionally considered semantic. Although many aspects of this proposal remain provisional, we believe it provides new insights into the relationships between semantic and non-semantic cognition and into the functions of the DMN.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Fernandino
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA.
| | - Jeffrey R Binder
- Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA; Department of Biophysics, Medical College of Wisconsin, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Saccone EJ, Tian M, Bedny M. Developing cortex is functionally pluripotent: Evidence from blindness. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 66:101360. [PMID: 38394708 PMCID: PMC10899073 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2023] [Revised: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
How rigidly does innate architecture constrain function of developing cortex? What is the contribution of early experience? We review insights into these questions from visual cortex function in people born blind. In blindness, occipital cortices are active during auditory and tactile tasks. What 'cross-modal' plasticity tells us about cortical flexibility is debated. On the one hand, visual networks of blind people respond to higher cognitive information, such as sentence grammar, suggesting drastic repurposing. On the other, in line with 'metamodal' accounts, sighted and blind populations show shared domain preferences in ventral occipito-temporal cortex (vOTC), suggesting visual areas switch input modality but perform the same or similar perceptual functions (e.g., face recognition) in blindness. Here we bring these disparate literatures together, reviewing and synthesizing evidence that speaks to whether visual cortices have similar or different functions in blind and sighted people. Together, the evidence suggests that in blindness, visual cortices are incorporated into higher-cognitive (e.g., fronto-parietal) networks, which are a major source long-range input to the visual system. We propose the connectivity-constrained experience-dependent account. Functional development is constrained by innate anatomical connectivity, experience and behavioral needs. Infant cortex is pluripotent, the same anatomical constraints develop into different functional outcomes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth J Saccone
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Mengyu Tian
- Center for Educational Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, China
| | - Marina Bedny
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Son G, Walther DB, Mack ML. Brief category learning distorts perceptual space for complex scenes. Psychon Bull Rev 2024:10.3758/s13423-024-02484-6. [PMID: 38438711 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-024-02484-6] [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: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
The formation of categories is known to distort perceptual space: representations are pushed away from category boundaries and pulled toward categorical prototypes. This phenomenon has been studied with artificially constructed objects, whose feature dimensions are easily defined and manipulated. How such category-induced perceptual distortions arise for complex, real-world scenes, however, remains largely unknown due to the technical challenge of measuring and controlling scene features. We address this question by generating realistic scene images from a high-dimensional continuous space using generative adversarial networks and using the images as stimuli in a novel learning task. Participants learned to categorize the scene images along arbitrary category boundaries and later reconstructed the same scenes from memory. Systematic biases in reconstruction errors closely tracked each participant's subjective category boundaries. These findings suggest that the perception of global scene properties is warped to align with a newly learned category structure after only a brief learning experience.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gaeun Son
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Dirk B Walther
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michael L Mack
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Skalaban LJ, Chan I, Rapuano KM, Lin Q, Conley MI, Watts RR, Busch EL, Murty VP, Casey BJ. Representational Dissimilarity of Faces and Places during a Working Memory Task is Associated with Subsequent Recognition Memory during Development. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:415-434. [PMID: 38060253 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/08/2023]
Abstract
Nearly 50 years of research has focused on faces as a special visual category, especially during development. Yet it remains unclear how spatial patterns of neural similarity of faces and places relate to how information processing supports subsequent recognition of items from these categories. The current study uses representational similarity analysis and functional imaging data from 9- and 10-year-old youth during an emotional n-back task from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study 3.0 data release to relate spatial patterns of neural similarity during working memory to subsequent out-of-scanner performance on a recognition memory task. Specifically, we examine how similarities in representations within face categories (neutral, happy, and fearful faces) and representations between visual categories (faces and places) relate to subsequent recognition memory of these visual categories. Although working memory performance was higher for faces than places, subsequent recognition memory was greater for places than faces. Representational similarity analysis revealed category-specific patterns in face-and place-sensitive brain regions (fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus) compared with a nonsensitive visual region (pericalcarine cortex). Similarity within face categories and dissimilarity between face and place categories in the parahippocampus was related to better recognition of places from the n-back task. Conversely, in the fusiform, similarity within face categories and their relative dissimilarity from places was associated with better recognition of new faces, but not old faces. These findings highlight how the representational distinctiveness of visual categories influence what information is subsequently prioritized in recognition memory during development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lena J Skalaban
- Yale University, New Haven, CT
- Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
| | | | | | - Qi Lin
- Yale University, New Haven, CT
| | | | | | | | | | - B J Casey
- Yale University, New Haven, CT
- Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Chai XJ, Tang L, Gabrieli JDE, Ofen N. From vision to memory: How scene-sensitive regions support episodic memory formation during child development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2024; 65:101340. [PMID: 38218015 PMCID: PMC10825658 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101340] [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: 12/13/2022] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 01/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Previous brain imaging studies have identified three brain regions that selectively respond to visual scenes, the parahippocampal place area (PPA), the occipital place area (OPA), and the retrosplenial cortex (RSC). There is growing evidence that these visual scene-sensitive regions process different types of scene information and may have different developmental timelines in supporting scene perception. How these scene-sensitive regions support memory functions during child development is largely unknown. We investigated PPA, OPA and RSC activations associated with episodic memory formation in childhood (5-7 years of age) and young adulthood, using a subsequent scene memory paradigm and a functional localizer for scenes. PPA, OPA, and RSC subsequent memory activation and functional connectivity differed between children and adults. Subsequent memory effects were found in activations of all three scene regions in adults. In children, however, robust subsequent memory effects were only found in the PPA. Functional connectivity during successful encoding was significant among the three regions in adults, but not in children. PPA subsequently memory activations and PPA-RSC subsequent memory functional connectivity correlated with accuracy in adults, but not children. These age-related differences add new evidence linking protracted development of the scene-sensitive regions to the protracted development of episodic memory.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqian J Chai
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, USA.
| | - Lingfei Tang
- Department of Psychology and the Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, USA
| | - John DE Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Noa Ofen
- Department of Psychology and the Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, USA; Center for Vital Longevity and School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Kamps FS, Rennert RJ, Radwan SF, Wahab S, Pincus JE, Dilks DD. Dissociable Cognitive Systems for Recognizing Places and Navigating through Them: Developmental and Neuropsychological Evidence. J Neurosci 2023; 43:6320-6329. [PMID: 37580121 PMCID: PMC10490455 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0153-23.2023] [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: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Recent neural evidence suggests that the human brain contains dissociable systems for "scene categorization" (i.e., recognizing a place as a particular kind of place, for example, a kitchen), including the parahippocampal place area, and "visually guided navigation" (e.g., finding our way through a kitchen, not running into the kitchen walls or banging into the kitchen table), including the occipital place area. However, converging behavioral data - for instance, whether scene categorization and visually guided navigation abilities develop along different timelines and whether there is differential breakdown under neurologic deficit - would provide even stronger support for this two-scene-systems hypothesis. Thus, here we tested scene categorization and visually guided navigation abilities in 131 typically developing children between 4 and 9 years of age, as well as 46 adults with Williams syndrome, a developmental disorder with known impairment on "action" tasks, yet relative sparing on "perception" tasks, in object processing. We found that (1) visually guided navigation is later to develop than scene categorization, and (2) Williams syndrome adults are impaired in visually guided navigation, but not scene categorization, relative to mental age-matched children. Together, these findings provide the first developmental and neuropsychological evidence for dissociable cognitive systems for recognizing places and navigating through them.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Two decades ago, Milner and Goodale showed us that identifying objects and manipulating them involve distinct cognitive and neural systems. Recent neural evidence suggests that the same may be true of our interactions with our environment: identifying places and navigating through them are dissociable systems. Here we provide converging behavioral evidence supporting this two-scene-systems hypothesis - finding both differential development and breakdown of "scene categorization" and "visually guided navigation." This finding suggests that the division of labor between perception and action systems is a general organizing principle for the visual system, not just a principle of the object processing system in particular.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Frederik S Kamps
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
| | | | - Samaher F Radwan
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
| | - Stephanie Wahab
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
| | - Jordan E Pincus
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
| | - Daniel D Dilks
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 30322
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Cheng A, Chen Z, Dilks DD. A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity. Neuroimage 2023; 269:119935. [PMID: 36764369 PMCID: PMC10044493 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119935] [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: 10/07/2022] [Revised: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 02/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Human neuroimaging studies have revealed a dedicated cortical system for visual scene processing. But what is a "scene"? Here, we use a stimulus-driven approach to identify a stimulus feature that selectively drives cortical scene processing. Specifically, using fMRI data from BOLD5000, we examined the images that elicited the greatest response in the cortical scene processing system, and found that there is a common "vertical luminance gradient" (VLG), with the top half of a scene image brighter than the bottom half; moreover, across the entire set of images, VLG systematically increases with the neural response in the scene-selective regions (Study 1). Thus, we hypothesized that VLG is a stimulus feature that selectively engages cortical scene processing, and directly tested the role of VLG in driving cortical scene selectivity using tightly controlled VLG stimuli (Study 2). Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that the scene-selective cortical regions-but not an object-selective region or early visual cortex-responded significantly more to images of VLG over control stimuli with minimal VLG. Interestingly, such selectivity was also found for images with an "inverted" VLG, resembling the luminance gradient in night scenes. Finally, we also tested the behavioral relevance of VLG for visual scene recognition (Study 3); we found that participants even categorized tightly controlled stimuli of both upright and inverted VLG to be a place more than an object, indicating that VLG is also used for behavioral scene recognition. Taken together, these results reveal that VLG is a stimulus feature that selectively engages cortical scene processing, and provide evidence for a recent proposal that visual scenes can be characterized by a set of common and unique visual features.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Annie Cheng
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Zirui Chen
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Daniel D Dilks
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Gagliardi CM, Normandin ME, Keinath AT, Julian JB, Lopez MR, Ramos-Alvarez MM, Epstein RA, Muzzio IA. Distinct neural mechanisms for heading retrieval and context recognition in the hippocampus during spatial reorientation. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-2724785. [PMID: 37034652 PMCID: PMC10081367 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2724785/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Reorientation, the process of regaining one's bearings after becoming lost, requires identification of a spatial context (context recognition) and recovery of heading direction within that context (heading retrieval). We previously showed that these processes rely on the use of features and geometry, respectively. Here, we examine reorientation behavior in a task that creates contextual ambiguity over a long timescale to demonstrate that mice learn to combine both featural and geometric cues to recover heading with experience. At the neural level, most CA1 neurons persistently align to geometry, and this alignment predicts heading behavior. However, a small subset of cells shows feature-sensitive place field remapping, which serves to predict context. Efficient heading retrieval and context recognition require integration of featural and geometric information in the active network through rate changes. These data illustrate how context recognition and heading retrieval are coded in CA1 and how these processes change with experience.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Celia M Gagliardi
- Department of Neuroscience, Development, and Regenerative Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52245, USA
| | - Marc E Normandin
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52245, USA
| | - Alexandra T Keinath
- Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Hospital Research Centre, McGill University, 6875 Boulevard LaSalle, Verdun, QC, H4H 1RS, Canada
| | - Joshua B Julian
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Matthew R Lopez
- Department of Neuroscience, Development, and Regenerative Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52245, USA
| | | | - Russell A Epstein
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Isabel A Muzzio
- Department of Neuroscience, Development, and Regenerative Biology, University of Texas at San Antonio, 1 UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Douglas Hospital Research Centre, McGill University, 6875 Boulevard LaSalle, Verdun, QC, H4H 1RS, Canada
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
- Psychology Department, University of Jaen, Campus Las Lagunillas, Jaen 23071, Spain
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52245, USA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Rolls ET, Deco G, Huang CC, Feng J. The human posterior parietal cortex: effective connectome, and its relation to function. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:3142-3170. [PMID: 35834902 PMCID: PMC10401905 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 06/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The effective connectivity between 21 regions in the human posterior parietal cortex, and 360 cortical regions was measured in 171 Human Connectome Project (HCP) participants using the HCP atlas, and complemented with functional connectivity and diffusion tractography. Intraparietal areas LIP, VIP, MIP, and AIP have connectivity from early cortical visual regions, and to visuomotor regions such as the frontal eye fields, consistent with functions in eye saccades and tracking. Five superior parietal area 7 regions receive from similar areas and from the intraparietal areas, but also receive somatosensory inputs and connect with premotor areas including area 6, consistent with functions in performing actions to reach for, grasp, and manipulate objects. In the anterior inferior parietal cortex, PFop, PFt, and PFcm are mainly somatosensory, and PF in addition receives visuo-motor and visual object information, and is implicated in multimodal shape and body image representations. In the posterior inferior parietal cortex, PFm and PGs combine visuo-motor, visual object, and reward input and connect with the hippocampal system. PGi in addition provides a route to motion-related superior temporal sulcus regions involved in social interactions. PGp has connectivity with intraparietal regions involved in coordinate transforms and may be involved in idiothetic update of hippocampal visual scene representations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Edmund T Rolls
- Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai 200403, China
| | - Gustavo Deco
- Computational Neuroscience Group, Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Center for Brain and Cognition, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Roc Boronat 138, Barcelona 08018, Spain
- Brain and Cognition, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona 08018, Spain
- Institució Catalana de la Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Passeig Lluís Companys 23, Barcelona 08010, Spain
| | - Chu-Chung Huang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200602, China
- Shanghai Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Technology, Shanghai 200602, China
| | - Jianfeng Feng
- Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, United Kingdom
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai 200403, China
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Fan CL, Sokolowski HM, Rosenbaum RS, Levine B. What about "space" is important for episodic memory? WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2023; 14:e1645. [PMID: 36772875 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Revised: 01/16/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
Early cognitive neuroscientific research revealed that the hippocampus is crucial for spatial navigation in rodents, and for autobiographical episodic memory in humans. Researchers quickly linked these streams to propose that the human hippocampus supports memory through its role in representing space, and research on the link between spatial cognition and episodic memory in humans has proliferated over the past several decades. Different researchers apply the term "spatial" in a variety of contexts, however, and it remains unclear what aspect of space may be critical to memory. Similarly, "episodic" has been defined and tested in different ways. Naturalistic assessment of spatial memory and episodic memory (i.e., episodic autobiographical memory) is required to unify the scale and biological relevance in comparisons of spatial and mnemonic processing. Limitations regarding the translation of rodent to human research, human ontogeny, and inter-individual variability require greater consideration in the interpretation of this literature. In this review, we outline the aspects of space that are (and are not) commonly linked to episodic memory, and then we discuss these dimensions through the lens of individual differences in naturalistic autobiographical memory. Future studies should carefully consider which aspect(s) of space are being linked to memory within the context of naturalistic human cognition. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Memory.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carina L Fan
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.,Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - R Shayna Rosenbaum
- Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Brian Levine
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.,Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Medicine, Neurology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Rolls ET, Wirth S, Deco G, Huang C, Feng J. The human posterior cingulate, retrosplenial, and medial parietal cortex effective connectome, and implications for memory and navigation. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:629-655. [PMID: 36178249 PMCID: PMC9842927 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2022] [Revised: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 09/07/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
The human posterior cingulate, retrosplenial, and medial parietal cortex are involved in memory and navigation. The functional anatomy underlying these cognitive functions was investigated by measuring the effective connectivity of these Posterior Cingulate Division (PCD) regions in the Human Connectome Project-MMP1 atlas in 171 HCP participants, and complemented with functional connectivity and diffusion tractography. First, the postero-ventral parts of the PCD (31pd, 31pv, 7m, d23ab, and v23ab) have effective connectivity with the temporal pole, inferior temporal visual cortex, cortex in the superior temporal sulcus implicated in auditory and semantic processing, with the reward-related vmPFC and pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, with the inferior parietal cortex, and with the hippocampal system. This connectivity implicates it in hippocampal episodic memory, providing routes for "what," reward and semantic schema-related information to access the hippocampus. Second, the antero-dorsal parts of the PCD (especially 31a and 23d, PCV, and also RSC) have connectivity with early visual cortical areas including those that represent spatial scenes, with the superior parietal cortex, with the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, and with the hippocampal system. This connectivity implicates it in the "where" component for hippocampal episodic memory and for spatial navigation. The dorsal-transitional-visual (DVT) and ProStriate regions where the retrosplenial scene area is located have connectivity from early visual cortical areas to the parahippocampal scene area, providing a ventromedial route for spatial scene information to reach the hippocampus. These connectivities provide important routes for "what," reward, and "where" scene-related information for human hippocampal episodic memory and navigation. The midcingulate cortex provides a route from the anterior dorsal parts of the PCD and the supracallosal part of the anterior cingulate cortex to premotor regions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Edmund T. Rolls
- Oxford Centre for Computational NeuroscienceOxfordUK
- Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of WarwickCoventryUK
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain Inspired IntelligenceFudan UniversityShanghaiChina
- Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain Inspired IntelligenceFudan University, Ministry of EducationShanghaiChina
- Fudan ISTBI—ZJNU Algorithm Centre for Brain‐Inspired IntelligenceZhejiang Normal UniversityJinhuaChina
| | - Sylvia Wirth
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR 5229CNRS and University of LyonBronFrance
| | - Gustavo Deco
- Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Department of Information and Communication TechnologiesUniversitat Pompeu FabraBarcelonaSpain
- Brain and CognitionPompeu Fabra UniversityBarcelonaSpain
- Institució Catalana de la Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA)Universitat Pompeu FabraBarcelonaSpain
| | - Chu‐Chung Huang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (Ministry of Education), School of Psychology and Cognitive ScienceEast China Normal UniversityShanghaiChina
| | - Jianfeng Feng
- Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of WarwickCoventryUK
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain Inspired IntelligenceFudan UniversityShanghaiChina
- Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain Inspired IntelligenceFudan University, Ministry of EducationShanghaiChina
- Fudan ISTBI—ZJNU Algorithm Centre for Brain‐Inspired IntelligenceZhejiang Normal UniversityJinhuaChina
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Alexander AS, Place R, Starrett MJ, Chrastil ER, Nitz DA. Rethinking retrosplenial cortex: Perspectives and predictions. Neuron 2023; 111:150-175. [PMID: 36460006 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
The last decade has produced exciting new ideas about retrosplenial cortex (RSC) and its role in integrating diverse inputs. Here, we review the diversity in forms of spatial and directional tuning of RSC activity, temporal organization of RSC activity, and features of RSC interconnectivity with other brain structures. We find that RSC anatomy and dynamics are more consistent with roles in multiple sensorimotor and cognitive processes than with any isolated function. However, two more generalized categories of function may best characterize roles for RSC in complex cognitive processes: (1) shifting and relating perspectives for spatial cognition and (2) prediction and error correction for current sensory states with internal representations of the environment. Both functions likely take advantage of RSC's capacity to encode conjunctions among sensory, motor, and spatial mapping information streams. Together, these functions provide the scaffold for intelligent actions, such as navigation, perspective taking, interaction with others, and error detection.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew S Alexander
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Ryan Place
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Michael J Starrett
- Department of Neurobiology & Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Elizabeth R Chrastil
- Department of Neurobiology & Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA; Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
| | - Douglas A Nitz
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
LaChance PA, Taube JS. Spatial context and the functional role of the postrhinal cortex. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2022; 189:107596. [PMID: 35131453 PMCID: PMC8897231 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2022.107596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Revised: 01/29/2022] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The postrhinal cortex (POR) serves as a key input area to the hippocampal system. It receives highly processed information from the ventral visual stream and other limbic areas including the retrosplenial cortex, parahippocampal areas, and portions of the limbic thalamus. The POR was studied early on by David Bucci and colleagues who first postulated that the POR plays a major role in contextual learning. Here we review a number of approaches and experimental studies that have explored POR's role in contextual processing. We discuss POR lesion studies that monitored deficits in fear conditioning tasks and the effects that these lesions had on processing visual landmark information. We then review the types of spatial correlates encoded by POR cells. A large number of head direction (HD) cells are present, although recent findings suggest that many of them are more accurately characterized as landmark modulated-HD cells as opposed to classic HD cells. A significant number of POR cells are also tuned to egocentric properties of the environment, such as the spatial relationship of the animal to the center of its environment, or the distance between the animal and either the environment's center or its boundaries. We suggest potential frameworks through which these functional cell types might support contextual processing. We then discuss deficits seen in humans who have damage to the homologous parahippocampal cortex, and we finish by reviewing functional imaging studies that found activation of this area while human subjects performed various tasks. A preponderance of evidence suggests that the POR, along with its interactions with retrosplenial cortex, plays a key role in contextual information processing.
Collapse
|
15
|
Three cortical scene systems and their development. Trends Cogn Sci 2022; 26:117-127. [PMID: 34857468 PMCID: PMC8770598 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/06/2021] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Since the discovery of three scene-selective regions in the human brain, a central assumption has been that all three regions directly support navigation. We propose instead that cortical scene processing regions support three distinct computational goals (and one not for navigation at all): (i) The parahippocampal place area supports scene categorization, which involves recognizing the kind of place we are in; (ii) the occipital place area supports visually guided navigation, which involves finding our way through the immediately visible environment, avoiding boundaries and obstacles; and (iii) the retrosplenial complex supports map-based navigation, which involves finding our way from a specific place to some distant, out-of-sight place. We further hypothesize that these systems develop along different timelines, with both navigation systems developing slower than the scene categorization system.
Collapse
|
16
|
Wilder J, Rezanejad M, Dickinson S, Siddiqi K, Jepson A, Walther DB. Neural correlates of local parallelism during naturalistic vision. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0260266. [PMID: 35061699 PMCID: PMC8782314 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 11/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Human observers can rapidly perceive complex real-world scenes. Grouping visual elements into meaningful units is an integral part of this process. Yet, so far, the neural underpinnings of perceptual grouping have only been studied with simple lab stimuli. We here uncover the neural mechanisms of one important perceptual grouping cue, local parallelism. Using a new, image-computable algorithm for detecting local symmetry in line drawings and photographs, we manipulated the local parallelism content of real-world scenes. We decoded scene categories from patterns of brain activity obtained via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 38 human observers while they viewed the manipulated scenes. Decoding was significantly more accurate for scenes containing strong local parallelism compared to weak local parallelism in the parahippocampal place area (PPA), indicating a central role of parallelism in scene perception. To investigate the origin of the parallelism signal we performed a model-based fMRI analysis of the public BOLD5000 dataset, looking for voxels whose activation time course matches that of the locally parallel content of the 4916 photographs viewed by the participants in the experiment. We found a strong relationship with average local symmetry in visual areas V1-4, PPA, and retrosplenial cortex (RSC). Notably, the parallelism-related signal peaked first in V4, suggesting V4 as the site for extracting paralleism from the visual input. We conclude that local parallelism is a perceptual grouping cue that influences neuronal activity throughout the visual hierarchy, presumably starting at V4. Parallelism plays a key role in the representation of scene categories in PPA.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Morteza Rezanejad
- University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- McGill University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Sven Dickinson
- University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- Samsung Toronto AI Research Center, Toronto, Canada
- Vector Institute, Toronto, Canada
| | | | - Allan Jepson
- University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- Samsung Toronto AI Research Center, Toronto, Canada
| | | |
Collapse
|
17
|
Peer M, Epstein RA. The human brain uses spatial schemas to represent segmented environments. Curr Biol 2021; 31:4677-4688.e8. [PMID: 34473949 PMCID: PMC8578397 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2021] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Humans and animals use cognitive maps to represent the spatial structure of the environment. Although these maps are typically conceptualized as extending in an equipotential manner across known space, psychological evidence suggests that people mentally segment complex environments into subspaces. To understand the neurocognitive mechanisms behind this operation, we familiarized participants with a virtual courtyard that was divided into two halves by a river; we then used behavioral testing and fMRI to understand how spatial locations were encoded within this environment. Participants' spatial judgments and multivoxel activation patterns were affected by the division of the courtyard, indicating that the presence of a boundary can induce mental segmentation even when all parts of the environment are co-visible. In the hippocampus and occipital place area (OPA), the segmented organization of the environment manifested in schematic spatial codes that represented geometrically equivalent locations in the two subspaces as similar. In the retrosplenial complex (RSC), responses were more consistent with an integrated spatial map. These results demonstrate that people use both local spatial schemas and integrated spatial maps to represent segmented environment. We hypothesize that schematization may serve as a general mechanism for organizing complex knowledge structures in terms of their component elements.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michael Peer
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3710 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Russell A Epstein
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3710 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Jung Y, Walther DB. Neural Representations in the Prefrontal Cortex Are Task Dependent for Scene Attributes But Not for Scene Categories. J Neurosci 2021; 41:7234-7245. [PMID: 34103357 PMCID: PMC8387120 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2816-20.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Revised: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural scenes deliver rich sensory information about the world. Decades of research has shown that the scene-selective network in the visual cortex represents various aspects of scenes. However, less is known about how such complex scene information is processed beyond the visual cortex, such as in the prefrontal cortex. It is also unknown how task context impacts the process of scene perception, modulating which scene content is represented in the brain. In this study, we investigate these questions using scene images from four natural scene categories, which also depict two types of scene attributes, temperature (warm or cold), and sound level (noisy or quiet). A group of healthy human subjects from both sexes participated in the present study using fMRI. In the study, participants viewed scene images under two different task conditions: temperature judgment and sound-level judgment. We analyzed how these scene attributes and categories are represented across the brain under these task conditions. Our findings show that scene attributes (temperature and sound level) are only represented in the brain when they are task relevant. However, scene categories are represented in the brain, in both the parahippocampal place area and the prefrontal cortex, regardless of task context. These findings suggest that the prefrontal cortex selectively represents scene content according to task demands, but this task selectivity depends on the types of scene content: task modulates neural representations of scene attributes but not of scene categories.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Research has shown that visual scene information is processed in scene-selective regions in the occipital and temporal cortices. Here, we ask how scene content is processed and represented beyond the visual brain, in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). We show that both scene categories and scene attributes are represented in PFC, with interesting differences in task dependency: scene attributes are only represented in PFC when they are task relevant, but scene categories are represented in PFC regardless of the task context. Together, our work shows that scene information is processed beyond the visual cortex, and scene representation in PFC reflects how adaptively our minds extract relevant information from a scene.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yaelan Jung
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
| | - Dirk B Walther
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G3, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Yates TS, Ellis CT, Turk-Browne NB. The promise of awake behaving infant fMRI as a deep measure of cognition. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.11.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
|
20
|
Suzuki S, Kamps FS, Dilks DD, Treadway MT. Two scene navigation systems dissociated by deliberate versus automatic processing. Cortex 2021; 140:199-209. [PMID: 33992908 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.03.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/20/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Successfully navigating the world requires avoiding boundaries and obstacles in one's immediately-visible environment, as well as finding one's way to distant places in the broader environment. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that these two navigational processes involve distinct cortical scene processing systems, with the occipital place area (OPA) supporting navigation through the local visual environment, and the retrosplenial complex (RSC) supporting navigation through the broader spatial environment. Here we hypothesized that these systems are distinguished not only by the scene information they represent (i.e., the local visual versus broader spatial environment), but also based on the automaticity of the process they involve, with navigation through the broader environment (including RSC) operating deliberately, and navigation through the local visual environment (including OPA) operating automatically. We tested this hypothesis using fMRI and a maze-navigation paradigm, where participants navigated two maze structures (complex or simple, testing representation of the broader spatial environment) under two conditions (active or passive, testing deliberate versus automatic processing). Consistent with the hypothesis that RSC supports deliberate navigation through the broader environment, RSC responded significantly more to complex than simple mazes during active, but not passive navigation. By contrast, consistent with the hypothesis that OPA supports automatic navigation through the local visual environment, OPA responded strongly even during passive navigation, and did not differentiate between active versus passive conditions. Taken together, these findings suggest the novel hypothesis that navigation through the broader spatial environment is deliberate, whereas navigation through the local visual environment is automatic, shedding new light on the dissociable functions of these systems.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shosuke Suzuki
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Frederik S Kamps
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Daniel D Dilks
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Michael T Treadway
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States.
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
The parahippocampal place area and hippocampus encode the spatial significance of landmark objects. Neuroimage 2021; 236:118081. [PMID: 33882351 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2021] [Revised: 03/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Landmark objects are points of reference that can anchor one's internal cognitive map to the external world while navigating. They are especially useful in indoor environments where other cues such as spatial geometries are often similar across locations. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to understand how the spatial significance of landmark objects is represented in the human brain. Participants learned the spatial layout of a virtual building with arbitrary objects as unique landmarks in each room during a navigation task. They were scanned while viewing the objects before and after learning. MVPA revealed that the neural representation of landmark objects in the right parahippocampal place area (rPPA) and the hippocampus transformed systematically according to their locations. Specifically, objects in different rooms became more distinguishable than objects in the same room. These results demonstrate that rPPA and the hippocampus encode the spatial significance of landmark objects in indoor spaces.
Collapse
|
22
|
Cheng A, Walther DB, Park S, Dilks DD. Concavity as a diagnostic feature of visual scenes. Neuroimage 2021; 232:117920. [PMID: 33652147 PMCID: PMC8256888 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Revised: 02/07/2021] [Accepted: 02/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite over two decades of research on the neural mechanisms underlying human visual scene, or place, processing, it remains unknown what exactly a “scene” is. Intuitively, we are always inside a scene, while interacting with the outside of objects. Hence, we hypothesize that one diagnostic feature of a scene may be concavity, portraying “inside”, and predict that if concavity is a scene-diagnostic feature, then: 1) images that depict concavity, even non-scene images (e.g., the “inside” of an object – or concave object), will be behaviorally categorized as scenes more often than those that depict convexity, and 2) the cortical scene-processing system will respond more to concave images than to convex images. As predicted, participants categorized concave objects as scenes more often than convex objects, and, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), two scene-selective cortical regions (the parahippocampal place area, PPA, and the occipital place area, OPA) responded significantly more to concave than convex objects. Surprisingly, we found no behavioral or neural differences between images of concave versus convex buildings. However, in a follow-up experiment, using tightly-controlled images, we unmasked a selective sensitivity to concavity over convexity of scene boundaries (i.e., walls) in PPA and OPA. Furthermore, we found that even highly impoverished line drawings of concave shapes are behaviorally categorized as scenes more often than convex shapes. Together, these results provide converging behavioral and neural evidence that concavity is a diagnostic feature of visual scenes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Annie Cheng
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Dirk B Walther
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Soojin Park
- Department of Psychology, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
| | - Daniel D Dilks
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Baumann O, Mattingley JB. Extrahippocampal contributions to spatial navigation in humans: A review of the neuroimaging evidence. Hippocampus 2021; 31:640-657. [DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2020] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Oliver Baumann
- School of Psychology Bond University Robina Queensland Australia
| | - Jason B. Mattingley
- Queensland Brain Institute The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia
- School of Psychology The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland Australia
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Toronto Ontario Canada
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Ramanoël S, Durteste M, Bécu M, Habas C, Arleo A. Differential Brain Activity in Regions Linked to Visuospatial Processing During Landmark-Based Navigation in Young and Healthy Older Adults. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:552111. [PMID: 33240060 PMCID: PMC7668216 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.552111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Older adults have difficulties in navigating unfamiliar environments and updating their wayfinding behavior when faced with blocked routes. This decline in navigational capabilities has traditionally been ascribed to memory impairments and dysexecutive function, whereas the impact of visual aging has often been overlooked. The ability to perceive visuospatial information such as salient landmarks is essential to navigating efficiently. To date, the functional and neurobiological factors underpinning landmark processing in aging remain insufficiently characterized. To address this issue, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate the brain activity associated with landmark-based navigation in young and healthy older participants. The performances of 25 young adults (μ = 25.4 years, σ = 2.7; seven females) and 17 older adults (μ = 73.0 years, σ = 3.9; 10 females) were assessed in a virtual-navigation task in which they had to orient using salient landmarks. The underlying whole-brain patterns of activity as well as the functional roles of specific cerebral regions involved in landmark processing, namely the parahippocampal place area (PPA), the occipital place area (OPA), and the retrosplenial cortex (RSC), were analyzed. Older adults' navigational abilities were overall diminished compared to young adults. Also, the two age groups relied on distinct navigational strategies to solve the task. Better performances during landmark-based navigation were associated with increased neural activity in an extended neural network comprising several cortical and cerebellar regions. Direct comparisons between age groups revealed that young participants had greater anterior temporal activity. Also, only young adults showed significant activity in occipital areas corresponding to the cortical projection of the central visual field during landmark-based navigation. The region-of-interest analysis revealed an increased OPA activation in older adult participants during the landmark condition. There were no significant between-group differences in PPA and RSC activations. These preliminary results hint at the possibility that aging diminishes fine-grained information processing in occipital and temporal regions, thus hindering the capacity to use landmarks adequately for navigation. Keeping sight of its exploratory nature, this work helps towards a better comprehension of the neural dynamics subtending landmark-based navigation and it provides new insights on the impact of age-related visuospatial processing differences on navigation capabilities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stephen Ramanoël
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- University of Côte d’Azur, LAMHESS, Nice, France
| | - Marion Durteste
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
| | - Marcia Bécu
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
| | | | - Angelo Arleo
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, CNRS, Institut de la Vision, Paris, France
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Steel A, Robertson CE, Taube JS. Current Promises and Limitations of Combined Virtual Reality and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research in Humans: A Commentary on Huffman and Ekstrom (2019). J Cogn Neurosci 2020; 33:159-166. [PMID: 33054553 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Real-world navigation requires movement of the body through space, producing a continuous stream of visual and self-motion signals, including proprioceptive, vestibular, and motor efference cues. These multimodal cues are integrated to form a spatial cognitive map, an abstract, amodal representation of the environment. How the brain combines these disparate inputs and the relative importance of these inputs to cognitive map formation and recall are key unresolved questions in cognitive neuroscience. Recent advances in virtual reality technology allow participants to experience body-based cues when virtually navigating, and thus it is now possible to consider these issues in new detail. Here, we discuss a recent publication that addresses some of these issues (D. J. Huffman and A. D. Ekstrom. A modality-independent network underlies the retrieval of large-scale spatial environments in the human brain. Neuron, 104, 611-622, 2019). In doing so, we also review recent progress in the study of human spatial cognition and raise several questions that might be addressed in future studies.
Collapse
|
26
|
Cant JS, Xu Y. One bad apple spoils the whole bushel: The neural basis of outlier processing. Neuroimage 2020; 211:116629. [PMID: 32057998 PMCID: PMC7942194 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2019] [Revised: 02/01/2020] [Accepted: 02/09/2020] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
How are outliers in an otherwise homogeneous object ensemble represented by our visual system? Are outliers ignored because they are the minority? Or do outliers alter our perception of an otherwise homogeneous ensemble? We have previously demonstrated ensemble representation in human anterior-medial ventral visual cortex (overlapping the scene-selective parahippocampal place area; PPA). In this study we investigated how outliers impact object-ensemble representation in this human brain region as well as visual representation throughout posterior brain regions. We presented a homogeneous ensemble followed by an ensemble containing either identical elements or a majority of identical elements with a few outliers. Human participants ignored the outliers and made a same/different judgment between the two ensembles. In PPA, fMRI adaptation was observed when the outliers in the second ensemble matched the items in the first, even though the majority of the elements in the second ensemble were distinct from those in the first; conversely, release from fMRI adaptation was observed when the outliers in the second ensemble were distinct from the items in the first, even though the majority of the elements in the second ensemble were identical to those in the first. A similarly robust outlier effect was also found in other brain regions, including a shape-processing region in lateral occipital cortex (LO) and task-processing fronto-parietal regions. These brain regions likely work in concert to flag the presence of outliers during visual perception and then weigh the outliers appropriately in subsequent behavioral decisions. To our knowledge, this is the first time the neural mechanisms involved in outlier processing have been systematically documented in the human brain. Such an outlier effect could well provide the neural basis mediating our perceptual experience in situations like "one bad apple spoils the whole bushel".
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan S Cant
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON, M1C 1A4, Canada.
| | - Yaoda Xu
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06477, USA
| |
Collapse
|
27
|
Kamps FS, Pincus JE, Radwan SF, Wahab S, Dilks DD. Late Development of Navigationally Relevant Motion Processing in the Occipital Place Area. Curr Biol 2020; 30:544-550.e3. [PMID: 31956027 PMCID: PMC7730705 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.12.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Revised: 10/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/03/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Human adults flawlessly and effortlessly navigate boundaries and obstacles in the immediately visible environment, a process we refer to as "visually guided navigation." Neuroimaging work in adults suggests this ability involves the occipital place area (OPA) [1, 2]-a scene-selective region in the dorsal stream that selectively represents information necessary for visually guided navigation [3-9]. Despite progress in understanding the neural basis of visually guided navigation, however, little is known about how this system develops. Is navigationally relevant information processing present in the first few years of life? Or does this information processing only develop after many years of experience? Although a handful of studies have found selective responses to scenes (relative to objects) in OPA in childhood [10-13], no study has explored how more specific navigationally relevant information processing emerges in this region. Here, we do just that by measuring OPA responses to first-person perspective motion information-a proxy for the visual experience of actually navigating the immediate environment-using fMRI in 5- and 8-year-old children. We found that, although OPA already responded more to scenes than objects by age 5, responses to first-person perspective motion were not yet detectable at this same age and rather only emerged by age 8. This protracted development was specific to first-person perspective motion through scenes, not motion on faces or objects, and was not found in other scene-selective regions (the parahippocampal place area or retrosplenial complex) or a motion-selective region (MT). These findings therefore suggest that navigationally relevant information processing in OPA undergoes prolonged development across childhood.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Frederik S Kamps
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Jordan E Pincus
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Samaher F Radwan
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Stephanie Wahab
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Daniel D Dilks
- Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
| |
Collapse
|