scholarly journals Spatial constancy and the brain: insights from neural networks

2007 ◽  
Vol 362 (1479) ◽  
pp. 375-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L White ◽  
Lawrence H Snyder
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Striking Similarity ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
Lateral Intraparietal Area ◽  
The Brain

To form an accurate internal representation of visual space, the brain must accurately account for movements of the eyes, head or body. Updating of internal representations in response to these movements is especially important when remembering spatial information, such as the location of an object, since the brain must rely on non-visual extra-retinal signals to compensate for self-generated movements. We investigated the computations underlying spatial updating by constructing a recurrent neural network model to store and update a spatial location based on a gaze shift signal, and to do so flexibly based on a contextual cue. We observed a striking similarity between the patterns of behaviour produced by the model and monkeys trained to perform the same task, as well as between the hidden units of the model and neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP). In this report, we describe the similarities between the model and single unit physiology to illustrate the usefulness of neural networks as a tool for understanding specific computations performed by the brain.

A Neural Network Model of Flexible Spatial Updating

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 1608-1619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. White ◽  
Lawrence H. Snyder
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Reference Frame ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Target Position ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
Fixed Reference ◽  
Gaze Position

Neurons in many cortical areas involved in visuospatial processing represent remembered spatial information in retinotopic coordinates. During a gaze shift, the retinotopic representation of a target location that is fixed in the world (world-fixed reference frame) must be updated, whereas the representation of a target fixed relative to the center of gaze (gaze-fixed) must remain constant. To investigate how such computations might be performed, we trained a 3-layer recurrent neural network to store and update a spatial location based on a gaze perturbation signal, and to do so flexibly based on a contextual cue. The network produced an accurate readout of target position when cued to either reference frame, but was less precise when updating was performed. This output mimics the pattern of behavior seen in animals performing a similar task. We tested whether updating would preferentially use gaze position or gaze velocity signals, and found that the network strongly preferred velocity for updating world-fixed targets. Furthermore, we found that gaze position gain fields were not present when velocity signals were available for updating. These results have implications for how updating is performed in the brain.

scholarly journals Parallel updating and weighting of multiple spatial maps for visual stability during whole body motion

2015 ◽  
Vol 114 (6) ◽  
pp. 3211-3219 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Tramper ◽  
W. P. Medendorp
Keyword(s):  
Reference Frame ◽  
Reference Frames ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Body Motion ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Spatial Representations ◽  
Integration Model ◽  
The Brain

It is known that the brain uses multiple reference frames to code spatial information, including eye-centered and body-centered frames. When we move our body in space, these internal representations are no longer in register with external space, unless they are actively updated. Whether the brain updates multiple spatial representations in parallel, or whether it restricts its updating mechanisms to a single reference frame from which other representations are constructed, remains an open question. We developed an optimal integration model to simulate the updating of visual space across body motion in multiple or single reference frames. To test this model, we designed an experiment in which participants had to remember the location of a briefly presented target while being translated sideways. The behavioral responses were in agreement with a model that uses a combination of eye- and body-centered representations, weighted according to the reliability in which the target location is stored and updated in each reference frame. Our findings suggest that the brain simultaneously updates multiple spatial representations across body motion. Because both representations are kept in sync, they can be optimally combined to provide a more precise estimate of visual locations in space than based on single-frame updating mechanisms.

scholarly journals Influence of the Instructions on the Performance and Establishment of Memorization Strategies in Space Judgments

2006 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Ackel Rodrigues ◽  
Susi Lippi Marques
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Power Function ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Space Perception ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Experimental Configuration

Studies of visual space perception have been assuming that people have an internal representation of the physical space that surrounds them. A variety of psychophysical procedures has been used in an attempt to measure the properties of visual space. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the accuracy of the mental representation and the strategies adopted to acquire and retain visuo-spatial information of a configuration as a function of two types of instructions. Thirty-eight undergraduate and graduate students participated in the study and were distributed in perceptive and mnemonic experimental conditions. The effect of the instructions (intentional and incidental) on the representation of the distances among the objects of the scene was estimated using exponents of power function, based on the reproduction of the distances among the stimuli of the scene. The results revealed that judgments made under intentional instructions were more frequently based on strategies related to the location of the stimuli, whereas judgments originating from incidental instructions were based on strategies related to the name of the stimuli. It was observed that the intentional instruction facilitated a more accurate mental representation of the observed experimental configuration, enhancing participants' performance.

scholarly journals A Neural Representation of Sequential States Within an Instructed Task

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 2831-2849 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Campos ◽  
Boris Breznen ◽  
Richard A. Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Internal Representation ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Lateral Intraparietal Area ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Sensorimotor Transformations ◽  
Saccade Task ◽  
Anticipatory Activity ◽  
Supplementary Eye Fields ◽  
The Brain

In the study of the neural basis of sensorimotor transformations, it has become clear that the brain does not always wait to sense external events and afterward select the appropriate responses. If there are predictable regularities in the environment, the brain begins to anticipate the timing of instructional cues and the signals to execute a response, revealing an internal representation of the sequential behavioral states of the task being performed. To investigate neural mechanisms that could represent the sequential states of a task, we recorded neural activity from two oculomotor structures implicated in behavioral timing—the supplementary eye fields (SEF) and the lateral intraparietal area (LIP)—while rhesus monkeys performed a memory-guided saccade task. The neurons of the SEF were found to collectively encode the progression of the task with individual neurons predicting and/or detecting states or transitions between states. LIP neurons, while also encoding information about the current temporal interval, were limited with respect to SEF neurons in two ways. First, LIP neurons tended to be active when the monkey was planning a saccade but not in the precue or intertrial intervals, whereas SEF neurons tended to have activity modulation in all intervals. Second, the LIP neurons were more likely to be spatially tuned than SEF neurons. SEF neurons also show anticipatory activity. The state-selective and anticipatory responses of SEF neurons support two complementary models of behavioral timing, state dependent and accumulator models, and suggest that each model describes a contribution SEF makes to timing at different temporal resolutions.

Relative Localization of Auditory and Visual Events Presented in Peripheral Visual Field

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryota Miyauchi ◽  
Dea-Gee Kang ◽  
Yukio Iwaya ◽  
Yôiti Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Peripheral Visual Field ◽  
Central Visual Field ◽  
Relative Localization ◽  
Visual Events ◽  
Pointing Task ◽  
Flashing Light ◽  
The Brain

The brain apparently remaps the perceived locations of simultaneous auditory and visual events into a unified audio-visual space to integrate and/or compare multisensory inputs. However, there is little qualitative or quantitative data on how simultaneous auditory and visual events are located in the peripheral visual field (i.e., outside a few degrees of the fovea). We presented a sound burst and a flashing light simultaneously not only in the central visual field but also in the peripheral visual field and measured the relative perceived locations of the sound and flash. The results revealed that the sound and flash were perceptually located at the same location when the sound was presented at a 5° periphery of the flash, even when the participants’ eyes were fixed. Measurements of the unisensory locations of each sound and flash in a pointing task demonstrated that the perceived location of the sound shifted toward the front, while the perceived location of the flash shifted toward the periphery. As a result, the discrepancy between the perceptual location of the sound and the flash was around 4°. This suggests that the brain maps the unisensory locations of auditory and visual events into a unified audio-visual space, enabling it to generate unisensory spatial information about the events.

scholarly journals A Principle for Learning Egocentric-Allocentric Transformation

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Byrne ◽  
Suzanna Becker
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Information ◽  
Motor Behavior ◽  
Internal Representation ◽  
Memory Storage ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Term Memory ◽  
Invariant Representations ◽  
Learning Principles ◽  
The Brain

Numerous single-unit recording studies have found mammalian hippocampal neurons that fire selectively for the animal's location in space, independent of its orientation. The population of such neurons, commonly known as place cells, is thought to maintain an allocentric, or orientation-independent, internal representation of the animal's location in space, as well as mediating long-term storage of spatial memories. The fact that spatial information from the environment must reach the brain via sensory receptors in an inherently egocentric, or viewpoint-dependent, fashion leads to the question of how the brain learns to transform egocentric sensory representations into allocentric ones for long-term memory storage. Additionally, if these long-term memory representations of space are to be useful in guiding motor behavior, then the reverse transformation, from allocentric to egocentric coordinates, must also be learned. We propose that orientation-invariant representations can be learned by neural circuits that follow two learning principles: minimization of reconstruction error and maximization of representational temporal inertia. Two different neural network models are presented that adhere to these learning principles, the first by direct optimization through gradient descent and the second using a more biologically realistic circuit based on the restricted Boltzmann machine (Hinton, 2002; Smolensky, 1986). Both models lead to orientation-invariant representations, with the latter demonstrating place-cell-like responses when trained on a linear track environment.

Toward a Unified Framework for Cognitive Maps

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 2455-2485
Author(s):  
Woori Kim ◽  
Yongseok Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Belief Propagation ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Spatial Location ◽  
Neural Representation ◽  
Modular Structure ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Unimodal Function ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
The Brain

In this study, we integrated neural encoding and decoding into a unified framework for spatial information processing in the brain. Specifically, the neural representations of self-location in the hippocampus (HPC) and entorhinal cortex (EC) play crucial roles in spatial navigation. Intriguingly, these neural representations in these neighboring brain areas show stark differences. Whereas the place cells in the HPC fire as a unimodal function of spatial location, the grid cells in the EC show periodic tuning curves with different periods for different subpopulations (called modules). By combining an encoding model for this modular neural representation and a realistic decoding model based on belief propagation, we investigated the manner in which self-location is encoded by neurons in the EC and then decoded by downstream neurons in the HPC. Through the results of numerical simulations, we first show the positive synergy effects of the modular structure in the EC. The modular structure introduces more coupling between heterogeneous modules with different periodicities, which provides increased error-correcting capabilities. This is also demonstrated through a comparison of the beliefs produced for decoding two- and four-module codes. Whereas the former resulted in a complete decoding failure, the latter correctly recovered the self-location even from the same inputs. Further analysis of belief propagation during decoding revealed complex dynamics in information updates due to interactions among multiple modules having diverse scales. Therefore, the proposed unified framework allows one to investigate the overall flow of spatial information, closing the loop of encoding and decoding self-location in the brain.

scholarly journals Gaze-Centered Updating of Remembered Visual Space During Active Whole-Body Translations

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 1209-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stan Van Pelt ◽  
W. Pieter Medendorp
Keyword(s):  
Motion Parallax ◽  
Translational Motion ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Hand Position ◽  
Lateral Direction ◽  
Direction Information ◽  
The Brain

Various cortical and sub-cortical brain structures update the gaze-centered coordinates of remembered stimuli to maintain an accurate representation of visual space across eyes rotations and to produce suitable motor plans. A major challenge for the computations by these structures is updating across eye translations. When the eyes translate, objects in front of and behind the eyes’ fixation point shift in opposite directions on the retina due to motion parallax. It is not known if the brain uses gaze coordinates to compute parallax in the translational updating of remembered space or if it uses gaze-independent coordinates to maintain spatial constancy across translational motion. We tested this by having subjects view targets, flashed in darkness in front of or behind fixation, then translate their body sideways, and subsequently reach to the memorized target. Reach responses showed parallax-sensitive updating errors: errors increased with depth from fixation and reversed in lateral direction for targets presented at opposite depths from fixation. In a series of control experiments, we ruled out possible biasing factors such as the presence of a fixation light during the translation, the eyes accompanying the hand to the target, and the presence of visual feedback about hand position. Quantitative geometrical analysis confirmed that updating errors were better described by using gaze-centered than gaze-independent coordinates. We conclude that spatial updating for translational motion operates in gaze-centered coordinates. Neural network simulations are presented suggesting that the brain relies on ego-velocity signals and stereoscopic depth and direction information in spatial updating during self-motion.

Perisaccadic Mislocalization of Visual Targets by Head-Free Gaze Shifts: Visual or Motor?

2008 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 1848-1867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrid M. C. I. van Wetter ◽  
A. John van Opstal
Keyword(s):  
Target Location ◽  
Saccadic Eye Movements ◽  
Open Loop ◽  
Spatial Updating ◽  
Gaze Shifts ◽  
Gaze Shift ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Visual Probe ◽  
Saccade Onset ◽  
Saccade Direction

Such perisaccadic mislocalization is maximal in the direction of the saccade and varies systematically with the target-saccade onset delay. We have recently shown that under head-fixed conditions perisaccadic errors do not follow the quantitative predictions of current visuomotor models that explain these mislocalizations in terms of spatial updating. These models all assume sluggish eye-movement feedback and therefore predict that errors should vary systematically with the amplitude and kinematics of the intervening saccade. Instead, we reported that errors depend only weakly on the saccade amplitude. An alternative explanation for the data is that around the saccade the perceived target location undergoes a uniform transient shift in the saccade direction, but that the oculomotor feedback is, on average, accurate. This “ visual shift” hypothesis predicts that errors will also remain insensitive to kinematic variability within much larger head-free gaze shifts. Here we test this prediction by presenting a brief visual probe near the onset of gaze saccades between 40 and 70° amplitude. According to models with inaccurate gaze-motor feedback, the expected perisaccadic errors for such gaze shifts should be as large as 30° and depend heavily on the kinematics of the gaze shift. In contrast, we found that the actual peak errors were similar to those reported for much smaller saccadic eye movements, i.e., on average about 10°, and that neither gaze-shift amplitude nor kinematics plays a systematic role. Our data further corroborate the visual origin of perisaccadic mislocalization under open-loop conditions and strengthen the idea that efferent feedback signals in the gaze-control system are fast and accurate.

Dream Bizarreness as the Cognitive Correlate of Altered Neuronal Behavior in REM Sleep

1989 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam N. Mamelak ◽  
J. Allan Hobson
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Rem Sleep ◽  
Neuronal Dynamics ◽  
Neurophysiological Model ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cognitive Feature ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Cognitive Correlate ◽  
Raphe Neurons

Bizarreness is a cognitive feature common to REM sleep dreams, which can be easily measured. Because bizarreness is highly specific to dreaming, we propose that it is most likely brought about by changes in neuronal activity that are specific to REM sleep. At the level of the dream plot, bizarreness can be defined as either discontinuity or incongruity. In addition, the dreamer's thoughts about the plot may be logically deficient. We propose that dream bizarreness is the cognitive concomitant of two kinds of changes in neuronal dynamics during REM sleep. One is the disinhibition of forebrain networks caused by the withdrawal of the modulatory influences of norepinephrine (NE) and serotonin (5HT) in REM sleep, secondary to cessation of firing of locus coeruleus and dorsal raphe neurons. This aminergic demodulation can be mathematically modeled as a shift toward increased error at the outputs from neural networks, and these errors might be represented cognitively as incongruities and/or discontinuities. We also consider the possibility that discontinuities are the cognitive concomitant of sudden bifurcations or “jumps” in the responses of forebrain neuronal networks. These bifurcations are caused by phasic discharge of pontogeniculooccipital (PGO) neurons during REM sleep, providing a source of cholinergic modulation to the forebrain which could evoke unpredictable network responses. When phasic PGO activity stops, the resultant activity in the brain may be wholly unrelated to patterns of activity dominant before such phasic stimulation began. Mathematically such sudden shifts from one pattern of activity to a second, unrelated one is called a bifurcation. We propose that the neuronal bifurcations brought about by PGO activity might be represented cognitively as bizarre discontinuities of dream plot. We regard these proposals as preliminary attempts to model the relationship between dream cognition and REM sleep neurophysiology. This neurophysiological model of dream bizarreness may also prove useful in understanding the contributions of REM sleep to the developmental and experiential plasticity of the cerebral cortex.

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