1
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Tomassini A, Cope TE, Zhang J, Rowe JB. Parkinson's disease impairs cortical sensori-motor decision-making cascades. Brain Commun 2024; 6:fcae065. [PMID: 38505233 PMCID: PMC10950052 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcae065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
The transformation from perception to action requires a set of neuronal decisions about the nature of the percept, identification and selection of response options and execution of the appropriate motor response. The unfolding of such decisions is mediated by distributed representations of the decision variables-evidence and intentions-that are represented through oscillatory activity across the cortex. Here we combine magneto-electroencephalography and linear ballistic accumulator models of decision-making to reveal the impact of Parkinson's disease during the selection and execution of action. We used a visuomotor task in which we independently manipulated uncertainty in sensory and action domains. A generative accumulator model was optimized to single-trial neurophysiological correlates of human behaviour, mapping the cortical oscillatory signatures of decision-making, and relating these to separate processes accumulating sensory evidence and selecting a motor action. We confirmed the role of widespread beta oscillatory activity in shaping the feed-forward cascade of evidence accumulation from resolution of sensory inputs to selection of appropriate responses. By contrasting the spatiotemporal dynamics of evidence accumulation in age-matched healthy controls and people with Parkinson's disease, we identified disruption of the beta-mediated cascade of evidence accumulation as the hallmark of atypical decision-making in Parkinson's disease. In frontal cortical regions, there was inefficient processing and transfer of perceptual information. Our findings emphasize the intimate connection between abnormal visuomotor function and pathological oscillatory activity in neurodegenerative disease. We propose that disruption of the oscillatory mechanisms governing fast and precise information exchanges between the sensory and motor systems contributes to behavioural changes in people with Parkinson's disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Tomassini
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
| | - Thomas E Cope
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0SZ, UK
- Department of Neurology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Jiaxiang Zhang
- Department of Computer Science, Swansea University, Swansea SA18EN, UK
| | - James B Rowe
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0SZ, UK
- Department of Neurology, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK
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2
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Westerberg JA, Schall JD, Woodman GF, Maier A. Feedforward attentional selection in sensory cortex. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5993. [PMID: 37752171 PMCID: PMC10522696 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41745-1] [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: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Salient objects grab attention because they stand out from their surroundings. Whether this phenomenon is accomplished by bottom-up sensory processing or requires top-down guidance is debated. We tested these alternative hypotheses by measuring how early and in which cortical layer(s) neural spiking distinguished a target from a distractor. We measured synaptic and spiking activity across cortical columns in mid-level area V4 of male macaque monkeys performing visual search for a color singleton. A neural signature of attentional capture was observed in the earliest response in the input layer 4. The magnitude of this response predicted response time and accuracy. Errant behavior followed errant selection. Because this response preceded top-down influences and arose in the cortical layer not targeted by top-down connections, these findings demonstrate that feedforward activation of sensory cortex can underlie attentional priority.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Westerberg
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
- Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Centre for Vision Research, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
- Vision: Science to Applications Program, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
- Department of Biology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
- Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Geoffrey F Woodman
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
| | - Alexander Maier
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
- Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
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3
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Geuzebroek AC, Craddock H, O'Connell RG, Kelly SP. Balancing true and false detection of intermittent sensory targets by adjusting the inputs to the evidence accumulation process. eLife 2023; 12:e83025. [PMID: 37646405 PMCID: PMC10547474 DOI: 10.7554/elife.83025] [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: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Decisions about noisy stimuli are widely understood to be made by accumulating evidence up to a decision bound that can be adjusted according to task demands. However, relatively little is known about how such mechanisms operate in continuous monitoring contexts requiring intermittent target detection. Here, we examined neural decision processes underlying detection of 1 s coherence targets within continuous random dot motion, and how they are adjusted across contexts with weak, strong, or randomly mixed weak/strong targets. Our prediction was that decision bounds would be set lower when weak targets are more prevalent. Behavioural hit and false alarm rate patterns were consistent with this, and were well captured by a bound-adjustable leaky accumulator model. However, beta-band EEG signatures of motor preparation contradicted this, instead indicating lower bounds in the strong-target context. We thus tested two alternative models in which decision-bound dynamics were constrained directly by beta measurements, respectively, featuring leaky accumulation with adjustable leak, and non-leaky accumulation of evidence referenced to an adjustable sensory-level criterion. We found that the latter model best explained both behaviour and neural dynamics, highlighting novel means of decision policy regulation and the value of neurally informed modelling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna C Geuzebroek
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Hannah Craddock
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College DublinDublinIreland
- Department of Statistics, University of WarwickWarwickUnited Kingdom
| | - Redmond G O'Connell
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Simon P Kelly
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College DublinDublinIreland
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4
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Smith PL. "Reliable organisms from unreliable components" revisited: the linear drift, linear infinitesimal variance model of decision making. Psychon Bull Rev 2023; 30:1323-1359. [PMID: 36720804 PMCID: PMC10482797 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02237-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/13/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Diffusion models of decision making, in which successive samples of noisy evidence are accumulated to decision criteria, provide a theoretical solution to von Neumann's (1956) problem of how to increase the reliability of neural computation in the presence of noise. I introduce and evaluate a new neurally-inspired dual diffusion model, the linear drift, linear infinitesimal variance (LDLIV) model, which embodies three features often thought to characterize neural mechanisms of decision making. The accumulating evidence is intrinsically positively-valued, saturates at high intensities, and is accumulated for each alternative separately. I present explicit integral-equation predictions for the response time distribution and choice probabilities for the LDLIV model and compare its performance on two benchmark sets of data to three other models: the standard diffusion model and two dual diffusion model composed of racing Wiener processes, one between absorbing and reflecting boundaries and one with absorbing boundaries only. The LDLIV model and the standard diffusion model performed similarly to one another, although the standard diffusion model is more parsimonious, and both performed appreciably better than the other two dual diffusion models. I argue that accumulation of noisy evidence by a diffusion process and drift rate variability are both expressions of how the cognitive system solves von Neumann's problem, by aggregating noisy representations over time and over elements of a neural population. I also argue that models that do not solve von Neumann's problem do not address the main theoretical question that historically motivated research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip L Smith
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Vic., Melbourne, 3010, Australia.
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5
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Balsdon T, Verdonck S, Loossens T, Philiastides MG. Secondary motor integration as a final arbiter in sensorimotor decision-making. PLoS Biol 2023; 21:e3002200. [PMID: 37459392 PMCID: PMC10393169 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2022] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 06/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Sensorimotor decision-making is believed to involve a process of accumulating sensory evidence over time. While current theories posit a single accumulation process prior to planning an overt motor response, here, we propose an active role of motor processes in decision formation via a secondary leaky motor accumulation stage. The motor leak adapts the "memory" with which this secondary accumulator reintegrates the primary accumulated sensory evidence, thus adjusting the temporal smoothing in the motor evidence and, correspondingly, the lag between the primary and motor accumulators. We compare this framework against different single accumulator variants using formal model comparison, fitting choice, and response times in a task where human observers made categorical decisions about a noisy sequence of images, under different speed-accuracy trade-off instructions. We show that, rather than boundary adjustments (controlling the amount of evidence accumulated for decision commitment), adjustment of the leak in the secondary motor accumulator provides the better description of behavior across conditions. Importantly, we derive neural correlates of these 2 integration processes from electroencephalography data recorded during the same task and show that these neural correlates adhere to the neural response profiles predicted by the model. This framework thus provides a neurobiologically plausible description of sensorimotor decision-making that captures emerging evidence of the active role of motor processes in choice behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tarryn Balsdon
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Stijn Verdonck
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Tim Loossens
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Marios G Philiastides
- School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
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6
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Klink PC, Teeuwen RRM, Lorteije JAM, Roelfsema PR. Inversion of pop-out for a distracting feature dimension in monkey visual cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e2210839120. [PMID: 36812207 PMCID: PMC9992771 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2210839120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
During visual search, it is important to reduce the interference of distracting objects in the scene. The neuronal responses elicited by the search target stimulus are typically enhanced. However, it is equally important to suppress the representations of distracting stimuli, especially if they are salient and capture attention. We trained monkeys to make an eye movement to a unique "pop-out" shape stimulus among an array of distracting stimuli. One of these distractors had a salient color that varied across trials and differed from the color of the other stimuli, causing it to also pop-out. The monkeys were able to select the pop-out shape target with high accuracy and actively avoided the pop-out color distractor. This behavioral pattern was reflected in the activity of neurons in area V4. Responses to the shape targets were enhanced, while the activity evoked by the pop-out color distractor was only briefly enhanced, directly followed by a sustained period of pronounced suppression. These behavioral and neuronal results demonstrate a cortical selection mechanism that rapidly inverts a pop-out signal to "pop-in" for an entire feature dimension thereby facilitating goal-directed visual search in the presence of salient distractors.
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Affiliation(s)
- P. Christiaan Klink
- Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, 3584 CS, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Laboratory of Visual Brain Therapy, Sorbonne Université, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de la Vision, ParisF-75012, France
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rob R. M. Teeuwen
- Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Jeannette A. M. Lorteije
- Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Pieter R. Roelfsema
- Department of Vision and Cognition, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1105 BA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Laboratory of Visual Brain Therapy, Sorbonne Université, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Institut de la Vision, ParisF-75012, France
- Department of Integrative Neurophysiology, Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105 AZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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7
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Narhi-Martinez W, Dube B, Golomb JD. Attention as a multi-level system of weights and balances. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2023; 14:e1633. [PMID: 36317275 PMCID: PMC9840663 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Revised: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
This opinion piece is part of a collection on the topic: "What is attention?" Despite the word's place in the common vernacular, a satisfying definition for "attention" remains elusive. Part of the challenge is there exist many different types of attention, which may or may not share common mechanisms. Here we review this literature and offer an intuitive definition that draws from aspects of prior theories and models of attention but is broad enough to recognize the various types of attention and modalities it acts upon: attention as a multi-level system of weights and balances. While the specific mechanism(s) governing the weighting/balancing may vary across levels, the fundamental role of attention is to dynamically weigh and balance all signals-both externally-generated and internally-generated-such that the highest weighted signals are selected and enhanced. Top-down, bottom-up, and experience-driven factors dynamically impact this balancing, and competition occurs both within and across multiple levels of processing. This idea of a multi-level system of weights and balances is intended to incorporate both external and internal attention and capture their myriad of constantly interacting processes. We review key findings and open questions related to external attention guidance, internal attention and working memory, and broader attentional control (e.g., ongoing competition between external stimuli and internal thoughts) within the framework of this analogy. We also speculate about the implications of failures of attention in terms of weights and balances, ranging from momentary one-off errors to clinical disorders, as well as attentional development and degradation across the lifespan. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Attention Neuroscience > Cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Blaire Dube
- The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology
| | - Julie D. Golomb
- Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Julie Golomb, Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210.
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8
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Vencato V, Harwood M, Madelain L. Saccadic initiation biased by fixational activity. Vision Res 2022; 201:108117. [PMID: 36031689 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2022.108117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2021] [Revised: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Both the gap and overlap paradigm may reveal the interaction between fixating and moving the eyes, but the effects of the overlap paradigm have not been fully characterized yet. Here we present a series of experiments probing how an overlap paradigm, combined with the manipulation of stimuli durations, saliency and transient changes might modulate saccadic reaction time distributions. We recorded saccadic reaction time in four participants in six experiments in which a saccade-target appeared at a pseudo-random amplitude after a fixation period. First, we parametrically manipulated the duration of the overlap using a range of intervals (from 0 to 200 ms). In a second experiment we probed the interaction of various foreperiod intervals (i.e. the duration of the fixation period prior to saccade-target onset) and overlap using two overlap intervals (20 or 140 ms). In two additional experiments we manipulated either the stimuli sizes or their contrast ratio in overlap paradigms (20 or 140 ms). Lastly, we introduced a visual transient during the overlap interval via two manipulations (both with a range of SOA): either a distractor ring appeared around the fixation-target, or a dynamic random noise patch replaced the fixation-target. Results show reliable modifications in the latency distributions depending on the overlap interval as well as idiosyncratic differences. Additional experimental manipulations also affected the latency distributions revealing strong interacting inhibitory processes. We conclude that the effects of overlap intervals may combine with the influence of other stimuli properties affecting decision process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Vencato
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York 10003, New York
| | | | - Laurent Madelain
- UMR 9193‑SCALab, CNRS, Univ. Lille, 59000 Lille, France; Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR 7289, CNRS, Faculté de Médecine de la Timone, Aix Marseille Université, 27 Bd Jean Moulin, Marseille 13005, France
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9
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Lowe KA, Zinke W, Cosman JD, Schall JD. Frontal eye fields in macaque monkeys: prefrontal and premotor contributions to visually guided saccades. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:5083-5107. [PMID: 35176752 PMCID: PMC9989351 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/13/2021] [Revised: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuronal spiking was sampled from the frontal eye field (FEF) and from the rostral part of area 6 that reaches to the superior limb of the arcuate sulcus, dorsal to the arcuate spur when present (F2vr) in macaque monkeys performing memory-guided saccades and visually guided saccades for visual search. Neuronal spiking modulation in F2vr resembled that in FEF in many but not all respects. A new consensus clustering algorithm of neuronal modulation patterns revealed that F2vr and FEF contain a greater variety of modulation patterns than previously reported. The areas differ in the proportions of visuomotor neuron types, the proportions of neurons discriminating a target from distractors during visual search, and the consistency of modulation patterns across tasks. However, between F2vr and FEF we found no difference in the magnitude of delay period activity, the timing of the peak discharge rate relative to saccades, or the time of search target selection. The observed similarities and differences between the 2 cortical regions contribute to other work establishing the organization of eye fields in the frontal lobe and may help explain why FEF in monkeys is identified within granular prefrontal area 8 but in humans is identified within agranular premotor area 6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaleb A Lowe
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center
| | - Wolf Zinke
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center
| | - Joshua D Cosman
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center
| | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center
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10
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Umakantha A, Purcell BA, Palmeri TJ. Relating a Spiking Neural Network Model and the Diffusion Model of Decision-Making. COMPUTATIONAL BRAIN & BEHAVIOR 2022; 5:279-301. [PMID: 36408474 PMCID: PMC9673774 DOI: 10.1007/s42113-022-00143-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Many models of decision making assume accumulation of evidence to threshold as a core mechanism to predict response probabilities and response times. A spiking neural network model (Wang, 2002) instantiates these mechanisms at the level of biophysically-plausible pools of neurons with excitatory and inhibitory connections, and has numerous model parameters tuned by physiological measures. The diffusion model (Ratcliff, 1978) is a cognitive model that can be fitted to a range of behaviors and conditions. We investigated how parameters of the cognitive-level diffusion model relate to the parameters of a neural-level spiking model. In each simulated "experiment", we generated "data" from the spiking neural network by factorially combining a manipulation of choice difficulty (via the input to the spiking model) and a manipulation of one of the core parameters of the spiking model. We then fitted the diffusion model to these simulated data to observe how manipulation of each core spiking model parameter mapped on to fitted drift rate, response threshold, and non-decision time. Manipulations of parameters in the spiking model related to input sensitivity, threshold, and stimulus processing time mapped on to their conceptual analogues in the diffusion model, namely drift rate, threshold, and non-decision time. Manipulations of parameters in the spiking model with no direct analogue to the diffusion model, non-stimulus-specific background input, strength of recurrent excitation, and receptor conductances, mapped on to threshold in the diffusion model. We discuss implications of these results for interpretations of fits of the diffusion model to behavioral data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akash Umakantha
- Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
- Machine Learning Department, Carnegie Mellon University
| | | | - Thomas J. Palmeri
- Psychology Department, Vanderbilt University
- Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University
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11
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Alkan Y, Mirpour K, Bisley JW. Behavior in a visual search task with moving dot stimuli. J Neurophysiol 2022; 127:1564-1573. [PMID: 35583976 PMCID: PMC9169819 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00375.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2021] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the neuronal mechanisms underlying the processing of visual attention requires a well-designed behavioral task that allows investigators to clearly describe the behavioral effects of attention. Here, we introduce a behavioral paradigm in which one, two or four moving dot stimuli are used in a visual search paradigm that includes two additional attentional conditions. Two animals were trained to make a saccade to a target (a dot patch with net rightward motion) and hold central fixation if no target was present. To implement covert visual attention, we included trials in which a 100% valid spatial cue appeared and trials in which the color of the fixation point indicated, with 100% validity, which of four colored dot patches the animals should attend to. We analyzed the behavior in terms of reaction times and signal detection theory metrics d-prime (representing sensitivity) and criteria. In both animals, we found that reaction times were greater for larger set-sizes and that the introduction of an attentional cue reduced the reaction times substantially. We also found that both animals showed increases in criteria, but no change in sensitivity, as set-size increased and the attentional cues led to an increase in sensitivity, with only some change in criteria. Our results illustrate how the animals perform this task and imply that both animals chose similar strategies. Importantly, this will allow future neurophysiological studies to probe not only the effects of attention, but will give the possibility of seeing whether different neural mechanisms drive changes in criteria and d-prime.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yelda Alkan
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Koorosh Mirpour
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - James W Bisley
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Psychology and the Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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12
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Sasaki R, Kumano H, Mitani A, Suda Y, Uka T. Task-Specific Employment of Sensory Signals Underlies Rapid Task Switching. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:4657-4670. [PMID: 35088074 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhab508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Revised: 12/09/2021] [Accepted: 12/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Much of our flexible behavior is dependent on responding efficiently to relevant information while discarding irrelevant information. Little is known, however, about how neural pathways governing sensory-motor associations can rapidly switch to accomplish such flexibility. Here, we addressed this question by electrically microstimulating middle temporal (MT) neurons selective for both motion direction and binocular disparity in monkeys switching between direction and depth discrimination tasks. Surprisingly, we frequently found that the observed psychophysical bias precipitated by delivering microstimulation to neurons whose preferred direction and depth were related to opposite choices in the two tasks was substantially shifted toward a specific movement. Furthermore, these effects correlated with behavioral switching performance. Our findings suggest that the outputs of sensory signals are task specific and that irrelevant sensory-motor pathways are gated depending on task demand so as to accomplish rapid attentional switching.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryo Sasaki
- Department of Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Hironori Kumano
- Department of Integrative Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan
- Department of Neurophysiology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
| | | | - Yuki Suda
- Department of Integrative Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan
- Department of Neurophysiology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
- Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tokyo 194-8610, Japan
| | - Takanori Uka
- Department of Integrative Physiology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Yamanashi 409-3898, Japan
- Department of Neurophysiology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan
- Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University, Tokyo 194-8610, Japan
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13
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Gupta A, Bansal R, Alashwal H, Kacar AS, Balci F, Moustafa AA. Neural Substrates of the Drift-Diffusion Model in Brain Disorders. Front Comput Neurosci 2022; 15:678232. [PMID: 35069160 PMCID: PMC8776710 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2021.678232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Many studies on the drift-diffusion model (DDM) explain decision-making based on a unified analysis of both accuracy and response times. This review provides an in-depth account of the recent advances in DDM research which ground different DDM parameters on several brain areas, including the cortex and basal ganglia. Furthermore, we discuss the changes in DDM parameters due to structural and functional impairments in several clinical disorders, including Parkinson's disease, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorders, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and schizophrenia. This review thus uses DDM to provide a theoretical understanding of different brain disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ankur Gupta
- CNRS UMR 5293, Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Rohini Bansal
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Hany Alashwal
- College of Information Technology, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates
- *Correspondence: Hany Alashwal
| | - Anil Safak Kacar
- Research Center for Translational Medicine (KUTTAM), Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Fuat Balci
- Research Center for Translational Medicine (KUTTAM), Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
| | - Ahmed A. Moustafa
- School of Psychology & Marcs Institute for Brain and Behaviour, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Society and Design, Bond University, Robina, QLD, Australia
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Human Anatomy and Physiology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
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14
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Gated feedforward inhibition in the frontal cortex releases goal-directed action. Nat Neurosci 2021; 24:1452-1464. [PMID: 34413512 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-00910-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2020] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Cortical circuits process both sensory and motor information in animals performing perceptual tasks. However, it is still unclear how sensory inputs are transformed into motor signals in the cortex to initiate goal-directed actions. In this study, we found that a visual-to-motor inhibitory circuit in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) triggers precise action in mice performing visual Go/No-go tasks. Three distinct features of ACC neurons-visual amplitudes of sensory neurons, suppression times of motor neurons and network activity from other neurons-predicted response times of the mice. Moreover, optogenetic activation of visual inputs in the ACC, which drives fast-spiking sensory neurons, prompted task-relevant actions in mice by suppressing ACC motor neurons and disinhibiting downstream striatal neurons. Notably, when mice terminated actions in response to stop signals, both motor neuron and network activity increased. Collectively, our data demonstrate that visual inputs to the frontal cortex trigger gated feedforward inhibition to initiate goal-directed actions.
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15
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Abstract
Remapping is a property of some cortical and subcortical neurons that update their responses around the time of an eye movement to account for the shift of stimuli on the retina due to the saccade. Physiologically, remapping is traditionally tested by briefly presenting a single stimulus around the time of the saccade and looking at the onset of the response and the locations in space to which the neuron is responsive. Here we suggest that a better way to understand the functional role of remapping is to look at the time at which the neural signal emerges when saccades are made across a stable scene. Based on data obtained using this approach, we suggest that remapping in the lateral intraparietal area is sufficient to play a role in maintaining visual stability across saccades, whereas in the frontal eye field, remapped activity carries information that affects future saccadic choices and, in a separate subset of neurons, is used to maintain a map of locations in the scene that have been previously fixated.
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Affiliation(s)
- James W Bisley
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Department of Psychology and the Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Koorosh Mirpour
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Yelda Alkan
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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16
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Abstract
The discovery of neural signals that reflect the dynamics of perceptual decision formation has had a considerable impact. Not only do such signals enable detailed investigations of the neural implementation of the decision-making process but they also can expose key elements of the brain's decision algorithms. For a long time, such signals were only accessible through direct animal brain recordings, and progress in human neuroscience was hampered by the limitations of noninvasive recording techniques. However, recent methodological advances are increasingly enabling the study of human brain signals that finely trace the dynamics of the unfolding decision process. In this review, we highlight how human neurophysiological data are now being leveraged to furnish new insights into the multiple processing levels involved in forming decisions, to inform the construction and evaluation of mathematical models that can explain intra- and interindividual differences, and to examine how key ancillary processes interact with core decision circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Redmond G O'Connell
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland;
| | - Simon P Kelly
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical Engineering, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland;
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17
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Schall JD, Paré M. The unknown but knowable relationship between Presaccadic Accumulation of activity and Saccade initiation. J Comput Neurosci 2021; 49:213-228. [PMID: 33712942 DOI: 10.1007/s10827-021-00784-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2020] [Revised: 01/06/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The goal of this short review is to call attention to a yawning gap of knowledge that separates two processes essential for saccade production. On the one hand, knowledge about the saccade generation circuitry within the brainstem is detailed and precise - push-pull interactions between gaze-shifting and gaze-holding processes control the time of saccade initiation, which begins when omnipause neurons are inhibited and brainstem burst neurons are excited. On the other hand, knowledge about the cortical and subcortical premotor circuitry accomplishing saccade initiation has crystalized around the concept of stochastic accumulation - the accumulating activity of saccade neurons reaching a fixed value triggers a saccade. Here is the gap: we do not know how the reaching of a threshold by premotor neurons causes the critical pause and burst of brainstem neurons that initiates saccades. Why this problem matters and how it can be addressed will be discussed. Closing the gap would unify two rich but curiously disconnected empirical and theoretical domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey D Schall
- Centre for Vision Research, Vision Science to Application, Department of Biology, York University, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Martin Paré
- Department of Biomedical & Molecular Sciences and of Psychology, Queen's University, Ontario, ON K7L 3N6, Kingston, Canada
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18
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Sequential sampling models without random between-trial variability: the racing diffusion model of speeded decision making. Psychon Bull Rev 2021; 27:911-936. [PMID: 32424622 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-020-01719-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Most current sequential sampling models have random between-trial variability in their parameters. These sources of variability make the models more complex in order to fit response time data, do not provide any further explanation to how the data were generated, and have recently been criticised for allowing infinite flexibility in the models. To explore and test the need of between-trial variability parameters we develop a simple sequential sampling model of N-choice speeded decision making: the racing diffusion model. The model makes speeded decisions from a race of evidence accumulators that integrate information in a noisy fashion within a trial. The racing diffusion does not assume that any evidence accumulation process varies between trial, and so, the model provides alternative explanations of key response time phenomena, such as fast and slow error response times relative to correct response times. Overall, our paper gives good reason to rethink including between-trial variability parameters in sequential sampling models.
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19
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Baek J, Dosher BA, Lu ZL. Visual attention in spatial cueing and visual search. J Vis 2021; 21:1. [PMID: 33646298 PMCID: PMC7938002 DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.3.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 01/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
To characterize internal processes of an observer conducting perceptual tasks, we developed an observer model that combines the perceptual template model (PTM), the attention mechanisms in the PTM framework (Lu & Dosher, 1998), and uncertainty of signal detection theory (Green & Swets, 1966). The model was evaluated with a visual search experiment conducted in a range of external noise, signal contrast, and target-distractor similarity conditions. In each trial, eight Gabor patches were shown in each of two brief intervals, with one target at a different orientation from the distractors in one of the presentations. Subjects were precued to a subset of the stimuli (1, 2, 4, or 8) and asked to report (a) which interval contained the target and (b) where the target was. Individual roles of uncertainty and of attention in visual search were investigated by comparing models with and without an attention component. The results showed that decision uncertainty alone was sufficient to account for the set-size effect, even in conditions with high target-distractor similarity. Our theoretical model and empirical results provide a coherent picture regarding how visual information is selected and processed during feature search.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jongsoo Baek
- Yonsei Institute of Convergence Technology, Yonsei University, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Barbara Anne Dosher
- Department of Cognitive Sciences and Institute of Mathematical Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Zhong-Lin Lu
- Division of Arts and Sciences, NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- Center for Neural Science and Department of Psychology, New York University, NY, USA
- NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science at NYU Shanghai, Shanghai, China
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20
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Huddleston WE, Swanson AN, Lytle JR, Aleksandrowicz MS. Distinct saccade planning and endogenous visuospatial attention maps in parietal cortex: A basis for functional differences in sensory and motor attention. Cortex 2021; 137:292-304. [PMID: 33676176 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.01.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Revised: 11/20/2020] [Accepted: 01/14/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Parietal cortex activity contributes to higher-level cognitive processes, including endogenous visual attention and saccade planning. While visual attention is the process of selecting pertinent information from the environment, saccade planning may involve motor attention in the planning of a specific movement, including the process of selecting the correct path. We isolated areas in parietal cortex involved in saccade planning, while controlling visual attention, to understand the relationship between the two processes. Using our novel stimulus, participants performed a delayed saccade task and an endogenous covert visuospatial attention task with peripheral targets in identical locations. We compared multiple target locations across the two domains at the level of the individual to better understand variability in the relationship between these two maps. The anterior-posterior organization of saccade planning and visual attention maps varied among, but not within, participants, and 14-29% of the maps for each task overlapped one another across hemispheres. Interestingly, within the region of co-activation, over 67% of the voxels responded to the same location for both tasks. These cortical areas of overlap may represent regions of the brain specifically involved in the transfer of information from vision to action along the visuomotor pathway. These results further establish the relationship between maps associated with saccade planning and visual attention at the individual level, indicating the lack of a single saliency map in parietal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wendy E Huddleston
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
| | - Alex N Swanson
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - James R Lytle
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Michael S Aleksandrowicz
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA
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21
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Abstract
Selective attention affords scrutinizing items in our environment. However, attentional selection changes over time and across space. Empirically, repetition of visual search conditions changes attentional processing. Priming of pop-out is a vivid example. Repeatedly searching for the same pop-out search feature is accomplished with faster response times and fewer errors. We review the psychophysical background of priming of pop-out, focusing on the hypothesis that it arises through changes in visual selective attention. We also describe research done with macaque monkeys to understand the neural mechanisms supporting visual selective attention and priming of pop-out, and survey research on priming of pop-out using noninvasive brain measures with humans. We conclude by hypothesizing three alternative neural mechanisms and highlighting open questions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Westerberg
- Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, College of Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA.
| | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, College of Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University, 111 21st Avenue South, Nashville, TN, 37240, USA
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22
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Neurocomputational mechanisms of prior-informed perceptual decision-making in humans. Nat Hum Behav 2020; 5:467-481. [PMID: 33318661 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-00967-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2019] [Accepted: 09/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
To interact successfully with diverse sensory environments, we must adapt our decision processes to account for time constraints and prior probabilities. The full set of decision-process parameters that undergo such flexible adaptation has proven to be difficult to establish using simplified models that are based on behaviour alone. Here, we utilize well-characterized human neurophysiological signatures of decision formation to construct and constrain a build-to-threshold decision model with multiple build-up (evidence accumulation and urgency) and delay components (pre- and post-decisional). The model indicates that all of these components were adapted in distinct ways and, in several instances, fundamentally differ from the conclusions of conventional diffusion modelling. The neurally informed model outcomes were corroborated by independent neural decision signal observations that were not used in the model's construction. These findings highlight the breadth of decision-process parameters that are amenable to strategic adjustment and the value in leveraging neurophysiological measurements to quantify these adjustments.
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23
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Kohl C, Spieser L, Forster B, Bestmann S, Yarrow K. Centroparietal activity mirrors the decision variable when tracking biased and time-varying sensory evidence. Cogn Psychol 2020; 122:101321. [PMID: 32592971 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2020.101321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2018] [Revised: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 05/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Decision-making is a fundamental human activity requiring explanation at the neurocognitive level. Current theoretical frameworks assume that, during sensory-based decision-making, the stimulus is sampled sequentially. The resulting evidence is accumulated over time as a decision variable until a threshold is reached and a response is initiated. Several neural signals, including the centroparietal positivity (CPP) measured from the human electroencephalogram (EEG), appear to display the accumulation-to-bound profile associated with the decision variable. Here, we evaluate the putative computational role of the CPP as a model-derived accumulation-to-bound signal, focussing on point-by-point correspondence between model predictions and data in order to go beyond simple summary measures like average slope. In two experiments, we explored the CPP under two manipulations (namely non-stationary evidence and probabilistic decision biases) that complement one another by targeting the shape and amplitude of accumulation respectively. We fit sequential sampling models to the behavioural data, and used the resulting parameters to simulate the decision variable, before directly comparing the simulated profile to the CPP waveform. In both experiments, model predictions deviated from our naïve expectations, yet showed similarities with the neurodynamic data, illustrating the importance of a formal modelling approach. The CPP appears to arise from brain processes that implement a decision variable (as formalised in sequential-sampling models) and may therefore inform our understanding of decision-making at both the representational and implementational levels of analysis, but at this point it is uncertain whether a single model can explain how the CPP varies across different kinds of task manipulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmen Kohl
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, City, University of London, UK.
| | - Laure Spieser
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, City, University of London, UK
| | - Bettina Forster
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, City, University of London, UK
| | - Sven Bestmann
- Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK
| | - Kielan Yarrow
- Department of Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit, City, University of London, UK
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24
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Khamechian MB, Daliri MR. Decoding Adaptive Visuomotor Behavior Mediated by Non-linear Phase Coupling in Macaque Area MT. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:230. [PMID: 32317912 PMCID: PMC7147352 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00230] [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: 09/12/2019] [Accepted: 03/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The idea that a flexible behavior relies on synchronous neural activity within intra- and inter-associated cortical areas has been a matter of intense research in human and animal neuroscience. The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying this behavioral correlate of the synchronous activity are still unknown. It has been suggested that the strength of neural synchrony at the level of population is an important neural code to guide an efficient transformation of the sensory input into the behavioral action. In this study, we have examined the non-linear synchronization between neural ensembles in area MT of the macaque visual cortex by employing a non-linear cross-frequency coupling technique, namely bicoherence. We trained a macaque monkey to detect a brief change in the cued stimulus during a visuomotor detection task. The results show that the non-linear phase synchronization in the high-gamma frequency band (100-250 Hz) predicts the animal's reaction time. The strength of non-linear phase synchronization is selective to the target stimulus location. In addition, the non-linearity characteristics of neural synchronization are selectively modulated when the monkey covertly attends to the stimulus inside the neuron's receptive field. This additional evidence indicates that non-linear neuronal synchronization may be affected by a cognitive function like spatial attention. Our neural and behavioral observations reflect that two crucial processes may be involved in processing of visuomotor information in area MT: (I) a non-linear cortical process (measured by the bicoherence) and (II) a linear process (measured by the spectral power).
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Bagher Khamechian
- Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Lab, Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mohammad Reza Daliri
- Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research Lab, Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran
- Cognitive Neurobiology Laboratory, School of Cognitive Sciences (SCS), Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran
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25
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Merzon L, Malevich T, Zhulikov G, Krasovskaya S, MacInnes WJ. Temporal Limitations of the Standard Leaky Integrate and Fire Model. Brain Sci 2019; 10:E16. [PMID: 31892197 PMCID: PMC7016704 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci10010016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2019] [Revised: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Itti and Koch's Saliency Model has been used extensively to simulate fixation selection in a variety of tasks from visual search to simple reaction times. Although the Saliency Model has been tested for its spatial prediction of fixations in visual salience, it has not been well tested for their temporal accuracy. Visual tasks, like search, invariably result in a positively skewed distribution of saccadic reaction times over large numbers of samples, yet we show that the leaky integrate and fire (LIF) neuronal model included in the classic implementation of the model tends to produce a distribution shifted to shorter fixations (in comparison with human data). Further, while parameter optimization using a genetic algorithm and Nelder-Mead method does improve the fit of the resulting distribution, it is still unable to match temporal distributions of human responses in a visual task. Analysis of times for individual images reveal that the LIF algorithm produces initial fixation durations that are fixed instead of a sample from a distribution (as in the human case). Only by aggregating responses over many input images do they result in a distribution, although the form of this distribution still depends on the input images used to create it and not on internal model variability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liya Merzon
- Vision Modelling Laboratory, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 109074 Moscow, Russia; (G.Z.); (S.K.)
- Department of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 101000 Moscow, Russia
- Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering Department, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland
| | - Tatiana Malevich
- Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany;
| | - Georgiy Zhulikov
- Vision Modelling Laboratory, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 109074 Moscow, Russia; (G.Z.); (S.K.)
- Institute of Water Problems Russian Academy of Science, 117971 Moscow, Russia
| | - Sofia Krasovskaya
- Vision Modelling Laboratory, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 109074 Moscow, Russia; (G.Z.); (S.K.)
- Department of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 101000 Moscow, Russia
| | - W. Joseph MacInnes
- Vision Modelling Laboratory, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 109074 Moscow, Russia; (G.Z.); (S.K.)
- Department of Psychology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, 101000 Moscow, Russia
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26
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Mastropasqua A, Dowsett J, Dieterich M, Taylor PCJ. Right frontal eye field has perceptual and oculomotor functions during optokinetic stimulation and nystagmus. J Neurophysiol 2019; 123:571-586. [PMID: 31875488 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00468.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The right frontal eye field (rFEF) is associated with visual perception and eye movements. rFEF is activated during optokinetic nystagmus (OKN), a reflex that moves the eye in response to visual motion (optokinetic stimulation, OKS). It remains unclear whether rFEF plays causal perceptual and/or oculomotor roles during OKS and OKN. To test this, participants viewed a leftward-moving visual scene of vertical bars and judged whether a flashed dot was moving. Single pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were applied to rFEF on half of trials. In half of blocks, to explore oculomotor control, participants performed an OKN in response to the OKS. rFEF TMS, during OKN, made participants more accurate on trials when the dot was still, and it slowed eye movements. In separate blocks, participants fixated during OKS. This not only controlled for eye movements but also allowed the use of EEG to explore the FEF's role in visual motion discrimination. In these blocks, by contrast, leftward dot motion discrimination was impaired, associated with a disruption of the frontal-posterior balance in alpha-band oscillations. None of these effects occurred in a control site (M1) experiment. These results demonstrate multiple related yet dissociable causal roles of the right FEF during optokinetic stimulation.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study demonstrates causal roles of the right frontal eye field (FEF) in motion discrimination and eye movement control during visual scene motion: previous work had only examined other stimuli and eye movements such as saccades. Using combined transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG and a novel optokinetic stimulation motion-discrimination task, we find evidence for multiple related yet dissociable causal roles within the FEF: perceptual processing during optokinetic stimulation, generation of the optokinetic nystagmus, and the maintenance of alpha oscillations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angela Mastropasqua
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany.,German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany.,Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, LMU Munich, Germany
| | - James Dowsett
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany.,German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany
| | - Marianne Dieterich
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany.,German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany.,Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, LMU Munich, Germany.,SyNergy - Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology, Munich, Germany
| | - Paul C J Taylor
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany.,German Center for Vertigo and Balance Disorders, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany.,Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, LMU Munich, Germany
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27
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Countermanding Perceptual Decision-Making. iScience 2019; 23:100777. [PMID: 31958755 PMCID: PMC6992898 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2019.100777] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Revised: 11/14/2019] [Accepted: 12/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated whether a task requiring concurrent perceptual decision-making and response control can be performed concurrently, whether evidence accumulation and response control are accomplished by the same neurons, and whether perceptual decision-making and countermanding can be unified computationally. Based on neural recordings in a prefrontal area of macaque monkeys, we present behavioral, neural, and computational results demonstrating that perceptual decision-making of varying difficulty can be countermanded efficiently, that single prefrontal neurons instantiate both evidence accumulation and response control, and that an interactive race between stochastic GO evidence accumulators for each alternative and a distinct STOP accumulator fits countermanding choice behavior and replicates neural trajectories. Thus, perceptual decision-making and response control, previously regarded as distinct mechanisms, are actually aspects of a common neuro-computational mechanism supporting flexible behavior.
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28
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Schall JD. Accumulators, Neurons, and Response Time. Trends Neurosci 2019; 42:848-860. [PMID: 31704180 PMCID: PMC6981279 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2019.10.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2019] [Revised: 10/02/2019] [Accepted: 10/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The marriage of cognitive neurophysiology and mathematical psychology to understand decision-making has been exceptionally productive. This interdisciplinary area is based on the proposition that particular neurons or circuits instantiate the accumulation of evidence specified by mathematical models of sequential sampling and stochastic accumulation. This linking proposition has earned widespread endorsement. Here, a brief survey of the history of the proposition precedes a review of multiple conundrums and paradoxes concerning the accuracy, precision, and transparency of that linking proposition. Correctly establishing how abstract models of decision-making are instantiated by particular neural circuits would represent a remarkable accomplishment in mapping mind to brain. Failing would reveal challenging limits for cognitive neuroscience. This is such a vigorous area of research because so much is at stake.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey D Schall
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, and Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA.
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29
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Devine CA, Gaffney C, Loughnane GM, Kelly SP, O'Connell RG. The role of premature evidence accumulation in making difficult perceptual decisions under temporal uncertainty. eLife 2019; 8:e48526. [PMID: 31774396 PMCID: PMC6904213 DOI: 10.7554/elife.48526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
The computations and neural processes underpinning decision making have primarily been investigated using highly simplified tasks in which stimulus onsets cue observers to start accumulating choice-relevant information. Yet, in daily life we are rarely afforded the luxury of knowing precisely when choice-relevant information will appear. Here, we examined neural indices of decision formation while subjects discriminated subtle stimulus feature changes whose timing relative to stimulus onset ('foreperiod') was uncertain. Joint analysis of behavioural error patterns and neural decision signal dynamics indicated that subjects systematically began the accumulation process before any informative evidence was presented, and further, that accumulation onset timing varied systematically as a function of the foreperiod of the preceding trial. These results suggest that the brain can adjust to temporal uncertainty by strategically modulating accumulation onset timing according to statistical regularities in the temporal structure of the sensory environment with particular emphasis on recent experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ciara A Devine
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of PsychologyThe University of Dublin, Trinity CollegeDublinIreland
| | - Christine Gaffney
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of PsychologyThe University of Dublin, Trinity CollegeDublinIreland
| | | | - Simon P Kelly
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and UCD Centre for Biomedical EngineeringUniversity College DublinDublinIreland
| | - Redmond G O'Connell
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of PsychologyThe University of Dublin, Trinity CollegeDublinIreland
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30
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Basu D, Murthy A. Parallel programming of saccades in the macaque frontal eye field: are sequential motor plans coactivated? J Neurophysiol 2019; 123:107-119. [PMID: 31721632 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00545.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
We use sequences of saccadic eye movements to continually explore our visual environments. Previous behavioral studies have established that saccades in a sequence may be programmed in parallel by the oculomotor system. In this study, we tested the neural correlates of parallel programming of saccade sequences in the frontal eye field (FEF), using single-unit electrophysiological recordings from macaques performing a sequential saccade task. It is known that FEF visual neurons instantiate target selection whereas FEF movement neurons undertake saccade preparation, where the activity corresponding to a saccade vector gradually ramps up. The question of whether FEF movement neurons are involved in concurrent processing of saccade plans is as yet unresolved. In the present study, we show that, when a peripheral target is foveated after a sequence of two saccades, presaccadic activity of FEF movement neurons for the second saccade can be activated while the first is still underway. Moreover, the onset of movement activity varied parametrically with the behaviorally measured time available for parallel programming. Although at central fixation coactivated FEF movement activity may vectorially encode the retinotopic location of the second target with respect to the fixation point or the remapped location of the second target, with respect to the first our evidence suggests the possibility of early encoding of the remapped second saccade vector. Taken together, the results indicate that movement neurons, although located terminally in the FEF visual-motor spectrum, can accomplish concurrent processing of multiple saccade plans, leading to rapid execution of saccade sequences.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The execution of purposeful sequences underlies much of goal-directed behavior. How different brain areas accomplish sequencing is poorly understood. Using a modified double-step task to generate a rapid sequence of two saccades, we demonstrate that downstream movement neurons in the frontal eye field (FEF), a prefrontal oculomotor area, allow for coactivation of the first and second movement plans that constitute the sequence. These results provide fundamental insights into the neural control of action sequencing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debaleena Basu
- Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
| | - Aditya Murthy
- Centre for Neuroscience, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
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Arcizet F, Mirpour K, Foster DJ, Bisley JW. Activity in LIP, But not V4, Matches Performance When Attention is Spread. Cereb Cortex 2019; 28:4195-4209. [PMID: 29069324 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhx274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The enhancement of neuronal responses in many visual areas while animals perform spatial attention tasks has widely been thought to be the neural correlate of visual attention, but it is unclear whether the presence or absence of this modulation contributes to our striking inability to notice changes in change blindness examples. We asked whether neuronal responses in visual area V4 and the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) in posterior parietal cortex could explain the limited ability of subjects to attend multiple items in a display. We trained animals to perform a change detection task in which they had to compare 2 arrays of stimuli separated briefly in time and found that each animal's performance decreased as function of set-size. Neuronal discriminability in V4 was consistent across set-sizes, but decreased for higher set-sizes in LIP. The introduction of a reward bias produced attentional enhancement in V4, but this could not explain the vast improvement in performance, whereas the enhancement in LIP responses could. We suggest that behavioral set-size effects and the marked improvement in performance with focused attention may not be related to response enhancement in V4 but, instead, may occur in or on the way to LIP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Arcizet
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Koorosh Mirpour
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Daniel J Foster
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - James W Bisley
- Department of Neurobiology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Jules Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Department of Psychology and the Brain Research Institute, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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32
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Tarrano C, Wattiez N, Delorme C, McGovern EM, Brochard V, Thobois S, Tranchant C, Grabli D, Degos B, Corvol J, Pedespan J, Krystkoviak P, Houeto J, Degardin A, Defebvre L, Valabrègue R, Vidailhet M, Pouget P, Roze E, Worbe Y. Visual Sensory Processing is Altered in Myoclonus Dystonia. Mov Disord 2019; 35:151-160. [DOI: 10.1002/mds.27857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2019] [Revised: 08/04/2019] [Accepted: 08/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Clément Tarrano
- Sorbonne Université Paris, France; Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UM 75, ICM Paris France
- Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris, Centre d'Investigation Clinique Neurosciences, Hôpital Pitié‐Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology Groupe Hospitalier Pitié‐Salpêtrière Paris France
- Department of Neurology CHU Côte de Nacre, Université Caen Normandie Caen France
| | - Nicolas Wattiez
- Sorbonne Université, INSERM, UMRS1158 Neurophysiologie Respiratoire Expérimentale et Clinique Paris France
| | - Cécile Delorme
- Sorbonne Université Paris, France; Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UM 75, ICM Paris France
- Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris, Centre d'Investigation Clinique Neurosciences, Hôpital Pitié‐Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology Groupe Hospitalier Pitié‐Salpêtrière Paris France
| | - Eavan M. McGovern
- Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris, Centre d'Investigation Clinique Neurosciences, Hôpital Pitié‐Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology Groupe Hospitalier Pitié‐Salpêtrière Paris France
- Department of Neurology St Vincent's University Hospital Dublin Dublin Ireland
| | | | - Stéphane Thobois
- University of Lyon, Institut des Sciences Cognitives Marc Jeannerod, CNRS, UMR 5229, Bron, France; Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital Neurologique Pierre Wertheimer, Service de Neurologie C Bron France
| | - Christine Tranchant
- Service de Neurologie Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (IGBMC), INSERM‐U964/CNRS‐UMR7104/Université de Strasbourg, Fédération de Médecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg (FMTS), Université de Strasbourg Strasbourg France
| | - David Grabli
- Sorbonne Université Paris, France; Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UM 75, ICM Paris France
- Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris, Centre d'Investigation Clinique Neurosciences, Hôpital Pitié‐Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology Groupe Hospitalier Pitié‐Salpêtrière Paris France
| | - Bertrand Degos
- Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris, Department of Neurology Hôpital Avicennes Bobigny France
| | - Jean‐Christophe Corvol
- Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris, Centre d'Investigation Clinique Neurosciences, Hôpital Pitié‐Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology Groupe Hospitalier Pitié‐Salpêtrière Paris France
| | | | | | - Jean‐Luc Houeto
- Service de Neurologie, CIC‐INSERM 1402, CHU de Poitiers Poitiers France
| | - Adrian Degardin
- Department of Neurology Centre hospitalier de Tourcoing Tourcoing France
| | - Luc Defebvre
- Université de Lille, CHU Lille, INSERM, U1171–Degenerative & Vascular Cognitive Disorders, Lille, France; Lille Centre of Excellence for Neurodegenerative Diseases (LiCEND) Lille France
| | - Romain Valabrègue
- Sorbonne Université Paris, France; Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UM 75, ICM Paris France
- Centre de NeuroImagerie de Recherche (CENIR) Sorbonne Université, UMR S 975, CNRS UMR 7225, ICM Paris France
| | - Marie Vidailhet
- Sorbonne Université Paris, France; Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UM 75, ICM Paris France
- Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris, Centre d'Investigation Clinique Neurosciences, Hôpital Pitié‐Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology Groupe Hospitalier Pitié‐Salpêtrière Paris France
| | - Pierre Pouget
- Sorbonne Université Paris, France; Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UM 75, ICM Paris France
| | - Emmanuel Roze
- Sorbonne Université Paris, France; Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UM 75, ICM Paris France
- Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris, Centre d'Investigation Clinique Neurosciences, Hôpital Pitié‐Salpêtrière, Paris, France; Department of Neurology Groupe Hospitalier Pitié‐Salpêtrière Paris France
| | - Yulia Worbe
- Sorbonne Université Paris, France; Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, UM 75, ICM Paris France
- Department of Neurophysiology Saint‐Antoine Hospital, Assistance Publique‐Hôpitaux de Paris Paris France
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Lowe KA, Reppert TR, Schall JD. Selective Influence and Sequential Operations: A Research Strategy for Visual Search. VISUAL COGNITION 2019; 27:387-415. [PMID: 32982561 PMCID: PMC7518653 DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2019.1659896] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2019] [Accepted: 08/17/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
We discuss the problem of elucidating mechanisms of visual search. We begin by considering the history, logic, and methods of relating behavioral or cognitive processes with neural processes. We then survey briefly the cognitive neurophysiology of visual search and essential aspects of the neural circuitry supporting this capacity. We introduce conceptually and empirically a powerful but underutilized experimental approach to dissect the cognitive processes supporting performance of a visual search task with factorial manipulations of singleton-distractor identifiability and stimulus-response cue discriminability. We show that systems factorial technology can distinguish processing architectures from the performance of macaque monkeys. This demonstration offers new opportunities to distinguish neural mechanisms through selective manipulation of visual encoding, search selection, rule encoding, and stimulus-response mapping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaleb A Lowe
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center
| | - Thomas R Reppert
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center
| | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center
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Ganupuru P, Goldring AB, Harun R, Hanks TD. Flexibility of Timescales of Evidence Evaluation for Decision Making. Curr Biol 2019; 29:2091-2097.e4. [PMID: 31178325 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.05.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2018] [Revised: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 05/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
To understand the neural mechanisms that support decision making, it is critical to characterize the timescale of evidence evaluation. Recent work has shown that subjects can adaptively adjust the timescale of evidence evaluation across blocks of trials depending on context [1]. However, it's currently unknown if adjustments to evidence evaluation occur online during deliberations based on a single stream of evidence. To examine this question, we employed a change-detection task in which subjects report their level of confidence in judging whether there has been a change in a stochastic auditory stimulus. Using a combination of psychophysical reverse correlation analyses and single-trial behavioral modeling, we compared the time period over which sensory information has leverage on detection report choices versus confidence. We demonstrate that the length of this period differs on separate sets of trials based on what's being reported. Surprisingly, confidence judgments on trials with no detection report are influenced by evidence occurring earlier than the time period of influence for detection reports. Our findings call into question models of decision formation involving static parameters that yield a singular timescale of evidence evaluation and instead suggest that the brain represents and utilizes multiple timescales of evidence evaluation during deliberation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Preetham Ganupuru
- Department of Neurology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, 1544 Newton Ct., Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - Adam B Goldring
- Department of Neurology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, 1544 Newton Ct., Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - Rashed Harun
- Department of Neurology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, 1544 Newton Ct., Davis, CA 95618, USA
| | - Timothy D Hanks
- Department of Neurology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, 1544 Newton Ct., Davis, CA 95618, USA.
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35
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Turner BM, Palestro JJ, Miletić S, Forstmann BU. Advances in techniques for imposing reciprocity in brain-behavior relations. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 102:327-336. [PMID: 31128445 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.04.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2018] [Revised: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 04/25/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
To better understand human behavior, the emerging field of model-based cognitive neuroscience seeks to anchor psychological theory to the biological substrate from which behavior originates: the brain. Despite complex dynamics, many researchers in this field have demonstrated that fluctuations in brain activity can be related to fluctuations in components of cognitive models, which instantiate psychological theories. In this review, we discuss a number of approaches for relating brain activity to cognitive models, and expand on a framework for imposing reciprocity in the inference of mental operations from the combination of brain and behavioral data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon M Turner
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
| | - James J Palestro
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
| | - Steven Miletić
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| | - Birte U Forstmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
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36
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White BJ, Itti L, Munoz DP. Superior colliculus encodes visual saliency during smooth pursuit eye movements. Eur J Neurosci 2019; 54:4258-4268. [PMID: 31077473 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2018] [Revised: 04/15/2019] [Accepted: 04/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The saliency map has played a long-standing role in models and theories of visual attention, and it is now supported by neurobiological evidence from several cortical and subcortical brain areas. While visual saliency is computed during moments of active fixation, it is not known whether the same is true while engaged in smooth pursuit of a moving stimulus, which is very common in real-world vision. Here, we examined extrafoveal saliency coding in the superior colliculus, a midbrain area associated with attention and gaze, during smooth pursuit eye movements. We found that SC neurons from the superficial visual layers showed a robust representation of peripheral saliency evoked by a conspicuous stimulus embedded in a wide-field array of goal-irrelevant stimuli. In contrast, visuomotor neurons from the intermediate saccade-related layers showed a poor saliency representation, even though most of these neurons were visually responsive during smooth pursuit. These results confirm and extend previous findings that place the SCs in a unique role as a saliency map that monitors peripheral vision during foveation of stationary and now moving objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian J White
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
| | - Laurent Itti
- Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Douglas P Munoz
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
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37
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Servant M, Tillman G, Schall JD, Logan GD, Palmeri TJ. Neurally constrained modeling of speed-accuracy tradeoff during visual search: gated accumulation of modulated evidence. J Neurophysiol 2019; 121:1300-1314. [PMID: 30726163 PMCID: PMC6485731 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00507.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2018] [Revised: 02/01/2019] [Accepted: 02/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Stochastic accumulator models account for response times and errors in perceptual decision making by assuming a noisy accumulation of perceptual evidence to a threshold. Previously, we explained saccade visual search decision making by macaque monkeys with a stochastic multiaccumulator model in which accumulation was driven by a gated feed-forward integration to threshold of spike trains from visually responsive neurons in frontal eye field that signal stimulus salience. This neurally constrained model quantitatively accounted for response times and errors in visual search for a target among varying numbers of distractors and replicated the dynamics of presaccadic movement neurons hypothesized to instantiate evidence accumulation. This modeling framework suggested strategic control over gate or over threshold as two potential mechanisms to accomplish speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT). Here, we show that our gated accumulator model framework can account for visual search performance under SAT instructions observed in a milestone neurophysiological study of frontal eye field. This framework captured key elements of saccade search performance, through observed modulations of neural input, as well as flexible combinations of gate and threshold parameters necessary to explain differences in SAT strategy across monkeys. However, the trajectories of the model accumulators deviated from the dynamics of most presaccadic movement neurons. These findings demonstrate that traditional theoretical accounts of SAT are incomplete descriptions of the underlying neural adjustments that accomplish SAT, offer a novel mechanistic account of decision-making mechanisms during speed-accuracy tradeoff, and highlight questions regarding the identity of model and neural accumulators. NEW & NOTEWORTHY A gated accumulator model is used to elucidate neurocomputational mechanisms of speed-accuracy tradeoff. Whereas canonical stochastic accumulators adjust strategy only through variation of an accumulation threshold, we demonstrate that strategic adjustments are accomplished by flexible combinations of both modulation of the evidence representation and adaptation of accumulator gate and threshold. The results indicate how model-based cognitive neuroscience can translate between abstract cognitive models of performance and neural mechanisms of speed-accuracy tradeoff.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Servant
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Gabriel Tillman
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Gordon D Logan
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Thomas J Palmeri
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
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38
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Evans NJ, Hawkins GE. When humans behave like monkeys: Feedback delays and extensive practice increase the efficiency of speeded decisions. Cognition 2019; 184:11-18. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.11.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2018] [Revised: 11/21/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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Scerra VE, Costello MG, Salinas E, Stanford TR. All-or-None Context Dependence Delineates Limits of FEF Visual Target Selection. Curr Biol 2019; 29:294-305.e3. [PMID: 30639113 PMCID: PMC7105291 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.12.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2018] [Revised: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 12/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Choices of where to look are informed by perceptual judgments, which locate objects of current value or interest within the visual scene. This perceptual-motor transform is partly implemented in the frontal eye field (FEF), where visually responsive neurons appear to select behaviorally relevant visual targets and, subsequently, saccade-related neurons select the movements required to look at them. Here, we use urgent decision-making tasks to show (1) that FEF motor activity can direct accurate, visually informed choices in the complete absence of prior target-distracter discrimination by FEF visual responses and (2) that such discrimination by FEF visual cells shows an all-or-none reliance on the presence of stimulus attributes strongly associated with saliency-driven attentional allocation. The present findings suggest that FEF visual target selection is specific to visual judgments made on the basis of saliency and may not play a significant role in guiding saccadic choices informed solely by feature content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veronica E Scerra
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, 1 Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010, USA; Systems Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
| | - M Gabriela Costello
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, 1 Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010, USA; Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Emilio Salinas
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, 1 Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010, USA
| | - Terrence R Stanford
- Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Wake Forest School of Medicine, 1 Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1010, USA
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Neurons in FEF Keep Track of Items That Have Been Previously Fixated in Free Viewing Visual Search. J Neurosci 2019; 39:2114-2124. [PMID: 30647149 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1767-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2018] [Revised: 11/30/2018] [Accepted: 12/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
When searching a visual scene for a target, we tend not to look at items or locations we have already searched. It is thought that this behavior is driven by an inhibitory tagging mechanism that inhibits responses on priority maps to the relevant items. We hypothesized that this inhibitory tagging signal should be represented as an elevated response in neurons that keep track of stimuli that have been fixated. We recorded from 231 neurons in the frontal eye field (FEF) of 2 male animals performing a visual foraging task, in which they had to find a reward linked to one of five identical targets (Ts) among five distractors. We identified 38 neurons with activity that was significantly greater when the stimulus in the receptive field had been fixated previously in the trial than when it had not been fixated. The response to a fixated object began before the saccade ended, suggesting that this information is remapped. Unlike most FEF neurons, the activity in these cells was not suppressed during active fixation, had minimal motor responses, and did not change through the trial. Yet using traditional classifications from a memory-guided saccade, they were indistinguishable from the rest of the FEF population. We propose that these neurons keep track of any items that have been fixated within the trial and this signal is propagated by remapping. These neurons could be the source of the inhibitory tagging signal to parietal cortex, where a neuronal instantiation of inhibitory tagging is seen.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT When we search a scene for an item, we rarely examine the same location twice. It is thought that this is due to a neural mechanism that keeps track of the items at which we have looked. Here we identified a subset of neurons in the frontal eye field that preferentially responded to items that had been fixated earlier in the trial. These responses were remapped, appearing before the saccade even ended, and were not suppressed during maintained fixation. We propose that these neurons keep track of which items have been examined in search and could be the source of feedback that creates the inhibitory tagging seen in parietal cortex.
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41
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The neural instantiation of a priority map. Curr Opin Psychol 2019; 29:108-112. [PMID: 30731260 DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2018] [Revised: 11/27/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The term priority map is commonly used to describe a map of the visual scene, in which objects and locations are represented by their attentional priority, which itself is a combination of low-level salience and top-down control. The aim of this review is to examine how such a map may be represented at the neuronal level. We propose that there is not a single, common map in the brain, but that a number of cortical areas work together to generate the resultant behavior. Specifically, we suggest that the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of posterior parietal cortex provides a simple representation of attentional priority, which remaps across saccades, so that there is an apparent allocentric map in a region with retinocentric encoding scheme. We propose that the frontal eye field (FEF) of prefrontal cortex receives the responses from LIP, but can suppress them to control the flow of eye movement behavior, and that the intermediate layers of the superior colliculus (SCi) reflect the final saccade goal. Together, these areas function to guide eye movements and may play a similar role in allocating covert visual attention.
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42
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O'Connell RG, Shadlen MN, Wong-Lin K, Kelly SP. Bridging Neural and Computational Viewpoints on Perceptual Decision-Making. Trends Neurosci 2018; 41:838-852. [PMID: 30007746 PMCID: PMC6215147 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2018.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2018] [Revised: 06/12/2018] [Accepted: 06/13/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Sequential sampling models have provided a dominant theoretical framework guiding computational and neurophysiological investigations of perceptual decision-making. While these models share the basic principle that decisions are formed by accumulating sensory evidence to a bound, they come in many forms that can make similar predictions of choice behaviour despite invoking fundamentally different mechanisms. The identification of neural signals that reflect some of the core computations underpinning decision formation offers new avenues for empirically testing and refining key model assumptions. Here, we highlight recent efforts to explore these avenues and, in so doing, consider the conceptual and methodological challenges that arise when seeking to infer decision computations from complex neural data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Redmond G O'Connell
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.
| | - Michael N Shadlen
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Zuckerman Mind Brain Behaviour Institute and Kavli Institute for Brain Science, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - KongFatt Wong-Lin
- Intelligent Systems Research Centre, University of Ulster, Magee Campus, Northland Road, Derry, BT48 7JL, UK
| | - Simon P Kelly
- School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
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43
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Lowe KA, Schall JD. Functional Categories of Visuomotor Neurons in Macaque Frontal Eye Field. eNeuro 2018; 5:ENEURO.0131-18.2018. [PMID: 30406195 PMCID: PMC6220589 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0131-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2018] [Revised: 09/20/2018] [Accepted: 09/21/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Frontal eye field (FEF) in macaque monkeys contributes to visual attention, visual-motor transformations and production of eye movements. Traditionally, neurons in FEF have been classified by the magnitude of increased discharge rates following visual stimulus presentation, during a waiting period, and associated with eye movement production. However, considerable heterogeneity remains within the traditional visual, visuomovement, and movement categories. Cluster analysis is a data-driven method of identifying self-segregating groups within a dataset. Because many cluster analysis techniques exist and outcomes vary with analysis assumptions, consensus clustering aggregates over multiple analyses, identifying robust groups. To describe more comprehensively the neuronal composition of FEF, we applied a consensus clustering technique for unsupervised categorization of patterns of spike rate modulation measured during a memory-guided saccade task. We report 10 functional categories, expanding on the traditional 3 categories. Categories were distinguished by latency, magnitude, and sign of visual response; the presence of sustained activity; and the dynamics, magnitude and sign of saccade-related modulation. Consensus clustering can include other metrics and can be applied to datasets from other brain regions to provide better information guiding microcircuit models of cortical function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaleb A Lowe
- Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37240
| | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Department of Psychology, Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37240
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Having More Choices Changes How Human Observers Weight Stable Sensory Evidence. J Neurosci 2018; 38:8635-8649. [PMID: 30143576 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0440-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2018] [Revised: 08/07/2018] [Accepted: 08/14/2018] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Decision-making becomes slower when more choices are available. Existing models attribute this slowing to poor sensory processing, to attenuated rates of sensory evidence accumulation, or to increases in the amount of evidence required before committing to a decision (a higher decision threshold). However, studies have not isolated the effects of having more choices on sensory and decision-related processes from changes in task difficulty and divided attention. Here, we controlled task difficulty while independently manipulating the distribution of attention and the number of choices available to male and female human observers. We used EEG to measure steady-state visually evoked potentials (SSVEPs) and a frontal late positive deflection (LPD), EEG markers of sensory and postsensory decision-related processes, respectively. We found that dividing attention decreased SSVEP and LPD amplitudes, consistent with dampened sensory responses and slower rates of evidence accumulation, respectively. In contrast, having more choices did not alter SSVEP amplitude and led to a larger LPD. These results suggest that having more options largely spares early sensory processing and slows down decision-making via a selective increase in decision thresholds.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT When more choices are available, decision-making becomes slower. We tested whether this phenomenon is due to poor sensory processing, to reduced rates of evidence accumulation, or to increases in the amount of evidence required before committing to a decision (a higher decision threshold). We measured choice modulations of sensory and decision-related neural responses using EEG. We also minimized potential confounds from changes in the distribution of attention and task difficulty, which often covary with having more choices. Dividing attention reduced the activity levels of both sensory and decision-related responses. However, having more choices did not change sensory processing and led to larger decision-related responses. These results suggest that having more choices spares sensory processing and selectively increases decision thresholds.
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Markkula G, Boer E, Romano R, Merat N. Sustained sensorimotor control as intermittent decisions about prediction errors: computational framework and application to ground vehicle steering. BIOLOGICAL CYBERNETICS 2018; 112:181-207. [PMID: 29453689 PMCID: PMC6002515 DOI: 10.1007/s00422-017-0743-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2017] [Accepted: 12/16/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
A conceptual and computational framework is proposed for modelling of human sensorimotor control and is exemplified for the sensorimotor task of steering a car. The framework emphasises control intermittency and extends on existing models by suggesting that the nervous system implements intermittent control using a combination of (1) motor primitives, (2) prediction of sensory outcomes of motor actions, and (3) evidence accumulation of prediction errors. It is shown that approximate but useful sensory predictions in the intermittent control context can be constructed without detailed forward models, as a superposition of simple prediction primitives, resembling neurobiologically observed corollary discharges. The proposed mathematical framework allows straightforward extension to intermittent behaviour from existing one-dimensional continuous models in the linear control and ecological psychology traditions. Empirical data from a driving simulator are used in model-fitting analyses to test some of the framework's main theoretical predictions: it is shown that human steering control, in routine lane-keeping and in a demanding near-limit task, is better described as a sequence of discrete stepwise control adjustments, than as continuous control. Results on the possible roles of sensory prediction in control adjustment amplitudes, and of evidence accumulation mechanisms in control onset timing, show trends that match the theoretical predictions; these warrant further investigation. The results for the accumulation-based model align with other recent literature, in a possibly converging case against the type of threshold mechanisms that are often assumed in existing models of intermittent control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustav Markkula
- Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
| | - Erwin Boer
- Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Richard Romano
- Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Natasha Merat
- Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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Some task demands induce collapsing bounds: Evidence from a behavioral analysis. Psychon Bull Rev 2018; 25:1225-1248. [DOI: 10.3758/s13423-018-1479-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Reppert TR, Servant M, Heitz RP, Schall JD. Neural mechanisms of speed-accuracy tradeoff of visual search: saccade vigor, the origin of targeting errors, and comparison of the superior colliculus and frontal eye field. J Neurophysiol 2018; 120:372-384. [PMID: 29668383 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00887.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Balancing the speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) is necessary for successful behavior. Using a visual search task with interleaved cues emphasizing speed or accuracy, we recently reported diverse contributions of frontal eye field (FEF) neurons instantiating salience evidence and response preparation. Here, we report replication of visual search SAT performance in two macaque monkeys, new information about variation of saccade dynamics with SAT, extension of the neurophysiological investigation to describe processes in the superior colliculus (SC), and a description of the origin of search errors in this task. Saccade vigor varied idiosyncratically across SAT conditions and monkeys but tended to decrease with response time. As observed in the FEF, speed-accuracy tradeoff was accomplished through several distinct adjustments in the superior colliculus. In "Accurate" relative to "Fast" trials, visually responsive neurons in SC as in FEF had lower baseline firing rates and later target selection. The magnitude of these adjustments in SC was indistinguishable from that in FEF. Search errors occurred when visual salience neurons in the FEF and the SC treated distractors as targets, even in the Accurate condition. Unlike FEF, the magnitude of visual responses in the SC did not vary across SAT conditions. Also unlike FEF, the activity of SC movement neurons when saccades were initiated was equivalent in Fast and Accurate trials. Saccade-related neural activity in SC, but not FEF, varied with saccade peak velocity. These results extend our understanding of the cortical and subcortical contributions to SAT. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Neurophysiological mechanisms of speed-accuracy tradeoff (SAT) have only recently been investigated. This article reports the first replication of SAT performance in nonhuman primates, the first report of variation of saccade dynamics with SAT, the first description of superior colliculus contributions to SAT, and the first description of the origin of errors during SAT. These results inform and constrain new models of distributed decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas R Reppert
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Mathieu Servant
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Richard P Heitz
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
| | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee
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48
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Suppression of frontal eye field neuronal responses with maintained fixation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:804-809. [PMID: 29311323 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1716315115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The decision of where to make an eye movement is thought to be driven primarily by responses to stimuli in neurons' receptive fields (RFs) in oculomotor areas, including the frontal eye field (FEF) of prefrontal cortex. It is also thought that a saccade may be generated when the accumulation of this activity in favor of one location or another reaches a threshold. However, in the reading and scene perception fields, it is well known that the properties of the stimulus at the fovea often affect when the eyes leave that stimulus. We propose that if FEF plays a role in generating eye movements, then the identity of the stimulus at fixation should affect the FEF responses so as to reduce the probability of making a saccade when fixating an item of interest. Using a visual foraging task in which animals could make multiple eye movements within a single trial, we found that responses were strongly modulated by the identity of the stimulus at the fovea. Specifically, responses to the stimulus in the RF were suppressed when the animal maintained fixation for longer durations on a stimulus that could be associated with a reward. We suggest that this suppression, which was predicted by models of eye movement behavior, could be a mechanism by which FEF can modulate the temporal flow of saccades based on the importance of the stimulus at the fovea.
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Abstract
When evaluating cognitive models based on fits to observed data (or, really, any model that has free parameters), parameter estimation is critically important. Traditional techniques like hill climbing by minimizing or maximizing a fit statistic often result in point estimates. Bayesian approaches instead estimate parameters as posterior probability distributions, and thus naturally account for the uncertainty associated with parameter estimation; Bayesian approaches also offer powerful and principled methods for model comparison. Although software applications such as WinBUGS (Lunn, Thomas, Best, & Spiegelhalter, Statistics and Computing, 10, 325-337, 2000) and JAGS (Plummer, 2003) provide "turnkey"-style packages for Bayesian inference, they can be inefficient when dealing with models whose parameters are correlated, which is often the case for cognitive models, and they can impose significant technical barriers to adding custom distributions, which is often necessary when implementing cognitive models within a Bayesian framework. A recently developed software package called Stan (Stan Development Team, 2015) can solve both problems, as well as provide a turnkey solution to Bayesian inference. We present a tutorial on how to use Stan and how to add custom distributions to it, with an example using the linear ballistic accumulator model (Brown & Heathcote, Cognitive Psychology, 57, 153-178. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2007.12.002 , 2008).
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50
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White BJ, Kan JY, Levy R, Itti L, Munoz DP. Superior colliculus encodes visual saliency before the primary visual cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:9451-9456. [PMID: 28808026 PMCID: PMC5584409 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1701003114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Models of visual attention postulate the existence of a bottom-up saliency map that is formed early in the visual processing stream. Although studies have reported evidence of a saliency map in various cortical brain areas, determining the contribution of phylogenetically older pathways is crucial to understanding its origin. Here, we compared saliency coding from neurons in two early gateways into the visual system: the primary visual cortex (V1) and the evolutionarily older superior colliculus (SC). We found that, while the response latency to visual stimulus onset was earlier for V1 neurons than superior colliculus superficial visual-layer neurons (SCs), the saliency representation emerged earlier in SCs than in V1. Because the dominant input to the SCs arises from V1, these relative timings are consistent with the hypothesis that SCs neurons pool the inputs from multiple V1 neurons to form a feature-agnostic saliency map, which may then be relayed to other brain areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian J White
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada;
| | - Janis Y Kan
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Ron Levy
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
- Department of Surgery, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Laurent Itti
- Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 95120
| | - Douglas P Munoz
- Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
- Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
- Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
- Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada
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