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Kang W, Pineda Hernández S, Mei J. Neural Mechanisms of Observational Learning: A Neural Working Model. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 14:609312. [PMID: 33967717 PMCID: PMC8100516 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.609312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 12/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans and some animal species are able to learn stimulus-response (S-R) associations by observing others' behavior. It saves energy and time and avoids the danger of trying the wrong actions. Observational learning (OL) depends on the capability of mapping the actions of others into our own behaviors, processing outcomes, and combining this knowledge to serve our goals. Observational learning plays a central role in the learning of social skills, cultural knowledge, and tool use. Thus, it is one of the fundamental processes in which infants learn about and from adults (Byrne and Russon, 1998). In this paper, we review current methodological approaches employed in observational learning research. We highlight the important role of the prefrontal cortex and cognitive flexibility to support this learning process, develop a new neural working model of observational learning, illustrate how imitation relates to observational learning, and provide directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weixi Kang
- Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory, Division of Brain Sciences, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - Jie Mei
- Department of Anatomy, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Québec City, QC, Canada
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Vidyasagar TR, Levichkina E. An Integrated Neuronal Model of Claustral Function in Timing the Synchrony Between Cortical Areas. Front Neural Circuits 2019; 13:3. [PMID: 30804759 PMCID: PMC6371054 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2019.00003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 01/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been suggested that the function of the claustrum (CL) may be to orchestrate and integrate the activity of the different cortical areas that are involved in a particular function by boosting the synchronized oscillations that occur between these areas. We propose here a model of how this may be done, thanks to the unique synaptic morphology of the CL and its excitatory and inhibitory connections with most cortical areas. Using serial visual search as an example, we describe how the functional anatomy of the claustral connections can potentially execute the sequential activation of the representations of objects that are being processed serially. We also propose that cross-frequency coupling (CFC) between low frequency signals from CL and higher frequency oscillations in the cortical areas will be an efficient means of CL modulating neural activity across multiple brain regions in synchrony. This model is applicable to the wide range of functions one performs, from simple object recognition to reading and writing, listening to or performing music, etc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trichur R. Vidyasagar
- Department of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
- Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Parkville, VIC, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Integrative Brain Function, University of Melbourne Node, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Ekaterina Levichkina
- Department of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
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Levichkina E, Saalmann YB, Vidyasagar TR. Coding of spatial attention priorities and object features in the macaque lateral intraparietal cortex. Physiol Rep 2017; 5:5/5/e13136. [PMID: 28270589 PMCID: PMC5350164 DOI: 10.14814/phy2.13136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2016] [Revised: 12/31/2016] [Accepted: 01/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Primate posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is known to be involved in controlling spatial attention. Neurons in one part of the PPC, the lateral intraparietal area (LIP), show enhanced responses to objects at attended locations. Although many are selective for object features, such as the orientation of a visual stimulus, it is not clear how LIP circuits integrate feature-selective information when providing attentional feedback about behaviorally relevant locations to the visual cortex. We studied the relationship between object feature and spatial attention properties of LIP cells in two macaques by measuring the cells' orientation selectivity and the degree of attentional enhancement while performing a delayed match-to-sample task. Monkeys had to match both the location and orientation of two visual gratings presented separately in time. We found a wide range in orientation selectivity and degree of attentional enhancement among LIP neurons. However, cells with significant attentional enhancement had much less orientation selectivity in their response than cells which showed no significant modulation by attention. Additionally, orientation-selective cells showed working memory activity for their preferred orientation, whereas cells showing attentional enhancement also synchronized with local neuronal activity. These results are consistent with models of selective attention incorporating two stages, where an initial feature-selective process guides a second stage of focal spatial attention. We suggest that LIP contributes to both stages, where the first stage involves orientation-selective LIP cells that support working memory of the relevant feature, and the second stage involves attention-enhanced LIP cells that synchronize to provide feedback on spatial priorities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ekaterina Levichkina
- Department of Optometry & Vision Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.,Institute for Information Transmission Problems RAS, Moscow, Russia
| | - Yuri B Saalmann
- Department of Optometry & Vision Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.,Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Trichur R Vidyasagar
- Department of Optometry & Vision Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia .,Melbourne Neuroscience Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia.,Department of Anatomy & Neuroscience, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
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Kim MK, Kim B, Kiu Choi T, Lee SH. White matter correlates of anxiety sensitivity in panic disorder. J Affect Disord 2017; 207:148-156. [PMID: 27721189 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2016] [Revised: 08/18/2016] [Accepted: 08/28/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Anxiety sensitivity (AS) refers to a fear of anxiety-related sensations and is a dispositional variable especially elevated in patients with panic disorder (PD). Although several functional imaging studies of AS in patients with PD have suggested the presence of altered neural activity in paralimbic areas such as the insula, no study has investigated white matter (WM) alterations in patients with PD in relation to AS. The objective of this study was to investigate the WM correlates of AS in patients with PD. METHODS One-hundred and twelve right-handed patients with PD and 48 healthy control (HC) subjects were enrolled in this study. The Anxiety Sensitivity Inventory-Revised (ASI-R), the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS), the Albany Panic and Phobia Questionnaire (APPQ), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were administered. Tract-based spatial statistics were used for diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging analysis. RESULTS Among the patients with PD, the ASI-R total scores were significantly correlated with the fractional anisotropy values of the WM regions near the insula, the splenium of the corpus callosum, the tapetum, the fornix/stria terminalis, the posterior limb of the internal capsule, the retrolenticular part of the internal capsule, the posterior thalamic radiation, the sagittal striatum, and the posterior corona radiata located in temporo-parieto-limbic regions and are involved in interoceptive processing (p<0.01; threshold-free cluster enhancement [TFCE]-corrected). These WM regions were also significantly correlated with the APPQ interoceptive avoidance subscale and BDI scores in patients with PD (p<0.01, TFCE-corrected). Correlation analysis among the HC subjects revealed no significant findings. LIMITATIONS There has been no comparative study on the structural neural correlates of AS in PD. CONCLUSIONS The current study suggests that the WM correlates of AS in patients with PD may be associated with the insula and the adjacent temporo-parieto-limbic WM regions, which may play important roles in interoceptive processing in the brain and in depression in PD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Min-Kyoung Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea
| | - Borah Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea
| | - Tai Kiu Choi
- Department of Psychiatry, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang-Hyuk Lee
- Department of Psychiatry, CHA Bundang Medical Center, CHA University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.
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Song I, Keil A. Differential classical conditioning selectively heightens response gain of neural population activity in human visual cortex. Psychophysiology 2014; 51:1185-94. [PMID: 24981277 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2014] [Accepted: 05/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Neutral cues, after being reliably paired with noxious events, prompt defensive engagement and amplified sensory responses. To examine the neurophysiology underlying these adaptive changes, we quantified the contrast-response function of visual cortical population activity during differential aversive conditioning. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) were recorded while participants discriminated the orientation of rapidly flickering grating stimuli. During each trial, luminance contrast of the gratings was slowly increased and then decreased. Right-tilted gratings (CS+) were paired with loud white noise but left-tilted gratings (CS-) were not. The contrast-following waveform envelope of ssVEPs showed selective amplification of the CS+ only during the high-contrast stage of the viewing epoch. Findings support the notion that motivational relevance, learned in a time frame of minutes, affects vision through a response gain mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Inkyung Song
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
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Maloney RT, Jayakumar J, Levichkina EV, Pigarev IN, Vidyasagar TR. Information processing bottlenecks in macaque posterior parietal cortex: an attentional blink? Exp Brain Res 2013; 228:365-76. [DOI: 10.1007/s00221-013-3569-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2013] [Accepted: 05/07/2013] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Modulation of activity in human visual area V1 during memory masking. PLoS One 2011; 6:e18651. [PMID: 21525988 PMCID: PMC3078121 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2010] [Accepted: 03/14/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurons in the primary visual cortex, V1, are specialized for the processing of elemental features of the visual stimulus, such as orientation and spatial frequency. Recent fMRI evidence suggest that V1 neurons are also recruited in visual perceptual memory; a number of studies using multi-voxel pattern analysis have successfully decoded stimulus-specific information from V1 activity patterns during the delay phase in memory tasks. However, consistent fMRI signal modulations reflecting the memory process have not yet been demonstrated. Here, we report evidence, from three subjects, that the low V1 BOLD activity during retention of low-level visual features is caused by competing interactions between neural populations coding for different values along the spectrum of the dimension remembered. We applied a memory masking paradigm in which the memory representation of a masker stimulus interferes with a delayed spatial frequency discrimination task when its frequency differs from the discriminanda with ±1 octave and found that impaired behavioral performance due to masking is reflected in weaker V1 BOLD signals. This cross-channel inhibition in V1 only occurs with retinotopic overlap between the masker and the sample stimulus of the discrimination task. The results suggest that memory for spatial frequency is a local process in the retinotopically organized visual cortex.
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Laretzaki G, Plainis S, Argyropoulos S, Pallikaris IG, Bitsios P. Threat and anxiety affect visual contrast perception. J Psychopharmacol 2010; 24:667-75. [PMID: 19010976 DOI: 10.1177/0269881108098823] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Threat cues activate the visual cortex and are detected faster than neutral cues as evidenced by functional brain imaging during viewing of visual threat and neutral stimuli. The functional visual processes underlying these phenomena have not been determined. Pattern visual evoked potentials were elicited in a baseline and a verbal threat condition with two stimulus contrasts in subjects with high and low trait anxiety. Threat reduced the latency of the early P100 wave in the low but not the high anxious group. The reduction was greater with increasing stimulus contrasts. The dependence of the P100 latency on trait anxiety is reminiscent of the Yerkes-Dodson inverted U-shape curve, which relates anxiety to behavioural responses. These results show that threat affects perceptual processes and suggest that data based on the effects of threat in visual search studies should be reappraised to include acceleration of contrast perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- G Laretzaki
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
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A minimally invasive and reversible system for chronic recordings from multiple brain sites in macaque monkeys. J Neurosci Methods 2009; 181:151-8. [PMID: 19422856 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2009.04.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2009] [Revised: 04/27/2009] [Accepted: 04/28/2009] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
We have developed a reversible system for performing simultaneous recordings from multiple brain areas of trained macaque monkeys. It consists of a near-circular halo fitted around the head of the monkey with 5-10 thin plastic or stainless steel posts that either jut against or are screwed into the skull, respectively. Both methods of implantation of the posts are easily reversible, enabling protracted recordings over many years and training the monkeys in more complex tasks. The former is more useful for shorter periods of recordings (2-4 months) separated by long intervals and the latter for longer periods of recordings at a time (6-12 months). With both systems, essentially the entire scalp is intact, allowing multi-site recordings from a number of dorsal cortical areas, as well as other areas, simultaneously. These recordings are performed through tiny craniotomies of usually less than 2mm diameter, which are fitted with small plastic cones that serve as guide tubes for the microelectrodes. The surgery involved in these procedures is relatively minor compared to classical methods and the implants are also usually free of infections, thus requiring little maintenance of recording chambers.
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Wang Y, Celebrini S, Trotter Y, Barone P. Visuo-auditory interactions in the primary visual cortex of the behaving monkey: electrophysiological evidence. BMC Neurosci 2008; 9:79. [PMID: 18699988 PMCID: PMC2527609 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2202-9-79] [Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2008] [Accepted: 08/12/2008] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Visual, tactile and auditory information is processed from the periphery to the cortical level through separate channels that target primary sensory cortices, from which it is further distributed to functionally specialized areas. Multisensory integration is classically assigned to higher hierarchical cortical areas, but there is growing electrophysiological evidence in man and monkey of multimodal interactions in areas thought to be unimodal, interactions that can occur at very short latencies. Such fast timing of multisensory interactions rules out the possibility of an origin in the polymodal areas mediated through back projections, but is rather in favor of heteromodal connections such as the direct projections observed in the monkey, from auditory areas (including the primary auditory cortex AI) directly to the primary visual cortex V1. Based on the existence of such AI to V1 projections, we looked for modulation of neuronal visual responses in V1 by an auditory stimulus in the awake behaving monkey. Results Behavioral or electrophysiological data were obtained from two behaving monkeys. One monkey was trained to maintain a passive central fixation while a peripheral visual (V) or visuo-auditory (AV) stimulus was presented. From a population of 45 V1 neurons, there was no difference in the mean latencies or strength of visual responses when comparing V and AV conditions. In a second active task, the monkey was required to orient his gaze toward the visual or visuo-auditory stimulus. From a population of 49 cells recorded during this saccadic task, we observed a significant reduction in response latencies in the visuo-auditory condition compared to the visual condition (mean 61.0 vs. 64.5 ms) only when the visual stimulus was at midlevel contrast. No effect was observed at high contrast. Conclusion Our data show that single neurons from a primary sensory cortex such as V1 can integrate sensory information of a different modality, a result that argues against a strict hierarchical model of multisensory integration. Multisensory interaction in V1 is, in our experiment, expressed by a significant reduction in visual response latencies specifically in suboptimal conditions and depending on the task demand. This suggests that neuronal mechanisms of multisensory integration are specific and adapted to the perceptual features of behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ye Wang
- Centre de Recherche Cerveau & Cognition, UMR CNRS 5549, Faculté de Médecine de Rangueil, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 9, France.
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Monfardini E, Brovelli A, Boussaoud D, Takerkart S, Wicker B. I learned from what you did: Retrieving visuomotor associations learned by observation. Neuroimage 2008; 42:1207-13. [PMID: 18588987 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.05.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2008] [Revised: 05/15/2008] [Accepted: 05/19/2008] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Observational learning allows individuals to acquire knowledge without incurring in the costs and risks of discovering and testing. The neural mechanisms mediating the retrieval of rules learned by observation are currently unknown. To explore this fundamental cognitive ability, we compared the brain responses when retrieving visuomotor associations learned either by observation or by individual learning. To do so, we asked eleven adults to learn two sets of arbitrary visuomotor associations: one set was learned through the observation of an expert actor while the other was learned by trial and error. During fMRI scanning, subjects were requested to retrieve the visuomotor associations previously learned under the two modalities. The conjunction analysis between the two learning conditions revealed a common brain network that included the ventral and dorsal lateral prefrontal cortices, the superior parietal lobe and the pre-SMA. This suggests the existence of a mirror-like system responsible for the storage of rules learned either by trial and error or by observation of others' actions. In addition, the pars triangularis in the right prefrontal cortex (BA45) was found to be selective for rules learned by observation. This suggests a preferential role of this area in the storage of rules learned in a social context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabetta Monfardini
- CNRS and Aix-Marseille University UMR 6193, Mediterranean Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience 31 chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402, Marseille, France
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