Neural activity in the frontal eye fields modulated by the number of alternatives in target choice

Selection of identical responses may not use the same neural mechanisms when the number of alternatives (NA) for the selection changes, as suggested by Hick's law. For elucidating the choice mechanisms, frontal eye field (FEF) neurons were monitored during a color-to-location choice saccade task as the number of potential targets was varied. Visual responses to alternative targets decreased as NA increased, whereas perisaccade activities increased with NA. These modulations of FEF activities seem closely related to the choice process because the activity enhancements coincided with the timing of target selection, and the neural modulation was greater as NA increased, features expected of neural correlates for a choice process from the perspective of Hick's law. Our current observations suggest two novel notions of FEF neuronal behavior that have not been reported previously: (1) cells called "phasic visual" that do not discharge in the perisaccade interval in a delayed-saccade paradigm show such activity in a choice response task at the time of the saccade; and (2) the activity in FEF visuomotor cells display an inverse relationship between perisaccadic activity and the time of saccade triggering with higher levels of activity leading to longer saccade reaction times. These findings support the area's involvement in sensory-motor translation for target selection through coactivation and competitive interaction of neural populations that code for alternative action sets.

Neural activity in the frontal eye fields modulated by the number of alternatives in target choice.
Lee KM, Keller EL.
J Neurosci. 2008 Feb 27;28(9):2242-51.

The cerebellum predicts the timing of perceptual events

Prospective (forward) temporal-spatial models are essential for both action and perception, but the literature on perceptual prediction has primarily been limited to the spatial domain. In this study we asked how the neural systems of perceptual prediction change, when change-over-time must be modeled. We used a naturalistic paradigm in which observers had to extrapolate the trajectory of an occluded moving object to make perceptual judgments based on the spatial (direction) or temporal-spatial (velocity) characteristics of object motion. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging we found that a region in posterior cerebellum (lobule VII crus 1) was engaged specifically when a temporal-spatial model was required (velocity judgment task), suggesting that circuitry involved in motor forward-modeling may also be engaged in perceptual prediction when a model of change-over-time is required. This cerebellar region appears to supply a temporal signal to cortical networks involved in spatial orienting: a frontal-parietal network associated with attentional orienting was engaged in both (spatial and temporal-spatial) tasks, but functional connectivity between these regions and the posterior cerebellum was enhanced in the temporal-spatial prediction task. In addition to the oculomotor spatial orienting network, regions involved in hand movements (aIP and PMv) were recruited in the temporal-spatial task, suggesting that the nature of perceptual prediction may bias the recruitment of sensory-motor networks in orienting. Finally, in temporal-spatial prediction, functional connectivity was enhanced between the cerebellum and the putamen, a structure which has been proposed to supply the brain's metric of time, in the temporal-spatial prediction task.

The cerebellum predicts the timing of perceptual events.
O'Reilly JX, Mesulam MM, Nobre AC.
J Neurosci. 2008 Feb 27;28(9):2252-60.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18305258?dopt=Abstract

Brain Activity Evoked by the Perception of Human Walking:Controlling for Meaningful Coherent Motion

Manyfunctional neuroimaging studies of biological motion have used as stimuli point-light displays of walking figures and compared the resulting activations with those evoked by the same display elements moving in arandomor noncoherent manner. Although these studies have established that biological motion activates the superior temporal sulcus (STS), the use of random motion controls has left open the possibility that coordinated and meaningful nonbiological motion might activate these same brain regions and thus call into question their specificity for processing biological motion. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and an anatomical region-ofinterest approach to test a hierarchy of three questions regarding activity within the STS. First, by comparing responses in the STS with animations of human and robot walking figures, we determined (1) that the STS is sensitive to biological motion itself, not merely to the superficial characteristics of the stimulus. Then we determined that the STS responds more strongly to biological motion (as conveyed by the walking robot) than to (2) a nonmeaningful but complex nonbiological motion (a disjointed mechanical figure) and (3) a complex and meaningful nonbiological motion (the movements of a grandfather clock). In subsequent whole-brain voxel-based analyses, we confirmed robust STS activity that was strongly right lateralized. In addition, we observed significant deactivations in the STS that differentiated biological and nonbiological motion. These voxel-based analyses also revealed regions of motion-related positive activity in other brain regions, including MT or V5, fusiform gyri, right premotor cortex, and the intraparietal sulci.

Brain Activity Evoked by the Perception of Human Walking:Controlling for Meaningful Coherent Motion.
Kevin A. Pelphrey, Teresa V. Mitchell, Martin J. McKeown, Jeremy Goldstein, Truett Allison, and Gregory McCarthy.
The Journal of Neuroscience, July 30, 2003 • 23(17):6819–6825 • 6819.

Perceived causality influences brain activity evoked by biological motion

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated brain activity in an observer who watched the hand and arm motions of an individual when that individual was, or was not, the cause of the motion. Subjects viewed a realistic animated 3D character who sat at a table containing four pistons. On Intended Motion trials, the character raised his hand and arm upwards. On Unintended Motion trials, the piston under one of the character's hands pushed the hand and arm upward with the same motion. Finally, during Non-Biological Motion control trials, a piston pushed a coffee mug upward in the same smooth motion. Hand and arm motions, regardless of intention, evoked significantly more activity than control trials in a bilateral region that extended ventrally from the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) region and which was more spatially extensive in the right hemisphere. The left pSTS near the temporal-parietal junction, robustly differentiated between the Intended Motion and Unintended Motion conditions. Here, strong activity was observed for Intended Motion trials, while Unintended Motion trials evoked similar activity as the coffee mug trials. Our results demonstrate a strong hemispheric bias in the role of the pSTS in the perception of causality of biological motion.

James P. Morris a; Kevin A. Pelphrey a; Gregory McCarthy bc.
Perceived causality influences brain activity evoked by biological motion.
journal of Social Neuroscience 17 July 2007.

Distinct visual perspective-taking strategies involve the left and right medial temporal lobe structures differently

This study assesses the role of the human medial temporal lobe (MTL) structures in the coordination of spatial information across perspective change and, in particular, in visual perspective taking—namely the capacity to know what another individual is seeing on the visual scene. Fourteen patients with unilateral temporal lobe resection and 21 control subjects performed two tasks, called ‘object location memory’ and ‘viewpoint recognition’, respectively. In the object location memory task, subjects had to memorize the position of a target object in the environment from an initial viewpoint. They were then shown the same environment from a new viewpoint and had to indicate whether or not the target object had moved. In the viewpoint recognition task, subjects had to imagine the perspective of an avatar from the initial viewpoint and then decide whether or not the new viewpoint was that of the avatar. The results showed a double dissociation, with left MTL patients being impaired in the object location memory task but not in the viewpoint recognition task and right MTL patients being impaired in the viewpoint recognition task but not in the object location memory task. Furthermore, based on multiple regression analyses between performance and the volumes of the different MTL structures, we discuss the specific involvement of the left temporopolar cortex and of the right hippocampus in different kinds of visual perspective taking.

S. Lambrey , M.-A. Amorim , S. Samson , M. Noulhiane , D. Hasboun , S. Dupont , M. Baulac , and A. Berthoz.
Distinct visual perspective-taking strategies involve the left and right medial temporal lobe structures differently.
Brain Advance Access published on February 1, 2008, DOI 10.1093/brain/awm317. Brain 131: 523-534.

http://brain.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/131/2/523

Reward Timing in the Primary Visual Cortex

We discovered that when adult rats experience an association between visual stimuli and subsequent rewards, the responses of a substantial fraction of neurons in the primary visual cortex evolve from those that relate solely to the physical attributes of the stimuli to those that accurately predict the timing of reward. In addition to revealing a remarkable type of response plasticity in adult V1, these data demonstrate that reward-timing activity—a "higher" brain function—can occur very early in sensory-processing paths. These findings challenge the traditional interpretation of activity in the primary visual cortex.

Reward Timing in the Primary Visual Cortex
Marshall G. Shuler and Mark F. Bear (17 March 2006)
Science 311 (5767), 1606. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1123513]

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/citmgr?gca=sci;311/5767/1606

Pathways for emotions and memory II. Afferent input to the anterior thalamic nuclei from PF, temporal, hypothalamic areas and the BG in the rhesus ...

The anterior thalamic nuclei are a key link in pathways associated with emotions and memory. In the preceding study we found that one of the anterior nuclei, the anterior medial (AM), had particularly robust connections with specific medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices and moderate connections with frontal polar cortices. The goal of this study was to use a direct approach to determine the sources of projections to the AM nucleus from all prefrontal cortices, as well as from temporal structures and the hypothalamic mammillary body, known for their role in distinct aspects of memory and emotion. We addressed this issue with targeted injections of retrograde fluorescent tracers in the AM nucleus to determine its sources of input. Projection neurons directed to the AM nucleus were found in the deep layers of most prefrontal cortices (layers V and VI), and were most densely distributed in medial areas 24, 32 and 25, orbitofrontal areas 13 and 25, and lateral areas 10 and 46. Most projection neurons were found in layer VI, though in medial prefrontal cortices and dorsal area 9 about a third were found in layer V, a significantly higher proportion than in lateral and orbitofrontal cortices. In the temporal lobe, projection neurons originated mostly from the hippocampal formation (ammonic field CA3 and subicular complex), and the amygdala (basolateral, lateral, and basomedial nuclei). In the hypothalamus, a significant number of neurons in the ipsilateral medial mammillary body projected to the AM nucleus, some of which were positive for calbindin (CB) or parvalbumin (PV), markers expressed, respectively, in “diffuse” and “specific” pathways in the thalamus [Adv. Neurol. 77 (1998a) 49]. As recipient of diverse signals, the AM nucleus is in a key position to link pathways associated with emotions, and may be an important interface for systems associated with retrieval of information from long-term memory in the process of solving problems within working memory. Finally, the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi) issued projections to AM, suggesting direct linkage with executive systems through the basal ganglia. The diverse connections of the AM nucleus may help explain the varied deficits in memory and emotions seen in neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases affecting the anterior thalamic nuclei.



Fig. 12. Summary of the connections of the anterior medial nucleus with prefrontal and temporal structures, the hypothalamic mammillary body and the internal segment of the globus pallidus. The bi-directional arrows for connections of prefrontal cortices with AM summarize findings obtained from this and the preceding study, and are shown on the lateral (top, left), medial (top, right) and basal surfaces (bottom) of the cerebral hemisphere. The projections from temporal cortex, the amygdala, the hippocampus, the hypothalamic mammillary body, and the basal ganglia to AM are according to the findings from this study. Density variations of prefrontal projections to AM are depicted in pseudocolor denoting dense (red) to light (blue) projections, as reconstructed from serial coronal sections (this paper). cal outputs of the AM nucleus, the cingulate cortex (Gaffan and Harrison, 1989; Gaffan, 1993, 2002; Parker and Gaffan, 1997a,b; Gaffan et al., 2001). In humans, infarction of the AM nucleus dramatically impaired episodic and recognition memory resulting in anterograde amnesia (Parkin et al., 1994; Ghika-Schmid and Bogousslavsky, 2000; Nolan et al.,

Pathways for emotions and memory II. Afferent input to the anterior thalamic nuclei from prefrontal, temporal, hypothalamic areas and the basal ganglia in the rhesus monkey.
D. Xiao b, H. Barbas.
Thalamus & Related Systems 2 (2002) 33–48.

http://www.bu.edu/neural/Final/Publications/2002/Thalamus%20&%20Related%20Systems,%20Volume%202,%20Issue%201,%20December%202002,%20Pages%2033-48.PDF