Correction: How pupil responses track value-based decision-making during and after reinforcement learning

Sensory suppression and increased neuromodulation during actions disrupt memory encoding of unpredictable self-initiated stimuli

Actions modulate sensory processing by attenuating responses to self- compared to externally generated inputs, which is traditionally attributed to stimulus-specific motor predictions. Yet, suppression has been also found for stimuli merely coinciding with actions, pointing to unspecific processes that may be driven by neuromodulatory systems. Meanwhile, the differential processing for self-generated stimuli raises the possibility of producing effects also on memory for these stimuli; however, evidence remains mixed as to the direction of the effects. Here, we assessed the effects of actions on sensory processing and memory encoding of concomitant, but unpredictable sounds, using a combination of self-generation and memory recognition task concurrently with EEG and pupil recordings. At encoding, subjects performed button presses that half of the time generated a sound (motor-auditory; MA) and listened to passively presented sounds (auditory-only; A). At retrieval, two sounds were presented and participants had to respond which one was present before. We measured memory bias and memory performance by having sequences where either both or only one of the test sounds were presented at encoding, respectively. Results showed worse memory performance - but no differences in memory bias -, attenuated responses, and larger pupil diameter for MA compared to A sounds. Critically, the larger the sensory attenuation and pupil diameter, the worse the memory performance for MA sounds. Nevertheless, sensory attenuation did not correlate with pupil dilation. Collectively, our findings suggest that sensory attenuation and neuromodulatory processes coexist during actions, and both relate to disrupted memory for concurrent, albeit unpredictable sounds.

Intra-subject consistency of spontaneous eye blink rate in young women across the menstrual cycle

The spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR) has been linked to different cognitive processes and neurobiological factors. It has also been proposed as a putative index for striatal dopaminergic function. While estradiol is well-known to increase dopamine levels through multiple mechanisms, no study up to date has investigated whether the EBR changes across the menstrual cycle. This question is imperative however, as women have sometimes been excluded from studies using the EBR due to potential effects of their hormonal profile. Fifty-four women were tested for spontaneous EBR at rest in three different phases of their menstrual cycle: during menses (low progesterone and estradiol), in the pre-ovulatory phase (when estradiol levels peak and progesterone is still low), and during the luteal phase (high progesterone and estradiol). No significant differences were observed across the menstrual cycle and Bayes factors show strong support for the null hypothesis. Instead, we observed high intra-individual consistency of the EBR in our female sample. Accordingly, we strongly encourage including female participants in EBR studies, regardless of their cycle phase.