Contextual influences: Perception of sentences in noise is facilitated similarly in young and older listeners by meaningful semantic context; neural correlates explored via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

2008 ◽  
Vol 123 (5) ◽  
pp. 3887-3887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Macdonald ◽  
Matthew H. Davis ◽  
Kathy Pichora‐Fuller ◽  
Ingrid S. Johnsrude
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Semantic Context ◽  
Contextual Influences ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging

Investigating the Neural Correlates of the Affect Heuristic Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Kenny Skagerlund ◽  
Mikael Skagenholt ◽  
Paul J. Hamilton ◽  
Paul Slovic ◽  
Daniel Västfjäll
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Affect Heuristic ◽  
Medial Frontal Gyrus

Abstract This study investigated the neural correlates of the so-called “affect heuristic,” which refers to the phenomenon whereby individuals tend to rely on affective states rather than rational deliberation of utility and probabilities during judgments of risk and utility of a given event or scenario. The study sought to explore whether there are shared regional activations during both judgments of relative risk and relative benefit of various scenarios, thus being a potential candidate of the affect heuristic. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we developed a novel risk perception task, based on a preexisting behavioral task assessing the affect heuristic. A whole-brain voxel-wise analysis of a sample of participants (n = 42) during the risk and benefit conditions revealed overlapping clusters in the left insula, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left medial frontal gyrus across conditions. Extraction of parameter estimates of these clusters revealed that activity of these regions during both tasks was inversely correlated with a behavioral measure assessing the inclination to use the affect heuristic. More activity in these areas during risk judgments reflect individuals' ability to disregard momentary affective impulses. The insula may be involved in integrating viscero-somatosensory information and forming a representation of the current emotional state of the body, whereas activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus and medial frontal gyrus indicates that executive processes may be involved in inhibiting the impulse of making judgments in favor of deliberate risk evaluations.

scholarly journals Remember/Know Judgments Probe Degrees of Recollection

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter E. Wais ◽  
Laura Mickes ◽  
John T. Wixted
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Semantic Memory ◽  
Source Memory ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Implicit Assumption ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Lesion Studies

Remembering and knowing are states of awareness that accompany the retrieval of facts, faces, and experiences from our past. Although originally intended to separate episodic from semantic memory, the dominant view today is that recollection-based decisions underlie remember responses, whereas familiarity-based decisions underlie know responses. Many functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies as well as lesion studies have relied on the remember/know procedure to identify the neural correlates of recollection and familiarity. An implicit assumption of this approach is that know responses, which are thought to tap familiarity-based decisions, are devoid of recollection. We investigated this issue by using a source memory procedure and found that the accuracy of source recollection was significantly above chance for studied words that were declared to be old and known. Critically, this held true even when the source decision was made before the old/new decision (i.e., even after successful recollection had just occurred). Our results show that although recollection and familiarity may be different processes, the remember/know paradigm does not probe them directly. As such, dissociations involving remember/know judgments in fMRI studies and in studies involving amnesic patients should not be construed as dissociations between recollection and familiarity.

The Aha! Moment

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 210-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kounios ◽  
Mark Beeman
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Brain States ◽  
Behavioral Methods ◽  
Different Time Scales

A sudden comprehension that solves a problem, reinterprets a situation, explains a joke, or resolves an ambiguous percept is called an insight (i.e., the “Aha! moment”). Psychologists have studied insight using behavioral methods for nearly a century. Recently, the tools of cognitive neuroscience have been applied to this phenomenon. A series of studies have used electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural correlates of the “Aha! moment” and its antecedents. Although the experience of insight is sudden and can seem disconnected from the immediately preceding thought, these studies show that insight is the culmination of a series of brain states and processes operating at different time scales. Elucidation of these precursors suggests interventional opportunities for the facilitation of insight.

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