1
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Caponi C, Castaldi E, Burr DC, Binda P. Adaptation to numerosity affects the pupillary light response. Sci Rep 2024; 14:6097. [PMID: 38480839 PMCID: PMC10938002 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-55646-w] [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: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/17/2024] Open
Abstract
We recently showed that the gain of the pupillary light response depends on numerosity, with weaker responses to fewer items. Here we show that this effect holds when the stimuli are physically identical but are perceived as less numerous due to numerosity adaptation. Twenty-eight participants adapted to low (10 dots) or high (160 dots) numerosities and subsequently watched arrays of 10-40 dots, with variable or homogeneous dot size. Luminance was constant across all stimuli. Pupil size was measured with passive viewing, and the effects of adaptation were checked in a separate psychophysical session. We found that perceived numerosity was systematically lower, and pupillary light responses correspondingly smaller, following adaptation to high rather than low numerosities. This is consistent with numerosity being a primary visual feature, spontaneously encoded even when task irrelevant, and affecting automatic and unconscious behaviours like the pupillary light response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Caponi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Elisa Castaldi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
| | - David Charles Burr
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Paola Binda
- Department of Translational Research on New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
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2
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Fink L, Simola J, Tavano A, Lange E, Wallot S, Laeng B. From pre-processing to advanced dynamic modeling of pupil data. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:1376-1412. [PMID: 37351785 PMCID: PMC10991010 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02098-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
The pupil of the eye provides a rich source of information for cognitive scientists, as it can index a variety of bodily states (e.g., arousal, fatigue) and cognitive processes (e.g., attention, decision-making). As pupillometry becomes a more accessible and popular methodology, researchers have proposed a variety of techniques for analyzing pupil data. Here, we focus on time series-based, signal-to-signal approaches that enable one to relate dynamic changes in pupil size over time with dynamic changes in a stimulus time series, continuous behavioral outcome measures, or other participants' pupil traces. We first introduce pupillometry, its neural underpinnings, and the relation between pupil measurements and other oculomotor behaviors (e.g., blinks, saccades), to stress the importance of understanding what is being measured and what can be inferred from changes in pupillary activity. Next, we discuss possible pre-processing steps, and the contexts in which they may be necessary. Finally, we turn to signal-to-signal analytic techniques, including regression-based approaches, dynamic time-warping, phase clustering, detrended fluctuation analysis, and recurrence quantification analysis. Assumptions of these techniques, and examples of the scientific questions each can address, are outlined, with references to key papers and software packages. Additionally, we provide a detailed code tutorial that steps through the key examples and figures in this paper. Ultimately, we contend that the insights gained from pupillometry are constrained by the analysis techniques used, and that signal-to-signal approaches offer a means to generate novel scientific insights by taking into account understudied spectro-temporal relationships between the pupil signal and other signals of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Fink
- Department of Music, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, 60322, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behavior, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4L8, Canada.
| | - Jaana Simola
- Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Education, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Alessandro Tavano
- Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Elke Lange
- Department of Music, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Grüneburgweg 14, 60322, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Sebastian Wallot
- Department of Literature, Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Institute for Sustainability Education and Psychologyy, Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany
| | - Bruno Laeng
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary studies in Rhythm, Time, and Motion, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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3
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Pedemonte B, Pereira CW, Borghesani V, Ebbert M, Allen IE, Pinheiro-Chagas P, De Leon J, Miller Z, Tee BL, Gorno-Tempini ML. Profiles of mathematical deficits in children with dyslexia. NPJ SCIENCE OF LEARNING 2024; 9:7. [PMID: 38360731 PMCID: PMC10869821 DOI: 10.1038/s41539-024-00217-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Despite a high rate of concurrent mathematical difficulties among children with dyslexia, we still have limited information regarding the prevalence and severity of mathematical deficits in this population. To address this gap, we developed a comprehensive battery of cognitive tests, known as the UCSF Mathematical Cognition Battery (MCB), with the aim of identifying deficits in four distinct mathematical domains: number processing, arithmetical procedures, arithmetic facts retrieval, and geometrical abilities. The mathematical abilities of a cohort of 75 children referred to the UCSF Dyslexia Center with a diagnosis of dyslexia, along with 18 typically developing controls aged 7 to 16, were initially evaluated using a behavioral neurology approach. A team of professional clinicians classified the 75 children with dyslexia into five groups, based on parents' and teachers' reported symptoms and clinical history. These groups included children with no mathematical deficits and children with mathematical deficits in number processing, arithmetical procedures, arithmetic facts retrieval, or geometrical abilities. Subsequently, the children underwent evaluation using the MCB to determine concordance with the clinicians' impressions. Additionally, neuropsychological and cognitive standardized tests were administered. Our study reveals that within a cohort of children with dyslexia, 66% exhibit mathematical deficits, and among those with mathematical deficits, there is heterogeneity in the nature of these deficits. If these findings are confirmed in larger samples, they can potentially pave the way for new diagnostic approaches, consistent subtype classification, and, ultimately personalized interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Pedemonte
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - C W Pereira
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - V Borghesani
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Université de Genève, Genève, CH, Switzerland
| | - M Ebbert
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - I E Allen
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - P Pinheiro-Chagas
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - J De Leon
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Z Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - B L Tee
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - M L Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Dyslexia Center, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
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4
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Pomè A, Tyralla S, Zimmermann E. Altered oculomotor flexibility is linked to high autistic traits. Sci Rep 2023; 13:13032. [PMID: 37563189 PMCID: PMC10415324 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-40044-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism is a multifaced disorder comprising sensory abnormalities and a general inflexibility in the motor domain. The sensorimotor system is continuously challenged to answer whether motion-contingent errors result from own movements or whether they are due to external motion. Disturbances in this decision could lead to the perception of motion when there is none and to an inflexibility with regard to motor learning. Here, we test the hypothesis that altered processing of gaze-contingent sensations are responsible for both the motor inflexibility and the sensory overload in autism. We measured motor flexibility by testing how strong participants adapted in a classical saccade adaptation task. We asked healthy participants, scored for autistic traits, to make saccades to a target that was displaced either in inward or in outward direction during saccade execution. The amount of saccade adaptation, that requires to shift the internal target representation, varied with the autistic symptom severity. The higher participants scored for autistic traits, the less they adapted. In order to test for visual stability, we asked participants to localize the position of the saccade target after they completed their saccade. We found the often-reported saccade-induced mis-localization in low Autistic Quotient (AQ) participants. However, we also found mislocalization in high AQ participants despite the absence of saccade adaptation. Our data suggest that high autistic traits are associated with an oculomotor inflexibility that might produce altered processing of trans-saccadic vision which might increase the perceptual overstimulation that is experienced in autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonella Pomè
- Institute for Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
| | - Sandra Tyralla
- Institute for Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Eckart Zimmermann
- Institute for Experimental Psychology, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Universitätsstr. 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany
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5
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Maldonado Moscoso PA, Maduli G, Anobile G, Arrighi R, Castaldi E. The symmetry-induced numerosity illusion depends on visual attention. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12509. [PMID: 37532765 PMCID: PMC10397255 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39581-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Symmetry is an important and strong cue we rely on to organize the visual world. Although it is at the basis of objects segmentation in a visual scene, it can sometimes bias our perception. When asked to discriminate numerical quantities between symmetric and asymmetric arrays, individuals tend to underestimate the number of items in the symmetric stimuli. The reason for this underestimation is currently unknown. In this study we investigated whether the symmetry-induced numerosity underestimation depends on perceptual grouping mechanisms by depriving attentional resources. Twenty-six adults judged the numerosity of dot arrays arranged symmetrically or randomly, while ignoring a visual distractor (single task) or while simultaneously judging its color and orientation (dual-task). Diverting attention to the concurrent color-orientation conjunction task halved the symmetry-induced numerosity underestimation. Taken together these results showed that the bias in numerosity perception of symmetric arrays depends-at least partially-on attentional resources and suggested that it might originate from the recruitment of attentional dependent incremental grouping mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula A Maldonado Moscoso
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Maduli
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Giovanni Anobile
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Roberto Arrighi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Elisa Castaldi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
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6
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Cicchini GM, Anobile G, Burr DC, Marchesini P, Arrighi R. The role of non-numerical information in the perception of temporal numerosity. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1197064. [PMID: 37588242 PMCID: PMC10425770 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1197064] [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: 03/30/2023] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Numerosity perception refers to the ability to make rapid but approximate estimates of the quantity of elements in a set (spatial numerosity) or presented sequentially (temporal numerosity). Whether numerosity is directly perceived or indirectly recomputed from non-numerical features is a highly debated issue. In the spatial domain, area and density have been suggested as the main parameters through which numerosity would be recomputed. In the temporal domain, stimuli duration and temporal frequency could be similarly exploited to retrieve numerosity. By adapting a psychophysical technique previously exploited in the spatial domain, we investigated whether temporal visual numerosity is directly perceived. Adult participants observed sequences of visual impulses sampled from a stimulus space spanning several levels of temporal frequency and duration (and hence numerosity), and then reproduced the sequence as accurately as possible via a series of keypresses. Crucially, participants were not asked to reproduce any particular property (such as number of impulses) but were free to choose any available cue (such as total duration, or temporal frequency). The results indicate that while the overall sequence duration was barely considered, numerosity and temporal frequency were both spontaneously used as the main cues to reproduce the sequences, with a slight but significant dominance of numerosity. Overall, the results are in line with previous literature suggesting that numerosity is directly encoded, even for temporal sequences, but a non-numerical feature (temporal frequency) is also used in reproducing sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Giovanni Anobile
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - David C. Burr
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
- School of Psychology, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW, Australia
| | - Paolo Marchesini
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Roberto Arrighi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
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7
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Abrahamse E, van Dijck JP. Ranking-space: magnitude makes sense through spatially scaffolded ranking. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1224254. [PMID: 37484090 PMCID: PMC10358857 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1224254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Elger Abrahamse
- Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands
- Department of Educational Sciences, Atlántico Medio University, Las Palmas, Spain
| | - Jean-Philippe van Dijck
- Expertise Centre for Care and Welfare, Thomas More, Antwerp, Belgium
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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8
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Caponi C, Maldonado Moscoso PA, Castaldi E, Arrighi R, Grasso PA. EEG signature of grouping strategies in numerosity perception. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1190317. [PMID: 37292163 PMCID: PMC10244500 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1190317] [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: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 05/02/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The moment we see a group of objects, we can appreciate its numerosity. Our numerical estimates can be imprecise for large sets (>4 items), but they become much faster and more accurate if items are clustered into groups compared to when they are randomly displaced. This phenomenon, termed groupitizing, is thought to leverage on the capacity to quickly identify groups from 1 to 4 items (subitizing) within larger sets, however evidence in support for this hypothesis is scarce. The present study searched for an electrophysiological signature of subitizing while participants estimated grouped numerosities exceeding this range by measuring event-related potential (ERP) responses to visual arrays of different numerosities and spatial configurations. The EEG signal was recorded while 22 participants performed a numerosity estimation task on arrays with numerosities in the subitizing (3 or 4) or estimation (6 or 8) ranges. In the latter case, items could be spatially arranged into subgroups (3 or 4) or randomly scattered. In both ranges, we observed a decrease in N1 peak latency as the number of items increased. Importantly, when items were arranged to form subgroups, we showed that the N1 peak latency reflected both changes in total numerosity and changes in the number of subgroups. However, this result was mainly driven by the number of subgroups to suggest that clustered elements might trigger the recruitment of the subitizing system at a relatively early stage. At a later stage, we found that P2p was mostly modulated by the total numerosity in the set, with much less sensitivity for the number of subgroups these might be segregated in. Overall, this experiment suggests that the N1 component is sensitive to both local and global parcelling of elements in a scene suggesting that it could be crucially involved in the emergence of the groupitizing advantage. On the other hand, the later P2p component seems to be much more bounded to the global aspects of the scene coding the total number of elements while being mostly blind to the number of subgroups in which elements are parsed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Caponi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
| | - Paula A. Maldonado Moscoso
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
- Centre for Mind/Brain Sciences – CIMeC, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Elisa Castaldi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
| | - Roberto Arrighi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
| | - Paolo A. Grasso
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, Florence, Tuscany, Italy
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9
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Maldonado Moscoso PA, Anobile G, Burr DC, Arrighi R, Castaldi E. Symmetry as a grouping cue for numerosity perception. Sci Rep 2022; 12:14418. [PMID: 36002617 PMCID: PMC9402546 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18386-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/29/2022] [Accepted: 08/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
To estimate the number of objects in an image, each element needs to be segregated as a single unit. Several principles guide the process of element identification, one of the strongest being symmetry. In the current study, we investigated how symmetry affects the ability to rapidly estimate the number of objects (numerosity). Participants judged the numerosity of asymmetric or symmetric arrays of various numerosities. The results show that the numerosity of symmetrical arrays was significantly underestimated at low numerosities, but the effect was greatly reduced at higher numerosities. Adding an additional axis of symmetry (double symmetry) further reduced perceived numerosity. The magnitude of the symmetry-driven underestimation was inversely correlated with autistic personality traits, consistent with previous work associating autistic traits with perceptual grouping. Overall, these results support the idea that perceived numerosity relies on object segmentation and grouping cues, with symmetry playing a key role.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Giovanni Anobile
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - David C Burr
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.,Institute of Neuroscience, National Research Council, Pisa, Italy
| | - Roberto Arrighi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Elisa Castaldi
- Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
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10
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Spliethoff L, Li SC, Dix A. Incentive motivation improves numerosity discrimination in children and adolescents. Sci Rep 2022; 12:10038. [PMID: 35710929 PMCID: PMC9203779 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-14198-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
We recently showed that incentive motivation improves the precision of the Approximate Number System (ANS) in young adults. To shed light on the development of incentive motivation, the present study investigated whether this effect and its underlying mechanisms may also be observed in younger samples. Specifically, seven-year-old children (n = 23; 12 girls) and 14-year-old adolescents (n = 30; 15 girls) performed a dot comparison task with monetary reward incentives. Both age groups showed higher accuracy in a reward compared to a neutral condition and, similarly, higher processing efficiency as revealed by the drift rate parameter of the EZ-diffusion model. Furthermore, in line with the Incentive Salience Hypothesis, phasic pupil dilations—indicating the activation of the brain’s salience network—were greater in incentivized trials in both age groups. Together these finding suggest that incentive modulation improves numerosity discrimination in children and adolescents by enhancing the perceptual saliency of numerosity information. However, the observed reward anticipation effects were less pronounced in children relative to adolescents. Furthermore, unlike previous findings regarding young adults, the decision thresholds of children and adolescents were not raised by the monetary reward, which may indicate a more protracted development of incentive regulation of response caution than perceptual evidence accumulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Spliethoff
- Faculty of Psychology, Chair of Lifespan Developmental Neuroscience, Technische Universität Dresden, Zellescher Weg 17, 01062, Dresden, Germany.,Faculty of Education, Chair of Vocational Education, Technische Universität Dresden, Weberplatz 5, 01217, Dresden, Germany
| | - Shu-Chen Li
- Faculty of Psychology, Chair of Lifespan Developmental Neuroscience, Technische Universität Dresden, Zellescher Weg 17, 01062, Dresden, Germany.,Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI), Technische Universität Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany
| | - Annika Dix
- Faculty of Psychology, Chair of Lifespan Developmental Neuroscience, Technische Universität Dresden, Zellescher Weg 17, 01062, Dresden, Germany. .,Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop (CeTI), Technische Universität Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany. .,Faculty of Psychology, Chair of Engineering Psychology and Applied Cognitive Research, Technische Universität Dresden, Zellescher Weg 17, 01062, Dresden, Germany.
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11
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Strauch C, Wang CA, Einhäuser W, Van der Stigchel S, Naber M. Pupillometry as an integrated readout of distinct attentional networks. Trends Neurosci 2022; 45:635-647. [PMID: 35662511 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2022.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The course of pupillary constriction and dilation provides an easy-to-access, inexpensive, and noninvasive readout of brain activity. We propose a new taxonomy of factors affecting the pupil and link these to associated neural underpinnings in an ascending hierarchy. In addition to two well-established low-level factors (light level and focal distance), we suggest two further intermediate-level factors, alerting and orienting, and a higher-level factor, executive functioning. Alerting, orienting, and executive functioning - including their respective underlying neural circuitries - overlap with the three principal attentional networks, making pupil size an integrated readout of distinct states of attention. As a now widespread technique, pupillometry is ready to provide meaningful applications and constitutes a viable part of the psychophysiological toolbox.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Strauch
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Chin-An Wang
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan; Cognitive Intelligence and Precision Healthcare Center, National Central University, Taoyuan City, Taiwan
| | - Wolfgang Einhäuser
- Physics of Cognition Group, Chemnitz University of Technology, Chemnitz, Germany
| | | | - Marnix Naber
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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12
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Pupil size variations reveal covert shifts of attention induced by numbers. Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 29:1844-1853. [PMID: 35384595 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02094-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The pupil light response is more than a pure reflexive mechanism that reacts to the amount of light entering the eye. The pupil size may also react to the luminance of objects lying in the visual periphery, revealing the locus of covert attention. In the present study, we took advantage of this response to study the spatial coding of abstract concepts with no physical counterpart: numbers. The participants' gaze was maintained fixed in the middle of a screen whose left and right parts were dark or bright, and variations in pupil size were recorded during an auditory number comparison task. The results showed that small numbers accentuated pupil dilation when the darker part of the screen was on the left, while large numbers accentuated pupil dilation when the darker part of the screen was on the right. This finding provides direct evidence for covert attention shifts on a left-to-right oriented mental spatial representation of numbers. From a more general perspective, it shows that the pupillary response to light is subject to modulation from spatial attention mechanisms operating on mental contents.
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