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Er G, Sweeny TD. Similarity in motion binds and bends judgments of aspect ratio. Vision Res 2024; 220:108400. [PMID: 38603923 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2024.108400] [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: 07/18/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 03/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
It is well known that objects become grouped in perceptual organization when they share some visual feature, like a common direction of motion. Less well known is that grouping can change how people perceive a set of objects. For example, when a pair of shapes consistently share a common region of space, their aspect ratios tend to be perceived as more similar (are attracted toward each other). Conversely, when shapes are assigned to different regions in space their aspect ratios repel from each other. Here we examine whether the visual system produce both attractive and repulsive distortions when the state of grouping between a pair of shapes changes on a moment-to-moment basis. Observers viewed a pair of ellipses that differed in terms of how flat or tall they were and reported the aspect ratio of one ellipse from the pair. Each ellipse was defined by a cloud of coherently-moving dots, and the dots within the two ellipses had either the same or different directions of motion, varying from trial-to-trial. We found that the cued ellipse's aspect ratio was reported to be repelled from the aspect ratio of the uncued ellipse when the shapes had different directions of motion compared to when they had the same direction of motion. These results suggest that the visual system can adaptively alter visual experience based on grouping, in particular, repelling the appearance of objects when they do not appear to go together, and it can do so quickly and flexibly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Görkem Er
- Department of Psychology, University of Denver, United States.
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2
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Machida I, Shishikura M, Yamane Y, Sakai K. Representation of Natural Contours by a Neural Population in Monkey V4. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0445-23.2024. [PMID: 38423791 PMCID: PMC10946029 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0445-23.2024] [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: 10/25/2023] [Revised: 02/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024] Open
Abstract
The cortical visual area, V4, has been considered to code contours that contribute to the intermediate-level representation of objects. The neural responses to the complex contour features intrinsic to natural contours are expected to clarify the essence of the representation. To approach the cortical coding of natural contours, we investigated the simultaneous coding of multiple contour features in monkey (Macaca fuscata) V4 neurons and their population-level representation. A substantial number of neurons showed significant tuning for two or more features such as curvature and closure, indicating that a substantial number of V4 neurons simultaneously code multiple contour features. A large portion of the neurons responded vigorously to acutely curved contours that surrounded the center of classical receptive field, suggesting that V4 neurons tend to code prominent features of object contours. The analysis of mutual information (MI) between the neural responses and each contour feature showed that most neurons exhibited similar magnitudes for each type of MI, indicating that many neurons showing the responses depended on multiple contour features. We next examined the population-level representation by using multidimensional scaling analysis. The neural preferences to the multiple contour features and that to natural stimuli compared with silhouette stimuli increased along with the primary and secondary axes, respectively, indicating the contribution of the multiple contour features and surface textures in the population responses. Our analyses suggested that V4 neurons simultaneously code multiple contour features in natural images and represent contour and surface properties in population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Itsuki Machida
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan
| | - Motofumi Shishikura
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan
| | - Yukako Yamane
- Neural Computation Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa 904-0495, Japan
| | - Ko Sakai
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8573, Japan
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Srinath R, Ni AM, Marucci C, Cohen MR, Brainard DH. Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgements of natural stimuli. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.14.580134. [PMID: 38464018 PMCID: PMC10925131 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.14.580134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
In natural behavior, observers must separate relevant information from a barrage of irrelevant information. Many studies have investigated the neural underpinnings of this ability using artificial stimuli presented on simple backgrounds. Natural viewing, however, carries a set of challenges that are inaccessible using artificial stimuli, including neural responses to background objects that are task-irrelevant. An emerging body of evidence suggests that the visual abilities of humans and animals can be modeled through the linear decoding of task-relevant information from visual cortex. This idea suggests the hypothesis that irrelevant features of a natural scene should impair performance on a visual task only if their neural representations intrude on the linear readout of the task relevant feature, as would occur if the representations of task-relevant and irrelevant features are not orthogonal in the underlying neural population. We tested this hypothesis using human psychophysics and monkey neurophysiology, in response to parametrically variable naturalistic stimuli. We demonstrate that 1) the neural representation of one feature (the position of a central object) in visual area V4 is orthogonal to those of several background features, 2) the ability of human observers to precisely judge object position was largely unaffected by task-irrelevant variation in those background features, and 3) many features of the object and the background are orthogonally represented by V4 neural responses. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that orthogonal neural representations support stable perception of objects and features despite the tremendous richness of natural visual scenes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ramanujan Srinath
- equal contribution
- Department of Neurobiology and Neuroscience Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Amy M. Ni
- equal contribution
- Department of Neurobiology and Neuroscience Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Claire Marucci
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Marlene R. Cohen
- Department of Neurobiology and Neuroscience Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- equal contribution
| | - David H. Brainard
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- equal contribution
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Horsthuis DJ, Molholm S, Foxe JJ, Francisco AA. Event-related potential (ERP) evidence for visual processing differences in children and adults with cystinosis (CTNS gene mutations). Orphanet J Rare Dis 2023; 18:389. [PMID: 38087330 PMCID: PMC10714457 DOI: 10.1186/s13023-023-02985-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Accepted: 11/18/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cystinosis, a rare lysosomal storage disease caused by mutations in the CTNS gene, is characterized by cystine crystallization and accumulation within multiple tissues, including kidney and brain. Its impact on neural function appears mild relative to its effects on other organs during early disease, but since therapeutic advances have led to substantially increased life expectancy, neurological implications are of increasing interest, necessitating deeper understanding of the impact of cystinosis on neurocognitive function. Behavioral difficulties have been reported in cystinosis in the visual domain. Very little is known, however, about how the brains of people living with cystinosis process visual information. This is especially interesting given that cystine accumulation in the cornea and posterior ocular structures is a hallmark of cystinosis. METHODS Here, high-density scalp electrophysiology was recorded to visual stimuli (during a Go/No-Go task) to investigate visual processing in individuals with cystinosis, compared to age-matched controls. Analyses focused on early stages of cortical visual processing. RESULTS The groups differed in their initial cortical response, with individuals with cystinosis exhibiting a significantly larger visual evoked potential (VEP) in the 130-150 ms time window. The groups also differed in the associations between neural responses and verbal abilities: While controls with higher IQ scores presented larger neural responses, that relationship was not observed in cystinosis. CONCLUSIONS The enlarged VEP in cystinosis could be the result of cortical hyperexcitability and/or differences in attentional engagement and explain, at least partially, the visual and visual-spatial difficulties described in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douwe J Horsthuis
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Van Etten Building, Suite 1C, 1225 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA
| | - Sophie Molholm
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Van Etten Building, Suite 1C, 1225 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Rose F. Kennedy Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
- The Frederick J. and Marion A. Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience & Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA.
| | - John J Foxe
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Van Etten Building, Suite 1C, 1225 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Rose F. Kennedy Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
- The Frederick J. and Marion A. Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience & Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY, USA
| | - Ana A Francisco
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Van Etten Building, Suite 1C, 1225 Morris Park Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10461, USA.
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Ferrante O, Chelazzi L, Santandrea E. Statistical learning of target and distractor spatial probability shape a common attentional priority computation. Cortex 2023; 169:95-117. [PMID: 37866062 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2023.08.013] [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: 11/10/2021] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
Converging evidence recently put forward the notion that dedicated neurocognitive mechanisms do exist for the suppression of salient, but irrelevant distractors. Along this line, it is plausible to hypothesize that, in appropriate contexts, experience-dependent forms of attentional learning might selectively induce plastic changes within this dedicated circuitry, thus allowing an independent shaping of priorities at the service of attentional filtering. Conversely, previous work suggested that statistical learning (SL) of both target and distractor spatial probability distributions converge in adjusting only the overall attentional priority of locations: in fact, in the presence of an independent manipulation, either related to the target or to the distractor only, SL induces indirect effects (e.g., changes in filtering efficiency due to an uneven distribution of targets), suggesting that SL-induced plastic changes affect a shared neural substrate. Here we tested whether, when (conflicting) target- and distractor-related manipulations are concurrently applied to the very same locations, dedicated mechanisms might support the selective encoding of spatial priority in relation to the specific attentional operation involved. In three related experiments, human healthy participants discriminated the direction of a target arrow, while ignoring a salient distractor, if present; both target and distractor spatial probability distributions were concurrently manipulated in relation to each single location. Critically, the selection bias produced by the target-related SL was marginally reduced by an adverse distractor contingency, and the suppression bias generated by the distractor-related SL was erased, or even reversed, by an adverse target contingency. Our results suggest that even conflicting target- and distractor-related SL manipulations result in the adjustment of a unique spatial priority computation, likely because the process directly relies on direct plastic alterations of shared spatial priority map(s).
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Affiliation(s)
- Oscar Ferrante
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy
| | - Leonardo Chelazzi
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy; National Institute of Neuroscience - Verona Unit, Verona, Italy.
| | - Elisa Santandrea
- Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Italy
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6
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Cowley BR, Stan PL, Pillow JW, Smith MA. Compact deep neural network models of visual cortex. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.22.568315. [PMID: 38045255 PMCID: PMC10690296 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.22.568315] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
A powerful approach to understanding the computations carried out in visual cortex is to develop models that predict neural responses to arbitrary images. Deep neural network (DNN) models have worked remarkably well at predicting neural responses [1, 2, 3], yet their underlying computations remain buried in millions of parameters. Have we simply replaced one complicated system in vivo with another in silico ? Here, we train a data-driven deep ensemble model that predicts macaque V4 responses ∼50% more accurately than currently-used task-driven DNN models. We then compress this deep ensemble to identify compact models that have 5,000x fewer parameters yet equivalent accuracy as the deep ensemble. We verified that the stimulus preferences of the compact models matched those of the real V4 neurons by measuring V4 responses to both 'maximizing' and adversarial images generated using compact models. We then analyzed the inner workings of the compact models and discovered a common circuit motif: Compact models share a similar set of filters in early stages of processing but then specialize by heavily consolidating this shared representation with a precise readout. This suggests that a V4 neuron's stimulus preference is determined entirely by its consolidation step. To demonstrate this, we investigated the compression step of a dot-detecting compact model and found a set of simple computations that may be carried out by dot-selective V4 neurons. Overall, our work demonstrates that the DNN models currently used in computational neuroscience are needlessly large; our approach provides a new way forward for obtaining explainable, high-accuracy models of visual cortical neurons.
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7
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Wang X, Nandy AS, Jadi MP. Laminar compartmentalization of attention modulation in area V4 aligns with the demands of visual processing hierarchy in the cortex. Sci Rep 2023; 13:19558. [PMID: 37945642 PMCID: PMC10636153 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46722-8] [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: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 11/04/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Attention selectively enhances neural responses to low contrast stimuli in visual area V4, a critical hub that sends projections both up and down the visual hierarchy. Veridical encoding of contrast information is a key computation in early visual areas, while later stages encoding higher level features benefit from improved sensitivity to low contrast. How area V4 meets these distinct information processing demands in the attentive state is unknown. We found that attentional modulation in V4 is cortical layer and cell-class specific. Putative excitatory neurons in the superficial layers show enhanced boosting of low contrast information, while those of deep layers exhibit contrast-independent scaling. Computational modeling suggested the extent of spatial integration of inhibitory neurons as the mechanism behind such laminar differences. Considering that superficial neurons are known to project to higher areas and deep layers to early visual areas, our findings suggest that the interactions between attention and contrast in V4 are compartmentalized, in alignment with the demands of the visual processing hierarchy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Wang
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Anirvan S Nandy
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA
| | - Monika P Jadi
- Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
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Kim T, Pasupathy A. Neural correlates of crowding in macaque area V4. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.16.562617. [PMID: 37905025 PMCID: PMC10614871 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.16.562617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Visual crowding refers to the phenomenon where a target object that is easily identifiable in isolation becomes difficult to recognize when surrounded by other stimuli (distractors). Extensive psychophysical studies support two alternative possibilities for the underlying mechanisms. One hypothesis suggests that crowding results from the loss of visual information due to pooled encoding of multiple nearby stimuli in the mid-level processing stages along the ventral visual pathway. Alternatively, crowding may arise from limited resolution in decoding object information during recognition and the encoded information may remain inaccessible unless it is salient. To rigorously test these alternatives, we studied the responses of single neurons in macaque area V4, an intermediate stage of the ventral, object-processing pathway, to parametrically designed crowded displays and their texture-statistics matched metameric counterparts. Our investigations reveal striking parallels between how crowding parameters, e.g., number, distance, and position of distractors, influence human psychophysical performance and V4 shape selectivity. Importantly, we found that enhancing the salience of a target stimulus could reverse crowding effects even in highly cluttered scenes and such reversals could be protracted reflecting a dynamical process. Overall, we conclude that a pooled encoding of nearby stimuli cannot explain the observed responses and we propose an alternative model where V4 neurons preferentially encode salient stimuli in crowded displays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taekjun Kim
- Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
- Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
| | - Anitha Pasupathy
- Department of Biological Structure, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
- Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
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9
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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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Kosnoff J, Yu K, Liu C, He B. Transcranial Focused Ultrasound to V5 Enhances Human Visual Motion Brain-Computer Interface by Modulating Feature-Based Attention. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.09.04.556252. [PMID: 37732253 PMCID: PMC10508752 DOI: 10.1101/2023.09.04.556252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/22/2023]
Abstract
Paralysis affects roughly 1 in 50 Americans. While there is no cure for the condition, brain-computer interfaces (BCI) can allow users to control a device with their mind, bypassing the paralyzed region. Non-invasive BCIs still have high error rates, which is hypothesized to be reduced with concurrent targeted neuromodulation. This study examines whether transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) modulation can improve BCI outcomes, and what the underlying mechanism of action might be through high-density electroencephalography (EEG)-based source imaging (ESI) analyses. V5-targeted tFUS significantly reduced the error for the BCI speller task. ESI analyses showed significantly increased theta activity in the tFUS condition at both V5 and downstream the dorsal visual processing pathway. Correlation analysis indicates that the dorsal processing pathway connection was preserved during tFUS stimulation, whereas extraneous connections were severed. These results suggest that V5-targeted tFUS' mechanism of action is to raise the brain's feature-based attention to visual motion.
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11
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Feusner JD, Kurth F, Luders E, Ly R, Wong WW. Cytoarchitectonically Defined Volumes of Early Extrastriate Visual Cortex in Unmedicated Adults With Body Dysmorphic Disorder. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2023; 8:909-917. [PMID: 34688924 PMCID: PMC9037993 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 10/05/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 04/23/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) misperceive that they have prominent defects in their appearance, resulting in preoccupations, time-consuming rituals, and distress. Previous neuroimaging studies have found abnormal activation patterns in the extrastriate visual cortex, which may underlie experiences of distorted perception of appearance. Correspondingly, we investigated gray matter volumes in individuals with BDD in the early extrastriate visual cortex using cytoarchitectonically defined maps that were previously derived from postmortem brains. METHODS We analyzed T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data from 133 unmedicated male and female participants (BDD: n = 65; healthy control subjects: n = 68). We used cytoarchitectonically defined probability maps for the early extrastriate cortex, consisting of areas corresponding to V2, V3d, V3v/VP, V3a, and V4v. Gray matter volumes were compared between groups, supplemented by testing associations with clinical symptoms. RESULTS The BDD group exhibited significantly larger gray matter volumes in the left and right early extrastriate cortex. Region-specific follow-up analyses revealed multiple subregions showing larger volumes in BDD, significant in the left V4v. There were no significant associations after corrections for multiple comparisons between gray matter volumes in early extrastriate cortex and BDD symptoms, comorbid symptoms, or duration of illness. CONCLUSIONS Greater volumes of the early extrastriate visual cortex were evident in those with BDD, which aligns with outcomes of prior studies revealing BDD-specific functional abnormalities in these regions. Enlarged volumes of the extrastriate cortex in BDD might manifest during neurodevelopment, which could predispose individuals to aberrant visual perception and contribute to the core phenotype of distortion of perception for appearance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamie D Feusner
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
| | - Florian Kurth
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Eileen Luders
- Department of Women's and Children's Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Ronald Ly
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
| | - Wan-Wa Wong
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
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12
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Panitz C, Keil A, Müller MM. Sustained selective attention to chromatic information enhances visuocortical gain at the population level. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 58:3518-3530. [PMID: 37560804 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16113] [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: 05/02/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/11/2023]
Abstract
Prior work in selective attention research has shown that colour-selective attention enhances neural activity in visuocortical areas sensitive to the attended colour while suppressing activity in areas sensitive to ignored colours. However, it is currently unclear whether this effect is limited to attending to specific colour hues or extends to chromatic information more broadly. To investigate this question, we used steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) frequency tagging to quantify participants' visuocortical responses to specific elements embedded in arrays of flickering, randomly moving mid-complex patterns. Participants were instructed to attend to either coloured or greyscale patterns while ignoring the others. We found that attending to either coloured or greyscale patterns produced robust increases in ssVEP amplitudes both compared to ignored stimuli and to baseline. There was however no evidence of suppressed responses to ignored patterns. These findings demonstrate that attentional selection based on the presence or absence of chromatic information prompts selectively enhanced visuocortical processing but this selective amplification is not accompanied by suppression of unattended stimuli. Findings are consistent with theoretical notions that predict strong competition between specific exemplars within a given feature dimension, such as red or green, but weak competition between broadly defined stimulus categories, such as chromatic versus non-chromatic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Panitz
- Department of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
| | - Andreas Keil
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
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13
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Urale PWB, Zhu L, Gough R, Arnold D, Schwarzkopf DS. Extrastriate activity reflects the absence of local retinal input. Conscious Cogn 2023; 114:103566. [PMID: 37639775 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2023.103566] [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: 05/30/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
The physiological blind spot corresponds to the optic disc where the retina contains no light-detecting photoreceptor cells. Our perception seemingly fills in this gap in input. Here we suggest that rather than an active process, such perceptual filling-in could instead be a consequence of the integration of visual inputs at higher stages of processing discounting the local absence of retinal input. Using functional brain imaging, we resolved the retinotopic representation of the physiological blind spot in early human visual cortex and measured responses while participants perceived filling-in. Responses in early visual areas simply reflected the absence of visual input. In contrast, higher extrastriate regions responded more to stimuli in the eye containing the blind spot than the fellow eye. However, this signature was independent of filling-in. We argue that these findings agree with philosophical accounts that posit that the concept of filling-in of absent retinal input is unnecessary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Poutasi W B Urale
- School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Lydia Zhu
- School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Roberta Gough
- School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Derek Arnold
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Dietrich Samuel Schwarzkopf
- School of Optometry & Vision Science, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Experimental Psychology, University College London, United Kingdom.
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14
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Sanchez-Cesteros O, Rincon M, Bachiller M, Valladares-Rodriguez S. A Long Skip Connection for Enhanced Color Selectivity in CNN Architectures. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:7582. [PMID: 37688036 PMCID: PMC10490730 DOI: 10.3390/s23177582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023]
Abstract
Some recent studies show that filters in convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have low color selectivity in datasets of natural scenes such as Imagenet. CNNs, bio-inspired by the visual cortex, are characterized by their hierarchical learning structure which appears to gradually transform the representation space. Inspired by the direct connection between the LGN and V4, which allows V4 to handle low-level information closer to the trichromatic input in addition to processed information that comes from V2/V3, we propose the addition of a long skip connection (LSC) between the first and last blocks of the feature extraction stage to allow deeper parts of the network to receive information from shallower layers. This type of connection improves classification accuracy by combining simple-visual and complex-abstract features to create more color-selective ones. We have applied this strategy to classic CNN architectures and quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed the improvement in accuracy while focusing on color selectivity. The results show that, in general, skip connections improve accuracy, but LSC improves it even more and enhances the color selectivity of the original CNN architectures. As a side result, we propose a new color representation procedure for organizing and filtering feature maps, making their visualization more manageable for qualitative color selectivity analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Oscar Sanchez-Cesteros
- Department of Artificial Intelligence, National University of Distance Education (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain; (M.R.); (M.B.); (S.V.-R.)
| | - Mariano Rincon
- Department of Artificial Intelligence, National University of Distance Education (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain; (M.R.); (M.B.); (S.V.-R.)
| | - Margarita Bachiller
- Department of Artificial Intelligence, National University of Distance Education (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain; (M.R.); (M.B.); (S.V.-R.)
| | - Sonia Valladares-Rodriguez
- Department of Artificial Intelligence, National University of Distance Education (UNED), 28040 Madrid, Spain; (M.R.); (M.B.); (S.V.-R.)
- Department of Electronics and Computing, University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), 15705 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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15
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Denagamage S, Morton MP, Hudson NV, Reynolds JH, Jadi MP, Nandy AS. Laminar mechanisms of saccadic suppression in primate visual cortex. Cell Rep 2023; 42:112720. [PMID: 37392385 PMCID: PMC10528056 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112720] [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: 10/29/2022] [Revised: 04/15/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Saccadic eye movements are known to cause saccadic suppression, a temporary reduction in visual sensitivity and visual cortical firing rates. While saccadic suppression has been well characterized at the level of perception and single neurons, relatively little is known about the visual cortical networks governing this phenomenon. Here we examine the effects of saccadic suppression on distinct neural subpopulations within visual area V4. We find subpopulation-specific differences in the magnitude and timing of peri-saccadic modulation. Input-layer neurons show changes in firing rate and inter-neuronal correlations prior to saccade onset, and putative inhibitory interneurons in the input layer elevate their firing rate during saccades. A computational model of this circuit recapitulates our empirical observations and demonstrates that an input-layer-targeting pathway can initiate saccadic suppression by enhancing local inhibitory activity. Collectively, our results provide a mechanistic understanding of how eye movement signaling interacts with cortical circuitry to enforce visual stability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sachira Denagamage
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Mitchell P Morton
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Nyomi V Hudson
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - John H Reynolds
- Systems Neurobiology Laboratories, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
| | - Monika P Jadi
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
| | - Anirvan S Nandy
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Wu Tsai Institute, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
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16
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Horsthuis DJ, Molholm S, Foxe JJ, Francisco AA. Event-related potential (ERP) evidence for early visual processing differences in children and adults with Cystinosis (CTNS gene mutations). RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-3176642. [PMID: 37546758 PMCID: PMC10402243 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3176642/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Background Cystinosis, a rare lysosomal storage disease caused by mutations in the CTNS gene, is characterized by cystine crystallization and accumulation within multiple tissues, including kidney and brain. Its impact on neural function appears mild relative to its effects on other organs during early disease, but since therapeutic advances have led to substantially increased life expectancy, neurological implications are of increasing interest, necessitating deeper understanding of the impact of cystinosis on neurocognitive function. Behavioral difficulties have been reported in cystinosis in the visual domain. Very little is known, however, about how the brains of people living with cystinosis process visual information. This is especially interesting given that cystine accumulation in the cornea and posterior ocular structures is a hallmark of cystinosis. Methods Here, high-density scalp electrophysiology was recorded to visual stimuli (during a Go/No-Go task) to investigate early visual processing in individuals with cystinosis, compared to age-matched controls. Analyses focused on early stages of cortical visual processing. Results The groups differed in their initial cortical response, with individuals with cystinosis exhibiting a significantly larger visual evoked potential (VEP) in the 130-150 ms time window. The groups also differed in the associations between neural responses and verbal abilities: While controls with higher IQ scores presented larger neural responses, that relationship was not observed in cystinosis. Conclusions The enlarged VEP in cystinosis could be the result of cortical hyperexcitability and/or differences in attentional engagement and explain, at least partially, the visual and visual-spatial difficulties described in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - John J Foxe
- University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry
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17
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Lim C, Inagaki M, Shinozaki T, Fujita I. Analysis of convolutional neural networks reveals the computational properties essential for subcortical processing of facial expression. Sci Rep 2023; 13:10908. [PMID: 37407668 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37995-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/30/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Perception of facial expression is crucial for primate social interactions. This visual information is processed through the ventral cortical pathway and the subcortical pathway. However, the subcortical pathway exhibits inaccurate processing, and the responsible architectural and physiological properties remain unclear. To investigate this, we constructed and examined convolutional neural networks with three key properties of the subcortical pathway: a shallow layer architecture, concentric receptive fields at the initial processing stage, and a greater degree of spatial pooling. These neural networks achieved modest accuracy in classifying facial expressions. By replacing these properties, individually or in combination, with corresponding cortical features, performance gradually improved. Similar to amygdala neurons, some units in the final processing layer exhibited sensitivity to retina-based spatial frequencies (SFs), while others were sensitive to object-based SFs. Replacement of any of these properties affected the coordinates of the SF encoding. Therefore, all three properties limit the accuracy of facial expression information and are essential for determining the SF representation coordinate. These findings characterize the role of the subcortical computational processes in facial expression recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chanseok Lim
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Perceptual and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Mikio Inagaki
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Takashi Shinozaki
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Computational Neuroscience Laboratory, Faculty of Informatics, Kindai University, 3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashiosaka, Osaka, 577-8502, Japan
| | - Ichiro Fujita
- Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, 1-4 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
- Research Organization of Science and Technology, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Noji-Higashi, Kusatsu, Shiga, 525-8577, Japan.
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18
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Troscianko J, Osorio D. A model of colour appearance based on efficient coding of natural images. PLoS Comput Biol 2023; 19:e1011117. [PMID: 37319266 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/17/2023] Open
Abstract
An object's colour, brightness and pattern are all influenced by its surroundings, and a number of visual phenomena and "illusions" have been discovered that highlight these often dramatic effects. Explanations for these phenomena range from low-level neural mechanisms to high-level processes that incorporate contextual information or prior knowledge. Importantly, few of these phenomena can currently be accounted for in quantitative models of colour appearance. Here we ask to what extent colour appearance is predicted by a model based on the principle of coding efficiency. The model assumes that the image is encoded by noisy spatio-chromatic filters at one octave separations, which are either circularly symmetrical or oriented. Each spatial band's lower threshold is set by the contrast sensitivity function, and the dynamic range of the band is a fixed multiple of this threshold, above which the response saturates. Filter outputs are then reweighted to give equal power in each channel for natural images. We demonstrate that the model fits human behavioural performance in psychophysics experiments, and also primate retinal ganglion responses. Next, we systematically test the model's ability to qualitatively predict over 50 brightness and colour phenomena, with almost complete success. This implies that much of colour appearance is potentially attributable to simple mechanisms evolved for efficient coding of natural images, and is a well-founded basis for modelling the vision of humans and other animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jolyon Troscianko
- Centre for Ecology & Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel Osorio
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
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19
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Horsthuis DJ, Molholm S, Foxe JJ, Francisco AA. Event-related potential (ERP) evidence of early visual processing differences in cystinosis. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.03.31.535154. [PMID: 37034748 PMCID: PMC10081319 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.31.535154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Cystinosis, a rare lysosomal storage disease, is characterized by cystine crystallization and accumulation within tissues and organs, including the kidneys and brain. Its impact on neural function appears mild relative to its effects on other organs, but therapeutic advances have led to substantially increased life expectancy, necessitating deeper understanding of its impact on neurocognitive function. Behavioral difficulties have been reported in cystinosis in the visual and visual-processing domain. Very little is known, however, about how the brains of people living with cystinosis process visual information, although cysteamine accumulation in the retina is a prominent feature of cystinosis. Here, electrophysiology was recorded during a Go/No-Go task to investigate early visual processing in cystinosis, compared to an age-matched control group. Analyses focused on early stages of cortical visual processing. The groups differed in their initial cortical response, with individuals with cystinosis exhibiting a significantly larger visual evoked potential (VEP) in the 130 to 150 ms time window. The timing and topography of this response suggested an enhanced P1 in cystinosis that could be the result of cortical hyperexcitability and/or differences in attentional engagement and explain, at least partially, the visual and visual-spatial difficulties described in this population. The groups also differed in the associations between neural responses and verbal abilities: While controls with higher IQ scores presented larger neural responses, that relationship was not observed in cystinosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douwe J. Horsthuis
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
| | - Sophie Molholm
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Rose F. Kennedy Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
- The Frederick J. and Marion A. Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience & Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - John J. Foxe
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Rose F. Kennedy Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
- The Frederick J. and Marion A. Schindler Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Ernest J. Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience & Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Ana A. Francisco
- The Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
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20
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Gurbuz BT, Boyaci H. Tilt aftereffect spreads across the visual field. Vision Res 2023; 205:108174. [PMID: 36630779 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2022.108174] [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: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 12/13/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
The tilt aftereffect (TAE) is observed when adaptation to a tilted contour alters the perceived tilt of a subsequently presented contour. Thus far, TAE has been treated as a local aftereffect observed only at the location of the adapter. Whether and how TAE spreads to other locations in the visual field has not been systematically studied. Here, we sought an answer to this question by measuring TAE magnitudes at locations including but not limited to the adapter location. The adapter was a tilted grating presented at the same peripheral location throughout an experimental session. In a single trial, participants indicated the perceived tilt of a test grating presented after the adapter at one of fifteen locations in the same visual hemifield as the adapter. We found non-zero TAE magnitudes in all locations tested, showing that the effect spreads across the tested visual hemifield. Next, to establish a link between neuronal activity and behavioral results and to predict the possible neuronal origins of the spread, we built a computational model based on known characteristics of the visual cortex. The simulation results showed that the model could successfully capture the pattern of the behavioral results. Furthermore, the pattern of the optimized receptive field sizes suggests that mid-level visual areas, such as V4, could be critically involved in TAE and its spread across the visual field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Busra Tugce Gurbuz
- Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center & National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey.
| | - Huseyin Boyaci
- Aysel Sabuncu Brain Research Center & National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey; Department of Psychology, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey; Department of Psychology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
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21
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Chen YH, Chang CY, Huang SK. Strike or ball? Batters know it better: an fMRI study of action anticipation in baseball players. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:3221-3238. [PMID: 35788641 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
To assess whether the brain processes of action anticipation are modulated differently by perceptual and motor experiences, baseball batters, pitchers, and non-players were asked to predict the fate of pitching actions (strike or ball) while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results showed both batters (perceptual experts of pitching action) and pitchers (motor experts) were more accurate than non-players. Furthermore, batters demonstrated higher perceptual sensitivity in discriminating strikes than non-players. All groups engaged the action observation network, putamen, and cerebellum during anticipation, while pitchers showed higher activity than non-players in the left premotor cortex, which has been implicated in the internal simulation of observed action. Only batters exhibited differences in strike versus ball pitches in their left ventral extrastriate cortex, which might be associated with the processing of relevant visual information conveyed by the observed pitcher's movement kinematics and pitch trajectory. Moreover, all groups showed higher activity selectively in the striatum, thalamus, sensorimotor cortices, and cerebellum during correct predictions than during incorrect ones, with most widespread activation in batters, reinforcing the greater involvement of the sensorimotor system in perceptual experience. Our findings demonstrate that perceptual experience might enhance action anticipation ability to a greater extent than motor experience, with overlapping but specific neural underpinnings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yin-Hua Chen
- Graduate Institute of Athletics and Coaching Science, National Taiwan Sport University, No. 250, Wenhua 1st Road, Guishan, Taoyuan 33301, Taiwan
| | - Chih-Yen Chang
- Department of Physical Education, National Taiwan Normal University, No. 162, Sec. 1, Heping E. Road, Taipei 10610, Taiwan
| | - Shih-Kuei Huang
- Department of Physical Education, Chinese Culture University, No. 55, Hwa-Kang Road, Yang-Ming-Shan, Taipei 11114, Taiwan
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22
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Sachse EM, Snyder AC. Dynamic attention signalling in V4: Relation to fast-spiking/non-fast-spiking cell class and population coupling. Eur J Neurosci 2023; 57:918-939. [PMID: 36732934 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The computational role of a neuron during attention depends on its firing properties, neurotransmitter expression and functional connectivity. Neurons in the visual cortical area V4 are reliably engaged by selective attention but exhibit diversity in the effect of attention on firing rates and correlated variability. It remains unclear what specific neuronal properties shape these attention effects. In this study, we quantitatively characterised the distribution of attention modulation of firing rates across populations of V4 neurons. Neurons exhibited a continuum of time-varying attention effects. At one end of the continuum, neurons' spontaneous firing rates were slightly depressed with attention (compared to when unattended), whereas their stimulus responses were enhanced with attention. The other end of the continuum showed the converse pattern: attention depressed stimulus responses but increased spontaneous activity. We tested whether the particular pattern of time-varying attention effects that a neuron exhibited was related to the shape of their actions potentials (so-called 'fast-spiking' [FS] neurons have been linked to inhibition) and the strength of their coupling to the overall population. We found an interdependence among neural attention effects, neuron type and population coupling. In particular, we found neurons for which attention enhanced spontaneous activity but suppressed stimulus responses were less likely to be fast-spiking (more likely to be non-fast-spiking) and tended to have stronger population coupling, compared to neurons with other types of attention effects. These results add important information to our understanding of visual attention circuits at the cellular level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth M Sachse
- Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.,Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Adam C Snyder
- Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.,Neuroscience, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA.,Center for Visual Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
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23
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Bigelow A, Kim T, Namima T, Bair W, Pasupathy A. Dissociation in neuronal encoding of object versus surface motion in the primate brain. Curr Biol 2023; 33:711-719.e5. [PMID: 36738735 PMCID: PMC9992021 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.016] [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: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 11/30/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
A paradox exists in our understanding of motion processing in the primate visual system: neurons in the dorsal motion processing stream often strikingly fail to encode long-range and perceptually salient jumps of a moving stimulus. Psychophysical studies suggest that such long-range motion, which requires integration over more distant parts of the visual field, may be based on higher-order motion processing mechanisms that rely on feature or object tracking. Here, we demonstrate that ventral visual area V4, long recognized as critical for processing static scenes, includes neurons that maintain direction selectivity for long-range motion, even when conflicting local motion is present. These V4 neurons exhibit specific selectivity for the motion of objects, i.e., targets with defined boundaries, rather than the motion of surfaces behind apertures, and are selective for direction of motion over a broad range of spatial displacements and defined by a variety of features. Motion direction at a range of speeds can be accurately decoded on single trials from the activity of just a few V4 neurons. Thus, our results identify a novel motion computation in the ventral stream that is strikingly different from, and complementary to, the well-established system in the dorsal stream, and they support the hypothesis that the ventral stream system interacts with the dorsal stream to achieve the higher level of abstraction critical for tracking dynamic objects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Bigelow
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Department of Biological Structure and Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Taekjun Kim
- Department of Biological Structure and Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Tomoyuki Namima
- Department of Biological Structure and Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Wyeth Bair
- Department of Biological Structure and Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Anitha Pasupathy
- Department of Biological Structure and Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
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24
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Luongo FJ, Liu L, Ho CLA, Hesse JK, Wekselblatt JB, Lanfranchi FF, Huber D, Tsao DY. Mice and primates use distinct strategies for visual segmentation. eLife 2023; 12:74394. [PMID: 36790170 PMCID: PMC9981152 DOI: 10.7554/elife.74394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2021] [Accepted: 01/22/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023] Open
Abstract
The rodent visual system has attracted great interest in recent years due to its experimental tractability, but the fundamental mechanisms used by the mouse to represent the visual world remain unclear. In the primate, researchers have argued from both behavioral and neural evidence that a key step in visual representation is 'figure-ground segmentation', the delineation of figures as distinct from backgrounds. To determine if mice also show behavioral and neural signatures of figure-ground segmentation, we trained mice on a figure-ground segmentation task where figures were defined by gratings and naturalistic textures moving counterphase to the background. Unlike primates, mice were severely limited in their ability to segment figure from ground using the opponent motion cue, with segmentation behavior strongly dependent on the specific carrier pattern. Remarkably, when mice were forced to localize naturalistic patterns defined by opponent motion, they adopted a strategy of brute force memorization of texture patterns. In contrast, primates, including humans, macaques, and mouse lemurs, could readily segment figures independent of carrier pattern using the opponent motion cue. Consistent with mouse behavior, neural responses to the same stimuli recorded in mouse visual areas V1, RL, and LM also did not support texture-invariant segmentation of figures using opponent motion. Modeling revealed that the texture dependence of both the mouse's behavior and neural responses could be explained by a feedforward neural network lacking explicit segmentation capabilities. These findings reveal a fundamental limitation in the ability of mice to segment visual objects compared to primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco J Luongo
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
| | - Lu Liu
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
| | - Chun Lum Andy Ho
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
| | - Janis K Hesse
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
- Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
- University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Joseph B Wekselblatt
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
| | - Frank F Lanfranchi
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
- Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of TechnologyPasadenaUnited States
- University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
| | - Daniel Huber
- Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of GenevaGenevaSwitzerland
| | - Doris Y Tsao
- University of California, BerkeleyBerkeleyUnited States
- Howard Hughes Medical InstituteBerkeleyUnited States
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25
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Ioannucci S, Chirokoff V, Dilharreguy B, Ozenne V, Chanraud S, Zénon A. Neural fatigue by passive induction: repeated stimulus exposure results in cognitive fatigue and altered representations in task-relevant networks. Commun Biol 2023; 6:142. [PMID: 36737639 PMCID: PMC9898557 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04527-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Cognitive fatigue is defined by a reduced capacity to perform mental tasks. Despite its pervasiveness, the underlying neural mechanisms remain elusive. Specifically, it is unclear whether prolonged effort affects performance through alterations in over-worked task-relevant neuronal assemblies. Our paradigm based on repeated passive visual stimulation discerns fatigue effects from the influence of motivation, skill and boredom. We induced performance loss and observed parallel alterations in the neural blueprint of the task, by mirroring behavioral performance with multivariate neuroimaging techniques (MVPA) that afford a subject-specific approach. Crucially, functional areas that responded the most to repeated stimulation were also the most affected. Finally, univariate analysis revealed clusters displaying significant disruption within the extrastriate visual cortex. In sum, here we show that repeated stimulation impacts the implicated brain areas' activity and causes tangible behavioral repercussions, providing evidence that cognitive fatigue can result from local, functional, disruptions in the neural signal induced by protracted recruitment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefano Ioannucci
- Institut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d'Aquitaine (INCIA)-UMR 5287, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France. .,Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland.
| | - Valentine Chirokoff
- grid.412041.20000 0001 2106 639XInstitut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine (INCIA)—UMR 5287, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France ,grid.440907.e0000 0004 1784 3645École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Bixente Dilharreguy
- grid.412041.20000 0001 2106 639XInstitut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine (INCIA)—UMR 5287, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Valéry Ozenne
- grid.412041.20000 0001 2106 639XCentre de Résonance Magnétique des Systèmes Biologiques, UMR 5536, CNRS/Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Sandra Chanraud
- grid.412041.20000 0001 2106 639XInstitut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine (INCIA)—UMR 5287, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France ,grid.440907.e0000 0004 1784 3645École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), PSL Research University, Paris, France
| | - Alexandre Zénon
- grid.412041.20000 0001 2106 639XInstitut de Neurosciences Cognitives et Intégratives d’Aquitaine (INCIA)—UMR 5287, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
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Shishikura M, Tamura H, Sakai K. Correlation between neural responses and human perception in figure-ground segregation. Front Syst Neurosci 2023; 16:999575. [PMID: 36713684 PMCID: PMC9877615 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2022.999575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Segmentation of a natural scene into objects (figures) and background (ground) is one of crucial functions for object recognition and scene understanding. Recent studies have investigated neural mechanisms underlying figure-ground (FG) segregation and reported neural modulation to FG in the intermediate-level visual area, V4, of macaque monkeys (FG neurons). However, whether FG neurons contribute to the perception of FG segregation has not been clarified. To examine the contribution of FG neurons, we examined the correlations between perceptual consistency (PC), which quantified perceptual ambiguity in FG determination, and the reliability of neural signals in response to FG. First, we evaluated PCs for the images that were used in the previous neural recording in V4; specifically, we measured how consistently FG can be determined across trials and participants for each stimulus. The PCs were widely distributed, so that we identified the ambiguity in FG segregation for each stimulus. Next, we analyzed the correlation between the PCs and the reliability of neural modulation to FG. We found that the stimuli with higher PCs evoked more consistent and greater modulation in the responses of single neurons than those with lower PCs. Since perception is expected to show a greater correlation with responses of neural population compared to those of single neurons, we examined the correlation between the PCs and the consistency of the population responses in FG determination. Stimuli with higher PCs evoked higher population consistency than those with lower PCs. Finally, we analyzed the correlation between the PCs and neural latencies in FG modulation. We found that the stimuli with higher PCs showed shorter reaction times in FG perception and evoked shorter modulation latencies in FG neurons. These results indicate that the responses of FG neurons recorded from macaque monkeys show significant correlations with human FG perception, suggesting that V4 neurons with FG-dependent responses contribute to the perception of FG segregation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hiroshi Tamura
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Japan,Center for Information and Neural Networks, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Ko Sakai
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan,*Correspondence: Ko Sakai,
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Attention to Stimuli of Learned versus Innate Biological Value Relies on Separate Neural Systems. J Neurosci 2022; 42:9242-9252. [PMID: 36319119 PMCID: PMC9761678 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0925-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2022] [Revised: 09/25/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The neural bases of attention, a set of neural processes that promote behavioral selection, is a subject of intense investigation. In humans, rewarded cues influence attention, even when those cues are irrelevant to the current task. Because the amygdala plays a role in reward processing, and the activity of amygdala neurons has been linked to spatial attention, we reasoned that the amygdala may be essential for attending to rewarded images. To test this possibility, we used an attentional capture task, which provides a quantitative measure of attentional bias. Specifically, we compared reaction times (RTs) of adult male rhesus monkeys with bilateral amygdala lesions and unoperated controls as they made a saccade away from a high- or low-value rewarded image to a peripheral target. We predicted that: (1) RTs will be longer for high- compared with low-value images, revealing attentional capture by rewarded stimuli; and (2) relative to controls, monkeys with amygdala lesions would exhibit shorter RT for high-value images. For comparison, we assessed the same groups of monkeys for attentional capture by images of predators and conspecifics, categories thought to have innate biological value. In performing the attentional capture task, all monkeys were slowed more by high-value relative to low-value rewarded images. Contrary to our prediction, amygdala lesions failed to disrupt this effect. When presented with images of predators and conspecifics, however, monkeys with amygdala lesions showed significantly diminished attentional capture relative to controls. Thus, separate neural pathways are responsible for allocating attention to stimuli with learned versus innate value.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Valuable objects attract attention. The amygdala is known to contribute to reward processing and the encoding of object reward value. We therefore examined whether the amygdala is necessary for allocating attention to rewarded objects. For comparison, we assessed the amygdala's contribution to attending to objects with innate biological value: predators and conspecifics. We found that the macaque amygdala is necessary for directing attention to images with innate biological value, but not for directing attention to recently learned reward-predictive images. These findings indicate that the amygdala makes selective contributions to attending to valuable objects. The data are relevant to mental health disorders, such as social anxiety disorders and small animal phobias, that arise from biased attention to select categories of objects.
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Henry CA, Kohn A. Feature representation under crowding in macaque V1 and V4 neuronal populations. Curr Biol 2022; 32:5126-5137.e3. [PMID: 36379216 PMCID: PMC9729449 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.10.049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 10/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Visual perception depends strongly on spatial context. A profound example is visual crowding, whereby the presence of nearby stimuli impairs the discriminability of object features. Despite extensive work on perceptual crowding and the spatial integrative properties of visual cortical neurons, the link between these two aspects of visual processing remains unclear. To understand better the neural basis of crowding, we recorded activity simultaneously from neuronal populations in V1 and V4 of fixating macaque monkeys. We assessed the information available from the measured responses about the orientation of a visual target both for targets presented in isolation and amid distractors. Both single neuron and population responses had less information about target orientation when distractors were present. Information loss was moderate in V1 and more substantial in V4. Information loss could be traced to systematic divisive and additive changes in neuronal tuning. Additive and multiplicative changes in tuning were more severe in V4; in addition, tuning exhibited other, non-affine transformations that were greater in V4, further restricting the ability of a fixed sensory readout strategy to extract accurate feature information across displays. Our results provide a direct test of crowding effects at different stages of the visual hierarchy. They reveal how crowded visual environments alter the spiking activity of cortical populations by which sensory stimuli are encoded and connect these changes to established mechanisms of neuronal spatial integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher A Henry
- Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
| | - Adam Kohn
- Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA; Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA; Department of Systems and Computational Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
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29
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Adaptive processing and perceptual learning in visual cortical areas V1 and V4. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2213080119. [PMID: 36223395 PMCID: PMC9586333 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2213080119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurons in visual cortical areas primary visual cortex (V1) and V4 are adaptive processors, influenced by perceptual task. This is reflected in their ability to segment the visual scene into task-relevant and task-irrelevant stimulus components and by changing their tuning to task-relevant stimulus properties according to the current top-down instruction. Differences between the information represented in each area were seen. While V1 represented detailed stimulus characteristics, V4 filtered the input from V1 to carry the binary information required for the two-alternative judgement task. Neurons in V1 were activated at locations where the behaviorally relevant stimulus was placed well outside the grating-mapped receptive field. By systematically following the development of the task-dependent signals over the course of perceptual learning, we found that neuronal selectivity for task-relevant information was initially seen in V4 and, over a period of weeks, subsequently in V1. Once the learned information was represented in V1, on any given trial, task-relevant information appeared initially in V1 responses, followed by a 12-ms delay in V4. We propose that the shifting representation of learned information constitutes a mechanism for systems consolidation of memory.
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Parra LA, Díaz DEM, Ramos F. Computational framework of the visual sensory system based on neuroscientific evidence of the ventral pathway. COGN SYST RES 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogsys.2022.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Kienitz R, Kouroupaki K, Schmid MC. Microstimulation of visual area V4 improves visual stimulus detection. Cell Rep 2022; 40:111392. [PMID: 36130494 PMCID: PMC9513802 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Neuronal activity in visual area V4 is well known to be modulated by selective attention, and there are reports on V4 lesions leading to attentional deficits. However, it remains unclear whether V4 microstimulation can elicit attentional benefits. To test this hypothesis, we performed local microstimulation in area V4 and explored its spatial and time dynamics in two macaque monkeys performing a visual detection task. Microstimulation was delivered via chronically implanted multi-electrode arrays. We found that microstimulation increases average performance by 35% and reduces luminance detection thresholds by −30%. This benefit critically depends on the onset of microstimulation relative to the stimulus, consistent with known dynamics of endogenous attention. These results show that local microstimulation of V4 can improve behavior and highlight the critical role of V4 for attention. Microstimulation of visual area V4 improves visual stimulus detection Effects of V4 microstimulation extend to the other hemifield Microstimulation effects are time dependent and consistent with attention dynamics
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Affiliation(s)
- Ricardo Kienitz
- Epilepsy Center Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Center of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Goethe University, Schleusenweg 2-16, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Deutschordenstrasse 46, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK.
| | - Kleopatra Kouroupaki
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Deutschordenstrasse 46, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Michael C Schmid
- Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Deutschordenstrasse 46, 60528 Frankfurt, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK; Department of Neuroscience and Movement Science, Faculty of Science and Medicine, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 5, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
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Le Bec B, Troncoso XG, Desbois C, Passarelli Y, Baudot P, Monier C, Pananceau M, Frégnac Y. Horizontal connectivity in V1: Prediction of coherence in contour and motion integration. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0268351. [PMID: 35802625 PMCID: PMC9269411 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
This study demonstrates the functional importance of the Surround context relayed laterally in V1 by the horizontal connectivity, in controlling the latency and the gain of the cortical response to the feedforward visual drive. We report here four main findings: 1) a centripetal apparent motion sequence results in a shortening of the spiking latency of V1 cells, when the orientation of the local inducer and the global motion axis are both co-aligned with the RF orientation preference; 2) this contextual effects grows with visual flow speed, peaking at 150–250°/s when it matches the propagation speed of horizontal connectivity (0.15–0.25 mm/ms); 3) For this speed range, the axial sensitivity of V1 cells is tilted by 90° to become co-aligned with the orientation preference axis; 4) the strength of modulation by the surround context correlates with the spatiotemporal coherence of the apparent motion flow. Our results suggest an internally-generated binding process, linking local (orientation /position) and global (motion/direction) features as early as V1. This long-range diffusion process constitutes a plausible substrate in V1 of the human psychophysical bias in speed estimation for collinear motion. Since it is demonstrated in the anesthetized cat, this novel form of contextual control of the cortical gain and phase is a built-in property in V1, whose expression does not require behavioral attention and top-down control from higher cortical areas. We propose that horizontal connectivity participates in the propagation of an internal “prediction” wave, shaped by visual experience, which links contour co-alignment and global axial motion at an apparent speed in the range of saccade-like eye movements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benoit Le Bec
- NeuroPSI-UNIC, Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Xoana G. Troncoso
- NeuroPSI-UNIC, Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Christophe Desbois
- NeuroPSI-UNIC, Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, Maisons-Alfort, France
| | - Yannick Passarelli
- NeuroPSI-UNIC, Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Pierre Baudot
- NeuroPSI-UNIC, Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Cyril Monier
- NeuroPSI-UNIC, Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Marc Pananceau
- NeuroPSI-UNIC, Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Yves Frégnac
- NeuroPSI-UNIC, Paris-Saclay Institute of Neuroscience, CNRS, Paris-Saclay University, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- * E-mail:
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Kimura K, Kodama A, Yamane Y, Sakai K. Figure-ground responsive fields of monkey V4 neurons estimated from natural image patches. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0268650. [PMID: 35709141 PMCID: PMC9202882 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Neurons in visual area V4 modulate their responses depending on the figure-ground (FG) organization in natural images containing a variety of shapes and textures. To clarify whether the responses depend on the extents of the figure and ground regions in and around the classical receptive fields (CRFs) of the neurons, we estimated the spatial extent of local figure and ground regions that evoked FG-dependent responses (RF-FGs) in natural images and their variants. Specifically, we applied the framework of spike triggered averaging (STA) to the combinations of neural responses and human-marked segmentation images (FG labels) that represent the extents of the figure and ground regions in the corresponding natural image stimuli. FG labels were weighted by the spike counts in response to the corresponding stimuli and averaged over. The bias due to the nonuniformity of FG labels was compensated by subtracting the ensemble average of FG labels from the weighted average. Approximately 50% of the neurons showed effective RF-FGs, and a large number exhibited structures that were similar to those observed in virtual neurons with ideal FG-dependent responses. The structures of the RF-FGs exhibited a subregion responsive to a preferred side (figure or ground) around the CRF center and a subregion responsive to a non-preferred side in the surroundings. The extents of the subregions responsive to figure were smaller than those responsive to ground in agreement with the Gestalt rule. We also estimated RF-FG by an adaptive filtering (AF) method, which does not require spherical symmetry (whiteness) in stimuli. RF-FGs estimated by AF and STA exhibited similar structures, supporting the veridicality of the proposed STA. To estimate the contribution of nonlinear processing in addition to linear processing, we estimated nonlinear RF-FGs based on the framework of spike triggered covariance (STC). The analyses of the models based on STA and STC did not show inconsiderable contribution of nonlinearity, suggesting spatial variance of FG regions. The results lead to an understanding of the neural responses that underlie the segregation of figures and the construction of surfaces in intermediate-level visual areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kouji Kimura
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Atsushi Kodama
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Yukako Yamane
- Neural Computation Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan
| | - Ko Sakai
- Department of Computer Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
- * E-mail:
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Dimensionality of the intermediate-level representation of shape and texture in monkey V4. Neural Netw 2022; 153:444-449. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2022.06.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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35
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36
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Si J, Huang B, Yang H, Lin W, Pan Z. A no-Reference Stereoscopic Image Quality Assessment Network Based on Binocular Interaction and Fusion Mechanisms. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON IMAGE PROCESSING : A PUBLICATION OF THE IEEE SIGNAL PROCESSING SOCIETY 2022; 31:3066-3080. [PMID: 35394908 DOI: 10.1109/tip.2022.3164537] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
In contemporary society full of stereoscopic images, how to assess visual quality of 3D images has attracted an increasing attention in field of Stereoscopic Image Quality Assessment (SIQA). Compared with 2D-IQA, SIQA is more challenging because some complicated features of Human Visual System (HVS), such as binocular interaction and binocular fusion, must be considered. In this paper, considering both binocular interaction and fusion mechanisms of the HVS, a hierarchical no-reference stereoscopic image quality assessment network (StereoIF-Net) is proposed to simulate the whole quality perception of 3D visual signals in human cortex, including two key modules: BIM and BFM. In particular, Binocular Interaction Modules (BIMs) are constructed to simulate binocular interaction in V2-V5 visual cortex regions, in which a novel cross convolution is designed to explore the interaction details in each region. In the BIMs, different output channel numbers are designed to imitate various receptive fields in V2-V5. Furthermore, a Binocular Fusion Module (BFM) with automatic learned weights is proposed to model binocular fusion of the HVS in higher cortex layers. The verification experiments are conducted on the LIVE 3D, IVC and Waterloo-IVC SIQA databases and three indices including PLCC, SROCC and RMSE are employed to evaluate the assessment consistency between StereoIF-Net and the HVS. The proposed StereoIF-Net achieves almost the best results compared with advanced SIQA methods. Specifically, the metric values on LIVE 3D, IVC and WIVC-I are the best, and are the second-best on the WIVC-II.
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Abstract
Orientation selectivity is one of the most important functional features of visual neurons. In the primate visual cortex, whether all orientations are represented equally is still unclear. Previous electrophysiological recordings led to controversial findings. By analyzing a large set of optical imaging data, we found anisotropic representations of orientation in macaque visual areas and that different areas had different types of anisotropies. These findings not only shed light on the long-standing question regarding a basic property of the primate visual cortex, but also on the strategy the visual system takes to represent and analyze the visual world. In mammals, a larger number of neurons in V1 are devoted to cardinal (horizontal and vertical) orientations than to oblique orientations. However, electrophysiological results from the macaque monkey visual cortex are controversial. Both isotropic and anisotropic orientation distributions have been reported. It is also unclear whether different visual areas along the visual hierarchy have different orientation anisotropies. We analyzed orientation maps in a large set of intrinsic signal optical imaging data and found that both V1 and V4 exhibited significant orientation anisotropies. However, their overrepresented orientations were very different: in V1, both cardinal and radial orientations were overrepresented, while in V4, only cardinal bias was presented. These findings suggest that different cortical areas have evolved to emphasize different features that are suitable for their functional purposes, a factor that needs to be considered when efforts are made to explain the relationships between the visual environment and the cortical representation and between the cortical representation and visual perception.
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Hatanaka G, Inagaki M, Takeuchi RF, Nishimoto S, Ikezoe K, Fujita I. Processing of visual statistics of naturalistic videos in macaque visual areas V1 and V4. Brain Struct Funct 2022; 227:1385-1403. [PMID: 35286478 PMCID: PMC9046337 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-022-02468-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Natural scenes are characterized by diverse image statistics, including various parameters of the luminance histogram, outputs of Gabor-like filters, and pairwise correlations between the filter outputs of different positions, orientations, and scales (Portilla–Simoncelli statistics). Some of these statistics capture the response properties of visual neurons. However, it remains unclear to what extent such statistics can explain neural responses to natural scenes and how neurons that are tuned to these statistics are distributed across the cortex. Using two-photon calcium imaging and an encoding-model approach, we addressed these issues in macaque visual areas V1 and V4. For each imaged neuron, we constructed an encoding model to mimic its responses to naturalistic videos. By extracting Portilla–Simoncelli statistics through outputs of both filters and filter correlations, and by computing an optimally weighted sum of these outputs, the model successfully reproduced responses in a subpopulation of neurons. We evaluated the selectivities of these neurons by quantifying the contributions of each statistic to visual responses. Neurons whose responses were mainly determined by Gabor-like filter outputs (low-level statistics) were abundant at most imaging sites in V1. In V4, the relative contribution of higher order statistics, such as cross-scale correlation, was increased. Preferred image statistics varied markedly across V4 sites, and the response similarity of two neurons at individual imaging sites gradually declined with increasing cortical distance. The results indicate that natural scene analysis progresses from V1 to V4, and neurons sharing preferred image statistics are locally clustered in V4.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaku Hatanaka
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Mikio Inagaki
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, Osaka University and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Ryosuke F Takeuchi
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Shinji Nishimoto
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, Osaka University and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
| | - Koji Ikezoe
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, Osaka University and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Yamanashi, Chuo, Yamanashi, 409-3898, Japan
| | - Ichiro Fujita
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, Osaka University and National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
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39
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Armendariz M, Xiao W, Vinken K, Kreiman G. Do computational models of vision need shape-based representations? Evidence from an individual with intriguing visual perceptions. Cogn Neuropsychol 2022; 39:75-77. [PMID: 35193459 DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2022.2041588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Marcelo Armendariz
- Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Will Xiao
- Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Kasper Vinken
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Gabriel Kreiman
- Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Chen J, Zhou L, Jiang C, Chen Z, Zhang L, Zhou H, Kang W, Jiang X, Li Y, Luo N, Yao M, Niu M, Chen S, Zuo XN, Li L, Liu J. Impaired Ocular Tracking and Cortical Atrophy in Idiopathic Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder. Mov Disord 2022; 37:972-982. [PMID: 35107831 DOI: 10.1002/mds.28931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 12/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is a prodromal stage of synucleinopathies. Patients with synucleinopathies frequently display eye movement abnormalities. However, whether patients with iRBD have eye movement abnormalities remains unknown. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess eye movement abnormalities and related gray matter alterations and explore whether such abnormalities can serve as biomarkers to indicate phenoconversion to synucleinopathies in iRBD. METHODS Forty patients with iRBD with early disease progression and 35 healthy control subjects participated in a 15-minute ocular-tracking task that evaluated their control of eye movement abilities. They also underwent clinical assessments for olfactory function, nonmotor symptoms, and autonomic symptoms, all of which are biomarkers to predict phenoconversion to synucleinopathies in iRBD. A subgroup of the participants (20 patients with iRBD and 20 healthy control subjects) also participated in structural magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS The ocular-tracking ability in patients with iRBD was inferior to that of healthy control subjects in two aspects: pursuit initiation and steady-state tracking. Cortical thinning in the right visual area V4 in patients with iRBD is coupled with impaired pursuit initiation. Furthermore, prolonged pursuit initiation in patients with iRBD exhibits a trend of correlation with olfactory loss, the earliest biomarker that develops prior to other prodromal biomarkers. CONCLUSIONS We found ocular-tracking abnormalities in patients with iRBD even early in their disease progression that have not been reported before. These abnormalities are coupled with atrophy of brain areas involved in the perception of object motion and might indicate phenoconversion to synucleinopathies in iRBD. © 2022 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Chen
- Faculty of Arts and Science, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science at New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Liche Zhou
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Chao Jiang
- Developmental Population Neuroscience Research Center, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Zhichun Chen
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Lina Zhang
- Department of Biostatistics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Haiyan Zhou
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Wenyan Kang
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xufeng Jiang
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuanyuan Li
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Ningdi Luo
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Mengsha Yao
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Mengyue Niu
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Shengdi Chen
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xi-Nian Zuo
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Li Li
- Faculty of Arts and Science, New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science at New York University Shanghai, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jun Liu
- Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
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41
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Taylor J, Xu Y. Representation of Color, Form, and their Conjunction across the Human Ventral Visual Pathway. Neuroimage 2022; 251:118941. [PMID: 35122966 PMCID: PMC9014861 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.118941] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite decades of research, our understanding of the relationship
between color and form processing in the primate ventral visual pathway remains
incomplete. Using fMRI multivoxel pattern analysis, we examined coding of color
and form, using a simple form feature (orientation) and a mid-level form feature
(curvature), in human ventral visual processing regions. We found that both
color and form could be decoded from activity in early visual areas V1 to V4, as
well as in the posterior color-selective region and shape-selective regions in
ventral and lateral occipitotemporal cortex defined based on their univariate
selectivity to color or shape, respectively (the central color region only
showed color but not form decoding). Meanwhile, decoding biases towards one
feature or the other existed in the color- and shape-selective regions,
consistent with their univariate feature selectivity reported in past studies.
Additional extensive analyses show that while all these regions contain
independent (linearly additive) coding for both features, several early visual
regions also encode the conjunction of color and the simple, but not the
complex, form feature in a nonlinear, interactive manner. Taken together, the
results show that color and form are encoded in a biased distributed and largely
independent manner across ventral visual regions in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- JohnMark Taylor
- Visual Inference Laboratory, Zuckerman Institute, Columbia University.
| | - Yaoda Xu
- Department of Psychology, Yale University
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42
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Park S, Serences JT. Relative precision of top-down attentional modulations is lower in early visual cortex compared to mid- and high-level visual areas. J Neurophysiol 2022; 127:504-518. [PMID: 35020526 PMCID: PMC8836715 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00300.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Top-down spatial attention enhances cortical representations of behaviorally relevant visual information and increases the precision of perceptual reports. However, little is known about the relative precision of top-down attentional modulations in different visual areas, especially compared with the highly precise stimulus-driven responses that are observed in early visual cortex. For example, the precision of attentional modulations in early visual areas may be limited by the relatively coarse spatial selectivity and the anatomical connectivity of the areas in prefrontal cortex that generate and relay the top-down signals. Here, we used functional MRI (fMRI) and human participants to assess the precision of bottom-up spatial representations evoked by high-contrast stimuli across the visual hierarchy. Then, we examined the relative precision of top-down attentional modulations in the absence of spatially specific bottom-up drive. Whereas V1 showed the largest relative difference between the precision of top-down attentional modulations and the precision of bottom-up modulations, midlevel areas such as V4 showed relatively smaller differences between the precision of top-down and bottom-up modulations. Overall, this interaction between visual areas (e.g., V1 vs. V4) and the relative precision of top-down and bottom-up modulations suggests that the precision of top-down attentional modulations is limited by the representational fidelity of areas that generate and relay top-down feedback signals.NEW & NOTEWORTHY When the relative precision of purely top-down and bottom-up signals were compared across visual areas, early visual areas like V1 showed higher bottom-up precision compared with top-down precision. In contrast, midlevel areas showed similar levels of top-down and bottom-up precision. This result suggests that the precision of top-down attentional modulations may be limited by the relatively coarse spatial selectivity and the anatomical connectivity of the areas generating and relaying the signals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sunyoung Park
- 1Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
| | - John T. Serences
- 1Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California,2Neurosciences Graduate Program, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
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43
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Westerberg JA, Schall MS, Maier A, Woodman GF, Schall JD. Laminar microcircuitry of visual cortex producing attention-associated electric fields. eLife 2022; 11:72139. [PMID: 35089128 PMCID: PMC8846592 DOI: 10.7554/elife.72139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive operations are widely studied by measuring electric fields through EEG and ECoG. However, despite their widespread use, the neural circuitry giving rise to these signals remains unknown because the functional architecture of cortical columns producing attention-associated electric fields has not been explored. Here, we detail the laminar cortical circuitry underlying an attention-associated electric field measured over posterior regions of the brain in humans and monkeys. First, we identified visual cortical area V4 as one plausible contributor to this attention-associated electric field through inverse modeling of cranial EEG in macaque monkeys performing a visual attention task. Next, we performed laminar neurophysiological recordings on the prelunate gyrus and identified the electric-field-producing dipoles as synaptic activity in distinct cortical layers of area V4. Specifically, activation in the extragranular layers of cortex resulted in the generation of the attention-associated dipole. Feature selectivity of a given cortical column determined the overall contribution to this electric field. Columns selective for the attended feature contributed more to the electric field than columns selective for a different feature. Last, the laminar profile of synaptic activity generated by V4 was sufficient to produce an attention-associated signal measurable outside of the column. These findings suggest that the top-down recipient cortical layers produce an attention-associated electric field that can be measured extracortically with the relative contribution of each column depending upon the underlying functional architecture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Westerberg
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, United States
| | - Michelle S Schall
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, United States
| | - Alexander Maier
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, United States
| | - Geoffrey F Woodman
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, United States
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44
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Function-specific projections from V2 to V4 in macaques. Brain Struct Funct 2022; 227:1317-1330. [PMID: 34978607 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02440-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2021] [Accepted: 12/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Previous studies have revealed modular projections from area V2 to area V4 in macaques. Specifically, V2 neurons in cytochrome oxidase (CO)-rich thin and CO-sparse pale stripes project to distinct regions in V4. However, how these modular projections relate to the functional subcompartments of V4 remains unclear. In this study, we injected retrograde fluorescent tracers into V4 regions with different functional properties (color, orientation, and direction) that were identified with intrinsic signal optical imaging (ISOI). We examined the labeled neurons in area V2 and their locations with respect to the CO patterns. Covariation was observed between the functional properties of the V4 injection sites and the numbers of labeled neurons in particular CO stripes. This covariation indicates that the color domains in V4 mainly received inputs from thin stripes in V2, whereas V4 orientation domains received inputs from pale stripes. Although motion-sensitive domains are present in both V2 and V4, our results did not reveal a functional specific feedforward projection between them. These results confirmed previous findings of modular projections from V2 to V4 and provided functional specificity for these anatomical projections. Together, these findings indicate that color and form remain separate in ventral mid-level visual processing.
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45
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46
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Chen H, Naya Y. Reunification of Object and View-Center Background Information in the Primate Medial Temporal Lobe. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:756801. [PMID: 34938164 PMCID: PMC8685287 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.756801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent work has shown that the medial temporal lobe (MTL), including the hippocampus (HPC) and its surrounding limbic cortices, plays a role in scene perception in addition to episodic memory. The two basic factors of scene perception are the object (“what”) and location (“where”). In this review, we first summarize the anatomical knowledge related to visual inputs to the MTL and physiological studies examining object-related information processed along the ventral pathway briefly. Thereafter, we discuss the space-related information, the processing of which was unclear, presumably because of its multiple aspects and a lack of appropriate task paradigm in contrast to object-related information. Based on recent electrophysiological studies using non-human primates and the existing literature, we proposed the “reunification theory,” which explains brain mechanisms which construct object-location signals at each gaze. In this reunification theory, the ventral pathway signals a large-scale background image of the retina at each gaze position. This view-center background signal reflects the first person’s perspective and specifies the allocentric location in the environment by similarity matching between images. The spatially invariant object signal and view-center background signal, both of which are derived from the same retinal image, are integrated again (i.e., reunification) along the ventral pathway-MTL stream, particularly in the perirhinal cortex. The conjunctive signal, which represents a particular object at a particular location, may play a role in scene perception in the HPC as a key constituent element of an entire scene.
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Affiliation(s)
- He Chen
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuji Naya
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.,IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavioral and Mental Health, Faculty of Science, College of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
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47
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Westerberg JA, Sigworth EA, Schall JD, Maier A. Pop-out search instigates beta-gated feature selectivity enhancement across V4 layers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2103702118. [PMID: 34893538 PMCID: PMC8685673 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2103702118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual search is a workhorse for investigating how attention interacts with processing of sensory information. Attentional selection has been linked to altered cortical sensory responses and feature preferences (i.e., tuning). However, attentional modulation of feature selectivity during search is largely unexplored. Here we map the spatiotemporal profile of feature selectivity during singleton search. Monkeys performed a search where a pop-out feature determined the target of attention. We recorded laminar neural responses from visual area V4. We first identified "feature columns" which showed preference for individual colors. In the unattended condition, feature columns were significantly more selective in superficial relative to middle and deep layers. Attending a stimulus increased selectivity in all layers but not equally. Feature selectivity increased most in the deep layers, leading to higher selectivity in extragranular layers as compared to the middle layer. This attention-induced enhancement was rhythmically gated in phase with the beta-band local field potential. Beta power dominated both extragranular laminar compartments, but current source density analysis pointed to an origin in superficial layers, specifically. While beta-band power was present regardless of attentional state, feature selectivity was only gated by beta in the attended condition. Neither the beta oscillation nor its gating of feature selectivity varied with microsaccade production. Importantly, beta modulation of neural activity predicted response times, suggesting a direct link between attentional gating and behavioral output. Together, these findings suggest beta-range synaptic activation in V4's superficial layers rhythmically gates attentional enhancement of feature tuning in a way that affects the speed of attentional selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob A Westerberg
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240;
| | | | - Jeffrey D Schall
- Centre for Vision Research, Vision: Science to Applications Program, Department of Biology and Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
| | - Alexander Maier
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt Brain Institute, Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240
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48
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Olbara G, van der Wijk T, Njuguna F, Langat S, Mwangi H, Skiles J, Vik TA, Kaspers GJL, Mostert S. Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment in an academic hospital in Kenya: Treatment outcomes and health-care providers' perspectives. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2021; 68:e29366. [PMID: 34569156 DOI: 10.1002/pbc.29366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2020] [Revised: 08/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Early deaths and treatment nonadherence are major reasons for low childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survival in low- and middle-income countries. This study assessed treatment outcomes of children presenting with ALL and evaluated perspectives of health-care providers (HCP) on ALL treatment at a Kenyan academic hospital. METHODS This was a combined retrospective medical records and cross-sectional questionnaire study. Treatment outcomes of 136 children diagnosed with ALL between 2010 and 2016 were collected. Questionnaires were completed by 245 HCP (response rate, 86%) between September and October 2016. RESULTS Childhood ALL treatment outcomes were death (30%), progressive or relapsed disease (26%), abandonment (24%), and event-free survival (20%). Of all deaths, 80% were early deaths (prior or during induction), whereas 20% occurred in remission. Probability of event-free survival at three years was 18%. Only 57% of HCP believed childhood ALL can be cured, with more doctors (96%) than other HCP (45%) believing in curability of ALL (P < 0.001). The majority of HCP (96%) thought that experienced doctors should put more time and effort into making parents understand the diagnosis and necessity to complete treatment. According to HCP, reasons for protocol nonadherence included parental financial difficulties (94%) and use of alternative treatment (79%). CONCLUSIONS Event-free survival for ALL in Kenya is low. The primary reason for treatment failure is early death from treatment-related complications. More efforts should be directed toward improving supportive care strategies. In the opinion of HCPs, improved communication with parents and supervision of junior staff will improve ALL treatment outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilbert Olbara
- Department of Child Health and Pediatrics, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya
| | - Thyra van der Wijk
- Emma's Children Hospital, Amsterdam UMC, Vrjie Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Festus Njuguna
- Department of Child Health and Pediatrics, Moi University, School of Medicine, Eldoret, Kenya
| | - Sandra Langat
- Department of Child Health and Pediatrics, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya
| | - Henry Mwangi
- Department of Health Information Management, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya
| | - Jodi Skiles
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hemato-Oncology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
| | - Terrry A Vik
- Department of Child Health and Pediatrics, Moi University, School of Medicine, Eldoret, Kenya.,Department of Pediatrics, Division of Hemato-Oncology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
| | - Gertjan J L Kaspers
- Emma's Children Hospital, Amsterdam UMC, Vrjie Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Saskia Mostert
- Emma's Children Hospital, Amsterdam UMC, Vrjie Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.,Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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49
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Dynamic reconfiguration of macaque brain networks during natural vision. Neuroimage 2021; 244:118615. [PMID: 34563680 PMCID: PMC8591371 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2020] [Revised: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural vision engages a wide range of higher-level regions that integrate visual information over the large-scale brain network. How interareal connectivity reconfigures during the processing of ongoing natural visual scenes and how these dynamic functional changes relate to the underlaying anatomical links between regions is not well understood. Here, we hypothesized that macaque visual brain regions are poly-functional sharing the capacity to change their configuration state depending on the nature of visual input. To address this hypothesis, we reconstructed networks from in-vivo diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data obtained in four alert macaque monkeys viewing naturalistic movie scenes. At first, we characterized network properties and found greater interhemispheric density and greater inter-subject variability in free-viewing networks as compared to structural networks. From the structural connectivity, we then captured modules on which we identified hubs during free-viewing that formed a widespread visuo-saccadic network across frontal (FEF, 46v), parietal (LIP, Tpt), and occipitotemporal modules (MT, V4, TEm), and that excluded primary visual cortex. Inter-subject variability of well-connected hubs reflected subject-specific configurations that largely recruited occipito-parietal and frontal modules. Across the cerebral hemispheres, free-viewing networks showed higher correlations among long-distance brain regions as compared to structural networks. From these findings, we hypothesized that long-distance interareal connectivity could reconfigure depending on the ongoing changes in visual scenes. Testing this hypothesis by applying temporally resolved functional connectivity we observed that many structurally defined areas (such as areas V4, MT/MST and LIP) were poly-functional as they were recruited as hub members of multiple network states that changed during the presentation of scenes containing objects, motion, faces, and actions. We suggest that functional flexibility in macaque macroscale brain networks is required for the efficient interareal communication during active natural vision. To further promote the use of naturalistic free-viewing paradigms and increase the development of macaque neuroimaging resources, we share our datasets in the PRIME-DE consortium.
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50
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Franken TP, Reynolds JH. Columnar processing of border ownership in primate visual cortex. eLife 2021; 10:72573. [PMID: 34845986 PMCID: PMC8631947 DOI: 10.7554/elife.72573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
To understand a visual scene, the brain segregates figures from background by assigning borders to foreground objects. Neurons in primate visual cortex encode which object owns a border (border ownership), but the underlying circuitry is not understood. Here, we used multielectrode probes to record from border ownership-selective units in different layers in macaque visual area V4 to study the laminar organization and timing of border ownership selectivity. We find that border ownership selectivity occurs first in deep layer units, in contrast to spike latency for small stimuli in the classical receptive field. Units on the same penetration typically share the preferred side of border ownership, also across layers, similar to orientation preference. Units are often border ownership-selective for a range of border orientations, where the preferred sides of border ownership are systematically organized in visual space. Together our data reveal a columnar organization of border ownership in V4 where the earliest border ownership signals are not simply inherited from upstream areas, but computed by neurons in deep layers, and may thus be part of signals fed back to upstream cortical areas or the oculomotor system early after stimulus onset. The finding that preferred border ownership is clustered and can cover a wide range of spatially contiguous locations suggests that the asymmetric context integrated by these neurons is provided in a systematically clustered manner, possibly through corticocortical feedback and horizontal connections. To understand a visual scene, the brain needs to identify objects and distinguish them from background. A border marks the transition from object to background, but to differentiate which side of the border belongs to the object and which to background, the brain must integrate information across space. An early signature of this computation is that brain cells signal which side of a border is ‘owned’ by an object, also known as border ownership. But how the brain computes border ownership remains unknown. The optic nerve is a cable-like group of nerve cells that transmits information from the eye to the brain’s visual processing areas and into the visual cortex. This flow of information is often described as traveling in a feedforward direction, away from the eyes to progressively more specialized areas in the visual cortex. However, there are also numerous feedback connections in the brain, running backward from more specialized to less specialized cortical areas. To better understand the role of these feedforward and feedback circuits in the visual processing of object borders, Franken and Reynolds made use of their stereotyped projection patterns across the cortex layers. Feedforward connections terminate in the middle layers of a cortical area, whereas feedback connections terminate in upper and lower layers. Since time is required for information to traverse the cortical layers, dissecting the timing of border ownership signals may reveal if border ownership is computed in a feedforward or feedback manner. To find out more, electrodes were used to record neural activity in the upper, middle and lower layers of the visual cortex of two rhesus monkeys as they were presented with a set of abstract scenes composed of simple shapes on a background. This revealed that cells signaling border ownership in deep layers of the cortex did so before the signals appeared in the middle layer. This suggests that feedback rather than feedforward is required to compute border ownership. Moreover, Franken and Reynolds found evidence that cells that prefer the same side of border ownership are clustered in columns, showing how these neural circuits are organized within the visual cortex. In summary, Franken and Reynolds found that the circuits of the primate brain that compute border ownership occur as columns, in which cells in deep layers signal border ownership first, suggesting that border ownership relies on feedback from more specialized areas. A better understanding of how feedback in the brain works to process visual information helps us appreciate what happens when these systems are impaired.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom P Franken
- Systems Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, United States
| | - John H Reynolds
- Systems Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, United States
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