7,528 research outputs found
Interaction of cortical networks mediating object motion detection by moving observers
Published in final edited form as: Exp Brain Res. 2012 August ; 221(2): 177â189. 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 subjectsâ 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
Cross-modal cue effects in motion processing
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
Single-Scattering Optical Tomography: Simultaneous Reconstruction of Scattering and Absorption
We demonstrate that simultaneous reconstruction of scattering and absorption
of a mesoscopic system using angularly-resolved measurements of scattered light
intensity is possible. Image reconstruction is realized based on the algebraic
inversion of a generalized Radon transform relating the scattering and
absorption coefficients of the medium to the measured light intensity and
derived using the single-scattering approximation to the radiative transport
equation.Comment: This is a sequel to physics/070311
Directed deterministic classical transport: symmetry breaking and beyond
We consider transport properties of a double delta-kicked system, in a regime
where all the symmetries (spatial and temporal) that could prevent directed
transport are removed. We analytically investigate the (non trivial) behavior
of the classical current and diffusion properties and show that the results are
in good agreement with numerical computations. The role of dissipation for a
meaningful classical ratchet behavior is also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 20 figure
Complexity of the Online Distrust Ecosystem and its Evolution
Collective human distrust (and its associated mis-disinformation) is one of
the most complex phenomena of our time. e.g. distrust of medical expertise, or
climate change science, or democratic election outcomes, and even distrust of
fact-checked events in the current Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia conflicts.
So what makes the online distrust ecosystem so resilient? How has it evolved
during and since the pandemic? And how well have Facebook mitigation policies
worked during this time period? We analyze a Facebook network of interconnected
in-built communities (Facebook pages) totaling roughly 100 million users who
pre-pandemic were just focused on distrust of vaccines. Mapping out this
dynamical network from 2019 to 2023, we show that it has quickly self-healed in
the wake of Facebook's mitigation campaigns which include shutdowns. This
confirms and extends our earlier finding that Facebook's ramp-ups during COVID
were ineffective (e.g. November 2020). Our findings show that future
interventions must be chosen to resonate across multiple topics and across
multiple geographical scales. Unlike many recent studies, our findings do not
rely on third-party black-box tools whose accuracy for rigorous scientific
research is unproven, hence raising doubts about such studies' conclusions, nor
is our network built using fleeting hyperlink mentions which have questionable
relevance
Rise of post-pandemic resilience across the distrust ecosystem
Why is distrust (e.g. of medical expertise) now flourishing online despite
the surge in mitigation schemes being implemented? We analyze the changing
discourse in the Facebook ecosystem of approximately 100 million users who
pre-pandemic were focused on (dis)trust of vaccines. We find that
post-pandemic, their discourse strongly entangles multiple non-vaccine topics
and geographic scales both within and across communities. This gives the
current distrust ecosystem a unique system-level resistance to mitigations that
target a specific topic and geographic scale -- which is the case of many
current schemes due to their funding focus, e.g. local health not national
elections. Backed up by detailed numerical simulations, our results reveal the
following counterintuitive solutions for implementing more effective mitigation
schemes at scale: shift to 'glocal' messaging by (1) blending particular sets
of distinct topics (e.g. combine messaging about specific diseases with climate
change) and (2) blending geographic scales
Detection of water at z = 0.685 towards B0218+357
We report the detection of the H_2O molecule in absorption at a redshift z =
0.68466 in front of the gravitationally lensed quasar B0218+357. We detect the
fundamental transition of ortho-water at 556.93 GHz (redshifted to 330.59 GHz).
The line is highly optically thick and relatively wide (15 km/s FWHM), with a
profile that is similar to that of the previously detected CO(2--1) and
HCO^+(2--1) optically thick absorption lines toward this quasar. From the
measured level of the continuum at 330.59 GHz, which corresponds to the level
expected from the power-law spectrum already
observed at lower frequencies, we deduce that the filling factor of the H_2O
absorption is large. It was already known from the high optical thickness of
the CO, ^{13}CO and C^{18}O lines that the molecular clouds entirely cover one
of the two lensed images of the quasar (all its continuum is absorbed); our
present results indicate that the H_2O clouds are covering a comparable
surface. The H_2O molecules are therefore not confined to small cores with a
tiny filling factor, but are extended over parsec scales. The H_2O line has a
very large optical depth, and only isotopic lines could give us the water
abundance. We have also searched for the 183 GHz line in absorption, obtaining
only an upper limit; this yields constraints on the excitation temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted in ApJ Letter
The VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey: Dependence of galaxy clustering on stellar mass
We have investigated the dependence of galaxy clustering on their stellar
mass at z~1, using the data from the VIMOS-VLT Deep Survey (VVDS). We have
measured the projected two-point correlation function of galaxies, wp(rp) for a
set of stellar mass selected samples at an effective redshift =0.85. We have
control and quantify all effects on galaxy clustering due to the incompleteness
of our low mass samples. We find that more massive galaxies are more clustered.
When compared to similar results at z~0.1 in the SDSS, we observed no evolution
of the projected correlation function for massive galaxies. These objects
present a stronger linear bias at z~1 with respect to low mass galaxies. As
expected, massive objects at high redshift are found in the highest pics of the
dark matter density field.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 43rd Rencontres de Moriond - March 15-22, 2008 -
La Thuile (Val d'Aosta, Italy
Bauschinger effect in thin metal films: Discrete dislocation dynamics study
The effects of dislocation climb on plastic deformation during loading and unloading are studied using a two-dimensional discrete dislocation dynamics model. Simulations are performed for polycrystalline thin films passivated on both surfaces. Dislocation climb lowers the overall level of the stress inside thin films and reduces the work hardening rate. Climb decreases the density of dislocations in pile-ups and reduces back stresses. These factors result in a smaller Bauschinger effect on unloading compared to simulations without climb. As dislocations continue to climb at the onset of unloading and the dislocation density continues to increase, the initial unloading slope increases with decreasing unloading rate. Because climb disperses dislocations, fewer dislocations are annihilated during unloading, leading to a higher dislocation density at the end of the unloading step.Engineering and Applied Science
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