scholarly journals Concurrent Multisensory Integration and Segregation with Complementary Congruent and Opposite Neurons

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Hao Zhang ◽  
He Wang ◽  
Aihua Chen ◽  
Yong Gu ◽  
Tai Sing Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Neural Model ◽  
Cue Integration ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Heading Direction ◽  
Vestibular Cues ◽  
The World ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Our brain perceives the world by exploiting multiple sensory modalities to extract information about various aspects of external stimuli. If these sensory cues are from the same stimulus of interest, they should be integrated to improve perception; otherwise, they should be segregated to distinguish different stimuli. In reality, however, the brain faces the challenge of recognizing stimuli without knowing in advance whether sensory cues come from the same or different stimuli. To address this challenge and to recognize stimuli rapidly, we argue that the brain should carry out multisensory integration and segregation concurrently with complementary neuron groups. Studying an example of inferring heading-direction via visual and vestibular cues, we develop a concurrent multisensory processing neural model which consists of two reciprocally connected modules, the dorsal medial superior temporal area (MSTd) and the ventral intraparietal area (VIP), and that at each module, there exists two distinguishing groups of neurons, congruent and opposite neurons. Specifically, congruent neurons implement cue integration, while opposite neurons compute the cue disparity, both optimally as described by Bayesian inference. The two groups of neurons provide complementary information which enables the neural system to assess the validity of cue integration and, if necessary, to recover the lost information associated with individual cues without re-gathering new inputs. Through this process, the brain achieves rapid stimulus perception if the cues come from the same stimulus of interest, and differentiates and recognizes stimuli based on individual cues with little time delay if the cues come from different stimuli of interest. Our study unveils the indispensable role of opposite neurons in multisensory processing and sheds light on our understanding of how the brain achieves multisensory processing efficiently and rapidly.Significance StatementOur brain perceives the world by exploiting multiple sensory cues. These cues need to be integrated to improve perception if they come from the same stimulus and otherwise be segregated. To address the challenge of recognizing whether sensory cues come from the same or different stimuli that are unknown in advance, we propose that the brain should carry out multisensory integration and segregation concurrently with two different neuron groups. Specifically, congruent neurons implement cue integration, while opposite neurons compute the cue disparity, and the interplay between them achieves rapid stimulus recognition without information loss. We apply our model to the example of inferring heading-direction based on visual and vestibular cues and reproduce the experimental data successfully.

scholarly journals Complementary congruent and opposite neurons achieve concurrent multisensory integration and segregation

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Hao Zhang ◽  
He Wang ◽  
Aihua Chen ◽  
Yong Gu ◽  
Tai Sing Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Heading Direction ◽  
Vestibular Cues ◽  
The World ◽  
Sensory Cue ◽  
Multisensory Cues ◽  
Multisensory Information ◽  
External Stimuli ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Extract Information

Our brain perceives the world by exploiting multisensory cues to extract information about various aspects of external stimuli. The sensory cues from the same stimulus should be integrated to improve perception, and otherwise segregated to distinguish different stimuli. In reality, however, the brain faces the challenge of recognizing stimuli without knowing in advance the sources of sensory cues. To address this challenge, we propose that the brain conducts integration and segregation concurrently with complementary neurons. Studying the inference of heading-direction via visual and vestibular cues, we develop a network model with two reciprocally connected modules modeling interacting visual-vestibular areas. In each module, there are two groups of neurons whose tunings under each sensory cue are either congruent or opposite. We show that congruent neurons implement integration, while opposite neurons compute cue disparity information for segregation, and the interplay between two groups of neurons achieves efficient multisensory information processing.

Cue Integration for Continuous and Categorical Dimensions by Synesthetes

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (3-5) ◽  
pp. 207-234
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn R. Bankieris ◽  
Vikranth Rao Bejjanki ◽  
Richard N. Aslin
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Sensory Integration ◽  
Ideal Observer ◽  
Cue Integration ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Integration Mechanisms ◽  
Multisensory Illusions

For synesthetes, sensory or cognitive stimuli induce the perception of an additional sensory or cognitive stimulus. Grapheme–color synesthetes, for instance, consciously and consistently experience particular colors (e.g., fluorescent pink) when perceiving letters (e.g.,u). As a phenomenon involving multiple stimuli within or across modalities, researchers have posited that synesthetes may integrate sensory cues differently than non-synesthetes. However, findings to date present mixed results concerning this hypothesis, with researchers reporting enhanced, depressed, or normal sensory integration for synesthetes. In this study wequantitativelyevaluated the multisensory integration process of synesthetes and non-synesthetes using Bayesian principles, rather than employing multisensory illusions, to make inferences about the sensory integration process. In two studies we investigated synesthetes’ sensory integration by comparing human behavior to that of an ideal observer. We found that synesthetes integrated cues for both continuous and categorical dimensions in a statistically optimal manner, matching the sensory integration behavior of controls. These findings suggest that synesthetes and controls utilize similar cue integration mechanisms, despite differences in how they perceive unimodal stimuli.

scholarly journals A collective modulatory basis for multisensory integration in C. elegans

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Harris ◽  
Taihong Wu ◽  
Gaia Linfield ◽  
Myung-Kyu Choi ◽  
He Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Neurological Diseases ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
Behavioral Decision ◽  
Integrated Response

AbstractIn the natural environment, animals often encounter multiple sensory cues that are simultaneously present. The nervous system integrates the relevant sensory information to generate behavioral responses that have adaptive values. However, the signal transduction pathways and the molecules that regulate integrated behavioral response to multiple sensory cues are not well defined. Here, we characterize a collective modulatory basis for a behavioral decision in C. elegans when the animal is presented with an attractive food source together with a repulsive odorant. We show that distributed neuronal components in the worm nervous system and several neuromodulators orchestrate the decision-making process, suggesting that various states and contexts may modulate the multisensory integration. Among these modulators, we identify a new function of a conserved TGF-β pathway that regulates the integrated decision by inhibiting the signaling from a set of central neurons. Interestingly, we find that a common set of modulators, including the TGF-β pathway, regulate the integrated response to the pairing of different foods and repellents. Together, our results provide insights into the modulatory signals regulating multisensory integration and reveal potential mechanistic basis for the complex pathology underlying defects in multisensory processing shared by common neurological diseases.Author SummaryThe present study characterizes the modulation of a behavioral decision in C. elegans when the worm is presented with a food lawn that is paired with a repulsive smell. We show that multiple sensory neurons and interneurons play roles in making the decision. We also identify several modulatory molecules that are essential for the integrated decision when the animal faces a choice between the cues of opposing valence. We further show that many of these factors, which often represent different states and contexts, are common for behavioral decisions that integrate sensory information from different types of foods and repellents. Overall, our results reveal a collective molecular and cellular basis for integration of simultaneously present attractive and repulsive cues to fine-tune decision-making.

Multisensory integration substantiates distributed and overlapping neural networks

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Achille Pasqualotto
Keyword(s):  
Neural Networks ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Basic Feature ◽  
Process Information ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Neural Reuse ◽  
Visual Cortices ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe hypothesis that highly overlapping networks underlie brain functions (neural reuse) is decisively supported by three decades of multisensory research. Multisensory areas process information from more than one sensory modality and therefore represent the best examples of neural reuse. Recent evidence of multisensory processing in primary visual cortices further indicates that neural reuse is a basic feature of the brain.

scholarly journals Multisensory Interactions in Virtual Reality: Optic Flow Reduces Vestibular Sensitivity, but Only for Congruent Planes of Motion

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 625-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Gallagher ◽  
Reno Choi ◽  
Elisa Raffaella Ferrè
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Random Motion ◽  
Sensory Cues ◽  
Perceptual Sensitivity ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Vestibular Cues ◽  
Multisensory Interactions ◽  
Self Motion ◽  
The Brain

Abstract During exposure to Virtual Reality (VR) a sensory conflict may be present, whereby the visual system signals that the user is moving in a certain direction with a certain acceleration, while the vestibular system signals that the user is stationary. In order to reduce this conflict, the brain may down-weight vestibular signals, which may in turn affect vestibular contributions to self-motion perception. Here we investigated whether vestibular perceptual sensitivity is affected by VR exposure. Participants’ ability to detect artificial vestibular inputs was measured during optic flow or random motion stimuli on a VR head-mounted display. Sensitivity to vestibular signals was significantly reduced when optic flow stimuli were presented, but importantly this was only the case when both visual and vestibular cues conveyed information on the same plane of self-motion. Our results suggest that the brain dynamically adjusts the weight given to incoming sensory cues for self-motion in VR; however this is dependent on the congruency of visual and vestibular cues.

scholarly journals The interplay between multisensory integration and perceptual decision making

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel R. Mercier ◽  
Celine Cappe
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Optimal Decision ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Sensory Encoding ◽  
Optimal Decision Making ◽  
The Brain

AbstractFacing perceptual uncertainty, the brain combines information from different senses to shape optimal decision making and to guide behavior. Despite overlapping neural networks underlying multisensory integration and perceptual decision making, the process chain of decision formation has been studied mostly in unimodal contexts and is thought to be supramodal. To reveal whether and how multisensory processing interplay with perceptual decision making, we devised a paradigm mimicking naturalistic situations where human participants were exposed to continuous cacophonous audiovisual inputs containing an unpredictable relevant signal cue in one or two modalities. Using multivariate pattern analysis on concurrently recorded EEG, we decoded the neural signatures of sensory encoding and decision formation stages. Generalization analyses across conditions and time revealed that multisensory signal cues were processed faster during both processing stages. We further established that acceleration of neural dynamics was directly linked to two distinct multisensory integration processes and associated with multisensory benefit. Our results, substantiated in both detection and categorization tasks, provide evidence that the brain integrates signals from different modalities at both the sensory encoding and the decision formation stages.

scholarly journals Dissecting neural circuits for multisensory integration and crossmodal processing

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1677) ◽  
pp. 20140203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Yau ◽  
Gregory C. DeAngelis ◽  
Dora E. Angelaki
Keyword(s):  
Multisensory Integration ◽  
Neural Circuits ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Crossmodal Processing ◽  
The World ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Experimental Approaches

We rely on rich and complex sensory information to perceive and understand our environment. Our multisensory experience of the world depends on the brain's remarkable ability to combine signals across sensory systems. Behavioural, neurophysiological and neuroimaging experiments have established principles of multisensory integration and candidate neural mechanisms. Here we review how targeted manipulation of neural activity using invasive and non-invasive neuromodulation techniques have advanced our understanding of multisensory processing. Neuromodulation studies have provided detailed characterizations of brain networks causally involved in multisensory integration. Despite substantial progress, important questions regarding multisensory networks remain unanswered. Critically, experimental approaches will need to be combined with theory in order to understand how distributed activity across multisensory networks collectively supports perception.

Pelvic schwannoma

GYNECOLOGY ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 84-86
Author(s):  
Sergei P. Sinchikhin ◽  
Sarkis G. Magakyan ◽  
Oganes G. Magakyan
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Nerve ◽  
World Literature ◽  
Morphological Study ◽  
Clinical Observation ◽  
Nerve Trunk ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Surgical Volume ◽  
The World ◽  
Brain And Spinal Cord ◽  
The Brain

Relevance.A neoplasm originated from the myelonic sheath of the nerve trunk is called neurinoma or neurilemmoma, neurinoma, schwannoglioma, schwannoma. This tumor can cause compression and dysfunction of adjacent tissues and organs. The most common are the auditory nerve neurinomas (1 case per 100 000 population per year), the brain and spinal cord neurinomas are rare. In the world literature, there is no information on the occurrences of this tumor in the pelvic region. Description.Presented below is a clinical observation of a 30-year-old patient who was scheduled for myomectomy. During laparoscopy, an unusual tumor of the small pelvis was found and radically removed. A morphological study allowed to identify the remote neoplasm as a neuroma. Conclusion.The presented practical case shows that any tumor can hide under a clinical mask of another disease. The qualification of the doctor performing laparoscopic myomectomy should be sufficient to carry out, if necessary, another surgical volume.

Consciousness, law of nature, and nomological determinism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyang Yu
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Important Thing ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Brain

Nomological determinism does not mean everything is predictable. It just means everything follows the law of nature. And the most important thing Is that the brain and consciousness follow the law of nature. In other words, there is no free will. Without life, brain and consciousness, the world follows law of nature, that is clear. The life and brain are also part of nature, and they follow the law of nature. This is due to scientific findings. There are not enough scientific findings for consciousness yet. But I think that the consciousness is a nature phenomenon, and it also follows the law of nature.

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