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Grohn J, Khalighinejad N, Jahn CI, Bongioanni A, Schüffelgen U, Sallet J, Rushworth MFS, Kolling N. General mechanisms of task engagement in the primate frontal cortex. Nat Commun 2024; 15:4802. [PMID: 38839745 PMCID: PMC11153620 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49128-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Staying engaged is necessary to maintain goal-directed behaviors. Despite this, engagement exhibits continuous, intrinsic fluctuations. Even in experimental settings, animals, unlike most humans, repeatedly and spontaneously move between periods of complete task engagement and disengagement. We, therefore, looked at behavior in male macaques (macaca mulatta) in four tasks while recording fMRI signals. We identified consistent autocorrelation in task disengagement. This made it possible to build models capturing task-independent engagement. We identified task general patterns of neural activity linked to impending sudden task disengagement in mid-cingulate gyrus. By contrast, activity centered in perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) was associated with maintenance of performance across tasks. Importantly, we carefully controlled for task-specific factors such as the reward history and other motivational effects, such as response vigor, in our analyses. Moreover, we showed pgACC activity had a causal link to task engagement: transcranial ultrasound stimulation of pgACC changed task engagement patterns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Grohn
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - Nima Khalighinejad
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Caroline I Jahn
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA
| | - Alessandro Bongioanni
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, CEA, INSERM, Université Paris-Saclay, NeuroSpin Center, 91191, Gif/Yvette, France
| | - Urs Schüffelgen
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Jerome Sallet
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Université Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, 18 Avenue Doyen Lepine, 69500, Bron, France
| | - Matthew F S Rushworth
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Nils Kolling
- Université Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, 18 Avenue Doyen Lepine, 69500, Bron, France
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Centre Hospitalier Le Vinatier, Pôle EST, Bron, France
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Courellis HS, Mixha J, Cardenas AR, Kimmel D, Reed CM, Valiante TA, Salzman CD, Mamelak AN, Fusi S, Rutishauser U. Abstract representations emerge in human hippocampal neurons during inference behavior. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.10.566490. [PMID: 37986878 PMCID: PMC10659400 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.10.566490] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
Humans have the remarkable cognitive capacity to rapidly adapt to changing environments. Central to this capacity is the ability to form high-level, abstract representations that take advantage of regularities in the world to support generalization 1 . However, little is known about how these representations are encoded in populations of neurons, how they emerge through learning, and how they relate to behavior 2,3 . Here we characterized the representational geometry of populations of neurons (single-units) recorded in the hippocampus, amygdala, medial frontal cortex, and ventral temporal cortex of neurosurgical patients who are performing an inferential reasoning task. We find that only the neural representations formed in the hippocampus simultaneously encode multiple task variables in an abstract, or disentangled, format. This representational geometry is uniquely observed after patients learn to perform inference, and consisted of disentangled directly observable and discovered latent task variables. Interestingly, learning to perform inference by trial and error or through verbal instructions led to the formation of hippocampal representations with similar geometric properties. The observed relation between representational format and inference behavior suggests that abstract/disentangled representational geometries are important for complex cognition.
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Banaie Boroujeni K, Sigona MK, Treuting RL, Manuel TJ, Caskey CF, Womelsdorf T. Anterior cingulate cortex causally supports flexible learning under motivationally challenging and cognitively demanding conditions. PLoS Biol 2022; 20:e3001785. [PMID: 36067198 PMCID: PMC9481162 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Revised: 09/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and striatum (STR) contain neurons encoding not only the expected values of actions, but also the value of stimulus features irrespective of actions. Values about stimulus features in ACC or STR might contribute to adaptive behavior by guiding fixational information sampling and biasing choices toward relevant objects, but they might also have indirect motivational functions by enabling subjects to estimate the value of putting effort into choosing objects. Here, we tested these possibilities by modulating neuronal activity in ACC and STR of nonhuman primates using transcranial ultrasound stimulation while subjects learned the relevance of objects in situations with varying motivational and cognitive demands. Motivational demand was indexed by varying gains and losses during learning, while cognitive demand was varied by increasing the uncertainty about which object features could be relevant during learning. We found that ultrasound stimulation of the ACC, but not the STR, reduced learning efficiency and prolonged information sampling when the task required averting losses and motivational demands were high. Reduced learning efficiency was particularly evident at higher cognitive demands and when subjects experienced loss of already attained tokens. These results suggest that the ACC supports flexible learning of feature values when loss experiences impose a motivational challenge and when uncertainty about the relevance of objects is high. Taken together, these findings provide causal evidence that the ACC facilitates resource allocation and improves visual information sampling during adaptive behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kianoush Banaie Boroujeni
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- * E-mail: (KBB); (TW)
| | - Michelle K. Sigona
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Robert Louie Treuting
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Thomas J. Manuel
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Charles F. Caskey
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Thilo Womelsdorf
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America
- * E-mail: (KBB); (TW)
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Goldring AB, Cooke DF, Pineda CR, Recanzone GH, Krubitzer LA. Functional characterization of the fronto-parietal reaching and grasping network: reversible deactivation of M1 and areas 2, 5, and 7b in awake behaving monkeys. J Neurophysiol 2022; 127:1363-1387. [PMID: 35417261 PMCID: PMC9109808 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00279.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2021] [Revised: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In the present investigation, we examined the role of different cortical fields in the fronto-parietal reaching and grasping network in awake, behaving macaque monkeys. This network is greatly expanded in primates compared to other mammals and coevolved with glabrous hands with opposable thumbs and the extraordinary dexterous behaviors employed by a number of primates, including humans. To examine this, we reversibly deactivated the primary motor area (M1), anterior parietal area 2, and posterior parietal areas 5L and 7b individually while monkeys were performing two types of reaching and grasping tasks. Reversible deactivation was accomplished with small microfluidic thermal regulators abutting specifically targeted cortical areas. Placement of these devices in the different cortical fields was confirmed post hoc in histologically processed tissue. Our results indicate that the different areas examined form a complex network of motor control that is overlapping. However, several consistent themes emerged that suggest the independent roles that motor cortex, area 2, area 7b, and area 5L play in the motor planning and execution of reaching and grasping movements. Area 5L is involved in the early stages and area 7b the later stages of a reaching and grasping movement, motor cortex is involved in all aspects of the execution of the movement, and area 2 provides proprioceptive feedback throughout the movement. We discuss our results in the context of previous studies that explored the fronto-parietal network, the overlapping (but also independent) functions of different nodes of this network, and the rapid compensatory plasticity of this network.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to directly compare the results of cooling different portions of the fronto-parietal reaching and grasping network (motor cortex, anterior and posterior parietal cortex) in the same animals and the first to employ a complex, bimanual reaching and grasping task that is ethologically relevant. Whereas cooling area 7b or area 5L evoked deficits at distinct task phases, cooling M1 evoked a general set of deficits and cooling area 2 evoked proprioceptive deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam B Goldring
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California
| | - Dylan F Cooke
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California
- Department of Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology (BPK), Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Carlos R Pineda
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California
| | - Gregg H Recanzone
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California
- Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, University of California, Davis, California
| | - Leah A Krubitzer
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, California
- Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, California
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Waldthaler J, Vinding MC, Eriksson A, Svenningsson P, Lundqvist D. Neural correlates of impaired response inhibition in the antisaccade task in Parkinson’s disease. Behav Brain Res 2022; 422:113763. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2022.113763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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Folloni D, Fouragnan E, Wittmann MK, Roumazeilles L, Tankelevitch L, Verhagen L, Attali D, Aubry JF, Sallet J, Rushworth MFS. Ultrasound modulation of macaque prefrontal cortex selectively alters credit assignment-related activity and behavior. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabg7700. [PMID: 34910510 PMCID: PMC8673758 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg7700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Credit assignment is the association of specific instances of reward to the specific events, such as a particular choice, that caused them. Without credit assignment, choice values reflect an approximate estimate of how good the environment was when the choice was made—the global reward state—rather than exactly which outcome the choice caused. Combined transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging in macaques demonstrate credit assignment–related activity in prefrontal area 47/12o, and when this signal was disrupted with TUS, choice value representations across the brain were impaired. As a consequence, behavior was no longer guided by choice value, and decision-making was poorer. By contrast, global reward state–related activity in the adjacent anterior insula remained intact and determined decision-making after prefrontal disruption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Davide Folloni
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Elsa Fouragnan
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
| | - Marco K. Wittmann
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lea Roumazeilles
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lev Tankelevitch
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Lennart Verhagen
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, 6525 HR, Netherlands
| | - David Attali
- Physics for Medicine Paris, ESPCI Paris, INSERM, CNRS, PSL Research University, Paris, France
- GHU PARIS Psychiatrie and Neurosciences, site Sainte-Anne, Service Hospitalo-Universitaire, Pôle Hospitalo-Universitaire, Paris 15, F-75014 Paris, France
- Université de Paris, F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Jean-François Aubry
- Physics for Medicine Paris, ESPCI Paris, INSERM, CNRS, PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Jerome Sallet
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Université Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, 18 Avenue Doyen Lepine, 69500 Bron, France
| | - Matthew F. S. Rushworth
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Department of Experimental Psychology, Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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Lehmann SJ, Corneil BD. Completing the puzzle: Why studies in non-human primates are needed to better understand the effects of non-invasive brain stimulation. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 132:1074-1085. [PMID: 34742722 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.10.040] [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: 06/11/2021] [Revised: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 10/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Brain stimulation is a core method in neuroscience. Numerous non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques are currently in use in basic and clinical research, and recent advances promise the ability to non-invasively access deep brain structures. While encouraging, there is a surprising gap in our understanding of precisely how NIBS perturbs neural activity throughout an interconnected network, and how such perturbed neural activity ultimately links to behaviour. In this review, we will consider why non-human primate (NHP) models of NIBS are ideally situated to address this gap in knowledge, and why the oculomotor network that moves our line of sight offers a particularly valuable platform in which to empirically test hypothesis regarding NIBS-induced changes in brain and behaviour. NHP models of NIBS will enable investigation of the complex, dynamic effects of brain stimulation across multiple hierarchically interconnected brain areas, networks, and effectors. By establishing such links between brain and behavioural output, work in NHPs can help optimize experimental and therapeutic approaches, improve NIBS efficacy, and reduce side-effects of NIBS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian J Lehmann
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada.
| | - Brian D Corneil
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada; Department of Psychology, Western University, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada; Robarts Research Institute, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada.
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Womelsdorf T. Translating Expectation into Visual Selection through a Beta-Synchronous Fronto-Parietal Neural Subnetwork. Neuron 2021; 109:8-10. [PMID: 33412097 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.12.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Top-down expectancy critically determines how fast sensory inputs are processed. Fiebelkorn & Kastner show that translating expectancy into fast stimulus processing is mediated by a subnetwork of beta-synchronized neurons across the fronto-parietal attention network. This finding suggests that precise spike timing determines how efficient fronto-parietal activity selects visual inputs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thilo Womelsdorf
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.
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