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Wang W, Zhou T, Chen L, Huang Y. A subcortical magnocellular pathway is responsible for the fast processing of topological properties of objects: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:1617-1628. [PMID: 36426867 PMCID: PMC9921224 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [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: 09/21/2022] [Revised: 10/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Rapid object recognition has survival significance. The extraction of topological properties (TP) is proposed as the starting point of object perception. Behavioral evidence shows that TP processing takes precedence over other geometric properties and can accelerate object recognition. However, the mechanism of the fast TP processing remains unclear. The magnocellular (M) pathway is well known as a fast route to convey "coarse" information, compared with the slow parvocellular (P) pathway. Here, we hypothesize that the fast processing of TP occurs in a subcortical M pathway. We applied single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary visual cortex to temporarily disrupt cortical processing. Besides, stimuli were designed to preferentially engage M or P pathways (M- or P-biased conditions). We found that, when TMS disrupted cortical function at the early stages of stimulus processing, non-TP shape discrimination was strongly impaired in both M- and P-biased conditions, whereas TP discrimination was not affected in the M-biased condition, suggesting that early M processing of TP is independent of the visual cortex, but probably occurs in a subcortical M pathway. Using an unconscious priming paradigm, we further found that early M processing of TP can accelerate object recognition by speeding up the processing of other properties, e.g., orientation. Our findings suggest that the human visual system achieves efficient object recognition by rapidly processing TP in the subcortical M pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenbo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Beijing, China
| | - Tiangang Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Beijing, China.,Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei, China
| | - Lin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Beijing, China.,Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei, China
| | - Yan Huang
- Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Behavior, CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Connectome and Manipulation, Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute (BCBDI), Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, Shenzhen, China
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2
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Wang Y, Luo L, Chen G, Luan G, Wang X, Wang Q, Fang F. Rapid Processing of Invisible Fearful Faces in the Human Amygdala. J Neurosci 2023; 43:1405-1413. [PMID: 36690451 PMCID: PMC9987569 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.1294-22.2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [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: 07/01/2022] [Revised: 12/04/2022] [Accepted: 12/29/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Rapid detection of a threat or its symbol (e.g., fearful face), whether visible or invisible, is critical for human survival. This function is suggested to be enabled by a subcortical pathway to the amygdala independent of the cortex. However, conclusive electrophysiological evidence in humans is scarce. Here, we explored whether the amygdala can rapidly encode invisible fearful faces. We recorded intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) responses in the human (both sexes) amygdala to faces with fearful, happy, and neutral emotions rendered invisible by backward masking. We found that a short-latency intracranial event-related potential (iERP) in the amygdala, beginning 88 ms poststimulus onset, was preferentially evoked by invisible fearful faces relative to invisible happy or neutral faces. The rapid iERP exhibited selectivity to the low spatial frequency (LSF) component of the fearful faces. Time-frequency iEEG analyses further identified a rapid amygdala response preferentially for LSF fearful faces at the low gamma frequency band, beginning 45 ms poststimulus onset. In contrast, these rapid responses to invisible fearful faces were absent in cortical regions, including early visual areas, the fusiform gyrus, and the parahippocampal gyrus. These findings provide direct evidence for the existence of a subcortical pathway specific for rapid fear detection in the amygdala and demonstrate that the subcortical pathway can function without conscious awareness and under minimal influence from cortical areas.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Automatic detection of biologically relevant stimuli, such as threats or dangers, has remarkable survival value. Here, we provide direct intracranial electrophysiological evidence that the human amygdala preferentially responds to fearful faces at a rapid speed, despite the faces being invisible. This rapid, fear-selective response is restricted to faces containing low spatial frequency information transmitted by magnocellular neurons and does not appear in cortical regions. These results support the existence of a rapid subcortical pathway independent of cortical pathways to the human amygdala.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingying Wang
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310028, Zhejiang, China
| | - Lu Luo
- School of Psychology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
| | - Guanpeng Chen
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Guoming Luan
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 1000932, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Epilepsy, Epilepsy Center, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100093, China
- Beijing Institute for Brain Disorders, Beijing 100069, China
| | - Xiongfei Wang
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Sanbo Brain Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 1000932, China
| | - Qian Wang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
| | - Fang Fang
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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3
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Wang C, Lian R, Dong X, Mi Y, Wu S. A Neural Network Model With Gap Junction for Topological Detection. Front Comput Neurosci 2020; 14:571982. [PMID: 33178003 PMCID: PMC7591819 DOI: 10.3389/fncom.2020.571982] [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: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 10/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Visual information processing in the brain goes from global to local. A large volume of experimental studies has suggested that among global features, the brain perceives the topological information of an image first. Here, we propose a neural network model to elucidate the underlying computational mechanism. The model consists of two parts. The first part is a neural network in which neurons are coupled through gap junctions, mimicking the neural circuit formed by alpha ganglion cells in the retina. Gap junction plays a key role in the model, which, on one hand, facilitates the synchronized firing of a neuron group covering a connected region of an image, and on the other hand, staggers the firing moments of different neuron groups covering disconnected regions of the image. These two properties endow the network with the capacity of detecting the connectivity and closure of images. The second part of the model is a read-out neuron, which reads out the topological information that has been converted into the number of synchronized firings in the retina network. Our model provides a simple yet effective mechanism for the neural system to detect the topological information of images in ultra-speed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chaoming Wang
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Academy for Advanced Interdisceplinary Studies, Beijing, China.,Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei, China.,Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
| | - Risheng Lian
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Academy for Advanced Interdisceplinary Studies, Beijing, China
| | - Xingsi Dong
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Academy for Advanced Interdisceplinary Studies, Beijing, China
| | - Yuanyuan Mi
- Center for Neurointelligence, School of Medicine, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
| | - Si Wu
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Academy for Advanced Interdisceplinary Studies, Beijing, China.,Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei, China
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4
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Sun Y, Li F, Li H, Song Y, Wang W, Zhou R, Xiong J, He W, Peng Y, Liu Y, Wang L, Huang Y, Zhang X. Performance of Topological Perception in the Myopic Population. Curr Eye Res 2020; 45:1458-1465. [PMID: 32338072 DOI: 10.1080/02713683.2020.1755697] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Purpose: Discriminating objects' topological property (TP) is a primitive function of visual representation, which is reported to be associated with magnocellular (M) visual pathway, temporal lobe (TL), and superior colliculus (SC)-pulvinar subcortical pathway. Previous studies have shown that M pathway and TL were affected in high myopia (HM) subjects. The study was accordingly designed to explore whether topological perception performance was abnormal in HM subjects. Methods: 30 mildly myopic, 25 moderately myopic, 35 highly myopic, and 20 emmetropic subjects were enrolled. All participants underwent a comprehensive ophthalmological assessment including automated refraction, intraocular pressure, Humphrey 10-2 standard automated perimetry, ocular fundus photography and swept-source optical coherence tomography. Defined by differences in hole, TP and non-TP discrimination with letters "E", "S", "P", "d" as stimuli in the central and peripheral regions was performed using the MATLAB 2017 software. d-primes extracted from the software were analyzed within each group. The correlation of peripheral TP/non-TP deficit with spherical equivalent (SE), axial length (AL) and average peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness was performed. Results: The patterns of topological perception performance were similar among the groups. TP discrimination peripherally was significantly better than that centrally in the mild myopia (P < .001), moderate myopia (P < .001), high myopia (P < .001) and emmetropia groups (P = .001). In the peripheral region, TP d-prime scores were significantly better than non-TP d-prime scores (all P < .001). The main and interaction effects of eccentricity and stimulus type were statistically significant(P < .05). There was no statistically significant correlation between peripheral TP/non-TP deficit and SE, AL or average RNFL thickness (P > .05). Conclusions: The current study first showed that patterns of topological perception among the myopic population were similar and not affected by the severity of myopia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Sun
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China.,Department of Ophthalmology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
| | - Fei Li
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
| | - Hao Li
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China.,Department of Ophthalmology, Guizhou Provincial People's Hospital , Guiyang, China
| | - Yunhe Song
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
| | - Wenbo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing, China
| | - Rouxi Zhou
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
| | - Jian Xiong
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
| | - Wanbing He
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuying Peng
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuhong Liu
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
| | - Liping Wang
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology; the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen, China
| | - Yan Huang
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology; the Brain Cognition and Brain Disease Institute, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shenzhen, China
| | - Xiulan Zhang
- The Collaboration Research Center for Ophthalmology and Brain Cognition of Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center and Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology; State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University , Guangzhou, China
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Burra N, Mares I, Senju A. The influence of top-down modulation on the processing of direct gaze. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Cogn Sci 2019; 10:e1500. [PMID: 30864304 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2018] [Revised: 01/25/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Gaze or eye contact is one of the most important nonverbal social cues, which is fundamental to human social interactions. To achieve real time and dynamic face-to-face communication, our brain needs to process another person's gaze direction rapidly and without explicit instruction. In order to explain the fast and spontaneous processing of direct gaze, the fast-track modulator model was proposed. Here, we review recent developments in gaze processing research in the last decade to extend the fast-track modulator model. In particular, we propose that task demand or top-down modulation could play a more crucial role at gaze processing than formerly assumed. We suggest that under different task demands, top-down modulation can facilitate or interfere with the direct gaze effects for early visual processing. The proposed modification of the model extends the role of task demand and its implication on the direct gaze effect, as well as the need to better control for top-down processing in order to better disentangle the role of top-down and bottom-up processing on the direct gaze effect. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Psychology > Perception and Psychophysics Neuroscience > Cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicolas Burra
- Faculté de Psychologie et des Sciences de l'Education, Université de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Ines Mares
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, England
| | - Atsushi Senju
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, London, England.,Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, England
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6
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Nishijo H, Rafal R, Tamietto M. Editorial: Limbic-Brainstem Roles in Perception, Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior. Front Neurosci 2018; 12:395. [PMID: 29946232 PMCID: PMC6005830 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2018.00395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2018] [Accepted: 05/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Toyama, Toyama, Japan
| | - Robert Rafal
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, United States
| | - Marco Tamietto
- Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases, Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands.,Department of Psychology, University of Torino, Torino, Italy.,Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, Netherlands
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7
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Meng Q, Huang Y, Cui D, He L, Chen L, Ma Y, Zhao X. The dissociations of visual processing of "hole" and "no-hole" stimuli: An functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Brain Behav 2018; 8:e00979. [PMID: 29761025 PMCID: PMC5943751 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2017] [Revised: 01/30/2018] [Accepted: 03/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION "Where to begin" is a fundamental question of vision. A "Global-first" topological approach proposed that the first step in object representation was to extract topological properties, especially whether the object had a hole or not. Numerous psychophysical studies found that the hole (closure) could be rapidly recognized by visual system as a primitive property. However, neuroimaging studies showed that the temporal lobe (IT), which lied at a late stage of ventral pathway, was involved as a dedicated region. It appeared paradoxical that IT served as a key region for processing the early component of visual information. Did there exist a distinct fast route to transit hole information to IT? We hypothesized that a fast noncortical pathway might participate in processing holes. METHODS To address this issue, a backward masking paradigm combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was applied to measure neural responses to hole and no-hole stimuli in anatomically defined cortical and subcortical regions of interest (ROIs) under different visual awareness levels by modulating masking delays. RESULTS For no-hole stimuli, the neural activation of cortical sites was greatly attenuated when the no-hole perception was impaired by strong masking, whereas an enhanced neural response to hole stimuli in non-cortical sites was obtained when the stimulus was rendered more invisible. CONCLUSIONS The results suggested that whereas the cortical route was required to drive a perceptual response for no-hole stimuli, a subcortical route might be involved in coding the hole feature, resulting in a rapid hole perception in primitive vision.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qianli Meng
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology Beijing China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
| | - Yan Huang
- The Brain Cognition & Brain Disease Institute for Collaboration Research of SIAT at CAS and the McGovern Institute at MIT Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology Chinese Academy of Sciences University Town of Shenzhen Shenzhen China
| | - Ding Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology Beijing China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
| | - Lixia He
- Paralign Inc. San Francisco California
| | - Lin Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology Beijing China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
| | - Yuanye Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology Beijing China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China.,Yunnan Key Laboratory of Primate Biomedical Research Kunming University of Science and Technology Kunming China
| | - Xudong Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science Institute of Biophysics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology Beijing China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
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Nguyen MN, Nishimaru H, Matsumoto J, Van Le Q, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Ono T, Nishijo H. Population Coding of Facial Information in the Monkey Superior Colliculus and Pulvinar. Front Neurosci 2016; 10:583. [PMID: 28066168 PMCID: PMC5175414 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [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: 08/08/2016] [Accepted: 12/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The superior colliculus (SC) and pulvinar are thought to function as a subcortical visual pathway that bypasses the striate cortex and detects fundamental facial information. We previously investigated neuronal responses in the SC and pulvinar of monkeys during a delayed nonmatching-to-sample task, in which the monkeys were required to discriminate among 35 facial photos of five models and other categories of visual stimuli, and reported that population coding by multiple SC and pulvinar neurons well discriminated facial photos from other categories of stimuli (Nguyen et al., 2013, 2014). However, it remains unknown whether population coding could represent multiple types of facial information including facial identity, gender, facial orientation, and gaze direction. In the present study, to investigate population coding of multiple types of facial information by the SC and pulvinar neurons, we reanalyzed the same neuronal responses in the SC and pulvinar; the responses of 112 neurons in the SC and 68 neurons in the pulvinar in serial 50-ms epochs after stimulus onset were reanalyzed with multidimensional scaling (MDS). The results indicated that population coding by neurons in both the SC and pulvinar classified some aspects of facial information, such as face orientation, gender, and identity, of the facial photos in the second epoch (50–100 ms after stimulus onset). The Euclidean distances between all the pairs of stimuli in the MDS spaces in the SC were significantly correlated with those in the pulvinar, which suggested that the SC and pulvinar function as a unit. However, in contrast with the known population coding of face neurons in the temporal cortex, the facial information coding in the SC and pulvinar was coarse and insufficient. In these subcortical areas, identity discrimination was face orientation-dependent and the left and right profiles were not discriminated. Furthermore, gaze direction information was not extracted in the SC and pulvinar. These results suggest that the SC and pulvinar, which comprise the subcortical visual pathway, send coarse and rapid information on faces to the cortical system in a bottom-up process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minh N Nguyen
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Nishimaru
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Quan Van Le
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Rafael S Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of BrasíliaBrasilia, Brazil; Psychiatry Section, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Karolinska HospitalStockholm, Sweden
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília Brasilia, Brazil
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
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Nguyen MN, Matsumoto J, Hori E, Maior RS, Tomaz C, Tran AH, Ono T, Nishijo H. Neuronal responses to face-like and facial stimuli in the monkey superior colliculus. Front Behav Neurosci 2014; 8:85. [PMID: 24672448 PMCID: PMC3955777 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [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: 11/18/2013] [Accepted: 02/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The superficial layers of the superior colliculus (sSC) appear to function as a subcortical visual pathway that bypasses the striate cortex for the rapid processing of coarse facial information. We investigated the responses of neurons in the monkey sSC during a delayed non-matching-to-sample (DNMS) task in which monkeys were required to discriminate among five categories of visual stimuli [photos of faces with different gaze directions, line drawings of faces, face-like patterns (three dark blobs on a bright oval), eye-like patterns, and simple geometric patterns]. Of the 605 sSC neurons recorded, 216 neurons responded to the visual stimuli. Among the stimuli, face-like patterns elicited responses with the shortest latencies. Low-pass filtering of the images did not influence the responses. However, scrambling of the images increased the responses in the late phase, and this was consistent with a feedback influence from upstream areas. A multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis of the population data indicated that the sSC neurons could separately encode face-like patterns during the first 25-ms period after stimulus onset, and stimulus categorization developed in the next three 25-ms periods. The amount of stimulus information conveyed by the sSC neurons and the number of stimulus-differentiating neurons were consistently higher during the 2nd to 4th 25-ms periods than during the first 25-ms period. These results suggested that population activity of the sSC neurons preferentially filtered face-like patterns with short latencies to allow for the rapid processing of coarse facial information and developed categorization of the stimuli in later phases through feedback from upstream areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minh Nui Nguyen
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Jumpei Matsumoto
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Etsuro Hori
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Rafael Souto Maior
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília Brasilia, Brazil
| | - Carlos Tomaz
- Primate Center and Laboratory of Neurosciences and Behavior, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology, University of Brasília Brasilia, Brazil
| | - Anh H Tran
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Taketoshi Ono
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
| | - Hisao Nishijo
- System Emotional Science, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama Toyama, Japan
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Duffau H, Herbet G, Moritz-Gasser S. Toward a pluri-component, multimodal, and dynamic organization of the ventral semantic stream in humans: lessons from stimulation mapping in awake patients. Front Syst Neurosci 2013; 7:44. [PMID: 23986661 PMCID: PMC3752437 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2013.00044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 107] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2013] [Accepted: 08/05/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Hugues Duffau
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hôpital Gui de Chauliac, CHU Montpellier Montpellier, France ; Team "Plasticity of Central Nervous System, Stem Cells and Glial Tumors," INSERM U1051, Institute for Neuroscience of Montpellier, Hôpital Saint Eloi Montpellier, France
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Padmala S, Lim SL, Pessoa L. Pulvinar and Affective Significance: Responses Track Moment-to-Moment Stimulus Visibility. Front Hum Neurosci 2010; 4. [PMID: 20948583 PMCID: PMC2953413 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2010.00064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2010] [Accepted: 07/20/2010] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Research on emotion has considered the pulvinar to be an important component of a subcortical pathway conveying visual information to the amygdala in a largely “automatic” fashion. An older literature has focused on understanding the role of the pulvinar in visual attention. To address the inconsistency between these independent literatures, in the present study, we investigated how pulvinar responses are involved in the processing of affectively significant stimuli and how they are influenced by stimulus visibility during attentionally demanding conditions. Subjects performed an attentional blink task during fMRI scanning involving affectively significant (CS+) and neutral stimuli (CS−). Pulvinar responses were not influenced by affective significance (CS+ vs. CS−) per se. Instead, evoked responses were only modulated by affective significance during hit trials, but not during miss trials. Importantly, moment-to-moment fluctuations in response magnitude closely tracked trial-by-trial detection performance, and thereby visibility. This relationship was only reliably detected during the affective condition. Our results do not support a passive role of the pulvinar in affective processing, as invoked in the context of the subcortical-pathway hypothesis. Instead, the pulvinar appears to be involved in mechanisms that are closely linked to attention and awareness. As part of thalamocortical loops with diverse cortical territories, we argue that the medial pulvinar is well positioned to influence information processing in the brain according to a stimulus's biological significance. In particular, when weak and/or brief visual stimuli have affective significance, cortico-pulvino-cortical circuits may act to coordinate and amplify signals in a manner that enhances their behavioral impact.
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Affiliation(s)
- Srikanth Padmala
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University Bloomington, IN, USA
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