1,846 research outputs found

    Interaction of cortical networks mediating object motion detection by moving observers

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    Published in final edited form as: Exp Brain Res. 2012 August ; 221(2): 177–189. doi:10.1007/s00221-012-3159-8.The task of parceling perceived visual motion into self- and object motion components is critical to safe and accurate visually guided navigation. In this paper, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the cortical areas functionally active in this task and the pattern connectivity among them to investigate the cortical regions of interest and networks that allow subjects to detect object motion separately from induced self-motion. Subjects were presented with nine textured objects during simulated forward self-motion and were asked to identify the target object, which had an additional, independent motion component toward or away from the observer. Cortical activation was distributed among occipital, intra-parietal and fronto-parietal areas. We performed a network analysis of connectivity data derived from partial correlation and multivariate Granger causality analyses among functionally active areas. This revealed four coarsely separated network clusters: bilateral V1 and V2; visually responsive occipito-temporal areas, including bilateral LO, V3A, KO (V3B) and hMT; bilateral VIP, DIPSM and right precuneus; and a cluster of higher, primarily left hemispheric regions, including the central sulcus, post-, pre- and sub-central sulci, pre-central gyrus, and FEF. We suggest that the visually responsive networks are involved in forming the representation of the visual stimulus, while the higher, left hemisphere cluster is involved in mediating the interpretation of the stimulus for action. Our main focus was on the relationships of activations during our task among the visually responsive areas. To determine the properties of the mechanism corresponding to the visual processing networks, we compared subjects’ psychophysical performance to a model of object motion detection based solely on relative motion among objects and found that it was inconsistent with observer performance. Our results support the use of scene context (e.g., eccentricity, depth) in the detection of object motion. We suggest that the cortical activation and visually responsive networks provide a potential substrate for this computation.This work was supported by NIH grant RO1NS064100 to L.M.V. We thank Victor Solo for discussions regarding models of functional connectivity and our subjects for participating in the psychophysical and fMRI experiments. This research was carried out in part at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital, using resources provided by the Center for Functional Neuroimaging Technologies, P41RR14075, a P41 Regional Resource supported by the Biomedical Technology Program of the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), National Institutes of Health. This work also involved the use of instrumentation supported by the NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grant Program and/or High-End Instrumentation Grant Program; specifically, grant number S10RR021110. (RO1NS064100 - NIH; National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), National Institutes of Health; S10RR021110 - NCRR)Accepted manuscrip

    Long-range coupling of prefrontal cortex and visual (MT) or polysensory (STP) cortical areas in motion perception

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    To investigate how, where and when moving auditory cues interact with the perception of object-motion during self-motion, we conducted psychophysical, MEG, and fMRI experiments in which the subjects viewed nine textured objects during simulated forward self-motion. On each trial, one object was randomly assigned its own looming motion within the scene. Subjects reported which of four labeled objects had independent motion within the scene in two conditions: (1) visual information only and (2) with additional moving- auditory cue. In MEG, comparison of the two conditions showed: (i) MT activity is similar across conditions, (ii) late after the stimulus presentation there is additional activity in the auditory cue condition ventral to MT, (iii) with the auditory cue, the right auditory cortex (AC) shows early activity together with STS, (iv) these two activities have different time courses and the STS signals occur later in the epoch together with frontal activity in the right hemisphere, (v) for the visual-only condition activity in PPC (posterior parietal cortex) is stronger than in the auditory-cue condition. fMRI conducted for visual-only condition reveals activations in a network of parietal and frontal areas and in MT. In addition, Dynamic Granger Causality analysis showed for auditory cues a strong connection of the AC with STP but not with MT suggesting binding of visual and auditory information at STP. Also, while in the visual-only condition PFC is connected with MT, in the auditory-cue condition PFC is connected to STP (superior temporal polysensory) area. These results indicate that PFC allocates attention to the “object” as a whole, in STP to a moving visual-auditory object, and in MT to a moving visual object.Accepted manuscrip

    Cross-modal cue effects in motion processing

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    The everyday environment brings to our sensory systems competing inputs from different modalities. The ability to filter these multisensory inputs in order to identify and efficiently utilize useful spatial cues is necessary to detect and process the relevant information. In the present study, we investigate how feature-based attention affects the detection of motion across sensory modalities. We were interested to determine how subjects use intramodal, cross-modal auditory, and combined audiovisual motion cues to attend to specific visual motion signals. The results showed that in most cases, both the visual and the auditory cues enhance feature-based orienting to a transparent visual motion pattern presented among distractor motion patterns. Whereas previous studies have shown cross-modal effects of spatial attention, our results demonstrate a spread of cross-modal feature-based attention cues, which have been matched for the detection threshold of the visual target. These effects were very robust in comparisons of the effects of valid vs. invalid cues, as well as in comparisons between cued and uncued valid trials. The effect of intramodal visual, cross-modal auditory, and bimodal cues also increased as a function of motion-cue salience. Our results suggest that orienting to visual motion patterns among distracters can be facilitated not only by intramodal priors, but also by feature-based cross-modal information from the auditory system.First author draf

    Different carbohydrate sources affect swine performance and post-prandial glycaemic response

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    The type of starch and fibre in the diet affects several parameters, including glycaemic and insulin response, that are involved in pig growth performance. Four experimental diets for growing pigs differing for carbohydrates source (corn, barley, faba bean and pea) were tested. The diets were analysed in vitro to assess the carbohydrates characteristics, and they were administered to 56 crossbreed growing pigs (Landrace × Large White) randomly divided into four groups (mean age of 95 ± 6 days; body weight 80 kg ± 4 days). Clinical examination and average daily gain were performed before recruitment and after 40 days of experiment. The metabolic effects were investigated by blood count and serum biochemical parameters and by the glycaemic and insulin post-prandial response. The study revealed substantial differences among the diets, suggesting that alternative feedstuffs for swine affect several parameters, including glycaemic and insulin response, with no negative effects on growing performance. The Barley group showed the highest daily weight gain (p <.05) associated with the highest glycaemic (p <.05) and insulin response at 1 and 2 h post-prandial (p <.01), suggesting that the barley-based diet can support performance comparable to that of the corn-based diet in growing pig. By contrast, the lowest glycaemia was observed in the Faba bean group (p <.05), confirming the capacity of this legume to modulate post-prandial glucose levels. Moreover, the ability of some ingredients in lowering glucose and insulin response enriches the knowledge on functional nutrients for animal diets and to prevent the incidence of enteric diseases.Highlights The type of starch and fibre used in the diet highly affected some blood parameters, such as glycaemic and insulin responses. The Barley group showed the highest daily weight gain. Lower glycaemia levels were observed in the Faba bean group compared to the Corn one. Alternative protein sources for swine diets can limit the glycaemic and insulin response with no negative effects on growing performance
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