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Saeedi A, Wang K, Nikpourian G, Bartels A, Logothetis NK, Totah NK, Watanabe M. Brightness illusions drive a neuronal response in the primary visual cortex under top-down modulation. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3141. [PMID: 38653975 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46885-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Brightness illusions are a powerful tool in studying vision, yet their neural correlates are poorly understood. Based on a human paradigm, we presented illusory drifting gratings to mice. Primary visual cortex (V1) neurons responded to illusory gratings, matching their direction selectivity for real gratings, and they tracked the spatial phase offset between illusory and real gratings. Illusion responses were delayed compared to real gratings, in line with the theory that processing illusions requires feedback from higher visual areas (HVAs). We provide support for this theory by showing a reduced V1 response to illusions, but not real gratings, following HVAs optogenetic inhibition. Finally, we used the pupil response (PR) as an indirect perceptual report and showed that the mouse PR matches the human PR to perceived luminance changes. Our findings resolve debates over whether V1 neurons are involved in processing illusions and highlight the involvement of feedback from HVAs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alireza Saeedi
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Research Group Neurobiology of Magnetoreception, Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - caesar, 53175, Bonn, Germany
| | - Kun Wang
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, International Center for Primate Brain Research, Songjiang District, Shanghai, 201602, China
| | - Ghazaleh Nikpourian
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Andreas Bartels
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Vision and Cognition Lab, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Nikos K Logothetis
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, International Center for Primate Brain Research, Songjiang District, Shanghai, 201602, China
- Centre for Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M139PT, UK
| | - Nelson K Totah
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
- Helsinki Institute of Life Science (HILIFE), University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
- Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
- Neuroscience Center, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Masataka Watanabe
- Department of Physiology of Cognitive Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
- Department of Systems Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
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Dual counterstream architecture may support separation between vision and predictions. Conscious Cogn 2022; 103:103375. [DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103375] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2021] [Revised: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Han S, Eun S, Cho H, Uludaǧ K, Kim SG. Improvement of sensitivity and specificity for laminar BOLD fMRI with double spin-echo EPI in humans at 7 T. Neuroimage 2021; 241:118435. [PMID: 34324976 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118435] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Accepted: 07/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Mapping mesoscopic cortical functional units such as columns or laminae is increasingly pursued by ultra-high field (UHF) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The most popular approach for high-resolution fMRI is currently gradient-echo (GE) blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI. However, its spatial accuracy is reduced due to its sensitivity to draining vessels, including pial veins, whereas spin-echo (SE) BOLD signal is expected to have higher spatial accuracy, albeit with lower sensitivity than the GE-BOLD signal. Here, we introduce a new double spin-echo (dSE) echo-planar imaging (EPI) method to improve the sensitivity of SE-BOLD contrast by averaging two spin-echoes using three radiofrequency pulses. Human fMRI experiments were performed with slices perpendicular to the central sulcus between motor and sensory cortices at 7 T during fist-clenching with touching. First, we evaluated the feasibility of single-shot dSE-EPI for BOLD fMRI with 1.5 mm isotropic resolution and found that dSE-BOLD fMRI has higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), temporal SNR (tSNR), and higher functional sensitivity than conventional SE-BOLD fMRI. Second, to investigate the laminar specificity of dSE-BOLD fMRI, we implemented a multi-shot approach to achieve 0.8-mm isotropic resolution with sliding-window reconstruction. Unlike GE-BOLD fMRI, the cortical profile of dSE-BOLD fMRI peaked at ~ 1.0 mm from the surface of the primary motor and sensory cortices, demonstrating an improvement of laminar specificity in humans over GE-BOLD fMRI. The proposed multi-shot dSE-EPI method is viable for high spatial resolution UHF-fMRI studies in the pursuit of resolving mesoscopic functional units.
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Affiliation(s)
- SoHyun Han
- Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Suwon, Republic of Korea; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
| | - Seulgi Eun
- Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Suwon, Republic of Korea; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea
| | - HyungJoon Cho
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan, Republic of Korea
| | - Kâmil Uludaǧ
- Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Suwon, Republic of Korea; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea; Techna Institute & Koerner Scientist in MR Imaging, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada
| | - Seong-Gi Kim
- Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Suwon, Republic of Korea; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea; Department of Intelligent Precision Healthcare Convergence, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
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Prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific activity in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex. PLoS Biol 2020; 18:e3001023. [PMID: 33284791 PMCID: PMC7746273 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The way we perceive the world is strongly influenced by our expectations. In line with this, much recent research has revealed that prior expectations strongly modulate sensory processing. However, the neural circuitry through which the brain integrates external sensory inputs with internal expectation signals remains unknown. In order to understand the computational architecture of the cortex, we need to investigate the way these signals flow through the cortical layers. This is crucial because the different cortical layers have distinct intra- and interregional connectivity patterns, and therefore determining which layers are involved in a cortical computation can inform us on the sources and targets of these signals. Here, we used ultra-high field (7T) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal that prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific activity selectively in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex (V1). These findings are in line with predictive processing theories proposing that neurons in the deep cortical layers represent perceptual hypotheses and thereby shed light on the computational architecture of cortex. The way we perceive the world is strongly influenced by our expectations, but the neural circuitry through which the brain achieves this remains unknown. A study using ultra-high field fMRI reveals that prior expectations evoke stimulus-specific signals in the deep layers of the primary visual cortex.
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Weldon KB, Olman CA. Forging a path to mesoscopic imaging success with ultra-high field functional magnetic resonance imaging. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 376:20200040. [PMID: 33190599 PMCID: PMC7741029 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies with ultra-high field (UHF, 7+ Tesla) technology enable the acquisition of high-resolution images. In this work, we discuss recent achievements in UHF fMRI at the mesoscopic scale, on the order of cortical columns and layers, and examine approaches to addressing common challenges. As researchers push to smaller and smaller voxel sizes, acquisition and analysis decisions have greater potential to degrade spatial accuracy, and UHF fMRI data must be carefully interpreted. We consider the impact of acquisition decisions on the spatial specificity of the MR signal with a representative dataset with 0.8 mm isotropic resolution. We illustrate the trade-offs in contrast with noise ratio and spatial specificity of different acquisition techniques and show that acquisition blurring can increase the effective voxel size by as much as 50% in some dimensions. We further describe how different sources of degradations to spatial resolution in functional data may be characterized. Finally, we emphasize that progress in UHF fMRI depends not only on scientific discovery and technical advancement, but also on informal discussions and documentation of challenges researchers face and overcome in pursuit of their goals. This article is part of the theme issue 'Key relationships between non-invasive functional neuroimaging and the underlying neuronal activity'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly B Weldon
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.,Center for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Cheryl A Olman
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
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Marquardt I, De Weerd P, Schneider M, Gulban OF, Ivanov D, Wang Y, Uludağ K. Feedback contribution to surface motion perception in the human early visual cortex. eLife 2020; 9:e50933. [PMID: 32496189 PMCID: PMC7314553 DOI: 10.7554/elife.50933] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Human visual surface perception has neural correlates in early visual cortex, but the role of feedback during surface segmentation in human early visual cortex remains unknown. Feedback projections preferentially enter superficial and deep anatomical layers, which provides a hypothesis for the cortical depth distribution of fMRI activity related to feedback. Using ultra-high field fMRI, we report a depth distribution of activation in line with feedback during the (illusory) perception of surface motion. Our results fit with a signal re-entering in superficial depths of V1, followed by a feedforward sweep of the re-entered information through V2 and V3. The magnitude and sign of the BOLD response strongly depended on the presence of texture in the background, and was additionally modulated by the presence of illusory motion perception compatible with feedback. In summary, the present study demonstrates the potential of depth-resolved fMRI in tackling biomechanical questions on perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ingo Marquardt
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC) Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityMaastrichtNetherlands
| | - Peter De Weerd
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC) Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityMaastrichtNetherlands
- Maastricht Center of Systems Biology (MACSBIO), Faculty of Science & Engineering, Maastricht UniversityMaastrichtNetherlands
| | - Marian Schneider
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC) Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityMaastrichtNetherlands
| | - Omer Faruk Gulban
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC) Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityMaastrichtNetherlands
| | - Dimo Ivanov
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC) Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityMaastrichtNetherlands
| | - Yawen Wang
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (MBIC) Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht UniversityMaastrichtNetherlands
| | - Kâmil Uludağ
- Center for Neuroscience Imaging Research, Institute for Basic Science and Department of Biomedical Engineering, N Center, Sungkyunkwan UniversityJangan-guRepublic of Korea
- Techna Institute and Koerner Scientist in MR Imaging, University Health NetworkTorontoCanada
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