Article
Neurosciences
Richard Johnston, Adam C. Snyder, Sanjeev B. Khanna, Deepa Issar, Matthew A. Smith
Summary: Decades of research have shown that global brain states such as arousal can be indexed by measuring properties of the eyes. Recent studies identified a latent dimension of neural activity called slow drift, which is associated with actions of the eyes in distinct behavioral tasks. These results suggest a correlation between eye movements and a dominant, task-independent mode of neural activity across the cortex.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Jing Shen, Laura P. Fitzgerald, Erin R. Kulick
Summary: The study investigates the interaction between processing depth and acoustic challenges in speech perception under adverse conditions, showing that deeper processing leads to higher pupil dilation, especially in the presence of background noise. There is a non-additive interaction between noise and task, with heightened pupil dilation in the speech recognition task compared to the tiredness judgment task. The study also suggests that dynamic pitch alteration induces a perceptual novelty effect rather than reflecting effortful linguistic processing of speech content in noise.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Maria Ribeiro, Miguel Castelo-Branco
Summary: Ageing is associated with decreased brain signal variability and increased behavioral variability. In this study, we found that although older adults showed reduced variability in ongoing brain signals compared to younger adults, the variability in evoked responses was equal once the effect of ongoing signal fluctuations was adjusted for. Additionally, the modulation of evoked responses caused by ongoing signal fluctuations did not affect reaction time, explaining why behavioral variability is not increased in older individuals despite decreased ongoing brain signal variability.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nathan Van der Stoep, M. J. Van der Smagt, C. Notaro, Z. Spock, M. Naber
Summary: Pupillometry plays a crucial role in multisensory integration research, but the nature of multisensory pupil responses remains contradictory. Studies have found that multisensory pupil responses can be additive even when RT data indicate multisensory integration.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Julian Keil, Daniel Senkowski, James K. Moran
Summary: This study investigates the perception mechanism of the flash-lag illusion (FLI) using electroencephalography (EEG). The results suggest that the perception of the FLI relies on the interplay between stimulus encoding of the moving bar and feedback processing of the flash.
Article
Neurosciences
Luke Tait, Jiaxiang Zhang
Summary: EEG microstate analysis is a method for studying brain states and transitions, but it is limited in its use at the sensor level. This study generalized the microstate methodology to source-reconstructed electrophysiological data and identified ten microstates with distinct spatial distributions. The study also found that source-level microstates were associated with different functional connectivity patterns.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Melis Yilmaz Balban, Erin Cafaro, Lauren Saue-Fletcher, Marlon J. Washington, Maryam Bijanzadeh, A. Moses Lee, Edward F. Chang, Andrew D. Huberman
Summary: The research found that subjects with high anxiety displayed increased visual scanning behavior in response to threats; the amount of scanning behavior correlated with the magnitude of physiological arousal in both healthy and anxious subjects; eye movements play a key role in how humans detect and adjust to stress in response to visually perceived threats.
Article
Neurosciences
Subodh Gnyawali, Beatrix Feigl, Prakash Adhikari, Andrew J. Zele
Summary: A decision during a visual task is marked by pupil dilation, which is linked to the global cortical arousal state. Melanopsin activation influences mood and arousal and increases activity in decision-making brain areas. Optical photostimulation experiments showed that active covert attention can be modulated by visual information mediated via the melanopsin pathway, but pupil dilation responses are not increased by higher levels of melanopsin activation.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Ophthalmology
Brendan L. Portengen, Giorgio L. Porro, Saskia M. Imhof, Marnix Naber
Summary: The study found that the strongest pupil responses occurred when there was a substantial amount of color contrast between the stimulus and background, sacrificing luminance contrast to some extent. An optimal pupillary responsiveness was achieved with a background luminance setting of 20% to 35% color contrast across several color axes.
TRANSLATIONAL VISION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Alan J. Emanuel, Brendan P. Lehnert, Stefano Panzeri, Christopher D. Harvey, David D. Ginty
Summary: Research shows that signals from physiologically distinct mechanoreceptor subtypes are extensively integrated and transformed within the subcortical somatosensory system to generate cortical representations of touch.
Article
Allergy
Judit Rovira Rubio, Spyridon Megremis, Maria Pasioti, John Lakoumentas, Bede Constantinides, Paraskevi Xepapadaki, Claus Bachert, Susetta Finotto, Tuomas Jartti, Evangelos Andreakos, Barbara Stanic, Cezmi A. A. Akdis, Mubeccel Akdis, Nikolaos G. G. Papadopoulos
Summary: Respiratory viruses in young children are linked to the development, exacerbation, and persistence of respiratory conditions. This study reveals that the respiratory virome is associated with systemic immune responses and that immune response variations may influence health outcomes.
Article
Neurosciences
Jan Willem de Gee, Camile M. C. Correa, Matthew Weaver, Tobias H. Donner, Simon van Gaal
Summary: The study demonstrates that pupil responses and slow wave event-related potential, as physiological markers of phasic arousal, both reflect surprise in decision-making under uncertainty. Furthermore, these two variables are unrelated to each other, and prediction error computations depend on feedback awareness.
Article
Neurosciences
June Hee Kim, Christine Yin, Elisha P. Merriam, Zvi N. Roth
Summary: Similar to a camera aperture, the size of the pupil adjusts to the surrounding luminance. However, the pupil size is also modulated by stimulus properties and cognitive processes. This study found that different stimulus properties interact to jointly modulate pupil size independent of arousal. Furthermore, the study discovered a dissociation between task-related responses and stimulus-evoked responses, suggesting that different sources contribute independently to pupil size modulation.
Article
Neurosciences
Irina Anurova, Svetlana Vetchinnikova, Aleksandra Dobrego, Nitin Williams, Nina Mikusova, Antti Suni, Anna Mauranen, Satu Palva
Summary: This study investigated the neural correlates of chunk boundaries in natural speech using MEEG. The results showed that chunk boundaries elicited closure positive shifts, while pauses within a chunk elicited biphasic emitted potentials. Furthermore, stronger boundaries resulted in earlier and more prominent activation in the left hemisphere.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Martina D'Agostini, Andreas M. Burger, Mathijs Franssen, Ana Perkovic, Stephan Claes, Andreas von Leupoldt, Peter R. Murphy, Ilse Van Diest
Summary: The study aimed to test whether taVNS enhances pupil dilation and the effect of stimulation parameters on it. The results showed that stimulation settings can linearly increase pupil dilation, and the effect is stronger in the taVNS condition. In addition, taVNS elicited more intense and unpleasant sensations compared to sham stimulation.
Article
Neurosciences
Anne E. Urai, Valeria Aguillon-Rodriguez, Ines C. Laranjeira, Fanny Cazettes, Zachary F. Mainen, Anne K. Churchland
Summary: The study introduces an alternative method for motivating mice to perform specific behaviors by providing them with access to slightly sour water as a reward, which does not impact their willingness to engage in decision-making tasks.
Article
Neurosciences
Bharath Chandra Talluri, Anne E. Urai, Zohar Z. Bronfman, Noam Brezis, Konstantinos Tsetsos, Marius Usher, Tobias H. Donner
Summary: Decisions are influenced by the accumulation of decision-relevant information over time, with early and late evidence often given stronger weight. Intermittent choices reduce sensitivity to subsequent decision information and transiently boost arousal, potentially triggering a state change in decision-making neural circuits.
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zakir Mridha, Jan Willem de Gee, Yanchen Shi, Rayan Alkashgari, Justin Williams, Aaron Suminski, Matthew P. Ward, Wenhao Zhang, Matthew James McGinley
Summary: The study demonstrates that pupil dilation is a reliable and noninvasive biosensor for titratable VNS-evoked cortical neuromodulation by acetylcholine in mice.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Jan Willem de Gee, Camile M. C. Correa, Matthew Weaver, Tobias H. Donner, Simon van Gaal
Summary: The study demonstrates that pupil responses and slow wave event-related potential, as physiological markers of phasic arousal, both reflect surprise in decision-making under uncertainty. Furthermore, these two variables are unrelated to each other, and prediction error computations depend on feedback awareness.
Article
Neurosciences
Peter R. Murphy, Niklas Wilming, Diana C. Hernandez-Bocanegra, Genis Prat-Ortega, Tobias H. Donner
Summary: The study reveals that adaptive evidence accumulation is present during decision-making under uncertainty, and this computation is reflected in the recurrent dynamics of human parietal and motor cortices, with feedback to the sensory cortex.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Olympia Colizoli, Jan Willem de Gee, Wietske van der Zwaag, Tobias H. Donner
Summary: The study evaluated the relative benefit of 7T over 3T fMRI for assessing responses evoked in different brain regions by a cognitive task, demonstrating a generally bigger advantage of 7T in subcortical structures. Stronger responses were also found at 7T for easier decisions in dopaminergic midbrain nuclei, in line with reward expectation, showcasing the potential of 7T fMRI in understanding cognitive computations in the human brain.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Zoe C. Ashwood, Nicholas A. Roy, Iris R. Stone, Anne E. Urai, Anne K. Churchland, Alexandre Pouget, Jonathan W. Pillow
Summary: The authors of this study use model-based analyses to uncover the strategies employed by mice and humans during sensory decision-making. Contrary to common belief, mice do not make lapses but instead switch between sustained engaged and disengaged states. The analysis reveals that decision-making behavior relies on multiple interleaved strategies that persist for a certain number of trials before switching and may switch multiple times within a single session.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Anne E. Urai, Brent Doiron, Andrew M. Leifer, Anne K. Churchland
Summary: Neuroscientists have the ability to measure activity from more neurons using emerging tools and technologies, posing challenges to traditional theoretical frameworks and providing new insights. Connecting brain-wide neural recordings to computation and behavior is a current challenge, with the need for new theoretical approaches to understand brain function. Advances in neural recordings and theory development are expected to contribute to a critical improvement in our understanding of the brain.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Thomas Pfeffer, Christian Keitel, Daniel S. Kluger, Anne Keitel, Alena Russmann, Gregor Thut, Tobias H. Donner, Joachim Gross, Ole Jensen
Summary: This study provides a comprehensive explanation of the relationship between arousal and neuronal population activity in the human brain, revealing a higher specificity of arousal effects on different components of neural activity and across cortical regions. The study also identifies a cascade of effects relative to the timing of spontaneous pupil dilations, suggesting a temporal relationship between arousal and cortical activity.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Anne E. Urai, Tobias H. DonnerO
Summary: Humans and other animals tend to repeat or alternate their previous choices, and this behavioral bias may be related to neural signals in the parietal cortex.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biology
Anne E. Urai, Clare Kelly
Summary: Addressing the climate crisis requires radical and urgent action at all levels of society. Universities, in particular, have a responsibility to take the lead in such action, but they are falling short. Academic scientists also face obstacles such as bureaucracy and excessive competition, hindering their work. Drawing on Doughnut Economics, we propose new principles for scientific practice and urge academics to create a scientific enterprise that is capable of meeting the challenges of the 21st century.
Proceedings Paper
Acoustics
Erdem Varol, Julien Boussard, Nishchal Dethe, Olivier Winter, Anne Urai, Anne Churchland, Nick Steinmetz, Liam Paninski
Summary: Neuropixels probes provide high temporal and single-cell spatial resolution for studying neuronal voltage signals, but probe shifting during in vivo recordings can lead to inaccuracies in voltage readings and neural activity estimates. A new decentralized registration method is introduced to improve accuracy over previous template-based approaches.
2021 IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ACOUSTICS, SPEECH AND SIGNAL PROCESSING (ICASSP 2021)
(2021)