Brain Rhythms in Object Recognition and Manipulation

Our manual interactions with objects represent the most fundamental activity in our everyday life. Whereas the grasp of an object is driven by the perceptual senses, using an object for its function relies on learnt experience to retrieve. Recent theories explain how the brain takes decisions based on perceptual information, yet the question of how does it retrieve object knowledge to use tools remains unanswered. Discovering the neuronal implementation of the retrieval of object knowledge would help understanding praxic impairments and provide appropriate neurorehabilitation. This thesis reports five investigations on the neuronal oscillatory activity involved in accessing object knowledge. Employing an original paradigm combining EEG recordings with tool use training in virtual reality, I demonstrated that beta oscillations are crucial to the retrieval of object knowledge during object recognition. Multiple evidence points toward an access to object knowledge during the 300 to 400 ms of visual processing. The different topographies of the beta oscillations suggest that tool knowledge is encoded in distinct brain areas but generally located within the left hemisphere. Importantly, learning action information about an object has consequences on its manipulations. Multiplying tool use knowledge about an object increases the beta desynchronization and slows down motor control. Furthermore, the present data report an influence of language on object manipulations and beta oscillations, in a way that learning the name of an object speeds up its use while impedes its grasp. This shred of evidence led to the formulation of three testable hypotheses extending contemporary theories of object manipulation and semantic memory. First, the preparation of object transportation or use could be distinguished by the synchronization/desynchronization patterns of mu and beta rhythms. Second, action competitions originate from both perceptuo-motor and memory systems. Third, accessing to semantic object knowledge during object processing could be indexed by the bursts of desynchronization of high-beta oscillations in the brain.MSCA-ETN SECURE [642667

3D visualization of movements can amplify motor cortex activation during subsequent motor imagery

A repetitive movement practice by motor imagery (MI) can influence motor cortical excitability in the electroencephalogram (EEG). This study investigated if a realistic visualization in 3D of upper and lower limb movements can amplify motor related potentials during subsequent MI. We hypothesized that a richer sensory visualization might be more effective during instrumental conditioning, resulting in a more pronounced event related desynchronization (ERD) of the upper alpha band (10–12 Hz) over the sensorimotor cortices thereby potentially improving MI based brain-computer interface (BCI) protocols for motor rehabilitation. The results show a strong increase of the characteristic patterns of ERD of the upper alpha band components for left and right limb MI present over the sensorimotor areas in both visualization conditions. Overall, significant differences were observed as a function of visualization modality (VM; 2D vs. 3D). The largest upper alpha band power decrease was obtained during MI after a 3-dimensional visualization. In total in 12 out of 20 tasks the end-user of the 3D visualization group showed an enhanced upper alpha ERD relative to 2D VM group, with statistical significance in nine tasks.With a realistic visualization of the limb movements, we tried to increase motor cortex activation during subsequent MI. The feedback and the feedback environment should be inherently motivating and relevant for the learner and should have an appeal of novelty, real-world relevance or aesthetic value (Ryan and Deci, 2000; Merrill, 2007). Realistic visual feedback, consistent with the participant’s MI, might be helpful for accomplishing successful MI and the use of such feedback may assist in making BCI a more natural interface for MI based BCI rehabilitation

Mobile Brain and Body Imaging during Walking Motor Tasks

Mobile brain and body imaging (MoBI) presents new and promising methods for moving traditional research studies out of a controlled laboratory and into the real world. Most current neuroimaging techniques require subjects to be stationary in laboratory settings because of both hardware and software limitations. Recent developments in mobile brain imaging have utilized Electroencephalography (EEG) in conjunction with advanced signal processing techniques such as Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to overcome these obstacles and study humans doing complex tasks in non-traditional environments. In my first study, I used high density EEG to examine the cortical dynamics of subjects walking on a split-belt treadmill with legs moving independently of each other at different speeds to investigate how humans adapt to novel perturbations. I found significantly increased low and high frequency spectral power across all sensorimotor and parietal neural sources during split-belt adaptation compared to normal walking, which provides insight into the brain areas and patterns used to accommodate locomotor adaptation. In my second study I combined multi-modal sensing and biometric devices including EEG, eye tracking, heart rate, accelerometers, and salivary cortisol into a portable setup that subjects wore indoors on a treadmill using virtual reality as well as outdoors in a public arboretum. Subjects walked for 1 hour each indoors and outdoors while completing a free viewing visual search oddball task in virtual reality and in real life. I reported on the methods for how to set this experiment up, synchronize all data, and standardize the data in order to make it usable as an open access dataset that has been made available to the public online. My third study used this data set to examine the P300 event-related potential response during both indoors in virtual reality and outdoors in the arboretum. I found a significantly increased amplitude response between 250 to 400 ms across the centro-parietal electrodes that distinguished target flags from distractor flags during visual search for both indoor and outdoor environments. And finally, for my fourth study I used the same data set to look at the behavioral and neural correlates associated with gait dynamics when subjects walked indoors on a treadmill vs outdoors in variable terrain while also doing the visual search task. I found significant EEG power differences across multiple neural sources that showed increased spectral fluctuations throughout the gait cycle when subjects walked outdoors compared to indoors on a treadmill. The collective studies in this dissertation present new ways of using mobile brain and body imaging devices to expand our knowledge of the neural dynamics involved in humans moving in complex ways and in variable environments outside of traditional laboratories.PHDBiomedical EngineeringUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147691/1/ghanada_1.pd

We Three: My Brain, My Homunculus, and Me

An unconscious sense of the body in all higher mammals is located in somatosensory and motor cortices, colloquially referred to as the Homunculus (H). The time has arrived to consider how H might engage in the dimensions of selfhood that go beyond embodiment. Surely, the neural network modules that process various dimensions of selfhood must at least access and interact with the H or a stored memory of it. In this review, I suggest that our traditional understanding of H is much too simplistic. This review specifies a set of experimental approaches that should enlarge our understanding of the brain mechanisms of selfhood

The neural response is heightened when watching a person approaching compared to walking away: Evidence for dynamic social neuroscience

The action observation network has been proposed to play a key role in predicting the action intentions (or goals) of others, thereby facilitating social interaction. Key information when interacting with others is whether someone (an agent) is moving towards or away from us, indicating whether we are likely to interact with the person. In addition, to determine the nature of a social interaction, we also need to take into consideration the distance of the agent relative to us as the observer. How this kind of information is processed within the brain is unknown, at least in part because prior studies have not involved live whole-body motion. Consequently, here we recorded mobile EEG in 18 healthy participants, assessing the neural response to the modulation of direction (walking towards or away) and distance (near vs. far distance) during the observation of an agent walking. We evaluated whether cortical alpha and beta oscillations were modulated differently by direction and distance during action observation. We found that alpha was only modulated by distance, with a stronger decrease of power when the agent was further away from the observer, regardless of direction. Critically, by contrast, beta was found to be modulated by both distance and direction, with a stronger decrease of power when the agent was near and facing the participant (walking towards) compared to when they were near but viewed from the back (walking away). Analysis revealed differences in both the timing and distribution of alpha and beta oscillations. We argue that these data suggest a full understanding of action observation requires a new dynamic neuroscience, investigating actual interactions between real people, in real world environments

Proceedings of the 3rd International Mobile Brain/Body Imaging Conference : Berlin, July 12th to July 14th 2018

The 3rd International Mobile Brain/Body Imaging (MoBI) conference in Berlin 2018 brought together researchers from various disciplines interested in understanding the human brain in its natural environment and during active behavior. MoBI is a new imaging modality, employing mobile brain imaging methods like the electroencephalogram (EEG) or near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) synchronized to motion capture and other data streams to investigate brain activity while participants actively move in and interact with their environment. Mobile Brain / Body Imaging allows to investigate brain dynamics accompanying more natural cognitive and affective processes as it allows the human to interact with the environment without restriction regarding physical movement. Overcoming the movement restrictions of established imaging modalities like functional magnetic resonance tomography (MRI), MoBI can provide new insights into the human brain function in mobile participants. This imaging approach will lead to new insights into the brain functions underlying active behavior and the impact of behavior on brain dynamics and vice versa, it can be used for the development of more robust human-machine interfaces as well as state assessment in mobile humans.DFG, GR2627/10-1, 3rd International MoBI Conference 201

Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies

Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task

Designing Atmospheres: Theory and Science

Recent advances in science confirm many of the architects’ deep-rooted intuitions, improving knowledge about the perception of space and the meaning of architectural and urban design. This volume collects four essays: “Investigating Atmosphere in Architecture: An Overview of Phenomenological and Neuroscientific Methods” by Elisabetta Canepa; “Rhythms of the Brain, Body, and Environment: A Neuroscientific Perspective on Atmospheres” by Zakaria Djebbara; “A History of Tool-Atmospheres” by Kory Beighle; and “Atmospheric Histrionics” by Harry Francis Mallgrave. Bob Condia provided a critical introduction entitled “The Design of Atmospheres.

Designing Atmospheres: Theory and Science

This book was born as the legacy of the “Designing Atmospheres: Theory and Science” Symposium, an Interfaces event of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA), sponsored by the EU’s Horizon 2020 MSCA Program — RESONANCES Project, the Perkins Eastman Studio, and the Architecture Department at Kansas State University. The event was hosted in the College of Architecture, Planning and Design (APDesign), Kansas State University (K-State), Manhattan, KS, on March 28, 2023. Recent advances in science confirm many of the architects’ deep-rooted intuitions, improving knowledge about the perception of space and the meaning of architectural and urban design. This volume collects four essays: “Investigating Atmosphere in Architecture: An Overview of Phenomenological and Neuroscientific Methods” by Elisabetta Canepa; “Rhythms of the Brain, Body, and Environment: A Neuroscientific Perspective on Atmospheres” by Zakaria Djebbara; “A History of Tool-Atmospheres” by Kory Beighle; and “Atmospheric Histrionics” by Harry Francis Mallgrave. Bob Condia provided a critical introduction entitled “The Design of Atmospheres.”https://newprairiepress.org/ebooks/1050/thumbnail.jp