Xiaoxuan Jia, J. Siegle, Yazan N. Billeh, S. Durand, Greggory Heller, Tamina Ramirez, A. Arkhipov, Shawn R. Olsen
{"title":"Subnetworks mediating feedforward and feedback processes revealed by multi-area Neuropixels recordings","authors":"Xiaoxuan Jia, J. Siegle, Yazan N. Billeh, S. Durand, Greggory Heller, Tamina Ramirez, A. Arkhipov, Shawn R. Olsen","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1281-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1281-0","url":null,"abstract":"The visual system is organized hierarchically with feedforward and feedback pathways mediating crossarea communication. However, it is challenging to segregate these connections functionally and thus the logic of information flow remains unclear. Here, we studied this question by simultaneously recording from six visual cortical areas in awake mice with Neuropixels probes. We found two distinct neural ensembles based on their functional connectivity pattern: one ensemble is dominated by connections that drive the activity in the network (‘driver’), while another ensemble is more driven by network activity (‘driven’). ‘Driver’ neurons were more numerous in supragranular layers, whereas ‘driven’ neurons were more abundant in infragranular layers. Interestingly, although both ‘driver’ and ‘driven’ neurons were found across all cortical areas, the proportion of driven-to-driver cells systematically increased across the visual hierarchy. Strong directional information flow between these subnetworks was present during sensory stimulation, but not during spontaneous activity. The ‘driver’ ensemble showed earlier and more transient responses compared to the ‘driven’ ensemble. A rate model of the network recapitulated the link between response latency and functional connectivity. Overall, our study revealed distinct multi-area ensembles with distinct roles in information flow.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128720063","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
I. Muukkonen, Markku Kilpeläinen, R. Turkkila, T. Saarela, V. Salmela
{"title":"Integration of face features in expression discrimination studied with psychophysics and fMRI","authors":"I. Muukkonen, Markku Kilpeläinen, R. Turkkila, T. Saarela, V. Salmela","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1239-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1239-0","url":null,"abstract":"We studied facial cue integration by varying the expression (angry or happy) intensity in eyes and mouth separately and tested whether observers can integrate information when estimating the expression of the whole face. In addition, we tested whether conflicting taskirrelevant cues impairs discrimination performance. Our results show that participants were able to integrate the two facial features, and that the integration was obligatory. In fMRI, we found higher BOLD-activity for incongruent than congruent expressions in fusiform face area and medial frontal area.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128984193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Understanding the timing of cognitive processes with a variable rate neural code","authors":"S. T. Christie, Paul Schrater","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1397-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1397-0","url":null,"abstract":"Cognitive processes all require time, as they universally depend on information transmission between brain regions limited by physical and biological constraints. The time required for behavior also exhibits surprisingly lawful variation with task demands, success and failure, stimulus and response complexity, familiarity, practice and learning. Here we consider these regularities as consequences of constraints on information transmission, which we show provide rational predictions for timing effects across a surprising range of cognitive domains. We use a simple model for neural information transmission based on a variable-length rate coding model built with Poisson processes, Bayesian inference, and an entropybased decision threshold that simultaneously replicates a broad array of well-known reaction-time effects. By providing a principled connection between a high-level normative decision framework with time-dependent neural rate codes, we integrate several disjoint ideas in cognitive science through translating plausible constraints into information theoretic terms.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124966717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nicolas Diekmann, T. Walther, Sandhiya Vijayabaskaran, Sen Cheng
{"title":"Deep reinforcement learning in a spatial navigation task: Multiple contexts and their representation","authors":"Nicolas Diekmann, T. Walther, Sandhiya Vijayabaskaran, Sen Cheng","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1151-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1151-0","url":null,"abstract":"Deep learning has recently been combined with Qlearning (Mnih et al., 2015) to enable learning difficult tasks such as playing video games based only on visual input. Stable learning in the in the deep Q network (DQN) is facilitated by the use of memory replay, which means that previous experiences are stored and sampled from during an offline learning period. We evaluate the DQN’s ability to learn and retain multiple variations of a spatial navigation task in a virtual environment. Task variations are presented in visually distinct contexts by varying light conditions and environmental textures. Replay memory capacity is varied to measure its effect on task retention. The representations of multiple contexts learned by the DQN agents are analyzed and compared. We show that DQN agents learn a preference for common actions early on, irrespective of replay memory capacity. A limited replay memory causes agents to confuse state-values. Furthermore, we find that contexts are quickly forgotten as soon as corresponding experiences are no longer available in the replay memory.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123848025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The cingulo-opercular network controls stimulus-response transformations with increasing efficiency over the course of learning","authors":"Janik Fechtelpeter, Hannes Ruge, Holger Mohr","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1060-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1060-0","url":null,"abstract":"We all have experienced that the amount of effort required to perform a task can rapidly decrease over the course of practice. Previous studies have shown that short-term automatization of stimulus-response transformations is associated with a reorganization of functional coupling between different large-scale brain networks. However, it has remained an open question how changing connectivity patterns translate into more efficient stimulus-response processing over the course of learning. Here, we employed a control-theoretic approach to test the hypothesis that the amount of control energy required for stimulus-response processing decreases from early to late practice for networks involved in task control. Using fMRI data from a learning group, N = 70, and a control group, N = 67, stimulus-response transformations were modeled as trajectories of activity starting in the visual network and ending in the sensorimotor network. The stimulusresponse trajectories were determined by the functional connectivity matrices derived from the fMRI data plus additional control activation exerted by task-related networks. Based on this analysis approach, we found that the cingulo-opercular network can control stimulus-response transformations with increasing efficiency over the course of learning, while no change in control energy was observed for the fronto-parietal network, highlighting the central role of the cinguloopercular network for short-term task automatization.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116275198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Brain Functional Connectivity in Wakefulness Predicts Susceptibility to Anaesthesia","authors":"F. Deng, R. Cusack, L. Naci","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1294-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1294-0","url":null,"abstract":"There are considerable individual differences in susceptibility to anaesthesia, which will hamper development of reliable biomarkers to track the loss of reportable consciousness during anaesthesia. In the present study, we address this challenge by using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to quantify the effect of Propofol-induced changes in brain networks. fMRI data was collected while listening to an engaging narrative and during resting condition. Brain network specialisation, a measure for effective brain network function, was derived before and after mild sedation together with responsiveness to auditory target detection task. Reaction time (RT) was recorded. We found decreased brain system segregation, especially in association system, after mild sedation and such anaesthesia effect only presented during listening to the engaging narrative not under resting state. Particularly, functional connectivity between default mode network and salience network is significantly increased after mild sedation and participants showing lower connectivity at baseline were more likely to become unresponsive after mild sedation, despite similar RT during wakeful state. Our findings revealed the neural correlates under individual differences in susceptibility to Propofol and have the potential to inform improved brain state monitoring under anaesthesia, in future studies.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"88 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116286973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Attentional influences in primary visual cortex: an investigation of key task factors","authors":"Kieran Mohr, S. Kelly","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1336-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1336-0","url":null,"abstract":"Whether or not spatial attention can boost the initial volley of visual processing in V1 remains controversial. In particular, two recent studies failed to replicate an earlier study that found a spatial attention modulation of the earliest, V1-generated component of the human VEP (“C1”). Here, we sought to reconcile these findings through a careful consideration of the computational demands imposed by the target detection tasks. We conducted 3 new experiments. The first sought to elucidate the role of target-non target feature similarity and the second, the level of feedback provided. The third experiment was a close replication of the task conditions of the original experiment. Taking all three experiments together, attention boosted C1 amplitude. However, this effect was present in only the second and third experiments, with the first showing a modulation in the reverse direction. This reversal coincided with differing behavioural results, perhaps reflecting different strategies employed by participants to carry out the task. Thus, although these findings affirm our general hypothesis that the determining factor for attentional modulation of the very earliest sensory representations relates to the precise computational demands of the perceptual task, further work is needed to pinpoint the computational principles that the attention system follows.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"66 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126394614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neural mechanisms underlying the computation of socially inferred rewards","authors":"Natalia Vélez, Hyowon Gweon","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1425-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1425-0","url":null,"abstract":"No one knows everything. Therefore, it is often not enough to rely solely on one’s own knowledge, nor to indiscriminately follow advice from others. The current work examines the neural systems that support the human ability to capitalize on imperfect social information to support decision-making. Participants completed an fMRI task where they could choose to stay with an option of known value or switch to a hidden option, while receiving advice from an advisor who had access to both options, no options, or only the option that was hidden from participants. First, we find that value-guided regions (including dorsal striatum, dMPFC) preferentially track the expected value of the hidden option when it is the only option the advisor can access. Second, the advisor’s knowledge state is represented in regions that support social reasoning (precuneus, vMPFC). Our results suggest that neural systems that support social cognition and value-based decision-making support computations that enable humans to harness social information to vicariously explore the value of latent options.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"18 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115883095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluating the angular power spectrum of cortical folding","authors":"C. Madan","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1177-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1177-0","url":null,"abstract":"The most defining feature of the cortex is its folding structure. While these peaks and valleys can be coarsely characterised using measures of cortical structure such as gyrification and fractal dimensionality, these are not directly sensitive to the different scales of folding that comprise the brain’s cortical structure. Here we developed an approach for characterising the angular power spectrum of cortical folding using spherical harmonics and informed by prior research investigating the cosmic microwave background. In this work, we ultimately yielded a single summary measure that is sensitive to minor folds along the cortical gyri and sulci and is sensitive to agerelated differences in cortical structure.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132471947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ramon Nogueira, Chris C. Rodgers, Stefano Fusi, R. Bruno
{"title":"Sensorimotor strategies and neuronal representations of whisker-based object recognition in mouse barrel cortex","authors":"Ramon Nogueira, Chris C. Rodgers, Stefano Fusi, R. Bruno","doi":"10.32470/ccn.2019.1277-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.32470/ccn.2019.1277-0","url":null,"abstract":"Rodents use their whiskers to identify objects in their environment. In this study, we developed a novel curvature discrimination task that challenges mice to discriminate concave from convex shapes. We asked which sensorimotor features are important for this task. We found that the cumulative number of contacts per trial for each whisker was informative about the stimulus and choice identity. In contrast, task history and precise contact timing across whiskers were much less important. We recorded neuronal populations in the whisker representation in primary somatosensory cortex (barrel cortex) and found that they were driven by sensorimotor (e.g., whisker motion and touch) and cognitive (e.g., reward history) variables. Interestingly, non-linear interactions of these variables had a significant modulatory effect on neuronal activity, suggesting that one of the roles of the barrel cortex is to provide a high-dimensional representation of the task space to downstream areas.","PeriodicalId":281121,"journal":{"name":"2019 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience","volume":"09 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134225823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}