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Zbären GA, Kapur M, Meissner SN, Wenderoth N. Inferring occluded projectile motion changes connectivity within a visuo-fronto-parietal network. Brain Struct Funct 2024; 229:1605-1615. [PMID: 38914897 PMCID: PMC11374914 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-024-02815-2] [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: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 06/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/26/2024]
Abstract
Anticipating the behaviour of moving objects in the physical environment is essential for a wide range of daily actions. This ability is thought to rely on mental simulations and has been shown to involve frontoparietal and early visual areas. Yet, the connectivity patterns between these regions during intuitive physical inference remain largely unknown. In this study, participants underwent fMRI while performing a task requiring them to infer the parabolic trajectory of an occluded ball falling under Newtonian physics, and a control task. Building on our previous research showing that when solving the physical inference task, early visual areas encode task-specific and perception-like information about the inferred trajectory, the present study aimed to (i) identify regions that are functionally coupled with early visual areas during the physical inference task, and (ii) investigate changes in effective connectivity within this network of regions. We found that early visual areas are functionally connected to a set of parietal and premotor regions when inferring occluded trajectories. Using dynamic causal modelling, we show that predicting occluded trajectories is associated with changes in effective connectivity within a parieto-premotor network, which may drive internally generated early visual activity in a top-down fashion. These findings offer new insights into the interaction between early visual and frontoparietal regions during physical inference, contributing to our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the ability to predict physical outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabrielle Aude Zbären
- Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Science and technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Manu Kapur
- Professorship for Learning Sciences and Higher Education, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sarah Nadine Meissner
- Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Science and technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Nicole Wenderoth
- Neural Control of Movement Lab, Department of Health Science and technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Future Health Technologies, Singapore-ETH Centre, Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise (CREATE), Singapore, Singapore
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Ahuja A, Rodriguez NY, Ashok AK, Serre T, Desrochers T, Sheinberg D. Monkeys engage in visual simulation to solve complex problems. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.21.581495. [PMID: 38464308 PMCID: PMC10925096 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.21.581495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2024]
Abstract
Visual simulation - i.e., using internal reconstructions of the world to experience potential future versions of events that are not currently happening - is among the most sophisticated capacities of the human mind. But is this ability in fact uniquely human? To answer this question, we tested monkeys on a series of experiments involving the 'Planko' game, which we have previously used to evoke visual simulation in human participants. We found that monkeys were able to successfully play the game using a simulation strategy, predicting the trajectory of a ball through a field of planks while demonstrating a level of accuracy and behavioral signatures comparable to humans. Computational analyses further revealed that the monkeys' strategy while playing Planko aligned with a recurrent neural network (RNN) that approached the task using a spontaneously learned simulation strategy. Finally, we carried out awake functional magnetic resonance imaging while monkeys played Planko. We found activity in motion-sensitive regions of the monkey brain during hypothesized simulation periods, even without any perceived visual motion cues. This neural result closely mirrors previous findings from human research, suggesting a shared mechanism of visual simulation across species. In all, these findings challenge traditional views of animal cognition, proposing that nonhuman primates possess a complex cognitive landscape, capable of invoking imaginative and predictive mental experiences to solve complex everyday problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aarit Ahuja
- Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- Exponent, Natick, MA, USA
| | | | - Alekh Karkada Ashok
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Thomas Serre
- Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Theresa Desrochers
- Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
| | - David Sheinberg
- Department of Neuroscience, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
- Robert J. and Nancy D. Carney Institute for Brain Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA
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The Area Prostriata may play a role in technical reasoning. BEHAVIORAL AND BRAIN FUNCTIONS : BBF 2022; 18:12. [PMID: 36434696 PMCID: PMC9700981 DOI: 10.1186/s12993-022-00200-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Most recent research indicated how technical reasoning (TR), namely, a specific form of causal reasoning aimed at understanding the physical world, may support the development of tools and technologies of increasing complexity. We have recently identified the Area PF of the left inferior parietal lobe (PF) as a critical structural correlate of TR, as assessed by using two ad-hoc psycho-technical tests evaluating the two main aspects of TR, i.e., physical world's understanding and visuospatial imagery. Here, we extended our findings by implementing new ad-hoc analyses of our previous data by using a whole-brain approach. Results showed that the cortical thickness (CT) of the left Area Prostriata of the visual cortex, alongside the left Area PF CT, predicts TR performance.
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