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Weilnhammer V. Where is the ghost in the shell? Neurosci Conscious 2024; 2024:niae015. [PMID: 38595737 PMCID: PMC11003298 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niae015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024] Open
Abstract
The neurobiology of conscious experience is one of the fundamental mysteries in science. New evidence suggests that transcranial magnetic stimulation of the parietal cortex does not modulate bistable perception. What does this mean for the neural correlates of consciousness, and how should we search for them?
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Affiliation(s)
- Veith Weilnhammer
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
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2
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Novicky F, Parr T, Friston K, Mirza MB, Sajid N. Bistable perception, precision and neuromodulation. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad401. [PMID: 37950879 PMCID: PMC10793076 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad401] [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: 12/19/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Bistable perception follows from observing a static, ambiguous, (visual) stimulus with two possible interpretations. Here, we present an active (Bayesian) inference account of bistable perception and posit that perceptual transitions between different interpretations (i.e. inferences) of the same stimulus ensue from specific eye movements that shift the focus to a different visual feature. Formally, these inferences are a consequence of precision control that determines how confident beliefs are and change the frequency with which one can perceive-and alternate between-two distinct percepts. We hypothesized that there are multiple, but distinct, ways in which precision modulation can interact to give rise to a similar frequency of bistable perception. We validated this using numerical simulations of the Necker cube paradigm and demonstrate the multiple routes that underwrite the frequency of perceptual alternation. Our results provide an (enactive) computational account of the intricate precision balance underwriting bistable perception. Importantly, these precision parameters can be considered the computational homologs of particular neurotransmitters-i.e. acetylcholine, noradrenaline, dopamine-that have been previously implicated in controlling bistable perception, providing a computational link between the neurochemistry and perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filip Novicky
- Department of Neurophysics, Radboud University, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 406229 ER, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Thomas Parr
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL, 12 Queen Square London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Karl Friston
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL, 12 Queen Square London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
| | - Muammer Berk Mirza
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Pl, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Noor Sajid
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL, 12 Queen Square London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom
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3
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Kondo HM, Terashima H, Kihara K, Kochiyama T, Shimada Y, Kawahara JI. Prefrontal GABA and glutamate-glutamine levels affect sustained attention. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:10441-10452. [PMID: 37562851 PMCID: PMC10545440 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad294] [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: 04/23/2023] [Revised: 07/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/23/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Attention levels fluctuate during the course of daily activities. However, factors underlying sustained attention are still unknown. We investigated mechanisms of sustained attention using psychological, neuroimaging, and neurochemical approaches. Participants were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing gradual-onset, continuous performance tasks (gradCPTs). In gradCPTs, narrations or visual scenes gradually changed from one to the next. Participants pressed a button for frequent Go trials as quickly as possible and withheld responses to infrequent No-go trials. Performance was better for the visual gradCPT than for the auditory gradCPT, but the 2 were correlated. The dorsal attention network was activated during intermittent responses, regardless of sensory modality. Reaction-time variability of gradCPTs was correlated with signal changes (SCs) in the left fronto-parietal regions. We also used magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure levels of glutamate-glutamine (Glx) and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the left prefrontal cortex (PFC). Glx levels were associated with performance under undemanding situations, whereas GABA levels were related to performance under demanding situations. Combined fMRI-MRS results demonstrated that SCs of the left PFC were positively correlated with neurometabolite levels. These findings suggest that a neural balance between excitation and inhibition is involved in attentional fluctuations and brain dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hirohito M Kondo
- Department of Psychology, School of Psychology, Chukyo University, Nagoya, Aichi 466-8666, Japan
| | - Hiroki Terashima
- Human Information Science Laboratory, NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa 243-0198, Japan
| | - Ken Kihara
- Department of Information Technology and Human Factors, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8566, Japan
| | - Takanori Kochiyama
- Brain Activity Imaging Center, ATR-Promotions, Seika-cho, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
| | - Yasuhiro Shimada
- Brain Activity Imaging Center, ATR-Promotions, Seika-cho, Kyoto 619-0288, Japan
| | - Jun I Kawahara
- Department of Psychology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan
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4
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Canales-Johnson A, Beerendonk L, Chennu S, Davidson MJ, Ince RAA, van Gaal S. Feedback information sharing in the human brain reflects bistable perception in the absence of report. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002120. [PMID: 37155704 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Revised: 05/18/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023] Open
Abstract
In the search for the neural basis of conscious experience, perception and the cognitive processes associated with reporting perception are typically confounded as neural activity is recorded while participants explicitly report what they experience. Here, we present a novel way to disentangle perception from report using eye movement analysis techniques based on convolutional neural networks and neurodynamical analyses based on information theory. We use a bistable visual stimulus that instantiates two well-known properties of conscious perception: integration and differentiation. At any given moment, observers either perceive the stimulus as one integrated unitary object or as two differentiated objects that are clearly distinct from each other. Using electroencephalography, we show that measures of integration and differentiation based on information theory closely follow participants' perceptual experience of those contents when switches were reported. We observed increased information integration between anterior to posterior electrodes (front to back) prior to a switch to the integrated percept, and higher information differentiation of anterior signals leading up to reporting the differentiated percept. Crucially, information integration was closely linked to perception and even observed in a no-report condition when perceptual transitions were inferred from eye movements alone. In contrast, the link between neural differentiation and perception was observed solely in the active report condition. Our results, therefore, suggest that perception and the processes associated with report require distinct amounts of anterior-posterior network communication and anterior information differentiation. While front-to-back directed information is associated with changes in the content of perception when viewing bistable visual stimuli, regardless of report, frontal information differentiation was absent in the no-report condition and therefore is not directly linked to perception per se.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andres Canales-Johnson
- Conscious Brain Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Cambridge Consciousness and Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neurosciences Research Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile
| | - Lola Beerendonk
- Conscious Brain Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Srivas Chennu
- School of Computing, University of Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom
| | | | - Robin A A Ince
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Simon van Gaal
- Conscious Brain Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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5
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Allen AK, Jacobs MT, Davidenko N. Subjective control of polystable illusory apparent motion: Is control possible when the stimulus affords countless motion possibilities? J Vis 2022; 22:5. [PMID: 35708685 PMCID: PMC9206494 DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.7.5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigate whether a new polystable illusion, illusory apparent motion (IAM), is susceptible to subjective perceptual control as has been shown in other polystable stimuli (e.g., the Necker cube, apparent motion quartets). Previous research has demonstrated that, although IAM shares some properties in common with other polystable stimuli, it also has some unique ones that make it unclear whether it should have similar susceptibility to subjective control. For example, IAM can be perceived in a countless number of directions and motion patterns (e.g., up–down, left–left, contracting–expanding, shear, diagonal). To explore perceptual control of IAM, in experiment 1 (n = 99) we used a motion persistence paradigm where participants are primed with different motion patterns and are instructed to control (change or hold) the initial motion pattern and indicate when the motion pattern changes. Building on experiment 1, experiment 2 (n = 76) brings the method more in line with previous subjective control research, testing whether participants can control their perception of IAM in a context without priming and while dynamically reporting their percepts throughout the trial. Findings from the two experiments demonstrate that participants were able to control their perception of IAM across paradigms. We explore the implications of these findings, strategies reported, and open questions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allison K Allen
- Department of Psychology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.,
| | - Matthew T Jacobs
- Open Mind School, Silicon Valley Social Innovation Lab, Menlo Park, CA, USA.,
| | - Nicolas Davidenko
- Department of Psychology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.,
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6
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Ten Brink AF, Bultitude JH. Visual Sensitivity in Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and Fibromyalgia: An Online Study. Perception 2022; 51:187-209. [PMID: 35236184 PMCID: PMC8958570 DOI: 10.1177/03010066211072641] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 12/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Perceptual anomalies can provide insights into underlying pathologies even when they are not the main symptom of many clinical conditions. Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and fibromyalgia are chronic pain conditions associated with changes in the central nervous system, possibly leading to enhanced visual sensitivity. It is unclear whether this occurs more than for people with other types of pain. We examined visual sensitivity elicited by different stimuli and in daily life, through an online study of people with CRPS (n = 57), fibromyalgia (n = 74), other pain (n = 50), and no pain (n = 89). Respondents rated changes in pain, discomfort, or distress from viewing patterns with different spatial frequencies (lower-order visual processing), and reversible figures (bistable images; higher-order visual processing). We assessed visual sensitivity in daily life using the Leiden Visual Sensitivity Scale and Visual Discomfort Scale. Respondents with CRPS or fibromyalgia reported more visual discomfort than pain-related and pain-free controls while viewing striped patterns and a circle, with no effect of spatial frequency. They reported more pain while viewing a nonreversible square, but not reversible figures (Necker Cube, Duck/Rabbit). Finally, they reported more daily visual sensitivity than pain-related and pain-free controls. Suppressing visual cortical activity might benefit people with CRPS or fibromyalgia.
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7
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Neural oscillations promoting perceptual stability and perceptual memory during bistable perception. Sci Rep 2022; 12:2760. [PMID: 35177702 PMCID: PMC8854562 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06570-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2021] [Accepted: 02/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Ambiguous images elicit bistable perception, wherein periods of momentary perceptual stability are interrupted by sudden perceptual switches. When intermittently presented, ambiguous images trigger a perceptual memory trace in the intervening blank periods. Understanding the neural bases of perceptual stability and perceptual memory during bistable perception may hold clues for explaining the apparent stability of visual experience in the natural world, where ambiguous and fleeting images are prevalent. Motivated by recent work showing the involvement of the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) in bistable perception, we conducted a transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) study with a double-blind, within-subject cross-over design to test a potential causal role of rIFG in these processes. Subjects viewed ambiguous images presented continuously or intermittently while under EEG recording. We did not find any significant tDCS effect on perceptual behavior. However, the fluctuations of oscillatory power in the alpha and beta bands predicted perceptual stability, with higher power corresponding to longer percept durations. In addition, higher alpha and beta power predicted enhanced perceptual memory during intermittent viewing. These results reveal a unified neurophysiological mechanism sustaining perceptual stability and perceptual memory when the visual system is faced with ambiguous input.
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8
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Devia C, Concha-Miranda M, Rodríguez E. Bi-Stable Perception: Self-Coordinating Brain Regions to Make-Up the Mind. Front Neurosci 2022; 15:805690. [PMID: 35153663 PMCID: PMC8829010 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.805690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2021] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Bi-stable perception is a strong instance of cognitive self-organization, providing a research model for how ‘the brain makes up its mind.’ The complexity of perceptual bistability prevents a simple attribution of functions to areas, because many cognitive processes, recruiting multiple brain regions, are simultaneously involved. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) evidence suggests the activation of a large network of distant brain areas. Concurrently, electroencephalographic and magnetoencephalographic (MEEG) literature shows sub second oscillatory activity and phase synchrony on several frequency bands. Strongly represented are beta and gamma bands, often associated with neural/cognitive integration processes. The spatial extension and short duration of brain activities suggests the need for a fast, large-scale neural coordination mechanism. To address the range of temporo-spatial scales involved, we systematize the current knowledge from mathematical models, cognitive sciences and neuroscience at large, from single-cell- to system-level research, including evidence from human and non-human primates. Surprisingly, despite evidence spanning through different organization levels, models, and experimental approaches, the scarcity of integrative studies is evident. In a final section of the review we dwell on the reasons behind such scarcity and on the need of integration in order to achieve a real understanding of the complexities underlying bi-stable perception processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christ Devia
- Departamento de Neurociencia, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Biomedical Neuroscience Institute, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Miguel Concha-Miranda
- Departamento de Neurociencia, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Laboratorio de Neurodinámica Básica y Aplicada, Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Eugenio Rodríguez
- Laboratorio de Neurodinámica Básica y Aplicada, Escuela de Psicología, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
- *Correspondence: Eugenio Rodríguez,
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9
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Watanabe T. Causal roles of prefrontal cortex during spontaneous perceptual switching are determined by brain state dynamics. eLife 2021; 10:69079. [PMID: 34713803 PMCID: PMC8631941 DOI: 10.7554/elife.69079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is thought to orchestrate cognitive dynamics. However, in tests of bistable visual perception, no direct evidence supporting such presumable causal roles of the PFC has been reported except for a recent work. Here, using a novel brain-state-dependent neural stimulation system, we identified causal effects on percept dynamics in three PFC activities—right frontal eye fields, dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC), and inferior frontal cortex (IFC). The causality is behaviourally detectable only when we track brain state dynamics and modulate the PFC activity in brain-state-/state-history-dependent manners. The behavioural effects are underpinned by transient neural changes in the brain state dynamics, and such neural effects are quantitatively explainable by structural transformations of the hypothetical energy landscapes. Moreover, these findings indicate distinct functions of the three PFC areas: in particular, the DLPFC enhances the integration of two PFC-active brain states, whereas IFC promotes the functional segregation between them. This work resolves the controversy over the PFC roles in spontaneous perceptual switching and underlines brain state dynamics in fine investigations of brain-behaviour causality. A cube that seems to shift its spatial arrangement as you keep looking; the elegant silhouette of a pirouetting dancer, which starts to spin in the opposite direction the more you stare at it; an illustration that shows two profiles – or is it a vase? These optical illusions are examples of bistable visual perception. Beyond their entertaining aspect, they provide a way for scientists to explore the dynamics of human consciousness, and the neural regions involved in this process. Some studies show that bistable visual perception is associated with the activation of the prefrontal cortex, a brain area involved in complex cognitive processes. However, it is unclear whether this region is required for the illusions to emerge. Some research has showed that even if sections of the prefrontal cortex are temporally deactivated, participants can still experience the illusions. Instead, Takamitsu Watanabe proposes that bistable visual perception is a process tied to dynamic brain states – that is, that distinct regions of the prefontal cortex are required for this fluctuating visual awareness, depending on the state of the whole brain. Such causal link cannot be observed if brain activity is not tracked closely. To investigate this, the brain states of 65 participants were recorded as individuals were experiencing the optical illusions; the activity of their various brain regions could therefore be mapped, and then areas of the prefrontal cortex could precisely be inhibited at the right time using transcranial magnetic stimulation. This revealed that, indeed, prefrontal cortex regions were necessary for bistable visual perception, but not in a simple way. Instead, which ones were required and when depended on activity dynamics taking place in the whole brain. Overall, these results indicate that monitoring brain states is necessary to better understand – and ultimately, control – the neural pathways underlying perception and behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takamitsu Watanabe
- International Research Centre for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, Tokyo, Japan.,RIKEN Centre for Brain Science, Saitama, Japan
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10
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Weilnhammer V, Fritsch M, Chikermane M, Eckert AL, Kanthak K, Stuke H, Kaminski J, Sterzer P. An active role of inferior frontal cortex in conscious experience. Curr Biol 2021; 31:2868-2880.e8. [PMID: 33989530 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
In the search for the neural correlates of consciousness, it has remained controversial whether prefrontal cortex determines what is consciously experienced or, alternatively, serves only complementary functions, such as introspection or action. Here, we provide converging evidence from computational modeling and two functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments that indicated a key role of inferior frontal cortex in detecting perceptual conflicts caused by ambiguous sensory information. Crucially, the detection of perceptual conflicts by prefrontal cortex turned out to be critical in the process of transforming ambiguous sensory information into unambiguous conscious experiences: in a third experiment, disruption of neural activity in inferior frontal cortex through transcranial magnetic stimulation slowed down the updating of conscious experience that occurs in response to perceptual conflicts. These findings show that inferior frontal cortex actively contributes to the resolution of perceptual ambiguities. Prefrontal cortex is thus causally involved in determining the contents of conscious experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veith Weilnhammer
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Institute of Health, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max Delbrück Center, 10178 Berlin, Germany.
| | - Merve Fritsch
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Meera Chikermane
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Anna-Lena Eckert
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Katharina Kanthak
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Heiner Stuke
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Institute of Health, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max Delbrück Center, 10178 Berlin, Germany
| | - Jakob Kaminski
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Institute of Health, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max Delbrück Center, 10178 Berlin, Germany
| | - Philipp Sterzer
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Institute of Health, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max Delbrück Center, 10178 Berlin, Germany; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 10099 Berlin, Germany; Einstein Center for Neurosciences Berlin, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
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11
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Interocular Grouping in Perceptual Rivalry Localized with fMRI. Brain Topogr 2021; 34:323-336. [PMID: 33876330 PMCID: PMC8099824 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-021-00834-4] [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: 09/07/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Bistable perception refers to a broad class of dynamically alternating visual illusions that result from ambiguous images. These illusions provide a powerful method to study the mechanisms that determine how visual input is integrated over space and time. Binocular rivalry occurs when subjects view different images in each eye, and a similar experience called stimulus rivalry occurs even when the left and right images are exchanged at a fast rate. Many previous studies have identified with fMRI a network of cortical regions that are recruited during binocular rivalry, relative to non-rivalrous control conditions (termed replay) that use physically changing stimuli to mimic rivalry. However, we show here for the first time that additional cortical areas are activated when subjects experience rivalry with interocular grouping. When interocular grouping occurs, activation levels broadly increase, with a slight shift towards right hemisphere lateralization. Moreover, direct comparison of binocular rivalry with and without grouping highlights strong focused activity in the intraparietal sulcus and lateral occipital areas, such as right-sided retinotopic visual areas LO1 and IP2, as well as activity in left-sided visual areas LO1, and IP0-IP2. The equivalent analyses for comparable stimulus (eye-swap) rivalry showed very similar results; the main difference is greater recruitment of the right superior parietal cortex for binocular rivalry, as previously reported. Thus, we found minimal interaction between the novel networks isolated here for interocular grouping, and those previously attributed to stimulus and binocular rivalry. We conclude that spatial integration (i.e,. image grouping/segmentation) is a key function of lateral occipital/intraparietal cortex that acts similarly on competing binocular stimulus representations, regardless of fast monocular changes.
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12
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Swyer A, Powers AR. Voluntary control of auditory hallucinations: phenomenology to therapeutic implications. NPJ SCHIZOPHRENIA 2020; 6:19. [PMID: 32753641 PMCID: PMC7403299 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-020-0106-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2020] [Accepted: 06/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) have traditionally been thought to be outside the influence of conscious control. However, recent work with voice hearers makes clear that both treatment-seeking and non-treatment-seeking voice hearers may exert varying degrees of control over their voices. Evidence suggests that this ability may be a key factor in determining health status, but little systematic examination of control in AVH has been carried out. This review provides an overview of the research examining control over AVH in both treatment-seeking and non-treatment-seeking populations. We first examine the relationship between control over AVH and health status as well as the psychosocial factors that may influence control and functioning. We then link control to various cognitive constructs that appear to be important for voice hearing. Finally, we reconcile the possibility of control with the field’s current understanding of the proposed cognitive, computational, and neural underpinnings of hallucinations and perception more broadly. Established relationships between control, health status, and functioning suggest that the development of control over AVH could increase functioning and reduce distress. A more detailed understanding of the discrete types of control, their development, and their neural underpinnings is essential for translating this knowledge into new therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariel Swyer
- Department of Behavioral Sciences, York College/CUNY, Jamaica, NY, USA
| | - Albert R Powers
- Department of Psychiatry and the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
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13
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Abstract
This paper examines the applicability of predictive coding as an explanatory model for perception. This is carried out from two perspectives. First, the central assumptions of the model are re-examined in light of the neuroscientific evidence for the structure and functioning of key brain areas involved in perception. The inferential processes involved in predictive coding are then investigated in the context of ambiguous stimuli. This showed that while predictive coding may provide an accurate explanation for our perceptual experiences in some cases, there are also several instances where the picture is not as clear cut. Following on from this, particular emphasis is placed on ambiguous art in order to examine the psychological and cognitive implications of predictive coding in affective states. This not only sheds light on the impact of predictive coding for cognition and emotion, but also helps clarify the nature of ambiguous art.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasper Wolf
- Arts and Sciences Department, UCL, Bloomsbury, London, United Kingdom.
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14
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Jacobs C, Petras K, Moors P, Goffaux V. Contrast versus identity encoding in the face image follow distinct orientation selectivity profiles. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229185. [PMID: 32187178 PMCID: PMC7080280 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 02/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Orientation selectivity is a fundamental property of primary visual encoding. High-level processing stages also show some form of orientation dependence, with face identification preferentially relying on horizontally-oriented information. How high-level orientation tuning emerges from primary orientation biases is unclear. In the same group of participants, we derived the orientation selectivity profile at primary and high-level visual processing stages using a contrast detection and an identity matching task. To capture the orientation selectivity profile, we calculated the difference in performance between all tested orientations (0, 45, 90, and 135°) for each task and for upright and inverted faces, separately. Primary orientation selectivity was characterized by higher sensitivity to oblique as compared to cardinal orientations. The orientation profile of face identification showed superior horizontal sensitivity to face identity. In each task, performance with upright and inverted faces projected onto qualitatively similar a priori models of orientation selectivity. Yet the fact that the orientation selectivity profiles of contrast detection in upright and inverted faces correlated significantly while such correlation was absent for identification indicates a progressive dissociation of orientation selectivity profiles from primary to high-level stages of orientation encoding. Bayesian analyses further indicate a lack of correlation between the orientation selectivity profiles in the contrast detection and face identification tasks, for upright and inverted faces. From these findings, we conclude that orientation selectivity shows distinct profiles at primary and high-level stages of face processing and that a transformation must occur from general cardinal attenuation when processing basic properties of the face image to horizontal tuning when encoding more complex properties such as identity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christianne Jacobs
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
| | - Kirsten Petras
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Pieter Moors
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Brain and Cognition, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Valerie Goffaux
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Research Institute for Psychological Science (IPSY), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
- Department of Brain and Cognition, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
- Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), UC Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
- * E-mail:
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15
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Mao Y, Kanai R, Ding C, Bi T, Qiu J. Temporal variability of brain networks predicts individual differences in bistable perception. Neuropsychologia 2020; 142:107426. [PMID: 32147392 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107426] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2019] [Revised: 01/23/2020] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
When ambiguous visual stimuli are presented to the eyes, conscious perception can spontaneously alternate across the competing interpretations - which was known as bistable perception. The spontaneous alternation of perception might indicate a connection between bistable perception and the dynamic interaction of brain networks. Here, we hypothesized that individual differences in perceptual dynamics may be reflected in dynamics of spontaneous neural activities. To test this idea, we investigated the relationship between the percept duration and the reconfiguration patterns of dynamic brain networks as measured by the functional connectivity (FC) during the resting state. Firstly, we found that individual difference of percept duration is associated with the temporal variability of the brain regions which were previously reported in studies of bistable perception, including anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC), dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), superior parietal lobule (SPL), inferior parietal lobule (IPL), precuneus, insula, and V5. Secondly, there is a positive relationship between the temporal variability within the frontal-parietal network (FPN) and the percept duration. Thirdly, our results indicated that individual difference of bistable perception was related to the dynamic interaction between large-scale functional networks including default mode network (DMN), FPN, cingulo-opercular network (CON), dorsal attention network (DAN), salience network (SN), memory retrieval network (MRN). Altogether, our results demonstrated that inter-individual variability in bistable perception was associated with dynamic coupling of brain regions and networks involved in primary visual processing, spatial attention, and cognitive control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Mao
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Ryota Kanai
- Araya, Inc., Tokyo, Japan; Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Cody Ding
- Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China; Education Science & Professional Programs, University of Missouri-St. Louis, United States
| | - Taiyong Bi
- School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, 563000, China
| | - Jiang Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China; Department of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China.
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16
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Pastukhov A, Kastrup P, Abs IF, Carbon CC. Switch rates for orthogonally oriented kinetic-depth displays are correlated across observers. J Vis 2019; 19:1. [PMID: 31157826 DOI: 10.1167/19.6.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
When continuously viewing multistable displays, which are compatible with several comparably likely interpretations, perception perpetually switches between available alternatives. Prior studies typically report the lack of consistent individual switch rates across different displays. However, this comparison is based on an assumption that neural representations of physically identical displays are consistent across observers. Yet, given how different individuals are already at the level of the retina, it is likely that the difference in other relevant factors might mask the correlation. To address this issue, we compared switch rates in two kinetic-depth displays (KDE) that rotated around orthogonal axes (45° counterclockwise vs. 45° clockwise relative to the vertical). This ensured that dynamics of multistable perception was based on highly similar, but different and independent neural representations. We also included a Necker cube (NC) display as a control. We report that switch rates were correlated between two kinetic-depth effect displays, but not between either of the KDE and NC displays. This demonstrates that the usual lack of correlation may not be evidence for the lack of a shared pacesetter mechanism of multistable perception, but reflect other factors, such as differently modulated inputs to competing representations. In addition, we asked participants to speed-up or slow-down perceptual alternations and found that only the former ability was correlated across different displays. This indicates that these two types of volitional control may differ in their use of attentional resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Pastukhov
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany.,Forschungsgruppe EPÆG (Ergonomics, Psychological Æsthetics, Gestalt), Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany
| | - Philipp Kastrup
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany
| | - Isabel Friederike Abs
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany
| | - Claus-Christian Carbon
- Department of General Psychology and Methodology, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany.,Forschungsgruppe EPÆG (Ergonomics, Psychological Æsthetics, Gestalt), Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany
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17
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Center EG, Knight R, Fabiani M, Gratton G, Beck DM. Examining the role of feedback in TMS-induced visual suppression: A cautionary tale. Conscious Cogn 2019; 75:102805. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2019.102805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2019] [Revised: 07/04/2019] [Accepted: 08/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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18
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Access to consciousness of briefly presented visual events is modulated by transcranial direct current stimulation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Sci Rep 2019; 9:10950. [PMID: 31358875 PMCID: PMC6662720 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47527-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2018] [Accepted: 07/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Adaptive behaviour requires the ability to process goal-relevant events at the expense of irrelevant ones. However, perception of a relevant visual event can transiently preclude access to consciousness of subsequent events — a phenomenon called attentional blink (AB). Here we investigated involvement of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in conscious access, by using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to potentiate or reduce neural excitability in the context of an AB task. In a sham-controlled experimental design, we applied between groups anodal or cathodal tDCS over the left DLPFC, and examined whether this stimulation modulated the proportion of stimuli that were consciously reported during the AB period. We found that tDCS over the left DLPFC affected the proportion of consciously perceived target stimuli. Moreover, anodal and cathodal tDCS had opposing effects, and exhibited different temporal patterns. Anodal stimulation attenuated the AB, enhancing conscious report earlier in the AB period. Cathodal stimulation accentuated the AB, reducing conscious report later in the AB period. These findings support the notion that the DLPFC plays a role in facilitating information transition from the unconscious to the conscious stage of processing.
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19
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Bock EA, Fesi JD, Baillet S, Mendola JD. Tagged MEG measures binocular rivalry in a cortical network that predicts alternation rate. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0218529. [PMID: 31295259 PMCID: PMC6622468 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218529] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Binocular rivalry (BR) is a dynamic visual illusion that provides insight into the cortical mechanisms of visual awareness, stimulus selection, and object identification. When dissimilar binocular images cannot be fused, perception switches every few seconds between the left and right eye images. The speed at which individuals switch between alternatives is a stable, partially heritable trait. In order to isolate the monocular and binocular processes that determine the speed of rivalry, we presented stimuli tagged with a different flicker frequency in each eye and applied stimulus-phase locked MEG source imaging. We hypothesized that the strength of the evoked fundamental or intermodulation frequencies would vary when comparing Fast and Slow Switchers. Ten subjects reported perceptual alternations, with mean dominance durations between 1.2–4.0 sec. During BR, event-related monocular input in V1, and broadly in higher-tier ventral temporal cortex, waxed and waned with the periods of left or right eye dominance/suppression. In addition, we show that Slow Switchers produce greater evoked intermodulation frequency responses in a cortical network composed of V1, lateral occipital, posterior STS, retrosplenial & superior parietal cortices. Importantly, these dominance durations were not predictable from the brain responses to either of the fundamental tagging frequencies in isolation, nor from any responses to a pattern rivalry control condition, or a non-rivalrous control. The novel cortical network isolated, which overlaps with the default-mode network, may contain neurons that compute the level of endogenous monocular difference, and monitor accumulation of this conflict over extended periods of time. These findings are the first to relate the speed of rivalry across observers to the ‘efficient coding’ theory of computing binocular differences that may apply to binocular vision generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth A. Bock
- Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Jeremy D. Fesi
- Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Sylvain Baillet
- Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Janine D. Mendola
- Department of Ophthalmology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- * E-mail:
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20
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Taranu M, Wimmer MC, Ross J, Farkas D, van Ee R, Winkler I, Denham SL. Children's perception of visual and auditory ambiguity and its link to executive functions and creativity. J Exp Child Psychol 2019; 184:123-138. [PMID: 31029832 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.03.010] [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: 10/03/2018] [Revised: 03/25/2019] [Accepted: 03/26/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The phenomenon of perceptual bistability provides insights into aspects of perceptual processing not normally accessible to everyday experience. However, most experiments have been conducted in adults, and it is not clear to what extent key aspects of perceptual switching change through development. The current research examined the ability of 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old children (N = 66) to switch between competing percepts of ambiguous visual and auditory stimuli and links between switching rate, executive functions, and creativity. The numbers of switches participants reported in two visual tasks (ambiguous figure and ambiguous structure from motion) and two auditory tasks (verbal transformation and auditory streaming) were measured in three 60-s blocks. In addition, inhibitory control was measured with a Stroop task, set shifting was measured with a verbal fluency task, and creativity was measured with a divergent thinking task. The numbers of perceptual switches increased in all four tasks from 6 to 10 years of age but differed across tasks in that they were higher in the verbal transformation and ambigous structure-from-motion tasks than in the ambigous figure and auditory streaming tasks for all age groups. Although perceptual switching rates differed across tasks, there were predictive relationships between switching rates in some tasks. However, little evidence for the influence of central processes on perceptual switching was found. Overall, the results support the notion that perceptual switching is largely modality and task specific and that this property is already evident when perceptual switching emerges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mihaela Taranu
- Cognition Institute and School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
| | - Marina C Wimmer
- Cognition Institute and School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK.
| | - Josephine Ross
- Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland, UK
| | - Dávid Farkas
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre of Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Raymond van Ee
- Biophysics, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Radboud University, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Brain and Cognition, Leuven University, 3000 BE Leuven, Belgium; Department of Brain, Behavior and Cognition, Philips Research, High Tech Campus, 5656 AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - István Winkler
- Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, H-1111 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Susan L Denham
- Cognition Institute and School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK
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21
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de Graaf TA, Sack AT. When and How to Interpret Null Results in NIBS: A Taxonomy Based on Prior Expectations and Experimental Design. Front Neurosci 2018; 12:915. [PMID: 30618550 PMCID: PMC6297282 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 11/21/2018] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Experiments often challenge the null hypothesis that an intervention, for instance application of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS), has no effect on an outcome measure. In conventional statistics, a positive result rejects that hypothesis, but a null result is meaningless. Informally, however, researchers often do find null results meaningful to a greater or lesser extent. We present a model to guide interpretation of null results in NIBS research. Along a "gradient of surprise," from Replication nulls through Exploration nulls to Hypothesized nulls, null results can be less or more surprising in the context of prior expectations, research, and theory. This influences to what extent we should credit a null result in this greater context. Orthogonal to this, experimental design choices create a "gradient of interpretability," along which null results of an experiment, considered in isolation, become more informative. This is determined by target localization procedure, neural efficacy checks, and power and effect size evaluations. Along the latter gradient, we concretely propose three "levels of null evidence." With caveats, these proposed levels C, B, and A, classify how informative an empirical null result is along concrete criteria. Lastly, to further inform, and help formalize, the inferences drawn from null results, Bayesian statistics can be employed. We discuss how this increasingly common alternative to traditional frequentist inference does allow quantification of the support for the null hypothesis, relative to support for the alternative hypothesis. It is our hope that these considerations can contribute to the ongoing effort to disseminate null findings alongside positive results to promote transparency and reduce publication bias.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom A. de Graaf
- Section Brain Stimulation and Cognition, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Alexander T. Sack
- Section Brain Stimulation and Cognition, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands
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22
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Kondo HM, Pressnitzer D, Shimada Y, Kochiyama T, Kashino M. Inhibition-excitation balance in the parietal cortex modulates volitional control for auditory and visual multistability. Sci Rep 2018; 8:14548. [PMID: 30267021 PMCID: PMC6162284 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-32892-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2018] [Accepted: 09/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Perceptual organisation must select one interpretation from several alternatives to guide behaviour. Computational models suggest that this could be achieved through an interplay between inhibition and excitation across competing types of neural population coding for each interpretation. Here, to test for such models, we used magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure non-invasively the concentrations of inhibitory γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and excitatory glutamate-glutamine (Glx) in several brain regions. Human participants first performed auditory and visual multistability tasks that produced spontaneous switching between percepts. Then, we observed that longer percept durations during behaviour were associated with higher GABA/Glx ratios in the sensory area coding for each modality. When participants were asked to voluntarily modulate their perception, a common factor across modalities emerged: the GABA/Glx ratio in the posterior parietal cortex tended to be positively correlated with the amount of effective volitional control. Our results provide direct evidence implicating that the balance between neural inhibition and excitation within sensory regions resolves perceptual competition. This powerful computational principle appears to be leveraged by both audition and vision, implemented independently across modalities, but modulated by an integrated control process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hirohito M Kondo
- School of Psychology, Chukyo University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan.
- Human Information Science Laboratory, NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan.
| | - Daniel Pressnitzer
- Laboratoire des Systèmes Perceptifs, CNRS UMR 8248, Paris, France
- Département d'Études Cognitive, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
| | - Yasuhiro Shimada
- Brain Activity Imaging Center, ATR-Promotions, Seika-cho, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Takanori Kochiyama
- Brain Activity Imaging Center, ATR-Promotions, Seika-cho, Kyoto, Japan
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, Seika-cho, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Makio Kashino
- Sports Brain Science Project, NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
- School of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
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23
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Genomic Analyses of Visual Cognition: Perceptual Rivalry and Top-Down Control. J Neurosci 2018; 38:9668-9678. [PMID: 30242048 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1970-17.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2017] [Revised: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 09/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual cognition in humans has traditionally been studied with cognitive behavioral methods and brain imaging, but much less with genetic methods. Perceptual rivalry, an important phenomenon in visual cognition, is the spontaneous perceptual alternation that occurs between two distinct interpretations of a physically constant visual stimulus (e.g., binocular rivalry stimuli) or a perceptually ambiguous stimulus (e.g., the Necker cube). The switching rate varies dramatically across individuals and can be voluntarily modulated by observers. Here, we adopted a genomic approach to systematically investigate the genetics underlying binocular rivalry, Necker cube rivalry and voluntary modulation of Necker cube rivalry in young Chinese adults (Homo sapiens, 81% female, 20 ± 1 years old) at multiple levels, including common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based heritability estimation, SNP-based genome-wide association study (GWAS), gene-based analysis, and pathway analysis. We performed a pilot GWAS in 2441 individuals and replicated it in an independent cohort of 943 individuals. Common SNP-based heritability was estimated to be 25% for spontaneous perceptual rivalry. SNPs rs184765639 and rs75595941 were associated with voluntary modulation, and imaging data suggested genotypic difference of rs184765639 in the surface area of the left caudal-middle frontal cortex. Additionally, converging evidence from multilevel analyses associated genes such as PRMT1 with perceptual switching rate, and MIR1178 with voluntary modulation strength. In summary, this study discovered specific genetic contributions to perceptual rivalry and its voluntary modulation in human beings. These findings may promote our understanding of psychiatric disorders, as perceptual rivalry is a potential psychiatric biomarker.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Perceptual rivalry is an important visual phenomenon in which our perception of a physically constant visual input spontaneously switches between two different states. There are individual variations in perceptual switching rate and voluntary modulation strength. Our genomic analyses reveal several loci associated with these two kinds of variation. Because perceptual rivalry is thought to be relevant to and potentially an endophenotype for psychiatric disorders, these results may help understand not only visual cognition, but also psychiatric disorders.
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24
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Gelbard-Sagiv H, Mudrik L, Hill MR, Koch C, Fried I. Human single neuron activity precedes emergence of conscious perception. Nat Commun 2018; 9:2057. [PMID: 29802308 PMCID: PMC5970215 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03749-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 03/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Identifying the neuronal basis of spontaneous changes in conscious experience in the absence of changes in the external environment is a major challenge. Binocular rivalry, in which two stationary monocular images lead to continuously changing perception, provides a unique opportunity to address this issue. We studied the activity of human single neurons in the medial temporal and frontal lobes while patients were engaged in binocular rivalry. Here we report that internal changes in the content of perception are signaled by very early (~-2000 ms) nonselective medial frontal activity, followed by selective activity of medial temporal lobe neurons that precedes the perceptual change by ~1000 ms. Such early activations are not found for externally driven perceptual changes. These results suggest that a medial fronto-temporal network may be involved in the preconscious internal generation of perceptual transitions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hagar Gelbard-Sagiv
- Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91126, CA, USA. .,Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, CA, USA. .,Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel. .,Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel.
| | - Liad Mudrik
- Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91126, CA, USA.,Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel.,School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel
| | - Michael R Hill
- Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91126, CA, USA.,Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, CA, USA
| | - Christof Koch
- Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91126, CA, USA.,Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle, WA, 98109, USA
| | - Itzhak Fried
- Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, CA, USA.,Functional Neurosurgery Unit, Tel-Aviv Medical Center and Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 6423906, Israel
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25
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Similar but separate systems underlie perceptual bistability in vision and audition. Sci Rep 2018; 8:7106. [PMID: 29740086 PMCID: PMC5940790 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25587-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2017] [Accepted: 04/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
The dynamics of perceptual bistability, the phenomenon in which perception switches between different interpretations of an unchanging stimulus, are characterised by very similar properties across a wide range of qualitatively different paradigms. This suggests that perceptual switching may be triggered by some common source. However, it is also possible that perceptual switching may arise from a distributed system, whose components vary according to the specifics of the perceptual experiences involved. Here we used a visual and an auditory task to determine whether individuals show cross-modal commonalities in perceptual switching. We found that individual perceptual switching rates were significantly correlated across modalities. We then asked whether perceptual switching arises from some central (modality-) task-independent process or from a more distributed task-specific system. We found that a log-normal distribution best explained the distribution of perceptual phases in both modalities, suggestive of a combined set of independent processes causing perceptual switching. Modality- and/or task-dependent differences in these distributions, and lack of correlation with the modality-independent central factors tested (ego-resiliency, creativity, and executive function), also point towards perceptual switching arising from a distributed system of similar but independent processes.
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26
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Wang X, Sang N, Hao L, Zhang Y, Bi T, Qiu J. Category Selectivity of Human Visual Cortex in Perception of Rubin Face-Vase Illusion. Front Psychol 2017; 8:1543. [PMID: 28955269 PMCID: PMC5600935 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2017] [Accepted: 08/24/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
When viewing the Rubin face-vase illusion, our conscious perception spontaneously alternates between the face and the vase; this illusion has been widely used to explore bistable perception. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have studied the neural mechanisms underlying bistable perception through univariate and multivariate pattern analyses; however, no studies have investigated the issue of category selectivity. Here, we used fMRI to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying the Rubin face-vase illusion by introducing univariate amplitude and multivariate pattern analyses. The results from the amplitude analysis suggested that the activity in the fusiform face area was likely related to the subjective face perception. Furthermore, the pattern analysis results showed that the early visual cortex (EVC) and the face-selective cortex could discriminate the activity patterns of the face and vase perceptions. However, further analysis of the activity patterns showed that only the face-selective cortex contains the face information. These findings indicated that although the EVC and face-selective cortex activities could discriminate the visual information, only the activity and activity pattern in the face-selective areas contained the category information of face perception in the Rubin face-vase illusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaogang Wang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of EducationChongqing, China.,Faculty of Psychology, Southwest UniversityChongqing, China
| | - Na Sang
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of EducationChongqing, China.,Faculty of Psychology, Southwest UniversityChongqing, China
| | - Lei Hao
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of EducationChongqing, China.,Faculty of Psychology, Southwest UniversityChongqing, China
| | - Yong Zhang
- School of Foreign Languages, Southwest University of Political Science and LawChongqing, China
| | - Taiyong Bi
- School of Management, Zunyi Medical UniversityGuizhou, China
| | - Jiang Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of EducationChongqing, China.,Faculty of Psychology, Southwest UniversityChongqing, China
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27
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Brascamp J, Sterzer P, Blake R, Knapen T. Multistable Perception and the Role of the Frontoparietal Cortex in Perceptual Inference. Annu Rev Psychol 2017; 69:77-103. [PMID: 28854000 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010417-085944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
A given pattern of optical stimulation can arise from countless possible real-world sources, creating a dilemma for vision: What in the world actually gives rise to the current pattern? This dilemma was pointed out centuries ago by the astronomer and mathematician Ibn Al-Haytham and was forcefully restated 150 years ago when von Helmholtz characterized perception as unconscious inference. To buttress his contention, von Helmholtz cited multistable perception: recurring changes in perception despite unchanging sensory input. Recent neuroscientific studies have exploited multistable perception to identify brain areas uniquely activated in association with these perceptual changes, but the specific roles of those activations remain controversial. This article provides an overview of theoretical models of multistable perception, a review of recent neuroimaging and brain stimulation studies focused on mechanisms associated with these perceptual changes, and a synthesis of available evidence within the context of current notions about Bayesian inference that find their historical roots in von Helmholtz's work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Brascamp
- Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824
| | - Philipp Sterzer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Randolph Blake
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37240; .,Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37240
| | - Tomas Knapen
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081BT Amsterdam, Netherlands
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28
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Intracranial Recordings of Occipital Cortex Responses to Illusory Visual Events. J Neurosci 2017; 36:6297-311. [PMID: 27277806 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0242-15.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2015] [Accepted: 05/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Ambiguous visual stimuli elicit different perceptual interpretations over time, creating the illusion that a constant stimulus is changing. We investigate whether such spontaneous changes in visual perception involve occipital brain regions specialized for processing visual information, despite the absence of concomitant changes in stimulation. Spontaneous perceptual changes observed while viewing a binocular rivalry stimulus or an ambiguous structure-from-motion stimulus were compared with stimulus-induced perceptual changes that occurred in response to an actual stimulus change. Intracranial recordings from human occipital cortex revealed that spontaneous and stimulus-induced perceptual changes were both associated with an early transient increase in high-frequency power that was more spatially confined than a later transient decrease in low-frequency power. We suggest that the observed high-frequency and low-frequency modulations relate to initiation and maintenance of a percept, respectively. Our results are compatible with the idea that spontaneous changes in perception originate from competitive interactions within visual neural networks. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Ambiguous visual stimuli elicit different perceptual interpretations over time, creating the illusion that a constant stimulus is changing. The literature on the neural correlates of conscious visual perception remains inconclusive regarding the extent to which such spontaneous changes in perception involve sensory brain regions. In an attempt to bridge the gap between existing animal and human studies, we recorded from intracranial electrodes placed on the human occipital lobe. We compared two different kinds of ambiguous stimuli, binocular rivalry and the phenomenon of ambiguous structure-from-motion, enabling generalization of our findings across different stimuli. Our results indicate that spontaneous and stimulus-induced changes in perception (i.e., "illusory" and "real" changes in the stimulus, respectively) may involve sensory regions to a similar extent.
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Duarte JV, Costa GN, Martins R, Castelo-Branco M. Pivotal role of hMT+ in long-range disambiguation of interhemispheric bistable surface motion. Hum Brain Mapp 2017; 38:4882-4897. [PMID: 28660667 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2017] [Revised: 06/12/2017] [Accepted: 06/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
It remains an open question whether long-range disambiguation of ambiguous surface motion can be achieved in early visual cortex or instead in higher level regions, which concerns object/surface segmentation/integration mechanisms. We used a bistable moving stimulus that can be perceived as a pattern comprehending both visual hemi-fields moving coherently downward or as two widely segregated nonoverlapping component objects (in each visual hemi-field) moving separately inward. This paradigm requires long-range integration across the vertical meridian leading to interhemispheric binding. Our fMRI study (n = 30) revealed a close relation between activity in hMT+ and perceptual switches involving interhemispheric segregation/integration of motion signals, crucially under nonlocal conditions where components do not overlap and belong to distinct hemispheres. Higher signal changes were found in hMT+ in response to spatially segregated component (incoherent) percepts than to pattern (coherent) percepts. This did not occur in early visual cortex, unlike apparent motion, which does not entail surface segmentation. We also identified a role for top-down mechanisms in state transitions. Deconvolution analysis of switch-related changes revealed prefrontal, insula, and cingulate areas, with the right superior parietal lobule (SPL) being particularly involved. We observed that directed influences could emerge either from left or right hMT+ during bistable motion integration/segregation. SPL also exhibited significant directed functional connectivity with hMT+, during perceptual state maintenance (Granger causality analysis). Our results suggest that long-range interhemispheric binding of ambiguous motion representations mainly reflect bottom-up processes from hMT+ during perceptual state maintenance. In contrast, state transitions maybe influenced by high-level regions such as the SPL. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4882-4897, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- João Valente Duarte
- CiBIT, ICNAS, Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences (IBILI) - Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Gabriel Nascimento Costa
- CiBIT, ICNAS, Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences (IBILI) - Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Ricardo Martins
- CiBIT, ICNAS, Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences (IBILI) - Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Miguel Castelo-Branco
- CiBIT, ICNAS, Institute for Biomedical Imaging in Life Sciences (IBILI) - Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Portugal
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Matsuda T, Kitajo K, Yamaguchi Y, Komaki F. A point process modeling approach for investigating the effect of online brain activity on perceptual switching. Neuroimage 2017; 152:50-59. [PMID: 28242318 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.02.068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2016] [Revised: 01/30/2017] [Accepted: 02/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
When watching an ambiguous figure that allows for multiple interpretations, our interpretation spontaneously switches between the possible options. Such spontaneous switching is called perceptual switching and it is modulated by top-down selective attention. In this study, we propose a point process modeling approach for investigating the effects of online brain activity on perceptual switching, where we define online activity as continuous brain activity including spontaneous background and induced activities. Specifically, we modeled perceptual switching during Necker cube perception using electroencephalography (EEG) data. Our method is based on the framework of point process model, which is a statistical model of a series of events. We regard perceptual switching phenomenon as a stochastic process and construct its model in a data-driven manner. We develop a model called the online activity regression model, which enables to determine whether online brain activity has excitatory or inhibitory effects on perceptual switching. By fitting online activity regression models to experimental data and applying the likelihood ratio testing with correction for multiple comparisons, we explore the brain regions and frequency bands with significant effects on perceptual switching. The results demonstrate that the modulation of online occipital alpha activity mediates the suppression of perceptual switching to the non-attended interpretation. Thus, our method provides a dynamic description of the attentional process by naturally accounting for the entire time course of brain activity, which is difficult to resolve by focusing only on the brain activity around the time of perceptual switching.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takeru Matsuda
- Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
| | - Keiichi Kitajo
- RIKEN BSI-Toyota Collaboration Center, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Saitama, Japan; RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Saitama, Japan
| | | | - Fumiyasu Komaki
- Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Wako, Saitama, Japan
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31
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Normal Aging Slows Spontaneous Switching in Auditory and Visual Bistability. Neuroscience 2017; 389:152-160. [PMID: 28479403 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2017] [Accepted: 04/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Age-related changes in auditory and visual perception have an impact on the quality of life. It has been debated how perceptual organization is influenced by advancing age. From the neurochemical perspective, we investigated age effects on auditory and visual bistability. In perceptual bistability, a sequence of sensory inputs induces spontaneous switching between different perceptual objects. We used different modality tasks of auditory streaming and visual plaids. Young and middle-aged participants (20-60years) were instructed to indicate by a button press whenever their perception changed from one stable state to the other. The number of perceptual switches decreased with participants' ages. We employed magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure non-invasively concentrations of the inhibitory neurotransmitter (γ-aminobutyric acid, GABA) in the brain regions of interest. When participants were asked to voluntarily modulate their perception, the amount of effective volitional control was positively correlated with the GABA concentration in the auditory and motion-sensitive areas corresponding to each sensory modality. However, no correlation was found in the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, effective volitional control was reduced with advancing age. Our results suggest that sequential scene analysis in auditory and visual domains is influenced by both age-related and neurochemical factors.
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Intaitė M, Duarte JV, Castelo-Branco M. Working memory load influences perceptual ambiguity by competing for fronto-parietal attentional resources. Brain Res 2016; 1650:142-151. [PMID: 27590722 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2016.08.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2016] [Revised: 07/29/2016] [Accepted: 08/29/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
A visual stimulus is defined as ambiguous when observers perceive it as having at least two distinct and spontaneously alternating interpretations. Neuroimaging studies suggest an involvement of a right fronto-parietal network regulating the balance between stable percepts and the triggering of alternative interpretations. As spontaneous perceptual reversals may occur even in the absence of attention to these stimuli, we investigated neural activity patterns in response to perceptual changes of ambiguous Necker cube under different amounts of working memory load using a dual-task design. We hypothesized that the same regions that process working memory load are involved in perceptual switching and confirmed the prediction that perceptual reversals led to fMRI responses that linearly depended on load. Accordingly, posterior Superior Parietal Lobule, anterior Prefrontal and Dorsolateral Prefrontal cortices exhibited differential BOLD signal changes in response to perceptual reversals under working memory load. Our results also suggest that the posterior Superior Parietal Lobule may be directly involved in the emergence of perceptual reversals, given that it specifically reflects both perceptual versus real changes and load levels. The anterior Prefrontal and Dorsolateral Prefrontal cortices, showing a significant interaction between reversal levels and load, might subserve a modulatory role in such reversals, in a mirror symmetric way: in the former activation is suppressed by the highest loads, and in the latter deactivation is reduced by highest loads, suggesting a more direct role of the aPFC in reversal generation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Intaitė
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory - IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
| | - João Valente Duarte
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory - IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Miguel Castelo-Branco
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory - IBILI, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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33
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Human sensory cortex structure and top-down controlling brain network determine individual differences in perceptual alternations. Neurosci Lett 2016; 636:113-119. [PMID: 27810354 DOI: 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.10.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2016] [Revised: 10/21/2016] [Accepted: 10/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Bistable perception is a type of subjective perception that spontaneously alternates between two perceptual interpretations of an ambiguous sensory input. Past functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have examined the activation patterns underlying bistable perception, yet the variability between individuals in the alternations is not well understood. Therefore, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was introduced in this study to correlate the GM of the sensory cortex with the alternations of Rubin face-vase illusion in a large group of young adults. We found that the GM volume and density (GMV/GMD) of the left fusiform face area (FFA) were significantly positively correlated with the alternations. Next, Granger causality analysis (GCA) was introduced to investigate the top-down modulation from high-level areas to the sensory cortex using resting-state fMRI data. Correlations between the perceptual alternations and Granger causalities showed that the top-down modulations from high-level brain regions, such as the superior parietal lobule (SPL) to the left FFA, were positive. Together, these findings indicated that the anatomical structure of the face-selective area may determine individual alternations of the Rubin face-vase illusion. This process may be controlled by a high-level cortex associated with attentional modulation, such as the SPL or Posterior Cingulate Cortex (PCC).
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Murphy AP, Leopold DA, Humphreys GW, Welchman AE. Lesions to right posterior parietal cortex impair visual depth perception from disparity but not motion cues. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150263. [PMID: 27269606 PMCID: PMC4901457 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/22/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is understood to be active when observers perceive three-dimensional (3D) structure. However, it is not clear how central this activity is in the construction of 3D spatial representations. Here, we examine whether PPC is essential for two aspects of visual depth perception by testing patients with lesions affecting this region. First, we measured subjects' ability to discriminate depth structure in various 3D surfaces and objects using binocular disparity. Patients with lesions to right PPC (N = 3) exhibited marked perceptual deficits on these tasks, whereas those with left hemisphere lesions (N = 2) were able to reliably discriminate depth as accurately as control subjects. Second, we presented an ambiguous 3D stimulus defined by structure from motion to determine whether PPC lesions influence the rate of bistable perceptual alternations. Patients' percept durations for the 3D stimulus were generally within a normal range, although the two patients with bilateral PPC lesions showed the fastest perceptual alternation rates in our sample. Intermittent stimulus presentation reduced the reversal rate similarly across subjects. Together, the results suggest that PPC plays a causal role in both inferring and maintaining the perception of 3D structure with stereopsis supported primarily by the right hemisphere, but do not lend support to the view that PPC is a critical contributor to bistable perceptual alternations.This article is part of the themed issue 'Vision in our three-dimensional world'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aidan P Murphy
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20838, USA School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
| | - David A Leopold
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20838, USA
| | - Glyn W Humphreys
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3UD, UK
| | - Andrew E Welchman
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
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35
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Díaz-Santos M, Mauro S, Cao B, Yazdanbakhsh A, Neargarder S, Cronin-Golomb A. Bistable perception in normal aging: perceptual reversibility and its relation to cognition. AGING NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2016; 24:115-134. [PMID: 27116194 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2016.1173646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The effects of age on the ability to resolve perceptual ambiguity are unknown, though it depends on frontoparietal attentional networks known to change with age. We presented the bistable Necker cube to 24 middle-aged and OAs (older adults; 56-78 years) and 20 YAs (younger adults; 18-24 years) under passive-viewing and volitional control conditions: Hold one cube percept and Switch between cube percepts. During passive viewing, OAs had longer dominance durations (time spent on each percept) than YAs. In the Hold condition, OAs were less able than YAs to increase dominance durations. In the Switch condition, OAs and YAs did not differ in performance. Dominance durations in either condition correlated with performance on tests of executive function mediated by the frontal lobes. Eye movements (fixation deviations) did not differ between groups. These results suggest that OAs' reduced ability to hold a percept may arise from reduced selective attention. The lack of correlation of performance between Hold and executive-function measures suggests at least a partial segregation of underlying mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirella Díaz-Santos
- a Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , Boston University , Boston , MA , USA
| | - Samantha Mauro
- a Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , Boston University , Boston , MA , USA
| | - Bo Cao
- b Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology , Boston University , Boston , MA , USA
| | - Arash Yazdanbakhsh
- b Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology , Boston University , Boston , MA , USA
| | - Sandy Neargarder
- a Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , Boston University , Boston , MA , USA.,c Department of Psychology , Hart Hall, Bridgewater State University , Bridgewater , MA , USA
| | - Alice Cronin-Golomb
- a Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences , Boston University , Boston , MA , USA
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36
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Tsuchiya N, Wilke M, Frässle S, Lamme VA. No-Report Paradigms: Extracting the True Neural Correlates of Consciousness. Trends Cogn Sci 2015; 19:757-770. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2015.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 205] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2015] [Revised: 10/04/2015] [Accepted: 10/12/2015] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Brascamp J, Blake R, Knapen T. Negligible fronto-parietal BOLD activity accompanying unreportable switches in bistable perception. Nat Neurosci 2015; 18:1672-8. [PMID: 26436901 PMCID: PMC4603386 DOI: 10.1038/nn.4130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 80] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2015] [Accepted: 09/09/2015] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The human brain's executive systems play a vital role in deciding and selecting among actions. Selection among alternatives also occurs in the perceptual domain, for instance when perception switches between interpretations during perceptual bistability. Whether executive systems also underlie this functionality remains debated, with known fronto-parietal concomitants of perceptual switches being variously interpreted as reflecting the switches' cause, or as reflecting their consequences. We developed a paradigm where the two eyes receive different inputs and perception demonstrably switches between these inputs, yet where switches themselves are so inconspicuous as to become unreportable, minimizing their executive consequences. Fronto-parietal fMRI BOLD responses that accompany perceptual switches were similarly minimized in this paradigm, indicating that these reflect the switches' consequences rather than their cause. We conclude that perceptual switches do not always rely on executive brain areas, and that processes responsible for selection among alternatives may operate outside of the brain's executive systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Brascamp
- Helmholtz Institute and Division of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.,Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.,Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
| | - Randolph Blake
- Department of Psychology and Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.,Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Tomas Knapen
- Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.,Cognitive Psychology, Department of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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38
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Markkula G. Answering questions about consciousness by modeling perception as covert behavior. Front Psychol 2015; 6:803. [PMID: 26136704 PMCID: PMC4468364 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2015] [Accepted: 05/27/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Two main open questions in current consciousness research concern (i) the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) and (ii) the relationship between neural activity and first-person, subjective experience. Here, possible answers are sketched for both of these, by means of a model-based analysis of what is required for one to admit having a conscious experience. To this end, a model is proposed that allows reasoning, albeit necessarily in a simplistic manner, about all of the so called “easy problems” of consciousness, from discrimination of stimuli to control of behavior and language. First, it is argued that current neuroscientific knowledge supports the view of perception and action selection as two examples of the same basic phenomenon, such that one can meaningfully refer to neuronal activations involved in perception as covert behavior. Building on existing neuroscientific and psychological models, a narrative behavior model is proposed, outlining how the brain selects covert (and sometimes overt) behaviors to construct a complex, multi-level narrative about what it is like to be the individual in question. It is hypothesized that we tend to admit a conscious experience of X if, at the time of judging consciousness, we find ourselves acceptably capable of performing narrative behavior describing X. It is argued that the proposed account reconciles seemingly conflicting empirical results, previously presented as evidence for competing theories of consciousness, and suggests that well-defined, experiment-independent NCCs are unlikely to exist. Finally, an analysis is made of what the modeled narrative behavior machinery is and is not capable of. It is discussed how an organism endowed with such a machinery could, from its first-person perspective, come to adopt notions such as “subjective experience,” and of there being “hard problems,” and “explanatory gaps” to be addressed in order to understand consciousness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustav Markkula
- Adaptive Systems Group, Division of Vehicle Engineering and Autonomous Systems, Department of Applied Mechanics, Chalmers University of Technology Gothenburg, Sweden
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39
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Díaz-Santos M, Cao B, Yazdanbakhsh A, Norton DJ, Neargarder S, Cronin-Golomb A. Perceptual, cognitive, and personality rigidity in Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychologia 2015; 69:183-93. [PMID: 25640973 PMCID: PMC4344854 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.01.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2014] [Revised: 01/27/2015] [Accepted: 01/29/2015] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with motor and non-motor rigidity symptoms (e.g., cognitive and personality). The question is raised as to whether rigidity in PD also extends to perception, and if so, whether perceptual, cognitive, and personality rigidities are correlated. Bistable stimuli were presented to 28 non-demented individuals with PD and 26 normal control adults (NC). Necker cube perception and binocular rivalry were examined during passive viewing, and the Necker cube was additionally used for two volitional-control conditions: Hold one percept in front, and Switch between the two percepts. Relative to passive viewing, PD were significantly less able than NC to reduce dominance durations in the Switch condition, indicating perceptual rigidity. Tests of cognitive flexibility and a personality questionnaire were administered to explore the association with perceptual rigidity. Cognitive flexibility was not correlated with perceptual rigidity for either group. Personality (novelty seeking) correlated with dominance durations on Necker passive viewing for PD but not NC. The results indicate the presence in mild-moderate PD of perceptual rigidity and suggest shared neural substrates with novelty seeking, but functional divergence from those supporting cognitive flexibility. The possibility is raised that perceptual rigidity may be a harbinger of cognitive inflexibility later in the disease course.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirella Díaz-Santos
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, 2nd floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
| | - Bo Cao
- Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, Boston University, 677 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
| | - Arash Yazdanbakhsh
- Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, Boston University, 677 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
| | - Daniel J Norton
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, 2nd floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
| | - Sandy Neargarder
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, 2nd floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Psychology, Hart Hall, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA 02325, USA.
| | - Alice Cronin-Golomb
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, 2nd floor, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
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Díaz-Santos M, Cao B, Mauro SA, Yazdanbakhsh A, Neargarder S, Cronin-Golomb A. Effect of visual cues on the resolution of perceptual ambiguity in Parkinson's disease and normal aging. J Int Neuropsychol Soc 2015; 21:146-55. [PMID: 25765890 PMCID: PMC5433847 DOI: 10.1017/s1355617715000065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) and normal aging have been associated with changes in visual perception, including reliance on external cues to guide behavior. This raises the question of the extent to which these groups use visual cues when disambiguating information. Twenty-seven individuals with PD, 23 normal control adults (NC), and 20 younger adults (YA) were presented a Necker cube in which one face was highlighted by thickening the lines defining the face. The hypothesis was that the visual cues would help PD and NC to exert better control over bistable perception. There were three conditions, including passive viewing and two volitional-control conditions (hold one percept in front; and switch: speed up the alternation between the two). In the Hold condition, the cue was either consistent or inconsistent with task instructions. Mean dominance durations (time spent on each percept) under passive viewing were comparable in PD and NC, and shorter in YA. PD and YA increased dominance durations in the Hold cue-consistent condition relative to NC, meaning that appropriate cues helped PD but not NC hold one perceptual interpretation. By contrast, in the Switch condition, NC and YA decreased dominance durations relative to PD, meaning that the use of cues helped NC but not PD in expediting the switch between percepts. Provision of low-level cues has effects on volitional control in PD that are different from in normal aging, and only under task-specific conditions does the use of such cues facilitate the resolution of perceptual ambiguity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirella Díaz-Santos
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Bo Cao
- Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Samantha A. Mauro
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Arash Yazdanbakhsh
- Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Sandy Neargarder
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
- Department of Psychology, Hart Hall, Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts
| | - Alice Cronin-Golomb
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
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Imamoglu F, Heinzle J, Imfeld A, Haynes JD. Activity in high-level brain regions reflects visibility of low-level stimuli. Neuroimage 2014; 102 Pt 2:688-94. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.08.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2014] [Revised: 08/14/2014] [Accepted: 08/21/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022] Open
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Synchronous and opposite roles of the parietal and prefrontal cortices in bistable perception: a double-coil TMS-EEG study. Cortex 2014; 64:78-88. [PMID: 25461709 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.09.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2014] [Revised: 09/08/2014] [Accepted: 09/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Bistable perception occurs when a stimulus is ambiguous and has two distinct interpretations that spontaneously alternate in observers' consciousness. Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging, electroencephalography (EEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in healthy subjects and patient studies point towards a right fronto-parietal network regulating the balance between percept stabilization and the arising of alternative interpretations. However, the causal role of the interaction between parietal and prefrontal areas is not clearly understood. Using intermittent presentations of bistable images, we confirmed that maintaining or switching percepts had neural correlates identifiable on EEG. Single-pulse TMS applied over the right anterior intraparietal sulcus (IPS) 70 msec before image presentation interfered with evoked potentials and destabilized the percept. However, with paired-pulse TMS applied over right IPS and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) 70 and 60 msec before image presentation, both perceptual and neurophysiological effects were canceled. Thus, TMS over IPS and DLPFC interacted with each other and influenced upcoming percepts. We suggest that when the visual world is ambiguous, IPS plays a stabilizing role, whereas DLPFC is important for triggering perceptual switches or for modulating parietal activity. The balance between maintaining and switching visual conscious percepts relies on the dynamic interaction between IPS and DLPFC.
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de Graaf TA, Sack AT. Using brain stimulation to disentangle neural correlates of conscious vision. Front Psychol 2014; 5:1019. [PMID: 25295015 PMCID: PMC4171988 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2014] [Accepted: 08/26/2014] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Research into the neural correlates of consciousness (NCCs) has blossomed, due to the advent of new and increasingly sophisticated brain research tools. Neuroimaging has uncovered a variety of brain processes that relate to conscious perception, obtained in a range of experimental paradigms. But methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging or electroencephalography do not always afford inference on the functional role these brain processes play in conscious vision. Such empirical NCCs could reflect neural prerequisites, neural consequences, or neural substrates of a conscious experience. Here, we take a closer look at the use of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques in this context. We discuss and review how NIBS methodology can enlighten our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying conscious vision by disentangling the empirical NCCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom A de Graaf
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University Maastricht, Netherlands ; Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre Maastricht, Netherlands
| | - Alexander T Sack
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University Maastricht, Netherlands ; Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre Maastricht, Netherlands
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Jaworska K, Lages M. Fluctuations of visual awareness: combining motion-induced blindness with binocular rivalry. J Vis 2014; 14:11. [PMID: 25240063 PMCID: PMC4168770 DOI: 10.1167/14.11.11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2013] [Accepted: 07/11/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Binocular rivalry (BR) and motion-induced blindness (MIB) are two phenomena of visual awareness where perception alternates between multiple states despite constant retinal input. Both phenomena have been extensively studied, but the underlying processing remains unclear. It has been suggested that BR and MIB involve the same neural mechanism, but how the two phenomena compete for visual awareness in the same stimulus has not been systematically investigated. Here we introduce BR in a dichoptic stimulus display that can also elicit MIB and examine fluctuations of visual awareness over the course of each trial. Exploiting this paradigm we manipulated stimulus characteristics that are known to influence MIB and BR. In two experiments we found that effects on multistable percepts were incompatible with the idea of a common oscillator. The results suggest instead that local and global stimulus attributes can affect the dynamics of each percept differently. We conclude that the two phenomena of visual awareness share basic temporal characteristics but are most likely influenced by processing at different stages within the visual system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Jaworska
- Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
| | - Martin Lages
- School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK
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Sandberg K, Barnes GR, Bahrami B, Kanai R, Overgaard M, Rees G. Distinct MEG correlates of conscious experience, perceptual reversals and stabilization during binocular rivalry. Neuroimage 2014; 100:161-75. [PMID: 24945667 PMCID: PMC4148524 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.06.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2013] [Revised: 06/06/2014] [Accepted: 06/08/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
During binocular rivalry, visual perception alternates spontaneously between two different monocular images. Such perceptual reversals are slowed or halted if stimuli are presented intermittently with inter-stimulus intervals larger than ~ 400 ms — a phenomenon called stabilization. Often, the neural correlates of reversal and stabilization are studied separately, and both phenomena in turn are studied separately from the neural correlates of conscious perception. To distinguish the neural correlates of perceptual content, stabilization and reversal, we recorded MEG signals associated with each in the same group of healthy humans observing repeated trials of intermittent presentation of a dichoptic stimulus. Perceptual content correlated mainly with modulation of stimulus-specific activity in occipital/temporal areas 150–270 ms after stimulus onset, possibly reflecting inhibition of the neural populations representing the suppressed image. Stability of perception reflected a gradual build-up of this modulation across at least 10 trials and was also, to some extent, associated with parietal activity 40–90 ms and 220–270 ms after stimulus onset. Perceptual reversals, in contrast, were associated with parietal (150–270 ms) and temporal (150–210 ms) activity on the trial before the reversal and a gradual change in perception-specific activity in occipital (150–270 ms) and temporal (220–420 ms) areas across at least 10 trials leading up to a reversal. Mechanistically, these findings suggest that stability of perception during rivalry is maintained by modulation of activity related to the two monocular images, and gradual adaptation of neuronal populations leads to instability that is eventually resolved by signals from parietal and late sensory cortices. Neural correlates of perception, reversals and stabilization were examined. Stability of perception is maintained by modulation stimulus-specific activity. Gradual adaptation of this modulation leads to a state of instability. Instability is resolved by parietal/temporal sources causing perceptual reversals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristian Sandberg
- Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Hammel Rehabilitation and Research Center, Voldbyvej 15, 8450 Hammel, Denmark; Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Noerrebrogade 44, Building 10G, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR London, United Kingdom.
| | - Gareth Robert Barnes
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR London, United Kingdom
| | - Bahador Bahrami
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR London, United Kingdom; Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, Building 1483, 3rd floor 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Ryota Kanai
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR London, United Kingdom; Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, School of Psychology, Pevensey 1, BN1 9QH Falmer, United Kingdom
| | - Morten Overgaard
- Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, Hammel Rehabilitation and Research Center, Voldbyvej 15, 8450 Hammel, Denmark
| | - Geraint Rees
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR London, United Kingdom; Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, 12 Queen Square, WC1N 3AR London, United Kingdom
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46
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Frässle S, Sommer J, Jansen A, Naber M, Einhäuser W. Binocular rivalry: frontal activity relates to introspection and action but not to perception. J Neurosci 2014; 34:1738-47. [PMID: 24478356 PMCID: PMC6827584 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.4403-13.2014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 213] [Impact Index Per Article: 21.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2013] [Revised: 12/04/2013] [Accepted: 12/17/2013] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
When two dissimilar stimuli are presented to the eyes, perception alternates between multiple interpretations, a phenomenon dubbed binocular rivalry. Numerous recent imaging studies have attempted to unveil neural substrates underlying multistable perception. However, these studies had a conceptual constraint: access to observers' perceptual state relied on their introspection and active report. Here, we investigated to what extent neural correlates of binocular rivalry in healthy humans are confounded by this subjective measure and by action. We used the optokinetic nystagmus and pupil size to objectively and continuously map perceptual alternations for binocular-rivalry stimuli. Combining these two measures with fMRI allowed us to assess the neural correlates of binocular rivalry time locked to the perceptual alternations in the absence of active report. When observers were asked to actively report their percept, our objective measures matched the report. In this active condition, objective measures and subjective reporting revealed that occipital, parietal, and frontal areas underlie the processing of binocular rivalry, replicating earlier findings. Furthermore, objective measures provided additional statistical power due to their continuous nature. Importantly, when observers passively experienced rivalry without reporting perceptual alternations, a different picture emerged: differential neural activity in frontal areas was absent, whereas activation in occipital and parietal regions persisted. Our results question the popular view of a driving role of frontal areas in the initiation of perceptual alternations during binocular rivalry. Instead, we conclude that frontal areas are associated with active report and introspection rather than with rivalry per se.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Frässle
- Department of Neurophysics, Philipps-University, 35032 Marburg, Germany
- Section BrainImaging, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University, 35037 Marburg, Germany
| | - Jens Sommer
- Section BrainImaging, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University, 35037 Marburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Jansen
- Section BrainImaging, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University, 35037 Marburg, Germany
| | - Marnix Naber
- Department of Neurophysics, Philipps-University, 35032 Marburg, Germany
- Vision Sciences Laboratory, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138
- Cognitive Psychology Unit, Leiden University, 2333AK Leiden, The Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, 2300RC Leiden, The Netherlands and
| | - Wolfgang Einhäuser
- Department of Neurophysics, Philipps-University, 35032 Marburg, Germany
- Center for Interdisciplinary Research, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany
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Dichoptic Viewing Methods for Binocular Rivalry Research: Prospects for Large-Scale Clinical and Genetic Studies. Twin Res Hum Genet 2013; 16:1033-78. [DOI: 10.1017/thg.2013.76] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Binocular rivalry (BR) is an intriguing phenomenon that occurs when two different images are presented, one to each eye, resulting in alternation orrivalrybetween the percepts. The phenomenon has been studied for nearly 200 years, with renewed and intensive investigation over recent decades. Therateof perceptual switching has long been known to vary widely between individuals but to be relatively stable within individuals. A recent twin study demonstrated that individual variation in BR rate is under substantial genetic control, a finding that also represented the first report, using a large study, of genetic contribution for any post-retinal visual processing phenomenon. The twin study had been prompted by earlier work showing BR rate was slow in the heritable psychiatric condition, bipolar disorder (BD). Together, these studies suggested that slow BR may represent an endophenotype for BD, and heralded the advent of modern clinical and genetic studies of rivalry. This new focus has coincided with rapid advances in 3D display technology, but despite such progress, specific development of technology for rivalry research has been lacking. This review therefore compares different display methods for BR research across several factors, including viewing parameters, image quality, equipment cost, compatibility with other investigative methods, subject group, and sample size, with a focus on requirements specific to large-scale clinical and genetic studies. It is intended to be a resource for investigators new to BR research, such as clinicians and geneticists, and to stimulate the development of 3D display technology for advancing interdisciplinary studies of rivalry.
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Nuruki A, Oliver R, Campana G, Walsh V, Rothwell JC. Opposing roles of sensory and parietal cortices in awareness in a bistable motion illusion. Neuropsychologia 2013; 51:2479-84. [PMID: 24056295 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2013.09.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2013] [Revised: 09/06/2013] [Accepted: 09/12/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Motion-induced blindness (MIB) is a bistable visual phenomenon in which stationary disks surrounded by a moving pattern intermittently disappear from the viewer's awareness. We explored the cortical network that subserves the MIB phenomenon by targeting its constituent parts with disruptive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), in the form of continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS). Previous neuroimaging and TMS studies have implicated the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC) in perceptual transitions such as binocular rivalry, while the visual area V5/MT has been suggested to play a key role in MIB. In this study, we found that cTBS applied to the rPPC lengthened the duration of disappearance in MIB, while cTBS applied to V5/MT shortened the duration of disappearance and decreased the frequency of disappearance in MIB. These results demonstrate a causal role for both the rPPC and V5/MT in MIB, and suggest that the rPPC is involved in shifting resources between competing functional areas, while V5/MT processing initiates and maintains MIB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atsuo Nuruki
- Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Kagoshima University, 1-21-40 Korimoto, Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan; Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Sq, London WC1N 3BG, UK.
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Abstract
When faced with ambiguous sensory inputs, subjective perception alternates between the different interpretations in a stochastic manner. Such multistable perception phenomena have intrigued scientists and laymen alike for over a century. Despite rigorous investigations, the underlying mechanisms of multistable perception remain elusive. Recent studies using multivariate pattern analysis revealed that activity patterns in posterior visual areas correlate with fluctuating percepts. However, increasing evidence suggests that vision--and perception at large--is an active inferential process involving hierarchical brain systems. We applied searchlight multivariate pattern analysis to functional magnetic resonance imaging signals across the human brain to decode perceptual content during bistable perception and simple unambiguous perception. Although perceptually reflective activity patterns during simple perception localized predominantly to posterior visual regions, bistable perception involved additionally many higher-order frontoparietal and temporal regions. Moreover, compared with simple perception, both top-down and bottom-up influences were dramatically enhanced during bistable perception. We further studied the intermittent presentation of ambiguous images--a condition that is known to elicit perceptual memory. Compared with continuous presentation, intermittent presentation recruited even more higher-order regions and was accompanied by further strengthened top-down influences but relatively weakened bottom-up influences. Taken together, these results strongly support an active top-down inferential process in perception.
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50
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Wagemans J, Feldman J, Gepshtein S, Kimchi R, Pomerantz JR, van der Helm PA, van Leeuwen C. A century of Gestalt psychology in visual perception: II. Conceptual and theoretical foundations. Psychol Bull 2012; 138:1218-52. [PMID: 22845750 PMCID: PMC3728284 DOI: 10.1037/a0029334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 178] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Our first review article (Wagemans et al., 2012) on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of Gestalt psychology focused on perceptual grouping and figure-ground organization. It concluded that further progress requires a reconsideration of the conceptual and theoretical foundations of the Gestalt approach, which is provided here. In particular, we review contemporary formulations of holism within an information-processing framework, allowing for operational definitions (e.g., integral dimensions, emergent features, configural superiority, global precedence, primacy of holistic/configural properties) and a refined understanding of its psychological implications (e.g., at the level of attention, perception, and decision). We also review 4 lines of theoretical progress regarding the law of Prägnanz-the brain's tendency of being attracted towards states corresponding to the simplest possible organization, given the available stimulation. The first considers the brain as a complex adaptive system and explains how self-organization solves the conundrum of trading between robustness and flexibility of perceptual states. The second specifies the economy principle in terms of optimization of neural resources, showing that elementary sensors working independently to minimize uncertainty can respond optimally at the system level. The third considers how Gestalt percepts (e.g., groups, objects) are optimal given the available stimulation, with optimality specified in Bayesian terms. Fourth, structural information theory explains how a Gestaltist visual system that focuses on internal coding efficiency yields external veridicality as a side effect. To answer the fundamental question of why things look as they do, a further synthesis of these complementary perspectives is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johan Wagemans
- University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, Tiensestraat 102, box 3711, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
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