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Froesel M, Gacoin M, Clavagnier S, Hauser M, Goudard Q, Ben Hamed S. Macaque claustrum, pulvinar and putative dorsolateral amygdala support the cross-modal association of social audio-visual stimuli based on meaning. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 59:3203-3223. [PMID: 38637993 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16328] [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: 11/16/2022] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Social communication draws on several cognitive functions such as perception, emotion recognition and attention. The association of audio-visual information is essential to the processing of species-specific communication signals. In this study, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging in order to identify the subcortical areas involved in the cross-modal association of visual and auditory information based on their common social meaning. We identified three subcortical regions involved in audio-visual processing of species-specific communicative signals: the dorsolateral amygdala, the claustrum and the pulvinar. These regions responded to visual, auditory congruent and audio-visual stimulations. However, none of them was significantly activated when the auditory stimuli were semantically incongruent with the visual context, thus showing an influence of visual context on auditory processing. For example, positive vocalization (coos) activated the three subcortical regions when presented in the context of positive facial expression (lipsmacks) but not when presented in the context of negative facial expression (aggressive faces). In addition, the medial pulvinar and the amygdala presented multisensory integration such that audiovisual stimuli resulted in activations that were significantly higher than those observed for the highest unimodal response. Last, the pulvinar responded in a task-dependent manner, along a specific spatial sensory gradient. We propose that the dorsolateral amygdala, the claustrum and the pulvinar belong to a multisensory network that modulates the perception of visual socioemotional information and vocalizations as a function of the relevance of the stimuli in the social context. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Understanding and correctly associating socioemotional information across sensory modalities, such that happy faces predict laughter and escape scenes predict screams, is essential when living in complex social groups. With the use of functional magnetic imaging in the awake macaque, we identify three subcortical structures-dorsolateral amygdala, claustrum and pulvinar-that only respond to auditory information that matches the ongoing visual socioemotional context, such as hearing positively valenced coo calls and seeing positively valenced mutual grooming monkeys. We additionally describe task-dependent activations in the pulvinar, organizing along a specific spatial sensory gradient, supporting its role as a network regulator.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathilda Froesel
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229 CNRS Université de Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Maëva Gacoin
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229 CNRS Université de Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Simon Clavagnier
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229 CNRS Université de Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Marc Hauser
- Risk-Eraser, West Falmouth, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Quentin Goudard
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229 CNRS Université de Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
| | - Suliann Ben Hamed
- Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, UMR5229 CNRS Université de Lyon, Bron Cedex, France
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2
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Kobylkov D, Vallortigara G. Face detection mechanisms: Nature vs. nurture. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1404174. [PMID: 38812973 PMCID: PMC11133589 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1404174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024] Open
Abstract
For many animals, faces are a vitally important visual stimulus. Hence, it is not surprising that face perception has become a very popular research topic in neuroscience, with ca. 2000 papers published every year. As a result, significant progress has been made in understanding the intricate mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. However, the ontogeny of face perception, in particular the role of innate predispositions, remains largely unexplored at the neural level. Several influential studies in monkeys have suggested that seeing faces is necessary for the development of the face-selective brain domains. At the same time, behavioural experiments with newborn human babies and newly-hatched domestic chicks demonstrate that a spontaneous preference towards faces emerges early in life without pre-existing experience. Moreover, we were recently able to record face-selective neural responses in the brain of young, face-naïve chicks, thus demonstrating the existence of an innate face detection mechanism. In this review, we discuss these seemingly contradictory results and propose potential experimental approaches to resolve some of the open questions.
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3
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Shibata T, Hattori N, Nishijo H, Kuroda S, Takakusaki K. Evolutionary origin of alpha rhythms in vertebrates. Front Behav Neurosci 2024; 18:1384340. [PMID: 38651071 PMCID: PMC11033391 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1384340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
The purpose of this review extends beyond the traditional triune brain model, aiming to elucidate the evolutionary aspects of alpha rhythms in vertebrates. The forebrain, comprising the telencephalon (pallium) and diencephalon (thalamus, hypothalamus), is a common feature in the brains of all vertebrates. In mammals, evolution has prioritized the development of the forebrain, especially the neocortex, over the midbrain (mesencephalon) optic tectum, which serves as the prototype for the visual brain. This evolution enables mammals to process visual information in the retina-thalamus (lateral geniculate nucleus)-occipital cortex pathway. The origin of posterior-dominant alpha rhythms observed in mammals in quiet and dark environments is not solely attributed to cholinergic pontine nuclei cells functioning as a 10 Hz pacemaker in the brainstem. It also involves the ability of the neocortex's cortical layers to generate traveling waves of alpha rhythms with waxing and waning characteristics. The utilization of alpha rhythms might have facilitated the shift of attention from external visual inputs to internal cognitive processes as an adaptation to thrive in dark environments. The evolution of alpha rhythms might trace back to the dinosaur era, suggesting that enhanced cortical connectivity linked to alpha bands could have facilitated the development of nocturnal awakening in the ancestors of mammals. In fishes, reptiles, and birds, the pallium lacks a cortical layer. However, there is a lack of research clearly observing dominant alpha rhythms in the pallium or organized nuclear structures in fishes, reptiles, or birds. Through convergent evolution, the pallium of birds, which exhibits cortex-like fiber architecture, has not only acquired advanced cognitive and motor abilities but also the capability to generate low-frequency oscillations (4-25 Hz) resembling alpha rhythms. This suggests that the origins of alpha rhythms might lie in the pallium of a common ancestor of birds and mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takashi Shibata
- Department of Neurosurgery, Toyama University Hospital, Toyama, Japan
- Department of Neurosurgery, Toyama Nishi General Hospital, Toyama, Japan
| | - Noriaki Hattori
- Department of Rehabilitation, Toyama University Hospital, Toyama, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- Faculty of Human Sciences, University of East Asia, Yamaguchi, Japan
| | - Satoshi Kuroda
- Department of Neurosurgery, Toyama University Hospital, Toyama, Japan
| | - Kaoru Takakusaki
- The Research Center for Brain Function and Medical Engineering, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Japan
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4
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Bogadhi AR, Hafed ZM. Express detection of visual objects by primate superior colliculus neurons. Sci Rep 2023; 13:21730. [PMID: 38066070 PMCID: PMC10709564 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-48979-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Primate superior colliculus (SC) neurons exhibit visual feature tuning properties and are implicated in a subcortical network hypothesized to mediate fast threat and/or conspecific detection. However, the mechanisms through which SC neurons contribute to peripheral object detection, for supporting rapid orienting responses, remain unclear. Here we explored whether, and how quickly, SC neurons detect real-life object stimuli. We presented experimentally-controlled gray-scale images of seven different object categories, and their corresponding luminance- and spectral-matched image controls, within the extrafoveal response fields of SC neurons. We found that all of our functionally-identified SC neuron types preferentially detected real-life objects even in their very first stimulus-evoked visual bursts. Intriguingly, even visually-responsive motor-related neurons exhibited such robust early object detection. We further identified spatial frequency information in visual images as an important, but not exhaustive, source for the earliest (within 100 ms) but not for the late (after 100 ms) component of object detection by SC neurons. Our results demonstrate rapid and robust detection of extrafoveal visual objects by the SC. Besides supporting recent evidence that even SC saccade-related motor bursts can preferentially represent visual objects, these results reveal a plausible mechanism through which rapid orienting responses to extrafoveal visual objects can be mediated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amarender R Bogadhi
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller Str. 25, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Central Nervous System Diseases Research, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, 88400, Biberach, Germany
| | - Ziad M Hafed
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Otfried-Müller Str. 25, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
- Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
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5
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Choi I, Demir I, Oh S, Lee SH. Multisensory integration in the mammalian brain: diversity and flexibility in health and disease. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220338. [PMID: 37545309 PMCID: PMC10404930 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0338] [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: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/30/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Multisensory integration (MSI) occurs in a variety of brain areas, spanning cortical and subcortical regions. In traditional studies on sensory processing, the sensory cortices have been considered for processing sensory information in a modality-specific manner. The sensory cortices, however, send the information to other cortical and subcortical areas, including the higher association cortices and the other sensory cortices, where the multiple modality inputs converge and integrate to generate a meaningful percept. This integration process is neither simple nor fixed because these brain areas interact with each other via complicated circuits, which can be modulated by numerous internal and external conditions. As a result, dynamic MSI makes multisensory decisions flexible and adaptive in behaving animals. Impairments in MSI occur in many psychiatric disorders, which may result in an altered perception of the multisensory stimuli and an abnormal reaction to them. This review discusses the diversity and flexibility of MSI in mammals, including humans, primates and rodents, as well as the brain areas involved. It further explains how such flexibility influences perceptual experiences in behaving animals in both health and disease. This article is part of the theme issue 'Decision and control processes in multisensory perception'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilsong Choi
- Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Ilayda Demir
- Department of biological sciences, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Seungmi Oh
- Department of biological sciences, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
| | - Seung-Hee Lee
- Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
- Department of biological sciences, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
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6
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Vittek AL, Juan C, Nowak LG, Girard P, Cappe C. Multisensory integration in neurons of the medial pulvinar of macaque monkey. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:4202-4215. [PMID: 36068947 PMCID: PMC10110443 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Revised: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 07/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The pulvinar is a heterogeneous thalamic nucleus, which is well developed in primates. One of its subdivisions, the medial pulvinar, is connected to many cortical areas, including the visual, auditory, and somatosensory cortices, as well as with multisensory areas and premotor areas. However, except for the visual modality, little is known about its sensory functions. A hypothesis is that, as a region of convergence of information from different sensory modalities, the medial pulvinar plays a role in multisensory integration. To test this hypothesis, 2 macaque monkeys were trained to a fixation task and the responses of single-units to visual, auditory, and auditory-visual stimuli were examined. Analysis revealed auditory, visual, and multisensory neurons in the medial pulvinar. It also revealed multisensory integration in this structure, mainly suppressive (the audiovisual response is less than the strongest unisensory response) and subadditive (the audiovisual response is less than the sum of the auditory and the visual responses). These findings suggest that the medial pulvinar is involved in multisensory integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Laure Vittek
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), CNRS UMR 5549, Université de Toulouse, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Cécile Juan
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), CNRS UMR 5549, Université de Toulouse, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Lionel G Nowak
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), CNRS UMR 5549, Université de Toulouse, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Pascal Girard
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), CNRS UMR 5549, Université de Toulouse, UPS, Toulouse, France.,INSERM, CHU Purpan - BP 3028 - 31024 Toulouse Cedex 3, France
| | - Céline Cappe
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition (CerCo), CNRS UMR 5549, Université de Toulouse, UPS, Toulouse, France
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7
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Kong AY, Man L, Suan KA, Blumstein DT. Blue‐tailed skinks have predation‐dependent threat discrimination. Ethology 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13318] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa Y. Kong
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Los Angeles California USA
| | - Lauren Man
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Los Angeles California USA
| | - Kaylie A. Suan
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Los Angeles California USA
| | - Daniel T. Blumstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Los Angeles California USA
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8
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Taubert J, Wardle SG, Tardiff CT, Koele EA, Kumar S, Messinger A, Ungerleider LG. The cortical and subcortical correlates of face pareidolia in the macaque brain. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2022; 17:965-976. [PMID: 35445247 PMCID: PMC9629476 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsac031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2021] [Revised: 03/27/2022] [Accepted: 04/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Face detection is a foundational social skill for primates. This vital function is thought to be supported by specialized neural mechanisms; however, although several face-selective regions have been identified in both humans and nonhuman primates, there is no consensus about which region(s) are involved in face detection. Here, we used naturally occurring errors of face detection (i.e. objects with illusory facial features referred to as examples of 'face pareidolia') to identify regions of the macaque brain implicated in face detection. Using whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging to test awake rhesus macaques, we discovered that a subset of face-selective patches in the inferior temporal cortex, on the lower lateral edge of the superior temporal sulcus, and the amygdala respond more to objects with illusory facial features than matched non-face objects. Multivariate analyses of the data revealed differences in the representation of illusory faces across the functionally defined regions of interest. These differences suggest that the cortical and subcortical face-selective regions contribute uniquely to the detection of facial features. We conclude that face detection is supported by a multiplexed system in the primate brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Taubert
- Correspondence should be addressed to Jessica Taubert, School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Building 24A, St Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia. E-mail:
| | - Susan G Wardle
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Clarissa T Tardiff
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Elissa A Koele
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Susheel Kumar
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Adam Messinger
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, The National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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9
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Inagaki M, Inoue KI, Tanabe S, Kimura K, Takada M, Fujita I. Rapid processing of threatening faces in the amygdala of nonhuman primates: subcortical inputs and dual roles. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:895-915. [PMID: 35323915 PMCID: PMC9890477 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2021] [Revised: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
A subcortical pathway through the superior colliculus and pulvinar has been proposed to provide the amygdala with rapid but coarse visual information about emotional faces. However, evidence for short-latency, facial expression-discriminating responses from individual amygdala neurons is lacking; even if such a response exists, how it might contribute to stimulus detection is unclear. Also, no definitive anatomical evidence is available for the assumed pathway. Here we showed that ensemble responses of amygdala neurons in monkeys carried robust information about open-mouthed, presumably threatening, faces within 50 ms after stimulus onset. This short-latency signal was not found in the visual cortex, suggesting a subcortical origin. Temporal analysis revealed that the early response contained excitatory and suppressive components. The excitatory component may be useful for sending rapid signals downstream, while the sharpening of the rising phase of later-arriving inputs (presumably from the cortex) by the suppressive component might improve the processing of facial expressions over time. Injection of a retrograde trans-synaptic tracer into the amygdala revealed presumed monosynaptic labeling in the pulvinar and disynaptic labeling in the superior colliculus, including the retinorecipient layers. We suggest that the early amygdala responses originating from the colliculo-pulvino-amygdalar pathway play dual roles in threat detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikio Inagaki
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan,Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology and Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
| | - Ken-ichi Inoue
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Soshi Tanabe
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Kei Kimura
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Masahiko Takada
- Systems Neuroscience Section, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan
| | - Ichiro Fujita
- Corresponding author: Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
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10
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Leopold DA, Averbeck BB. Self-tuition as an essential design feature of the brain. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20200530. [PMID: 34957855 PMCID: PMC8710880 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
We are curious by nature, particularly when young. Evolution has endowed our brain with an inbuilt obligation to educate itself. In this perspectives article, we posit that self-tuition is an evolved principle of vertebrate brain design that is reflected in its basic architecture and critical for its normal development. Self-tuition involves coordination between functionally distinct components of the brain, with one set of areas motivating exploration that leads to the experiences that train another set. We review key hypothalamic and telencephalic structures involved in this interplay, including their anatomical connections and placement within the segmental architecture of conserved forebrain circuits. We discuss the nature of educative behaviours motivated by the hypothalamus, innate stimulus biases, the relationship to survival in early life, and mechanisms by which telencephalic areas gradually accumulate knowledge. We argue that this aspect of brain function is of paramount importance for systems neuroscience, as it confers neural specialization and allows animals to attain far more sophisticated behaviours than would be possible through genetic mechanisms alone. Self-tuition is of particular importance in humans and other primates, whose large brains and complex social cognition rely critically on experience-based learning during a protracted childhood period. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Systems neuroscience through the lens of evolutionary theory’.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A Leopold
- Section on Cognitive Neurophysiology and Imaging, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.,Neurophysiology Imaging Facility, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Bruno B Averbeck
- Section on Learning and Decision Making, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
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11
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Climer JR, Dombeck DA. Information Theoretic Approaches to Deciphering the Neural Code with Functional Fluorescence Imaging. eNeuro 2021; 8:ENEURO.0266-21.2021. [PMID: 34433574 PMCID: PMC8474651 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0266-21.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Information theoretic metrics have proven useful in quantifying the relationship between behaviorally relevant parameters and neuronal activity with relatively few assumptions. However, these metrics are typically applied to action potential (AP) recordings and were not designed for the slow timescales and variable amplitudes typical of functional fluorescence recordings (e.g., calcium imaging). The lack of research guidelines on how to apply and interpret these metrics with fluorescence traces means the neuroscience community has yet to realize the power of information theoretic metrics. Here, we used computational methods to create mock AP traces with known amounts of information. From these, we generated fluorescence traces and examined the ability of different information metrics to recover the known information values. We provide guidelines for how to use information metrics when applying them to functional fluorescence and demonstrate their appropriate application to GCaMP6f population recordings from mouse hippocampal neurons imaged during virtual navigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason R Climer
- Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, 60208 IL
| | - Daniel A Dombeck
- Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, 60208 IL
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12
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Abstract
Initial evaluation structures (IESs) currently proposed as the earliest detectors of affective stimuli (e.g., amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex, or insula) are high-order structures (a) whose response latency cannot account for the first visual cortex emotion-related response (~80 ms), and (b) lack the necessary infrastructure to locally analyze the visual features that define emotional stimuli. Several thalamic structures accomplish both criteria. The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), a first-order thalamic nucleus that actively processes visual information, with the complement of the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) are proposed as core IESs. This LGN–TRN tandem could be supported by the pulvinar, a second-order thalamic structure, and by other extrathalamic nuclei. The visual thalamus, scarcely explored in affective neurosciences, seems crucial in early emotional evaluation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Carretié
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
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13
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Phillips JM, Kambi NA, Redinbaugh MJ, Mohanta S, Saalmann YB. Disentangling the influences of multiple thalamic nuclei on prefrontal cortex and cognitive control. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 128:487-510. [PMID: 34216654 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.06.042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Revised: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 06/09/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) has a complex relationship with the thalamus, involving many nuclei which occupy predominantly medial zones along its anterior-to-posterior extent. Thalamocortical neurons in most of these nuclei are modulated by the affective and cognitive signals which funnel through the basal ganglia. We review how PFC-connected thalamic nuclei likely contribute to all aspects of cognitive control: from the processing of information on internal states and goals, facilitating its interactions with mnemonic information and learned values of stimuli and actions, to their influence on high-level cognitive processes, attentional allocation and goal-directed behavior. This includes contributions to transformations such as rule-to-choice (parvocellular mediodorsal nucleus), value-to-choice (magnocellular mediodorsal nucleus), mnemonic-to-choice (anteromedial nucleus) and sensory-to-choice (medial pulvinar). Common mechanisms appear to be thalamic modulation of cortical gain and cortico-cortical functional connectivity. The anatomy also implies a unique role for medial PFC in modulating processing in thalamocortical circuits involving other orbital and lateral PFC regions. We further discuss how cortico-basal ganglia circuits may provide a mechanism through which PFC controls cortico-cortical functional connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica M Phillips
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 W Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706, United States.
| | - Niranjan A Kambi
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 W Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706, United States
| | - Michelle J Redinbaugh
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 W Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706, United States
| | - Sounak Mohanta
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 W Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706, United States
| | - Yuri B Saalmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 W Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706, United States; Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1202 Capitol Ct., Madison, WI 53715, United States.
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14
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Kagan I, Gibson L, Spanou E, Wilke M. Effective connectivity and spatial selectivity-dependent fMRI changes elicited by microstimulation of pulvinar and LIP. Neuroimage 2021; 240:118283. [PMID: 34147628 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2020] [Revised: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 06/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The thalamic pulvinar and the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) share reciprocal anatomical connections and are part of an extensive cortical and subcortical network involved in spatial attention and oculomotor processing. The goal of this study was to compare the effective connectivity of dorsal pulvinar (dPul) and LIP and to probe the dependency of microstimulation effects on task demands and spatial tuning properties of a given brain region. To this end, we applied unilateral electrical microstimulation in the dPul (mainly medial pulvinar) and LIP in combination with event-related BOLD fMRI in monkeys performing fixation and memory-guided saccade tasks. Microstimulation in both dPul and LIP enhanced task-related activity in monosynaptically-connected fronto-parietal cortex and along the superior temporal sulcus (STS) including putative face patch locations, as well as in extrastriate cortex. LIP microstimulation elicited strong activity in the opposite homotopic LIP while no homotopic activation was found with dPul stimulation. Both dPul and LIP stimulation also elicited activity in several heterotopic cortical areas in the opposite hemisphere, implying polysynaptic propagation of excitation. Despite extensive activation along the intraparietal sulcus evoked by LIP stimulation, there was a difference in frontal and occipital connectivity elicited by posterior and anterior LIP stimulation sites. Comparison of dPul stimulation with the adjacent but functionally dissimilar ventral pulvinar also showed distinct connectivity. On the level of single trial timecourses within each region of interest (ROI), most ROIs did not show task-dependence of stimulation-elicited response modulation. Across ROIs, however, there was an interaction between task and stimulation, and task-specific correlations between the initial spatial selectivity and the magnitude of stimulation effect were observed. Consequently, stimulation-elicited modulation of task-related activity was best fitted by an additive model scaled down by the initial response amplitude. In summary, we identified overlapping and distinct patterns of thalamocortical and corticocortical connectivity of pulvinar and LIP, highlighting the dorsal bank and fundus of STS as a prominent node of shared circuitry. Spatial task-specific and partly polysynaptic modulations of cue and saccade planning delay period activity in both hemispheres exerted by unilateral pulvinar and parietal stimulation provide insight into the distributed interhemispheric processing underlying spatial behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor Kagan
- Decision and Awareness Group, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, Goettingen 37077, Germany; Department of Cognitive Neurology, University of Goettingen, Robert-Koch-Str. 40, Goettingen 37075, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Kellnerweg 4, Goettingen 37077, Germany.
| | - Lydia Gibson
- Decision and Awareness Group, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, Goettingen 37077, Germany; Department of Cognitive Neurology, University of Goettingen, Robert-Koch-Str. 40, Goettingen 37075, Germany
| | - Elena Spanou
- Decision and Awareness Group, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, Goettingen 37077, Germany
| | - Melanie Wilke
- Decision and Awareness Group, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, German Primate Center, Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Kellnerweg 4, Goettingen 37077, Germany; Department of Cognitive Neurology, University of Goettingen, Robert-Koch-Str. 40, Goettingen 37075, Germany; Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, Kellnerweg 4, Goettingen 37077, Germany
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15
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A multisensory perspective onto primate pulvinar functions. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 125:231-243. [PMID: 33662442 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.02.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2020] [Revised: 02/18/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Perception in ambiguous environments relies on the combination of sensory information from various sources. Most associative and primary sensory cortical areas are involved in this multisensory active integration process. As a result, the entire cortex appears as heavily multisensory. In this review, we focus on the contribution of the pulvinar to multisensory integration. This subcortical thalamic nucleus plays a central role in visual detection and selection at a fast time scale, as well as in the regulation of visual processes, at a much slower time scale. However, the pulvinar is also densely connected to cortical areas involved in multisensory integration. In spite of this, little is known about its multisensory properties and its contribution to multisensory perception. Here, we review the anatomical and functional organization of multisensory input to the pulvinar. We describe how visual, auditory, somatosensory, pain, proprioceptive and olfactory projections are differentially organized across the main subdivisions of the pulvinar and we show that topography is central to the organization of this complex nucleus. We propose that the pulvinar combines multiple sources of sensory information to enhance fast responses to the environment, while also playing the role of a general regulation hub for adaptive and flexible cognition.
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16
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Galigani M, Ronga I, Bruno V, Castellani N, Rossi Sebastiano A, Fossataro C, Garbarini F. Face-like configurations modulate electrophysiological mismatch responses. Eur J Neurosci 2020; 53:1869-1884. [PMID: 33332658 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15088] [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: 04/27/2020] [Revised: 12/09/2020] [Accepted: 12/11/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The human face is one of the most salient stimuli in the environment. It has been suggested that even basic face-like configurations (three dots composing a downward pointing triangle) may convey salience. Interestingly, stimulus salience can be signaled by mismatch detection phenomena, characterized by greater amplitudes of event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to relevant novel stimulation as compared to non-relevant repeated events. Here, we investigate whether basic face-like stimuli are salient enough to modulate mismatch detection phenomena. ERPs are elicited by a pair of sequentially presented visual stimuli (S1-S2), delivered at a constant 1-s interval, representing either a face-like stimulus (Upright configuration) or three neutral configurations (Inverted, Leftwards, and Rightwards configurations), that are obtained by rotating the Upright configuration along the three different axes. In pairs including a canonical face-like stimulus, we observe a more effective mismatch detection mechanism, with significantly larger N270 and P300 components when S2 is different from S1 as compared to when S2 is identical to S1. This ERP modulation, not significant in pairs excluding face-like stimuli, reveals that mismatch detection phenomena are significantly affected by basic face-like configurations. Even though further experiments are needed to ascertain whether this effect is specifically elicited by face-like configuration rather than by particular orientation changes, our findings suggest that face essential, structural attributes are salient enough to affect change detection processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mattia Galigani
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Irene Ronga
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.,BIP Research Group, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Valentina Bruno
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Nicolò Castellani
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | | | - Carlotta Fossataro
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Francesca Garbarini
- MANIBUS Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.,Neuroscience Institute of Turin (NIT), Turin, Italy
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17
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Yang YF, Brunet-Gouet E, Burca M, Kalunga EK, Amorim MA. Brain Processes While Struggling With Evidence Accumulation During Facial Emotion Recognition: An ERP Study. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:340. [PMID: 33100986 PMCID: PMC7497730 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 08/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The human brain is tuned to recognize emotional facial expressions in faces having a natural upright orientation. The relative contributions of featural, configural, and holistic processing to decision-making are as yet poorly understood. This study used a diffusion decision model (DDM) of decision-making to investigate the contribution of early face-sensitive processes to emotion recognition from physiognomic features (the eyes, nose, and mouth) by determining how experimental conditions tapping those processes affect early face-sensitive neuroelectric reflections (P100, N170, and P250) of processes determining evidence accumulation at the behavioral level. We first examined the effects of both stimulus orientation (upright vs. inverted) and stimulus type (photographs vs. sketches) on behavior and neuroelectric components (amplitude and latency). Then, we explored the sources of variance common to the experimental effects on event-related potentials (ERPs) and the DDM parameters. Several results suggest that the N170 indicates core visual processing for emotion recognition decision-making: (a) the additive effect of stimulus inversion and impoverishment on N170 latency; and (b) multivariate analysis suggesting that N170 neuroelectric activity must be increased to counteract the detrimental effects of face inversion on drift rate and of stimulus impoverishment on the stimulus encoding component of non-decision times. Overall, our results show that emotion recognition is still possible even with degraded stimulation, but at a neurocognitive cost, reflecting the extent to which our brain struggles to accumulate sensory evidence of a given emotion. Accordingly, we theorize that: (a) the P100 neural generator would provide a holistic frame of reference to the face percept through categorical encoding; (b) the N170 neural generator would maintain the structural cohesiveness of the subtle configural variations in facial expressions across our experimental manipulations through coordinate encoding of the facial features; and (c) building on the previous configural processing, the neurons generating the P250 would be responsible for a normalization process adapting to the facial features to match the stimulus to internal representations of emotional expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Fang Yang
- CIAMS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France.,CIAMS, Université d'Orléans, Orléans, France
| | - Eric Brunet-Gouet
- Centre Hospitalier de Versailles, Hôpital Mignot, Le Chesnay, France.,CESP, DevPsy, Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, Inserm, Villejuif, France
| | - Mariana Burca
- Centre Hospitalier de Versailles, Hôpital Mignot, Le Chesnay, France.,CESP, DevPsy, Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, Inserm, Villejuif, France
| | | | - Michel-Ange Amorim
- CIAMS, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France.,CIAMS, Université d'Orléans, Orléans, France
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18
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The influence of subcortical shortcuts on disordered sensory and cognitive processing. Nat Rev Neurosci 2020; 21:264-276. [PMID: 32269315 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-020-0287-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The very earliest stages of sensory processing have the potential to alter how we perceive and respond to our environment. These initial processing circuits can incorporate subcortical regions, such as the thalamus and brainstem nuclei, which mediate complex interactions with the brain's cortical processing hierarchy. These subcortical pathways, many of which we share with other animals, are not merely vestigial but appear to function as 'shortcuts' that ensure processing efficiency and preservation of vital life-preserving functions, such as harm avoidance, adaptive social interactions and efficient decision-making. Here, we propose that functional interactions between these higher-order and lower-order brain areas contribute to atypical sensory and cognitive processing that characterizes numerous neuropsychiatric disorders.
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19
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Le QV, Le QV, Nishimaru H, Matsumoto J, Takamura Y, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Ono T, Nishijo H. A Prototypical Template for Rapid Face Detection Is Embedded in the Monkey Superior Colliculus. Front Syst Neurosci 2020; 14:5. [PMID: 32158382 PMCID: PMC7025518 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2020.00005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Human babies respond preferentially to faces or face-like images. It has been proposed that an innate and rapid face detection system is present at birth before the cortical visual pathway is developed in many species, including primates. However, in primates, the visual area responsible for this process is yet to be unraveled. We hypothesized that the superior colliculus (SC) that receives direct and indirect retinal visual inputs may serve as an innate rapid face-detection system in primates. To test this hypothesis, we examined the responsiveness of monkey SC neurons to first-order information of faces required for face detection (basic spatial layout of facial features including eyes, nose, and mouth), by analyzing neuronal responses to line drawing images of: (1) face-like patterns with contours and properly placed facial features; (2) non-face patterns including face contours only; and (3) nonface random patterns with contours and randomly placed face features. Here, we show that SC neurons respond stronger and faster to upright and inverted face-like patterns compared to the responses to nonface patterns, regardless of contrast polarity and contour shapes. Furthermore, SC neurons with central receptive fields (RFs) were more selective to face-like patterns. In addition, the population activity of SC neurons with central RFs can discriminate face-like patterns from nonface patterns as early as 50 ms after the stimulus onset. Our results provide strong neurophysiological evidence for the involvement of the primate SC in face detection and suggest the existence of a broadly tuned template for face detection in the subcortical visual pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quang Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Nishimaru
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Yusaku Takamura
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Rafael S Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, Brasilia, Brazil
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Laboratory of Neuroscience and Behavior, CEUMA University, São Luis, Brazil
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
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20
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The two-process theory of biological motion processing. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 111:114-124. [PMID: 31945392 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2018] [Revised: 12/12/2019] [Accepted: 01/08/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Perception, identification, and understanding of others' actions from motion information are vital for our survival in the social world. A breakthrough in the understanding of action perception was the discovery that our visual system is sensitive to human action from the sparse motion input of only a dozen point lights, a phenomenon known as biological motion (BM) processing. Previous psychological and computational models cannot fully explain the emerging evidence for the existence of BM processing during early ontogeny. Here, we propose a two-process model of the mechanisms underlying BM processing. We hypothesize that the first system, the 'Step Detector,' rapidly processes the local foot motion and feet-below-the-body information that is specific to vertebrates, is less dependent on postnatal learning, and involves subcortical networks. The second system, the 'Bodily Action Evaluator,' slowly processes the fine global structure-from-motion, is specific to conspecific, and dependent on gradual learning processed in cortical networks. This proposed model provides new insight into research on the development of BM processing.
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21
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Dinh HT, Nishimaru H, Matsumoto J, Takamura Y, Le QV, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Tran AH, Ono T, Nishijo H. Superior Neuronal Detection of Snakes and Conspecific Faces in the Macaque Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2019; 28:2131-2145. [PMID: 28498964 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Accepted: 04/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Snakes and conspecific faces are quickly and efficiently detected in primates. Because the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been implicated in attentional allocation to biologically relevant stimuli, we hypothesized that it might also be highly responsive to snakes and conspecific faces. In this study, neuronal responses in the monkey mPFC were recorded, while monkeys discriminated 8 categories of visual stimuli. Here, we show that the monkey mPFC neuronal responses to snakes and conspecific faces were unique. First, the ratios of the neurons that responded strongly to snakes and monkey faces were greater than those of the neurons that responded strongly to the other stimuli. Second, mPFC neurons responded stronger and faster to snakes and monkey faces than the other categories of stimuli. Third, neuronal responses to snakes were unaffected by low-pass filtering of the images. Finally, activity patterns of responsive mPFC neurons discriminated snakes from the other stimuli in the second 50 ms period and monkey faces in the third period after stimulus onset. These response features indicate that the mPFC processes fast and coarse visual information of snakes and monkey faces, and support the hypothesis that snakes and social environments have shaped the primate visual system over evolutionary time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ha Trong Dinh
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Nishimaru
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Yusaku Takamura
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.,Department of Physiology, Vietnam Military Medical University, Ha noi 100000, Vietnam
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Rafael S Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900 Brasilia, DF, Brazil.,Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Psychiatry Section, Karolinska Hospital, S-17176 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900 Brasilia, DF, Brazil.,Neuroscience Research Coordenation, University CEUMA, Campus Renascença, CEP 65.075-120 São Luis, MA, Brazil
| | - Anh Hai Tran
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.,Department of Physiology, Vietnam Military Medical University, Ha noi 100000, Vietnam
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
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22
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Pathways for smiling, disgust and fear recognition in blindsight patients. Neuropsychologia 2019; 128:6-13. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.08.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2017] [Revised: 08/03/2017] [Accepted: 08/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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23
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Distribution and Morphology of Cortical Terminals in the Cat Thalamus from the Anterior Ectosylvian Sulcus. Sci Rep 2019; 9:3075. [PMID: 30816175 PMCID: PMC6395774 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39327-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2018] [Accepted: 01/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Two main types of cortical terminals have been identified in the cat thalamus. Large (type II) have been proposed to drive the response properties of thalamic cells while smaller (type I) are believed to modulate those properties. Among the cat's visual cortical areas, the anterior ectosylvian visual area (AEV) is considered as one of the highest areas in the hierarchical organization of the visual system. Whereas the connections from the AEV to the thalamus have been recognized, their nature (type I or II) is presently not known. In this study, we assessed and compared the relative contribution of type I and type II inputs to thalamic nuclei originating from the AEV. The anterograde tracer BDA was injected in the AEV of five animals. Results show that (1) both type I and II terminals from AEV are present in the Lateral Posterior- Pulvinar complex, the lateral median suprageniculate complex and the medial and dorsal geniculate nuclei (2) type I terminals significantly outnumber the type II terminals in almost all nuclei studied. Our results indicate that neurons in the AEV are more likely to modulate response properties in the thalamus rather than to determine basic organization of receptive fields of thalamic cells.
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24
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Kauffmann L, Peyrin C, Chauvin A, Entzmann L, Breuil C, Guyader N. Face perception influences the programming of eye movements. Sci Rep 2019; 9:560. [PMID: 30679472 PMCID: PMC6346063 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-36510-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 11/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that face stimuli elicit extremely fast and involuntary saccadic responses toward them, relative to other categories of visual stimuli. In the present study, we further investigated to what extent face stimuli influence the programming and execution of saccades examining their amplitude. We performed two experiments using a saccadic choice task: two images (one with a face, one with a vehicle) were simultaneously displayed in the left and right visual fields of participants who had to initiate a saccade toward the image (Experiment 1) or toward a cross in the image (Experiment 2) containing a target stimulus (a face or a vehicle). Results revealed shorter saccades toward vehicle than face targets, even if participants were explicitly asked to perform their saccades toward a specific location (Experiment 2). Furthermore, error saccades had smaller amplitude than correct saccades. Further analyses showed that error saccades were interrupted in mid-flight to initiate a concurrently-programmed corrective saccade. Overall, these data suggest that the content of visual stimuli can influence the programming of saccade amplitude, and that efficient online correction of saccades can be performed during the saccadic choice task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise Kauffmann
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000, Grenoble, France. .,Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000, Grenoble, France.
| | - Carole Peyrin
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000, Grenoble, France
| | - Alan Chauvin
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, LPNC, 38000, Grenoble, France
| | - Léa Entzmann
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000, Grenoble, France
| | - Camille Breuil
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000, Grenoble, France
| | - Nathalie Guyader
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, GIPSA-lab, 38000, Grenoble, France
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25
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Organizing principles of pulvino-cortical functional coupling in humans. Nat Commun 2018; 9:5382. [PMID: 30568159 PMCID: PMC6300667 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07725-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/16/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
The pulvinar influences communication between cortical areas. We use fMRI to characterize the functional organization of the human pulvinar and its coupling with cortex. The ventral pulvinar is sensitive to spatial position and moment-to-moment transitions in visual statistics, but also differentiates visual categories such as faces and scenes. The dorsal pulvinar is modulated by spatial attention and is sensitive to the temporal structure of visual input. Cortical areas are functionally coupled with discrete pulvinar regions. The spatial organization of this coupling reflects the functional specializations and anatomical distances between cortical areas. The ventral pulvinar is functionally coupled with occipital-temporal cortices. The dorsal pulvinar is functionally coupled with frontal, parietal, and cingulate cortices, including the attention, default mode, and human-specific tool networks. These differences mirror the principles governing cortical organization of dorsal and ventral cortical visual streams. These results provide a functional framework for how the pulvinar facilitates and regulates cortical processing. The pulvinar is involved in vision and attention, but its interactions with other brain regions are little-studied. Here, using fMRI the authors show that the human pulvinar has widespread functional coupling with cortical areas that reflects its intrinsic organization and the topographic layout of cortex.
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26
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Bertini C, Pietrelli M, Braghittoni D, Làdavas E. Pulvinar Lesions Disrupt Fear-Related Implicit Visual Processing in Hemianopic Patients. Front Psychol 2018; 9:2329. [PMID: 30524351 PMCID: PMC6261973 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2018] [Accepted: 11/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The processing of emotional stimuli in the absence of awareness has been widely investigated in patients with lesions to the primary visual pathway since the classical studies on affective blindsight. In addition, recent evidence has shown that in hemianopic patients without blindsight only unseen fearful faces can be implicitly processed, inducing enhanced visual encoding (Cecere et al., 2014) and response facilitation (Bertini et al., 2013, 2017) to stimuli presented in their intact field. This fear-specific facilitation has been suggested to be mediated by activity in the spared visual subcortical pathway, comprising the superior colliculus (SC), the pulvinar and the amygdala. This suggests that the pulvinar might represent a critical relay structure, conveying threat-related visual information through the subcortical visual circuit. To test this hypothesis, hemianopic patients, with or without pulvinar lesions, performed a go/no-go task in which they had to discriminate simple visual stimuli, consisting in Gabor patches, displayed in their intact visual field, during the simultaneous presentation of faces with fearful, happy, and neutral expressions in their blind visual field. In line with previous evidence, hemianopic patients without pulvinar lesions showed response facilitation to stimuli displayed in the intact field, only while concurrent fearful faces were shown in their blind field. In contrast, no facilitatory effect was found in hemianopic patients with lesions of the pulvinar. These findings reveal that pulvinar lesions disrupt the implicit visual processing of fearful stimuli in hemianopic patients, therefore suggesting a pivotal role of this structure in relaying fear-related visual information from the SC to the amygdala.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caterina Bertini
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Mattia Pietrelli
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Davide Braghittoni
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
| | - Elisabetta Làdavas
- Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.,Centre for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bologna, Cesena, Italy
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Hua AY, Sible IJ, Perry DC, Rankin KP, Kramer JH, Miller BL, Rosen HJ, Sturm VE. Enhanced Positive Emotional Reactivity Undermines Empathy in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia. Front Neurol 2018; 9:402. [PMID: 29915557 PMCID: PMC5994409 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2018.00402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2018] [Accepted: 05/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by profound changes in emotions and empathy. Although most patients with bvFTD become less sensitive to negative emotional cues, some patients become more sensitive to positive emotional stimuli. We investigated whether dysregulated positive emotions in bvFTD undermine empathy by making it difficult for patients to share (emotional empathy), recognize (cognitive empathy), and respond (real-world empathy) to emotions in others. Fifty-one participants (26 patients with bvFTD and 25 healthy controls) viewed photographs of neutral, positive, negative, and self-conscious emotional faces and then identified the emotions displayed in the photographs. We used facial electromyography to measure automatic, sub-visible activity in two facial muscles during the task: Zygomaticus major (ZM), which is active during positive emotional reactions (i.e., smiling), and Corrugator supercilii (CS), which is active during negative emotional reactions (i.e., frowning). Participants rated their baseline positive and negative emotional experience before the task, and informants rated participants' real-world empathic behavior on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The majority of participants also underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. A mixed effects model found a significant diagnosis X trial interaction: patients with bvFTD showed greater ZM reactivity to neutral, negative (disgust and surprise), self-conscious (proud), and positive (happy) faces than healthy controls. There was no main effect of diagnosis or diagnosis X trial interaction on CS reactivity. Compared to healthy controls, patients with bvFTD had impaired emotion recognition. Multiple regression analyses revealed that greater ZM reactivity predicted worse negative emotion recognition and worse real-world empathy. At baseline, positive emotional experience was higher in bvFTD than healthy controls and also predicted worse negative emotion recognition. Voxel-based morphometry analyses found that smaller volume in the thalamus, midcingulate cortex, posterior insula, anterior temporal pole, amygdala, precentral gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus—structures that support emotion generation, interoception, and emotion regulation—was associated with greater ZM reactivity in bvFTD. These findings suggest that dysregulated positive emotional reactivity may relate to reduced empathy in bvFTD by making patients less likely to tune their reactions to the social context and to share, recognize, and respond to others' feelings and needs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Y Hua
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Isabel J Sible
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - David C Perry
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Katherine P Rankin
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Joel H Kramer
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Virginia E Sturm
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
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Le QV, Nishimaru H, Matsumoto J, Takamura Y, Nguyen MN, Mao CV, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Ono T, Nishijo H. Gamma oscillations in the superior colliculus and pulvinar in response to faces support discrimination performance in monkeys. Neuropsychologia 2017; 128:87-95. [PMID: 29037507 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.10.015] [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: 06/21/2017] [Revised: 09/06/2017] [Accepted: 10/12/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The subcortical visual pathway including the superior colliculus (SC), pulvinar, and amygdala has been implicated in unconscious visual processing of faces, eyes, and gaze direction in blindsight. Our previous studies reported that monkey SC and pulvinar neurons responded preferentially to images of faces while performing a delayed non-matching to sample (DNMS) task to discriminate different visual stimuli (Nguyen et al., 2013, 2014). However, the contribution of SC and pulvinar neurons to the discrimination of the facial images and subsequent behavioral performance remains unknown. Since gamma oscillations have been implicated in sensory and cognitive processes as well as behavioral execution, we hypothesized that gamma oscillations during neuronal responses might contribute to achieving the appropriate behavioral performance (i.e., a correct response). In the present study, we re-analyzed those neuronal responses in the monkey SC and pulvinar to investigate possible relationships between gamma oscillations in these neurons and behavioral performance (correct response ratios) during the DNMS task. Gamma oscillations of SC and pulvinar neuronal activity were analyzed in three phases around the stimulus onset [inter-trial interval (ITI): 1000ms before trial onset; Early: 0-200ms after stimulus onset; and Late: 300-500ms after stimulus onset]. We found that human facial images elicited stronger gamma oscillations in the early phase than the ITI and late phase in both the SC and pulvinar neurons. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between strengths of gamma oscillations in the early phase and behavioral performance in both the SC and pulvinar. The results suggest that gamma oscillatory activity in the SC and pulvinar contributes to successful behavioral performance during unconscious perceptual and behavioral processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan; Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Hiroshi Nishimaru
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Yusaku Takamura
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Minh Nui Nguyen
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan; Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Can Van Mao
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan; Vietnam Military Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Rafael S Maior
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900 Brasilia, DF, Brazil
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900 Brasilia, DF, Brazil; Neuroscience Research Group, CEUMA University, CE 65065-120 São Luís, Brazil
| | | | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan.
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Affective blindsight relies on low spatial frequencies. Neuropsychologia 2017; 128:44-49. [PMID: 28993236 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2017] [Revised: 09/14/2017] [Accepted: 10/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The human brain can process facial expressions of emotions rapidly and without awareness. Several studies in patients with damage to their primary visual cortices have shown that they may be able to guess the emotional expression on a face despite their cortical blindness. This non-conscious processing, called affective blindsight, may arise through an intact subcortical visual route that leads from the superior colliculus to the pulvinar, and thence to the amygdala. This pathway is thought to process the crude visual information conveyed by the low spatial frequencies of the stimuli. In order to investigate whether this is the case, we studied a patient (TN) with bilateral cortical blindness and affective blindsight. An fMRI paradigm was performed in which fearful and neutral expressions were presented using faces that were either unfiltered, or filtered to remove high or low spatial frequencies. Unfiltered fearful faces produced right amygdala activation although the patient was unaware of the presence of the stimuli. More importantly, the low spatial frequency components of fearful faces continued to produce right amygdala activity while the high spatial frequency components did not. Our findings thus confirm that the visual information present in the low spatial frequencies is sufficient to produce affective blindsight, further suggesting that its existence could rely on the subcortical colliculo-pulvino-amygdalar pathway.
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Testosterone during Puberty Shifts Emotional Control from Pulvinar to Anterior Prefrontal Cortex. J Neurosci 2017; 36:6156-64. [PMID: 27277794 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3874-15.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2015] [Accepted: 04/03/2016] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Increased limbic and striatal activation in adolescence has been attributed to a relative delay in the maturation of prefrontal areas, resulting in the increase of impulsive reward-seeking behaviors that are often observed during puberty. However, it remains unclear whether and how this general developmental pattern applies to the control of social emotional actions, a fundamental adult skill refined during adolescence. This domain of control pertains to decisions involving emotional responses. When faced with a social emotional challenge (e.g., an angry face), we can follow automatic response tendencies and avoid the challenge or exert control over those tendencies by selecting an alternative action. Using an fMRI-adapted social approach-avoidance task, this study identifies how the neural regulation of emotional action control changes as a function of human pubertal development in 14-year-old adolescents (n = 47). Pubertal maturation, indexed by testosterone levels, shifted neural regulation of emotional actions from the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus and the amygdala to the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC). Adolescents with more advanced pubertal maturation showed greater aPFC activity when controlling their emotional action tendencies, reproducing the same pattern consistently observed in adults. In contrast, adolescents of the same age, but with less advanced pubertal maturation, showed greater pulvinar and amygdala activity when exerting similarly effective emotional control. These findings qualify how, in the domain of social emotional actions, executive control shifts from subcortical to prefrontal structures during pubertal development. The pulvinar and the amygdala are suggested as the ontogenetic precursors of the mature control system centered on the anterior prefrontal cortex. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Adolescents can show distinct behavioral problems when emotionally aroused. This could be related to later development of frontal regions compared with deeper brain structures. This study found that when the control of emotional actions needs to be exerted, more mature adolescents, similar to adults, recruit the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC). Less mature adolescents recruit specific subcortical regions, namely the pulvinar and amygdala. These findings identify the subcortical pulvino-amygdalar pathway as a relevant precursor of a mature aPFC emotional control system, opening the way for a neurobiological understanding of how emotion control-related disorders emerge during puberty.
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A Rapid Subcortical Amygdala Route for Faces Irrespective of Spatial Frequency and Emotion. J Neurosci 2017; 37:3864-3874. [PMID: 28283563 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3525-16.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2016] [Revised: 01/29/2017] [Accepted: 03/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
There is significant controversy over the existence and function of a direct subcortical visual pathway to the amygdala. It is thought that this pathway rapidly transmits low spatial frequency information to the amygdala independently of the cortex, and yet the directionality of this function has never been determined. We used magnetoencephalography to measure neural activity while human participants discriminated the gender of neutral and fearful faces filtered for low or high spatial frequencies. We applied dynamic causal modeling to demonstrate that the most likely underlying neural network consisted of a pulvinar-amygdala connection that was uninfluenced by spatial frequency or emotion, and a cortical-amygdala connection that conveyed high spatial frequencies. Crucially, data-driven neural simulations revealed a clear temporal advantage of the subcortical connection over the cortical connection in influencing amygdala activity. Thus, our findings support the existence of a rapid subcortical pathway that is nonselective in terms of the spatial frequency or emotional content of faces. We propose that that the "coarseness" of the subcortical route may be better reframed as "generalized."SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The human amygdala coordinates how we respond to biologically relevant stimuli, such as threat or reward. It has been postulated that the amygdala first receives visual input via a rapid subcortical route that conveys "coarse" information, namely, low spatial frequencies. For the first time, the present paper provides direction-specific evidence from computational modeling that the subcortical route plays a generalized role in visual processing by rapidly transmitting raw, unfiltered information directly to the amygdala. This calls into question a widely held assumption across human and animal research that fear responses are produced faster by low spatial frequencies. Our proposed mechanism suggests organisms quickly generate fear responses to a wide range of visual properties, heavily implicating future research on anxiety-prevention strategies.
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Soares SC, Maior RS, Isbell LA, Tomaz C, Nishijo H. Fast Detector/First Responder: Interactions between the Superior Colliculus-Pulvinar Pathway and Stimuli Relevant to Primates. Front Neurosci 2017; 11:67. [PMID: 28261046 PMCID: PMC5314318 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2016] [Accepted: 01/30/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Primates are distinguished from other mammals by their heavy reliance on the visual sense, which occurred as a result of natural selection continually favoring those individuals whose visual systems were more responsive to challenges in the natural world. Here we describe two independent but also interrelated visual systems, one cortical and the other subcortical, both of which have been modified and expanded in primates for different functions. Available evidence suggests that while the cortical visual system mainly functions to give primates the ability to assess and adjust to fluid social and ecological environments, the subcortical visual system appears to function as a rapid detector and first responder when time is of the essence, i.e., when survival requires very quick action. We focus here on the subcortical visual system with a review of behavioral and neurophysiological evidence that demonstrates its sensitivity to particular, often emotionally charged, ecological and social stimuli, i.e., snakes and fearful and aggressive facial expressions in conspecifics. We also review the literature on subcortical involvement during another, less emotional, situation that requires rapid detection and response-visually guided reaching and grasping during locomotion-to further emphasize our argument that the subcortical visual system evolved as a rapid detector/first responder, a function that remains in place today. Finally, we argue that investigating deficits in this subcortical system may provide greater understanding of Parkinson's disease and Autism Spectrum disorders (ASD).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra C. Soares
- Department of Education and Psychology, CINTESIS.UA, University of AveiroAveiro, Portugal
- Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska InstituteStockholm, Sweden
- William James Research Center, Instituto Superior de Psicologia AplicadaLisbon, Portugal
| | - Rafael S. Maior
- Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska InstituteStockholm, Sweden
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Primate Center, Institute of Biology, University of BrasíliaBrasília, Brazil
| | - Lynne A. Isbell
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, DavisDavis, CA, USA
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Primate Center, Institute of Biology, University of BrasíliaBrasília, Brazil
- Ceuma University, Neuroscience Research CoordinationSão Luis, Brazil
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of ToyamaToyama, Japan
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Nguyen MN, Nishimaru H, Matsumoto J, Van Le Q, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Ono T, Nishijo H. Population Coding of Facial Information in the Monkey Superior Colliculus and Pulvinar. Front Neurosci 2016; 10:583. [PMID: 28066168 PMCID: PMC5175414 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2016] [Accepted: 12/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The superior colliculus (SC) and pulvinar are thought to function as a subcortical visual pathway that bypasses the striate cortex and detects fundamental facial information. We previously investigated neuronal responses in the SC and pulvinar of monkeys during a delayed nonmatching-to-sample task, in which the monkeys were required to discriminate among 35 facial photos of five models and other categories of visual stimuli, and reported that population coding by multiple SC and pulvinar neurons well discriminated facial photos from other categories of stimuli (Nguyen et al., 2013, 2014). However, it remains unknown whether population coding could represent multiple types of facial information including facial identity, gender, facial orientation, and gaze direction. In the present study, to investigate population coding of multiple types of facial information by the SC and pulvinar neurons, we reanalyzed the same neuronal responses in the SC and pulvinar; the responses of 112 neurons in the SC and 68 neurons in the pulvinar in serial 50-ms epochs after stimulus onset were reanalyzed with multidimensional scaling (MDS). The results indicated that population coding by neurons in both the SC and pulvinar classified some aspects of facial information, such as face orientation, gender, and identity, of the facial photos in the second epoch (50–100 ms after stimulus onset). The Euclidean distances between all the pairs of stimuli in the MDS spaces in the SC were significantly correlated with those in the pulvinar, which suggested that the SC and pulvinar function as a unit. However, in contrast with the known population coding of face neurons in the temporal cortex, the facial information coding in the SC and pulvinar was coarse and insufficient. In these subcortical areas, identity discrimination was face orientation-dependent and the left and right profiles were not discriminated. Furthermore, gaze direction information was not extracted in the SC and pulvinar. These results suggest that the SC and pulvinar, which comprise the subcortical visual pathway, send coarse and rapid information on faces to the cortical system in a bottom-up process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minh N Nguyen
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Nishimaru
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Rafael S Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of BrasíliaBrasilia, Brazil; Psychiatry Section, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Karolinska HospitalStockholm, Sweden
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília Brasilia, Brazil
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
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Meaux E, Vuilleumier P. Facing mixed emotions: Analytic and holistic perception of facial emotion expressions engages separate brain networks. Neuroimage 2016; 141:154-173. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.07.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2015] [Revised: 06/26/2016] [Accepted: 07/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
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Hakamata Y, Sato E, Komi S, Moriguchi Y, Izawa S, Murayama N, Hanakawa T, Inoue Y, Tagaya H. The functional activity and effective connectivity of pulvinar are modulated by individual differences in threat-related attentional bias. Sci Rep 2016; 6:34777. [PMID: 27703252 PMCID: PMC5050502 DOI: 10.1038/srep34777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2016] [Accepted: 09/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The pulvinar is important in selective attention, particularly to visual stimuli under the focus of attention. However, the pulvinar is assumed to process emotional stimuli even outside the focus of attention, because of its tight connection with the amygdala. We therefore investigated how unattended emotional stimuli affect the pulvinar and its effective connectivity (EC) while considering individual differences in selective attention. fMRI in 41 healthy human subjects revealed that the amygdala, but not the pulvinar, more strongly responded to unattended fearful faces than to unattended neutral faces (UF > UN), although we observed greater EC from the pulvinar to the amygdala. Interestingly, individuals with biased attention toward threat (i.e., attentional bias) showed significantly increased activity (UF > UN) and reduced grey matter volume in the pulvinar. These individuals also exhibited stronger EC from the pulvinar to the attention-related frontoparietal network (FPN), whereas individuals with greater attentional control showed more enhanced EC from the pulvinar to the amygdala, but not the FPN (UF > UN). The pulvinar may filter unattended emotional stimuli whose sensitivity depends on individual threat-related attentional bias. The connectivity patterns of the pulvinar may thus be determined based on individual differences in threat-related attentional bias and attentional control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuko Hakamata
- Department of Adult Mental Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan.,Department of Health Sciences, Kitasato University School of Allied Health Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan.,Department of Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Eisuke Sato
- Department of Medical Radiological Technology, Kyorin University School of Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shotaro Komi
- Department of Clinical Engineering, Kitasato University School of Allied Health Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Yoshiya Moriguchi
- Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Shuhei Izawa
- Department of Health Administration and Psychosocial Factor Research Group, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Norio Murayama
- Department of Health Sciences, Kitasato University School of Allied Health Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Takashi Hanakawa
- Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yusuke Inoue
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Hirokuni Tagaya
- Department of Health Sciences, Kitasato University School of Allied Health Sciences, Kanagawa, Japan
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Méndez-Bértolo C, Moratti S, Toledano R, Lopez-Sosa F, Martínez-Alvarez R, Mah YH, Vuilleumier P, Gil-Nagel A, Strange BA. A fast pathway for fear in human amygdala. Nat Neurosci 2016; 19:1041-9. [DOI: 10.1038/nn.4324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 208] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2016] [Accepted: 05/12/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Zhu X, Bhatt RS, Joseph JE. Pruning or tuning? Maturational profiles of face specialization during typical development. Brain Behav 2016; 6:e00464. [PMID: 27313976 PMCID: PMC4907975 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2015] [Revised: 01/14/2016] [Accepted: 03/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Face processing undergoes significant developmental change with age. Two kinds of developmental changes in face specialization were examined in this study: specialized maturation, or the continued tuning of a region to faces but little change in the tuning to other categories; and competitive interactions, or the continued tuning to faces accompanied by decreased tuning to nonfaces (i.e., pruning). METHODS Using fMRI, in regions where adults showed a face preference, a face- and object-specialization index were computed for younger children (5-8 years), older children (9-12 years) and adults (18-45 years). The specialization index was scaled to each subject's maximum activation magnitude in each region to control for overall age differences in the activation level. RESULTS Although no regions showed significant face specialization in the younger age group, regions strongly associated with social cognition (e.g., right posterior superior temporal sulcus, right inferior orbital cortex) showed specialized maturation, in which tuning to faces increased with age but there was no pruning of nonface responses. Conversely, regions that are associated with more basic perceptual processing or motor mirroring (right middle temporal cortex, right inferior occipital cortex, right inferior frontal opercular cortex) showed competitive interactions in which tuning to faces was accompanied by pruning of object responses with age. CONCLUSIONS The overall findings suggest that cortical maturation for face processing is regional-specific and involves both increased tuning to faces and diminished response to nonfaces. Regions that show competitive interactions likely support a more generalized function that is co-opted for face processing with development, whereas regions that show specialized maturation increase their tuning to faces, potentially in an activity-dependent, experience-driven manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xun Zhu
- Department of Psychology Shihezi University Xinjiang China; Department of Neurosciences Medical University of South Carolina Charleston South Carolina 29425
| | - Ramesh S Bhatt
- Department of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences University of Kentucky Lexington Kentucky 40506
| | - Jane E Joseph
- Department of Neurosciences Medical University of South Carolina Charleston South Carolina 29425
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Mamah D, Alpert KI, Barch DM, Csernansky JG, Wang L. Subcortical neuromorphometry in schizophrenia spectrum and bipolar disorders. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2016; 11:276-286. [PMID: 26977397 PMCID: PMC4781974 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2016.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2016] [Revised: 02/17/2016] [Accepted: 02/19/2016] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Background Disorders within the schizophrenia spectrum genetically overlap with bipolar disorder, yet questions remain about shared biological phenotypes. Investigation of brain structure in disease has been enhanced by developments in shape analysis methods that can identify subtle regional surface deformations. Our study aimed to identify brain structure surface deformations that were common across related psychiatric disorders, and characterize differences. Methods Using the automated FreeSurfer-initiated Large Deformation Diffeomorphic Metric Mapping, we examined volumes and shapes of seven brain structures: hippocampus, amygdala, caudate, nucleus accumbens, putamen, globus pallidus and thalamus. We compared findings in controls (CON; n = 40), and those with schizophrenia (SCZ; n = 52), schizotypal personality disorder (STP; n = 12), psychotic bipolar disorder (P-BP; n = 49) and nonpsychotic bipolar disorder (N-BP; n = 24), aged 15–35. Relationships between morphometric measures and positive, disorganized and negative symptoms were also investigated. Results Inward deformation was present in the posterior thalamus in SCZ, P-BP and N-BP; and in the subiculum of the hippocampus in SCZ and STP. Most brain structures however showed unique shape deformations across groups. Correcting for intracranial size resulted in volumetric group differences for caudate (p < 0.001), putamen (p < 0.01) and globus pallidus (p < 0.001). Shape analysis showed dispersed patterns of expansion on the basal ganglia in SCZ. Significant clinical relationships with hippocampal, amygdalar and thalamic volumes were observed. Conclusions Few similarities in surface deformation patterns were seen across groups, which may reflect differing neuropathologies. Posterior thalamic contraction in SCZ and BP suggest common genetic or environmental antecedents. Surface deformities in SCZ basal ganglia may have been due to antipsychotic drug effects. Shape analysis identified structural abnormalities in psychiatric disorders, where volume analysis did not Few similarities in surface deformation patterns were seen across diagnostic groups Posterior thalamic contraction was seen in both schizophrenia and bipolar patients Expansion of basal ganglia regions were seen in schizophrenia patients
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Mamah
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, United States.
| | - Kathryn I Alpert
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, United States
| | - Deanna M Barch
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, United States; Department of Psychology, Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, United States; Department of Radiology, Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, United States
| | - John G Csernansky
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, United States
| | - Lei Wang
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, United States
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Le QV, Isbell LA, Matsumoto J, Le VQ, Nishimaru H, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Ono T, Nishijo H. Snakes elicit earlier, and monkey faces, later, gamma oscillations in macaque pulvinar neurons. Sci Rep 2016; 6:20595. [PMID: 26854087 PMCID: PMC4744932 DOI: 10.1038/srep20595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2015] [Accepted: 01/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Gamma oscillations (30-80 Hz) have been suggested to be involved in feedforward visual information processing, and might play an important role in detecting snakes as predators of primates. In the present study, we analyzed gamma oscillations of pulvinar neurons in the monkeys during a delayed non-matching to sample task, in which monkeys were required to discriminate 4 categories of visual stimuli (snakes, monkey faces, monkey hands and simple geometrical patterns). Gamma oscillations of pulvinar neuronal activity were analyzed in three phases around the stimulus onset (Pre-stimulus: 500 ms before stimulus onset; Early: 0-200 ms after stimulus onset; and Late: 300-500 ms after stimulus onset). The results showed significant increases in mean strength of gamma oscillations in the Early phase for snakes and the Late phase for monkey faces, but no significant differences in ratios and frequencies of gamma oscillations among the 3 phases. The different periods of stronger gamma oscillations provide neurophysiological evidence that is consistent with other studies indicating that primates can detect snakes very rapidly and also cue in to faces for information. Our results are suggestive of different roles of gamma oscillations in the pulvinar: feedforward processing for images of snakes and cortico-pulvinar-cortical integration for images of faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
- Vietnam Military Medical University, Ha Noi, Vietnam
| | - Lynne A. Isbell
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
| | - Van Quang Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Nishimaru
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
| | - Rafael S. Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900, Brasilia, DF, Brazil
- Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry Section, Karolinska Hospital, S-17176 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900, Brasilia, DF, Brazil
- University CEUMA, Neuroscience Research Coordenation, Campus Renascença, CEP 65.075-120 São Luis, MA, Brazil
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan
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Schwiedrzik CM, Zarco W, Everling S, Freiwald WA. Face Patch Resting State Networks Link Face Processing to Social Cognition. PLoS Biol 2015; 13:e1002245. [PMID: 26348613 PMCID: PMC4562659 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2015] [Accepted: 08/05/2015] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Faces transmit a wealth of social information. How this information is exchanged between face-processing centers and brain areas supporting social cognition remains largely unclear. Here we identify these routes using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging in macaque monkeys. We find that face areas functionally connect to specific regions within frontal, temporal, and parietal cortices, as well as subcortical structures supporting emotive, mnemonic, and cognitive functions. This establishes the existence of an extended face-recognition system in the macaque. Furthermore, the face patch resting state networks and the default mode network in monkeys show a pattern of overlap akin to that between the social brain and the default mode network in humans: this overlap specifically includes the posterior superior temporal sulcus, medial parietal, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, areas supporting high-level social cognition in humans. Together, these results reveal the embedding of face areas into larger brain networks and suggest that the resting state networks of the face patch system offer a new, easily accessible venue into the functional organization of the social brain and into the evolution of possibly uniquely human social skills. An analysis of the functional connectivity of regions of the monkey brain involved in face recognition suggests substrates for the cognitive, mnemonic, emotive, and motoric impact of faces, revealing striking similarities to the human brain, and implying a deep evolutionary heritage of even the most high-level sociocognitive functions. Primates have evolved to transmit social information through their faces. Where and how the brain processes facial information received by the eyes we now understand quite well. Yet we do not know how this information is made available to other brain areas so that a face can evoke an emotion, activate the memory of a person, or draw attention. Here, to identify brain regions interacting with face areas, we performed whole-brain imaging in macaque monkeys, whose face-processing system we know best. We find that the core face-processing areas are connected to several other brain areas supporting socially, emotionally, and cognitively relevant functions. Together, they form an extended face-processing network, similar to what has been proposed for humans. This extended face-processing network intersects with a second large-scale network, the so-called “default mode network”, in a pattern stunningly similar to that in the human brain. This intersection identifies selectively those brain regions that implement the most high-level forms of social cognition, such as understanding others’ thoughts and feelings. Thus, the results of this novel approach to understanding the functional organization of the social brain point to a deep evolutionary heritage of human abilities for social cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caspar M. Schwiedrzik
- Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail: (CMS); (WAF)
| | - Wilbert Zarco
- Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Stefan Everling
- Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Winrich A. Freiwald
- Laboratory of Neural Systems, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail: (CMS); (WAF)
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41
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Piché M, Thomas S, Casanova C. Spatiotemporal profiles of receptive fields of neurons in the lateral posterior nucleus of the cat LP-pulvinar complex. J Neurophysiol 2015; 114:2390-403. [PMID: 26289469 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00649.2015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2015] [Accepted: 08/16/2015] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The pulvinar is the largest extrageniculate thalamic visual nucleus in mammals. It establishes reciprocal connections with virtually all visual cortexes and likely plays a role in transthalamic cortico-cortical communication. In cats, the lateral posterior nucleus (LP) of the LP-pulvinar complex can be subdivided in two subregions, the lateral (LPl) and medial (LPm) parts, which receive a predominant input from the striate cortex and the superior colliculus, respectively. Here, we revisit the receptive field structure of LPl and LPm cells in anesthetized cats by determining their first-order spatiotemporal profiles through reverse correlation analysis following sparse noise stimulation. Our data reveal the existence of previously unidentified receptive field profiles in the LP nucleus both in space and time domains. While some cells responded to only one stimulus polarity, the majority of neurons had receptive fields comprised of bright and dark responsive subfields. For these neurons, dark subfields' size was larger than that of bright subfields. A variety of receptive field spatial organization types were identified, ranging from totally overlapped to segregated bright and dark subfields. In the time domain, a large spectrum of activity overlap was found, from cells with temporally coinciding subfield activity to neurons with distinct, time-dissociated subfield peak activity windows. We also found LP neurons with space-time inseparable receptive fields and neurons with multiple activity periods. Finally, a substantial degree of homology was found between LPl and LPm first-order receptive field spatiotemporal profiles, suggesting a high integration of cortical and subcortical inputs within the LP-pulvinar complex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marilyse Piché
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Sébastien Thomas
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
| | - Christian Casanova
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
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Akechi H, Stein T, Kikuchi Y, Tojo Y, Osanai H, Hasegawa T. Preferential awareness of protofacial stimuli in autism. Cognition 2015; 143:129-34. [PMID: 26143377 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.06.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2014] [Revised: 06/25/2015] [Accepted: 06/26/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
It has been suggested that a subcortically mediated, innate sensitivity to protofacial stimuli leads to specialized face processing and to the development of the social brain. A dysfunction of this face-processing pathway has been associated with atypical social development in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigated whether individuals with ASD exhibit primary sensitivity to monochrome protoface stimuli using continuous flash suppression (CFS). Under CFS, visual stimuli are suppressed from awareness, and cortical processing is strongly reduced while subcortical regions continue to respond to invisible stimuli. We found that both adolescents with ASD and typically developing adolescents showed preferential detection of upright protoface stimuli under CFS but not in a non-CFS control condition. These results challenge the notion that a primitive sensitivity to protoface stimuli is essential for typical social development. Rather, our findings suggest such sensitivity is not a sufficient condition for typical social development and that the presence of other complementary factors is necessary for the development of the social brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hironori Akechi
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Tokyo, Japan; Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Division of Information System Design, Tokyo Denki University, Saitama, Japan.
| | - Timo Stein
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Yukiko Kikuchi
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Tokyo, Japan; College of Education, Ibaraki University, Ibaraki, Japan
| | - Yoshikuni Tojo
- College of Education, Ibaraki University, Ibaraki, Japan
| | - Hiroo Osanai
- Musashino Higashi Center for Education and Research, Musashino Higashi Gakuen, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Toshikazu Hasegawa
- Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
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43
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Le QV, Isbell LA, Matsumoto J, Le VQ, Hori E, Tran AH, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Ono T, Nishijo H. Monkey pulvinar neurons fire differentially to snake postures. PLoS One 2014; 9:e114258. [PMID: 25479158 PMCID: PMC4257671 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2014] [Accepted: 11/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing evidence from both behavioral and neurophysiological approaches that primates are able to rapidly discriminate visually between snakes and innocuous stimuli. Recent behavioral evidence suggests that primates are also able to discriminate the level of threat posed by snakes, by responding more intensely to a snake model poised to strike than to snake models in coiled or sinusoidal postures (Etting and Isbell 2014). In the present study, we examine the potential for an underlying neurological basis for this ability. Previous research indicated that the pulvinar is highly sensitive to snake images. We thus recorded pulvinar neurons in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) while they viewed photos of snakes in striking and non-striking postures in a delayed non-matching to sample (DNMS) task. Of 821 neurons recorded, 78 visually responsive neurons were tested with the all snake images. We found that pulvinar neurons in the medial and dorsolateral pulvinar responded more strongly to snakes in threat displays poised to strike than snakes in non-threat-displaying postures with no significant difference in response latencies. A multidimensional scaling analysis of the 78 visually responsive neurons indicated that threat-displaying and non-threat-displaying snakes were separated into two different clusters in the first epoch of 50 ms after stimulus onset, suggesting bottom-up visual information processing. These results indicate that pulvinar neurons in primates discriminate between poised to strike from those in non-threat-displaying postures. This neuronal ability likely facilitates behavioral discrimination and has clear adaptive value. Our results are thus consistent with the Snake Detection Theory, which posits that snakes were instrumental in the evolution of primate visual systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Lynne A. Isbell
- Department of Anthropology, University of California Davis, Davis, California, 95616, United States of America
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Van Quang Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Anh Hai Tran
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Rafael S. Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, Brasilia, DF, Brazil
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, Brasilia, DF, Brazil
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
- * E-mail:
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Johnson MH, Senju A, Tomalski P. The two-process theory of face processing: modifications based on two decades of data from infants and adults. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2014; 50:169-79. [PMID: 25454353 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 168] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2014] [Revised: 08/24/2014] [Accepted: 10/12/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Johnson and Morton (1991. Biology and Cognitive Development: The Case of Face Recognition. Blackwell, Oxford) used Gabriel Horn's work on the filial imprinting model to inspire a two-process theory of the development of face processing in humans. In this paper we review evidence accrued over the past two decades from infants and adults, and from other primates, that informs this two-process model. While work with newborns and infants has been broadly consistent with predictions from the model, further refinements and questions have been raised. With regard to adults, we discuss more recent evidence on the extension of the model to eye contact detection, and to subcortical face processing, reviewing functional imaging and patient studies. We conclude with discussion of outstanding caveats and future directions of research in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark H Johnson
- Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK.
| | - Atsushi Senju
- Centre for Brain & Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Przemyslaw Tomalski
- Neurocognitive Development Lab, Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Stawki 5/7, 00-183 Warsaw, Poland
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45
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Ono T, Nishijo H. How are innate emotions evoked? Cortex 2014; 59:194-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2014.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2014] [Revised: 03/06/2014] [Accepted: 03/11/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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46
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Gliga T, Jones EJH, Bedford R, Charman T, Johnson MH. From early markers to neuro-developmental mechanisms of autism. DEVELOPMENTAL REVIEW 2014; 34:189-207. [PMID: 25187673 PMCID: PMC4119302 DOI: 10.1016/j.dr.2014.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2013] [Revised: 05/19/2014] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Studies of infants at-risk could reveal the developmental origin of autism. Behavioral and brain markers differentiate infants that develop autism symptoms from controls, during the first year of life. Little evidence for decreased social orienting or social motivation. Some evidence for multiple developmental pathways to autism.
A fast growing field, the study of infants at risk because of having an older sibling with autism (i.e. infant sibs) aims to identify the earliest signs of this disorder, which would allow for earlier diagnosis and intervention. More importantly, we argue, these studies offer the opportunity to validate existing neuro-developmental models of autism against experimental evidence. Although autism is mainly seen as a disorder of social interaction and communication, emerging early markers do not exclusively reflect impairments of the “social brain”. Evidence for atypical development of sensory and attentional systems highlight the need to move away from localized deficits to models suggesting brain-wide involvement in autism pathology. We discuss the implications infant sibs findings have for future work into the biology of autism and the development of interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Gliga
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom
| | - E J H Jones
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom
| | - R Bedford
- Biostatistics Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - T Charman
- Psychology Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - M H Johnson
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck College, University of London, United Kingdom
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47
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Stein T, End A, Sterzer P. Own-race and own-age biases facilitate visual awareness of faces under interocular suppression. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:582. [PMID: 25136308 PMCID: PMC4118029 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00582] [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: 04/29/2014] [Accepted: 07/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The detection of a face in a visual scene is the first stage in the face processing hierarchy. Although all subsequent, more elaborate face processing depends on the initial detection of a face, surprisingly little is known about the perceptual mechanisms underlying face detection. Recent evidence suggests that relatively hard-wired face detection mechanisms are broadly tuned to all face-like visual patterns as long as they respect the typical spatial configuration of the eyes above the mouth. Here, we qualify this notion by showing that face detection mechanisms are also sensitive to face shape and facial surface reflectance properties. We used continuous flash suppression (CFS) to render faces invisible at the beginning of a trial and measured the time upright and inverted faces needed to break into awareness. Young Caucasian adult observers were presented with faces from their own race or from another race (race experiment) and with faces from their own age group or from another age group (age experiment). Faces matching the observers’ own race and age group were detected more quickly. Moreover, the advantage of upright over inverted faces in overcoming CFS, i.e., the face inversion effect (FIE), was larger for own-race and own-age faces. These results demonstrate that differences in face shape and surface reflectance influence access to awareness and configural face processing at the initial detection stage. Although we did not collect data from observers of another race or age group, these findings are a first indication that face detection mechanisms are shaped by visual experience with faces from one’s own social group. Such experience-based fine-tuning of face detection mechanisms may equip in-group faces with a competitive advantage for access to conscious awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timo Stein
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, CIMeC, University of Trento Rovereto, Italy ; Department of Psychiatry, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin, Germany ; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Berlin, Germany
| | - Albert End
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin, Germany ; DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Jena, Germany ; Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf Hamburg, Germany
| | - Philipp Sterzer
- Department of Psychiatry, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin Berlin, Germany ; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Berlin, Germany ; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin, Germany
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48
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Shobe ER. Independent and collaborative contributions of the cerebral hemispheres to emotional processing. Front Hum Neurosci 2014; 8:230. [PMID: 24795597 PMCID: PMC4001044 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2013] [Accepted: 03/31/2014] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Presented is a model suggesting that the right hemisphere (RH) directly mediates the identification and comprehension of positive and negative emotional stimuli, whereas the left hemisphere (LH) contributes to higher level processing of emotional information that has been shared via the corpus callosum. RH subcortical connections provide initial processing of emotional stimuli, and their innervation to cortical structures provides a secondary pathway by which the hemispheres process emotional information more fully. It is suggested that the LH contribution to emotion processing is in emotional regulation, social well-being, and adaptation, and transforming the RH emotional experience into propositional and verbal codes. Lastly, it is proposed that the LH has little ability at the level of emotion identification, having a default positive bias and no ability to identify a stimulus as negative. Instead, the LH must rely on the transfer of emotional information from the RH to engage higher-order emotional processing. As such, either hemisphere can identify positive emotions, but they must collaborate for complete processing of negative emotions. Evidence presented draws from behavioral, neurological, and clinical research, including discussions of subcortical and cortical pathways, callosal agenesis, commissurotomy, emotion regulation, mood disorders, interpersonal interaction, language, and handedness. Directions for future research are offered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth R. Shobe
- Department of Psychology, The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Galloway, NJ, USA
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49
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Nguyen MN, Matsumoto J, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Tran AH, Ono T, Nishijo H. Neuronal responses to face-like and facial stimuli in the monkey superior colliculus. Front Behav Neurosci 2014; 8:85. [PMID: 24672448 PMCID: PMC3955777 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2013] [Accepted: 02/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The superficial layers of the superior colliculus (sSC) appear to function as a subcortical visual pathway that bypasses the striate cortex for the rapid processing of coarse facial information. We investigated the responses of neurons in the monkey sSC during a delayed non-matching-to-sample (DNMS) task in which monkeys were required to discriminate among five categories of visual stimuli [photos of faces with different gaze directions, line drawings of faces, face-like patterns (three dark blobs on a bright oval), eye-like patterns, and simple geometric patterns]. Of the 605 sSC neurons recorded, 216 neurons responded to the visual stimuli. Among the stimuli, face-like patterns elicited responses with the shortest latencies. Low-pass filtering of the images did not influence the responses. However, scrambling of the images increased the responses in the late phase, and this was consistent with a feedback influence from upstream areas. A multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of the population data indicated that the sSC neurons could separately encode face-like patterns during the first 25-ms period after stimulus onset, and stimulus categorization developed in the next three 25-ms periods. The amount of stimulus information conveyed by the sSC neurons and the number of stimulus-differentiating neurons were consistently higher during the 2nd to 4th 25-ms periods than during the first 25-ms period. These results suggested that population activity of the sSC neurons preferentially filtered face-like patterns with short latencies to allow for the rapid processing of coarse facial information and developed categorization of the stimuli in later phases through feedback from upstream areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minh Nui Nguyen
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Rafael Souto Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília Brasilia, Brazil
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília Brasilia, Brazil
| | - Anh H Tran
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
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50
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Van Le Q, Isbell LA, Matsumoto J, Nguyen M, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Tran AH, Ono T, Nishijo H. Pulvinar neurons reveal neurobiological evidence of past selection for rapid detection of snakes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013; 110:19000-5. [PMID: 24167268 PMCID: PMC3839741 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1312648110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 129] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Snakes and their relationships with humans and other primates have attracted broad attention from multiple fields of study, but not, surprisingly, from neuroscience, despite the involvement of the visual system and strong behavioral and physiological evidence that humans and other primates can detect snakes faster than innocuous objects. Here, we report the existence of neurons in the primate medial and dorsolateral pulvinar that respond selectively to visual images of snakes. Compared with three other categories of stimuli (monkey faces, monkey hands, and geometrical shapes), snakes elicited the strongest, fastest responses, and the responses were not reduced by low spatial filtering. These findings integrate neuroscience with evolutionary biology, anthropology, psychology, herpetology, and primatology by identifying a neurobiological basis for primates' heightened visual sensitivity to snakes, and adding a crucial component to the growing evolutionary perspective that snakes have long shaped our primate lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Lynne A. Isbell
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; and
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Minh Nguyen
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Rafael S. Maior
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900, Brasilia DF, Brazil
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília, CEP 70910-900, Brasilia DF, Brazil
| | - Anh Hai Tran
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, Sugitani 2630, Toyama 930-0194, Japan
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