Stochastic resonance model of synaesthesia

High neural noise in autism: A hypothesis currently at the nexus of explanatory power

Autism is a neurodevelopmental difference associated with specific autistic experiences and characteristics. Early models such as Weak Central Coherence and Enhanced Perceptual Functioning have tried to capture complex autistic behaviours in a single framework, however, these models lacked a neurobiological explanation. Conversely, current neurobiological theories of autism at the cellular and network levels suggest excitation/inhibition imbalances lead to high neural noise (or, a 'noisy brain') but lack a thorough explanation of how autistic behaviours occur. Critically, around 15 years ago, it was proposed that high neural noise in autism produced a stochastic resonance (SR) effect, a phenomenon where optimal amounts of noise improve signal quality. High neural noise can thus capture both the enhanced (through SR) and reduced performance observed in autistic individuals during certain tasks. Here, we provide a review and perspective that positions the "high neural noise" hypothesis in autism as best placed to provide research direction and impetus. Emphasis is placed on evidence for SR in autism, as this promising prediction has not yet been reviewed in the literature. Using this updated approach towards autism, we can explain a spectrum of autistic experiences all through a neurobiological lens. This approach can further aid in developing specific support or services for autism.

The chemical induction of synaesthesia

OBJECTIVE

Preliminary research suggests that experiences resembling synaesthesia are frequently reported under the influence of a diverse range of chemical substances although the incidence, chemical specificity, and characteristics of these effects are poorly understood.

METHODS

Here we surveyed recreational drug users and self-reported developmental synaesthetes regarding their use of 28 psychoactive drugs from 12 different drug classes and whether they had experienced synaesthesia under the influence of these substances.

RESULTS

The drug class of tryptamines exhibited the highest incidence rates of drug-induced synaesthesia in controls and induction rates of novel forms of synaesthesia in developmental synaesthetes. Induction incidence rates in controls were strongly correlated with the corresponding induction and enhancement rates in developmental synaesthetes. In addition, the use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was the strongest predictor of drug-induced synaesthesia in both controls and developmental synaesthetes. Clear evidence was observed for a clustering of synaesthesia-induction rates as a function of drug class in both groups, denoting non-random incidence rates within drug classes. Sound-colour synaesthesia was the most commonly observed type of induced synaesthesia. Further analyses suggest the presence of synaesthesia-prone individuals, who were more likely to experience drug-induced synaesthesia with multiple drugs.

CONCLUSIONS

These data corroborate the hypothesized link between drug-induced synaesthesia and serotoninergic activity, but also suggest the possibility of alternative neurochemical pathways involved in the induction of synaesthesia. They further imply that the induction and modulation of synaesthesia in controls and developmental synaesthetes share overlapping mechanisms and that certain individuals may be more susceptible to experiencing induced synaesthesia with different drugs.

Synaesthesia as a model system for understanding variation in the human mind and brain

The aim of this article is to reposition synaesthesia as model system for understanding variation in the construction of the human mind and brain. People with synaesthesia inhabit a remarkable mental world in which numbers can be coloured, words can have tastes, and music is a visual spectacle. Key questions remain unanswered about why it exists, and how the study of synaesthesia might inform theories of the human mind. This article argues we need to rethink synaesthesia as not just representing exceptional experiences, but as a product of an unusual neurodevelopmental cascade from genes to brain to cognition of which synaesthesia is only one outcome. Specifically, differences in the brains of synaesthetes support a distinctive way of thinking (enhanced memory, imagery etc.) and may also predispose towards particular clinical vulnerabilities. In effect, synaesthesia can act as a paradigmatic example of a neuropsychological approach to individual differences.

Stochastic resonance in deformable potential with time-delayed feedback

This paper reports the stochastic resonance (SR) phenomenon with memory effects for a Brownian particle in a potential whose shape is subjected to deformation. We model the deformation in the system by the Remoissenet-Peyrard potential and the memory effects by the time-delayed feedback. The question of the possible influence of time-delayed feedback on the occurrence of SR is then of our interest. We examine numerically the effect of feedback strength as well as time delay on SR phenomenon in terms of hysteresis loop area. It is found that time-delayed feedback has a significant effect on SR and can induce double resonances in the system. We show that the properties of SR are varying, depending on interdependence between feedback strength, time delay and shape parameter. This article is part of the theme issue 'Vibrational and stochastic resonance in driven nonlinear systems (part 1)'.

Hearing what you see: Distinct excitatory and disinhibitory mechanisms contribute to visually-evoked auditory sensations

Visual motion or flashing lights can evoke auditory sensations in some people. This large-scale internet study aimed to validate a combined subjective/objective test of the genuineness of this putative form of synaesthesia (visually-evoked auditory response, vEAR). Correlations were measured between each individual's ratings of the vividness of auditory sensations evoked by a series of looping videos, and measurement of the videos' physical low-level motion energy, calculated using Adelson and Bergen's (1985) computational model of low-level visual motion processing. The strength of this association for each individual provided a test of how strongly subjective vEAR was driven by objective motion energy ('ME-sensitivity'). A second aim was to infer whether vEAR depends on cortical excitation and/or disinhibition of early visual and/or auditory brain areas. To achieve this, correlations were measured between the above vEAR measures and visual contrast surround-suppression, which is thought to index lateral inhibition in the early visual system. As predicted by a disinhibition account of vEAR, video ratings were overall higher in individuals showing weaker surround-suppression. Interestingly, surround-suppression and ME-sensitivity did not correlate. Additionally, both surround-suppression and ME-sensitivity each independently predicted different clusters of trait measures selected for their possible association with cortical excitability and/or disinhibition: Surround-suppression was associated with vEAR self-ratings and auditory-evoked visual phosphenes, while ME-sensitivity was independently associated with ratings of other traits including susceptibility to migraine and pattern glare. Altogether, these results suggest there are two independent mechanisms underlying vEAR and its associated traits, based putatively on cortical disinhibition versus excitability.

Stochastic resonance for nonequilibrium systems

Stochastic resonance (SR) is a prominent phenomenon in many natural and engineered noisy systems, whereby the response to a periodic forcing is greatly amplified when the intensity of the noise is tuned to within a specific range of values. We propose here a general mathematical framework based on large deviation theory and, specifically, on the theory of quasipotentials, for describing SR in noisy N-dimensional nonequilibrium systems possessing two metastable states and undergoing a periodically modulated forcing. The drift and the volatility fields of the equations of motion can be fairly general, and the competing attractors of the deterministic dynamics and the edge state living on the basin boundary can, in principle, feature chaotic dynamics. Similarly, the perturbation field of the forcing can be fairly general. Our approach is able to recover as special cases the classical results previously presented in the literature for systems obeying detailed balance and allows for expressing the parameters describing SR and the statistics of residence times in the two-state approximation in terms of the unperturbed drift field, the volatility field, and the perturbation field. We clarify which specific properties of the forcing are relevant for amplifying or suppressing SR in a system and classify forcings according to classes of equivalence. Our results indicate a route for a detailed understanding of SR in rather general systems.