4,403 research outputs found
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The role of HG in the analysis of temporal iteration and interaural correlation
A blind deconvolution approach to recover effective connectivity brain networks from resting state fMRI data
A great improvement to the insight on brain function that we can get from
fMRI data can come from effective connectivity analysis, in which the flow of
information between even remote brain regions is inferred by the parameters of
a predictive dynamical model. As opposed to biologically inspired models, some
techniques as Granger causality (GC) are purely data-driven and rely on
statistical prediction and temporal precedence. While powerful and widely
applicable, this approach could suffer from two main limitations when applied
to BOLD fMRI data: confounding effect of hemodynamic response function (HRF)
and conditioning to a large number of variables in presence of short time
series. For task-related fMRI, neural population dynamics can be captured by
modeling signal dynamics with explicit exogenous inputs; for resting-state fMRI
on the other hand, the absence of explicit inputs makes this task more
difficult, unless relying on some specific prior physiological hypothesis. In
order to overcome these issues and to allow a more general approach, here we
present a simple and novel blind-deconvolution technique for BOLD-fMRI signal.
Coming to the second limitation, a fully multivariate conditioning with short
and noisy data leads to computational problems due to overfitting. Furthermore,
conceptual issues arise in presence of redundancy. We thus apply partial
conditioning to a limited subset of variables in the framework of information
theory, as recently proposed. Mixing these two improvements we compare the
differences between BOLD and deconvolved BOLD level effective networks and draw
some conclusions
Are Face and Object Recognition Independent? A Neurocomputational Modeling Exploration
Are face and object recognition abilities independent? Although it is
commonly believed that they are, Gauthier et al.(2014) recently showed that
these abilities become more correlated as experience with nonface categories
increases. They argued that there is a single underlying visual ability, v,
that is expressed in performance with both face and nonface categories as
experience grows. Using the Cambridge Face Memory Test and the Vanderbilt
Expertise Test, they showed that the shared variance between Cambridge Face
Memory Test and Vanderbilt Expertise Test performance increases monotonically
as experience increases. Here, we address why a shared resource across
different visual domains does not lead to competition and to an inverse
correlation in abilities? We explain this conundrum using our
neurocomputational model of face and object processing (The Model, TM). Our
results show that, as in the behavioral data, the correlation between
subordinate level face and object recognition accuracy increases as experience
grows. We suggest that different domains do not compete for resources because
the relevant features are shared between faces and objects. The essential power
of experience is to generate a "spreading transform" for faces that generalizes
to objects that must be individuated. Interestingly, when the task of the
network is basic level categorization, no increase in the correlation between
domains is observed. Hence, our model predicts that it is the type of
experience that matters and that the source of the correlation is in the
fusiform face area, rather than in cortical areas that subserve basic level
categorization. This result is consistent with our previous modeling
elucidating why the FFA is recruited for novel domains of expertise (Tong et
al., 2008)
The cognitive neuroscience of visual working memory
Visual working memory allows us to temporarily maintain and manipulate visual information in order to solve a task. The study of the brain mechanisms underlying this function began more than half a century ago, with Scoville and Milner’s (1957) seminal discoveries with amnesic patients. This timely collection of papers brings together diverse perspectives on the cognitive neuroscience of visual working memory from multiple fields that have traditionally been fairly disjointed: human neuroimaging, electrophysiological, behavioural and animal lesion studies, investigating both the developing and the adult brain
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Relationships between human auditory cortical structure and function
The human auditory cortex comprises multiple areas, largely distributed across the supratemporal plane, but the precise number and configuration of auditory areas and their functional significance have not yet been clearly established. In this paper, we discuss recent research concerning architectonic and functional organisation within the human auditory cortex, as well as architectonic and neurophysiological studies in non-human species, which can provide a broad conceptual framework for interpreting functional specialisation in humans. We review the pattern in human auditory cortex of the functional responses to various acoustic cues, such as frequency, pitch, sound level, temporal variation, motion and spatial location, and we discuss their correspondence to what is known about the organisation of the auditory cortex in other primates. There is some neuroimaging evidence of multiple tonotopically organised fields in humans and of functional specialisations of the fields in the processing of different sound features. It is thought that the primary area, on Heschl's gyrus, may have a larger involvement in processing basic sound features, such as frequency and level, and that posterior non-primary areas on the planum temporale may play a larger role in processing more spectrotemporally complex sounds. Ways in which current knowledge of auditory cortical organisation and different data analysis approaches may benefit future functional neuroimaging studies which seek to link auditory cortical structure and function are discussed
Contributions to the study of Austism Spectrum Brain conectivity
164 p.Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a largely prevalent neurodevelopmental condition with a big social and economical impact affecting the entire life of families. There is an intense search for biomarkers that can be assessed as early as possible in order to initiate treatment and preparation of the family to deal with the challenges imposed by the condition. Brain imaging biomarkers have special interest. Specifically, functional connectivity data extracted from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) should allow to detect brain connectivity alterations. Machine learning pipelines encompass the estimation of the functional connectivity matrix from brain parcellations, feature extraction and building classification models for ASD prediction. The works reported in the literature are very heterogeneous from the computational and methodological point of view. In this Thesis we carry out a comprehensive computational exploration of the impact of the choices involved while building these machine learning pipelines
Human VMPFC encodes early signatures of confidence in perceptual decisions
Choice confidence, an individual’s internal estimate of judgment accuracy, plays a
critical role in adaptive behaviour, yet its neural representations during decision formation remain
underexplored. Here, we recorded simultaneous EEG-fMRI while participants performed a
direction discrimination task and rated their confidence on each trial. Using multivariate single-trial
discriminant analysis of the EEG, we identified a stimulus-independent component encoding
confidence, which appeared prior to subjects’ explicit choice and confidence report, and was
consistent with a confidence measure predicted by an accumulation-to-bound model of decisionmaking.
Importantly, trial-to-trial variability in this electrophysiologically-derived confidence signal
was uniquely associated with fMRI responses in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), a
region not typically associated with confidence for perceptual decisions. Furthermore, activity in
the VMPFC was functionally coupled with regions of the frontal cortex linked to perceptual
decision-making and metacognition. Our results suggest that the VMPFC holds an early confidence
representation arising from decision dynamics, preceding and potentially informing metacognitive
evaluation
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