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Hoy CW, Quiroga-Martinez DR, Sandoval E, King-Stephens D, Laxer KD, Weber P, Lin JJ, Knight RT. Asymmetric coding of reward prediction errors in human insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8520. [PMID: 38129440 PMCID: PMC10739882 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-44248-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
The signed value and unsigned salience of reward prediction errors (RPEs) are critical to understanding reinforcement learning (RL) and cognitive control. Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) and insula (INS) are key regions for integrating reward and surprise information, but conflicting evidence for both signed and unsigned activity has led to multiple proposals for the nature of RPE representations in these brain areas. Recently developed RL models allow neurons to respond differently to positive and negative RPEs. Here, we use intracranially recorded high frequency activity (HFA) to test whether this flexible asymmetric coding strategy captures RPE coding diversity in human INS and dMPFC. At the region level, we found a bias towards positive RPEs in both areas which paralleled behavioral adaptation. At the local level, we found spatially interleaved neural populations responding to unsigned RPE salience and valence-specific positive and negative RPEs. Furthermore, directional connectivity estimates revealed a leading role of INS in communicating positive and unsigned RPEs to dMPFC. These findings support asymmetric coding across distinct but intermingled neural populations as a core principle of RPE processing and inform theories of the role of dMPFC and INS in RL and cognitive control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin W Hoy
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - David R Quiroga-Martinez
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Eduardo Sandoval
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - David King-Stephens
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Kenneth D Laxer
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Peter Weber
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jack J Lin
- Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Robert T Knight
- Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
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2
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Quiroga-Martinez DR, Basiński K, Nasielski J, Tillmann B, Brattico E, Cholvy F, Fornoni L, Vuust P, Caclin A. Enhanced mismatch negativity in harmonic compared to inharmonic sounds. Eur J Neurosci 2022; 56:4583-4599. [PMID: 35833941 PMCID: PMC9543822 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15769] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2022] [Revised: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Many natural sounds have frequency spectra composed of integer multiples of a fundamental frequency. This property, known as harmonicity, plays an important role in auditory information processing. However, the extent to which harmonicity influences the processing of sound features beyond pitch is still unclear. This is interesting because harmonic sounds have lower information entropy than inharmonic sounds. According to predictive processing accounts of perception, this property could produce more salient neural responses due to the brain's weighting of sensory signals according to their uncertainty. In the present study, we used electroencephalography to investigate brain responses to harmonic and inharmonic sounds commonly occurring in music: Piano tones and hi‐hat cymbal sounds. In a multifeature oddball paradigm, we measured mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a responses to timbre, intensity, and location deviants in listeners with and without congenital amusia—an impairment of pitch processing. As hypothesized, we observed larger amplitudes and earlier latencies (for both MMN and P3a) in harmonic compared with inharmonic sounds. These harmonicity effects were modulated by sound feature. Moreover, the difference in P3a latency between harmonic and inharmonic sounds was larger for controls than amusics. We propose an explanation of these results based on predictive coding and discuss the relationship between harmonicity, information entropy, and precision weighting of prediction errors.
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Affiliation(s)
- D R Quiroga-Martinez
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark
| | - K Basiński
- Division of Quality of Life Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | | | - B Tillmann
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center; CNRS, UMR5292; INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France.,University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - E Brattico
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark.,Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
| | - F Cholvy
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center; CNRS, UMR5292; INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France.,University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - L Fornoni
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center; CNRS, UMR5292; INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France.,University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
| | - P Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark
| | - A Caclin
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center; CNRS, UMR5292; INSERM, U1028, Lyon, France.,University Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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Quiroga-Martinez DR, Hansen NC, Højlund A, Pearce M, Brattico E, Holmes E, Friston K, Vuust P. Musicianship and melodic predictability enhance neural gain in auditory cortex during pitch deviance detection. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:5595-5608. [PMID: 34459062 PMCID: PMC8559476 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2021] [Revised: 07/22/2021] [Accepted: 08/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
When listening to music, pitch deviations are more salient and elicit stronger prediction error responses when the melodic context is predictable and when the listener is a musician. Yet, the neuronal dynamics and changes in connectivity underlying such effects remain unclear. Here, we employed dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to investigate whether the magnetic mismatch negativity response (MMNm)-and its modulation by context predictability and musical expertise-are associated with enhanced neural gain of auditory areas, as a plausible mechanism for encoding precision-weighted prediction errors. Using Bayesian model comparison, we asked whether models with intrinsic connections within primary auditory cortex (A1) and superior temporal gyrus (STG)-typically related to gain control-or extrinsic connections between A1 and STG-typically related to propagation of prediction and error signals-better explained magnetoencephalography responses. We found that, compared to regular sounds, out-of-tune pitch deviations were associated with lower intrinsic (inhibitory) connectivity in A1 and STG, and lower backward (inhibitory) connectivity from STG to A1, consistent with disinhibition and enhanced neural gain in these auditory areas. More predictable melodies were associated with disinhibition in right A1, while musicianship was associated with disinhibition in left A1 and reduced connectivity from STG to left A1. These results indicate that musicianship and melodic predictability, as well as pitch deviations themselves, enhance neural gain in auditory cortex during deviance detection. Our findings are consistent with predictive processing theories suggesting that precise and informative error signals are selected by the brain for subsequent hierarchical processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- David R Quiroga-Martinez
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Niels Christian Hansen
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark.,Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Andreas Højlund
- Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Marcus Pearce
- School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Elvira Brattico
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark.,Department of Education, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Emma Holmes
- The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UCL, London, UK
| | - Karl Friston
- The Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, UCL, London, UK
| | - Peter Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark
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4
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Lumaca M, Dietz MJ, Hansen NC, Quiroga-Martinez DR, Vuust P. Perceptual learning of tone patterns changes the effective connectivity between Heschl's gyrus and planum temporale. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 42:941-952. [PMID: 33146455 PMCID: PMC7856650 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 10/06/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Learning of complex auditory sequences such as music can be thought of as optimizing an internal model of regularities through unpredicted events (or “prediction errors”). We used dynamic causal modeling (DCM) and parametric empirical Bayes on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to identify modulation of effective brain connectivity that takes place during perceptual learning of complex tone patterns. Our approach differs from previous studies in two aspects. First, we used a complex oddball paradigm based on tone patterns as opposed to simple deviant tones. Second, the use of fMRI allowed us to identify cortical regions with high spatial accuracy. These regions served as empirical regions‐of‐interest for the analysis of effective connectivity. Deviant patterns induced an increased blood oxygenation level‐dependent response, compared to standards, in early auditory (Heschl's gyrus [HG]) and association auditory areas (planum temporale [PT]) bilaterally. Within this network, we found a left‐lateralized increase in feedforward connectivity from HG to PT during deviant responses and an increase in excitation within left HG. In contrast to previous findings, we did not find frontal activity, nor did we find modulations of backward connections in response to oddball sounds. Our results suggest that complex auditory prediction errors are encoded by changes in feedforward and intrinsic connections, confined to superior temporal gyrus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Massimo Lumaca
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Martin J Dietz
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Niels Chr Hansen
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark.,Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - David R Quiroga-Martinez
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Peter Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain, Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg, Aarhus, Denmark
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5
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Quiroga-Martinez DR, Hansen NC, Højlund A, Pearce M, Brattico E, Vuust P. Decomposing neural responses to melodic surprise in musicians and non-musicians: Evidence for a hierarchy of predictions in the auditory system. Neuroimage 2020; 215:116816. [PMID: 32276064 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2019] [Revised: 02/18/2020] [Accepted: 03/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Neural responses to auditory surprise are typically studied with highly unexpected, disruptive sounds. Consequently, little is known about auditory prediction in everyday contexts that are characterized by fine-grained, non-disruptive fluctuations of auditory surprise. To address this issue, we used IDyOM, a computational model of auditory expectation, to obtain continuous surprise estimates for a set of newly composed melodies. Our main goal was to assess whether the neural correlates of non-disruptive surprising sounds in a musical context are affected by musical expertise. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), auditory responses were recorded from musicians and non-musicians while they listened to the melodies. Consistent with a previous study, the amplitude of the N1m component increased with higher levels of computationally estimated surprise. This effect, however, was not different between the two groups. Further analyses offered an explanation for this finding: Pitch interval size itself, rather than probabilistic prediction, was responsible for the modulation of the N1m, thus pointing to low-level sensory adaptation as the underlying mechanism. In turn, the formation of auditory regularities and proper probabilistic prediction were reflected in later components: The mismatch negativity (MMNm) and the P3am, respectively. Overall, our findings reveal a hierarchy of expectations in the auditory system and highlight the need to properly account for sensory adaptation in research addressing statistical learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- D R Quiroga-Martinez
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark.
| | - N C Hansen
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia; Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (AIAS), Aarhus University, Denmark
| | - A Højlund
- Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Denmark
| | - M Pearce
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark; School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, UK
| | - E Brattico
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark; Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology and Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy
| | - P Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University & The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark
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Quiroga-Martinez DR, Hansen NC, Højlund A, Pearce MT, Brattico E, Vuust P. Reduced prediction error responses in high-as compared to low-uncertainty musical contexts. Cortex 2019; 120:181-200. [PMID: 31323458 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.06.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2018] [Revised: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 06/19/2019] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Theories of predictive processing propose that prediction error responses are modulated by the certainty of the predictive model or precision. While there is some evidence for this phenomenon in the visual and, to a lesser extent, the auditory modality, little is known about whether it operates in the complex auditory contexts of daily life. Here, we examined how prediction error responses behave in a more complex and ecologically valid auditory context than those typically studied. We created musical tone sequences with different degrees of pitch uncertainty to manipulate the precision of participants' auditory expectations. Magnetoencephalography was used to measure the magnetic counterpart of the mismatch negativity (MMNm) as a neural marker of prediction error in a multi-feature paradigm. Pitch, slide, intensity and timbre deviants were included. We compared high-entropy stimuli, consisting of a set of non-repetitive melodies, with low-entropy stimuli consisting of a simple, repetitive pitch pattern. Pitch entropy was quantitatively assessed with an information-theoretic model of auditory expectation. We found a reduction in pitch and slide MMNm amplitudes in the high-entropy as compared to the low-entropy context. No significant differences were found for intensity and timbre MMNm amplitudes. Furthermore, in a separate behavioral experiment investigating the detection of pitch deviants, similar decreases were found for accuracy measures in response to more fine-grained increases in pitch entropy. Our results are consistent with a precision modulation of auditory prediction error in a musical context, and suggest that this effect is specific to features that depend on the manipulated dimension-pitch information, in this case.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Niels C Hansen
- The MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development, Western Sydney University, Australia
| | - Andreas Højlund
- Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University, Denmark
| | - Marcus T Pearce
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark; School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Queen Mary University of London, UK
| | - Elvira Brattico
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark
| | - Peter Vuust
- Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University and The Royal Academy of Music, Denmark
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