Predictions shape confidence in the right inferior frontal gyrus

It is clear that prior expectations shape perceptual decision-making, yet their contribution to the construction of subjective decision confidence remains largely unexplored. We recorded fMRI data while participants made perceptual decisions and confidence judgements, controlling for potential confounds of attention. We recorded fMRI data while participants made perceptual decisions accompanied by confidence judgements, controlling for potential confounds of attention. Results show that subjective confidence increases as perceptual prior expectations increasingly support the decision, and that this relationship is associated with BOLD activity in right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG). Specifically, rIFG is sensitive to the discrepancy between expectation and decision (mismatch), and, crucially, higher mismatch responses are associated with lower decision confidence. Connectivity analyses revealed the source of the expectancy information to be bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the source of sensory signals to be intracalcarine sulcus. Altogether, our results indicate that predictive information is integrated into subjective confidence in rIFG, and reveal an occipital-frontal network that constructs confidence from top-down and bottom-up signals. This interpretation was further supported by exploratory findings that the white matter density of intracalcarine sulcus and OFC negatively predicted their respective contributions to the construction of confidence. Our findings advance our understanding of the neural basis of subjective perceptual processes by revealing an occipito-frontal functional network that integrates prior beliefs into the construction of confidence

Particle Propagator of Spin Calogero-Sutherland Model

Explicit-exact expressions for the particle propagator of the spin 1/2 Calogero-Sutherland model are derived for the system of a finite number of particles and for that in the thermodynamic limit. Derivation of the expression in the thermodynamic limit is also presented in detail. Combining this result with the hole propagator obtained in earlier studies, we calculate the spectral function of the single particle Green's function in the full range of the energy and momentum space. The resultant spectral function exhibits power-law singularity characteristic to correlated particle systems in one dimension.Comment: 43 pages, 6 figure

Rhythmic influence of top-down perceptual priors in the phase of pre-stimulus occipital alpha oscillations

Prior expectations have a powerful influence on perception, biasing both decision and confidence. However, how this occurs at the neural level remains unclear. It has been suggested that spontaneous alpha-band neural oscillations represent rhythms of the perceptual system that periodically modulate perceptual judgements. We hypothesised that these oscillations instantiate the effects of expectations. While collecting scalp EEG, participants performed a detection task that orthogonally manipulated perceptual expectations and attention. Trial-by-trial retrospective confidence judgements were also collected. Results showed that independently of attention, pre-stimulus occipital alpha phase predicted the weighting of expectations on yes/no decisions. Moreover, phase predicted the influence of expectations on confidence. Thus, expectations periodically bias objective and subjective perceptual decision-making together, prior to stimulus onset. Our results suggest that alphaband neural oscillations periodically transmit prior evidence to visual cortex, changing the baseline from which evidence accumulation begins. In turn, our results inform accounts of how expectations shape early visual processing

Visual perceptual echo reflects learning of regularities in rapid luminance sequences

A novel neural signature of active visual processing has recently been described in the form of the ‘perceptual echo’, in which the cross-correlation between a sequence of randomly fluctuating luminance values and occipital electrophysiological (EEG) signals exhibits a long-lasting periodic (~100ms cycle) reverberation of the input stimulus (VanRullen & Macdonald, 2012). As yet, however, the mechanisms underlying the perceptual echo and its function remain unknown. Reasoning that natural visual signals often contain temporally predictable, though non-periodic features, we hypothesized that the perceptual echo may reflect a periodic process associated with regularity learning. To test this hypothesis, we presented subjects with successive repetitions of a rapid non-periodic luminance sequence, and examined the effects on the perceptual echo, finding that echo amplitude linearly increased with the number of presentations of a given luminance sequence. These data suggest that the perceptual echo reflects a neural signature of regularity learning. Furthermore, when a set of repeated sequences was followed by a sequence with inverted luminance polarities, the echo amplitude decreased to the same level evoked by a novel stimulus sequence. Crucially, when the original stimulus sequence was re-presented, the echo amplitude returned to a level consistent with the number of presentations of this sequence, indicating that the visual system retained sequence specific information, for many seconds, even in the presence of intervening visual input. Altogether, our results reveal a previously undiscovered regularity learning mechanism within the human visual system, reflected by the perceptual echo

Derivation of Green's Function of Spin Calogero-Sutherland Model by Uglov's Method

Hole propagator of spin 1/2 Calogero-Sutherland model is derived using Uglov's method, which maps the exact eigenfunctions of the model, called Yangian Gelfand-Zetlin basis, to a limit of Macdonald polynomials (gl_2-Jack polynomials). To apply this mapping method to the calculation of 1-particle Green's function, we confirm that the sum of the field annihilation operator on Yangian Gelfand-Zetlin basis is transformed to the field annihilation operator on gl_2-Jack polynomials by the mapping. The resultant expression for hole propagator for finite-size system is written in terms of renormalized momenta and spin of quasi-holes and the expression in the thermodynamic limit coincides with the earlier result derived by another method. We also discuss the singularity of the spectral function for a specific coupling parameter where the hole propagator of spin Calogero-Sutherland model becomes equivalent to dynamical colour correlation function of SU(3) Haldane-Shastry model.Comment: 36 pages, 8 figure

GPI-anchored receptor clusters transiently recruit Lyn and Gα for temporary cluster immobilization and Lyn activation: single-molecule tracking study 1

The signaling mechanisms for glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored receptors (GPI-ARs) have been investigated by tracking single molecules in living cells. Upon the engagement or colloidal gold–induced cross-linking of CD59 (and other GPI-ARs) at physiological levels, CD59 clusters containing three to nine CD59 molecules were formed, and single molecules of Gαi2 or Lyn (GFP conjugates) exhibited the frequent but transient (133 and 200 ms, respectively) recruitment to CD59 clusters, via both protein–protein and lipid–lipid (raft) interactions. Each CD59 cluster undergoes alternating periods of actin-dependent temporary immobilization (0.57-s lifetime; stimulation-induced temporary arrest of lateral diffusion [STALL], inducing IP3 production) and slow diffusion (1.2 s). STALL of a CD59 cluster was induced right after the recruitment of Gαi2. Because both Gαi2 and Lyn are required for the STALL, and because Lyn is constitutively recruited to CD59 clusters, the STALL of CD59 clusters is likely induced by the Gαi2 binding to, and its subsequent activation of, Lyn within the same CD59 cluster

Timewarp: Transferable Acceleration of Molecular Dynamics by Learning Time-Coarsened Dynamics

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is a widely used technique to simulate molecular systems, most commonly at the all-atom resolution where equations of motion are integrated with timesteps on the order of femtoseconds ($1\textrm{fs}=10^{-15}\textrm{s}$). MD is often used to compute equilibrium properties, which requires sampling from an equilibrium distribution such as the Boltzmann distribution. However, many important processes, such as binding and folding, occur over timescales of milliseconds or beyond, and cannot be efficiently sampled with conventional MD. Furthermore, new MD simulations need to be performed for each molecular system studied. We present Timewarp, an enhanced sampling method which uses a normalising flow as a proposal distribution in a Markov chain Monte Carlo method targeting the Boltzmann distribution. The flow is trained offline on MD trajectories and learns to make large steps in time, simulating the molecular dynamics of $10^{5} - 10^{6}\:\textrm{fs}$. Crucially, Timewarp is transferable between molecular systems: once trained, we show that it generalises to unseen small peptides (2-4 amino acids) at all-atom resolution, exploring their metastable states and providing wall-clock acceleration of sampling compared to standard MD. Our method constitutes an important step towards general, transferable algorithms for accelerating MD

Visual onset expands subjective time

We report a distortion of subjective time perception in which the duration of a first interval is perceived to be longer than the succeeding interval of the same duration. The amount of time expansion depends on the onset type defining the first interval. When a stimulus appears abruptly, its duration is perceived to be longer than when it appears following a stationary array. The difference in the processing time for the stimulus onset and motion onset, measured as reaction times, agrees with the difference in time expansion. Our results suggest that initial transient responses for a visual onset serve as a temporal marker for time estimation, and a systematic change in the processing time for onsets affects perceived time

Silverrush. Xii. Intensity Mapping for Ly Α Emission Extending over 100-1000 Comoving Kpc Around Z ∼2-7 Laes with Subaru Hsc-Ssp and Chorus Data

We conduct intensity mapping to probe for extended diffuse Lyα emission around Lyα emitters (LAEs) at z ∼2-7, exploiting very deep (∼26 mag at 5σ) and large-area (∼4.5 deg2) Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam narrowband (NB) images and large LAE catalogs consisting of a total of 1540 LAEs at z = 2.2, 3.3, 5.7, and 6.6 obtained by the HSC-SSP and CHORUS projects. We calculate the spatial correlations of these LAEs with ∼1-2-billion-pixel flux values of the NB images, deriving the average Lyα surface brightness (SBLyα ) radial profiles around the LAEs. By carefully estimating systematics such as fluctuations of sky background and point-spread functions, we detect Lyα emission at 100-1000 comoving kpc around z = 3.3 and 5.7 LAEs at the 3.2σ and 3.7σ levels, respectively, and tentatively (=2.0σ) at z = 6.6. The emission is as diffuse as ∼10-20-10-19 erg s-1 cm-2 arcsec-2 and extended beyond the virial radius of a dark matter halo with a mass of 1011 M. While the observed SBLyα profiles have similar amplitudes at z = 2.2-6.6 within the uncertainties, the intrinsic SBLyα profiles (corrected for the cosmological dimming effect) increase toward high redshifts. This trend may be explained by increasing hydrogen gas density due to the evolution of the cosmic volume. Comparisons with theoretical models suggest that extended Lyα emission around an LAE is powered by resonantly scattered Lyα photons in the CGM and IGM that originate from the inner part of the LAE and/or neighboring galaxies around the LAE