Tolerating Ambiguity

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian S. Hargreaves ◽  
Penny M. Pexman ◽  
Daniel J. Pittman ◽  
Bradley G. Goodyear
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Behavioral Effect ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Ambiguous Words ◽  
Multiple Meanings ◽  
Ambiguity Effect ◽  
Activation Phase

Many models of word recognition predict a lexical ambiguity disadvantage in semantic categorization tasks (SCTs). However, recent evidence suggests that an ambiguity disadvantage in SCT results from a bias in the decision-making phase of the task and not in the meaning-activation phase: Behavioral effects of ambiguity disappear when these decision biases are controlled ( Pexman, Hino, & Lupker, 2004 ). The current study used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural correlates of ambiguity in a task that produced no behavioral ambiguity effect (i.e., SCT with a well-defined decision category). Twenty healthy adults participated. Results showed that despite producing no behavioral effect of ambiguity, ambiguous words were associated with the recruitment of cortical structures implicated in top-down modulation of noisy activity (e.g., left inferior frontal gyrus) when compared to unambiguous words. These results are interpreted as evidence that multiple meanings are activated for ambiguous words in SCT.

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.

Atypical Activations of Fronto-Cerebellar Regions During Forethought in Parents of Children With ADHD

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 1050-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucile Rapin ◽  
Hélène Poissant ◽  
Adrianna Mendrek
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Children With Adhd ◽  
Future Studies

Objective: Although several studies suggest heritability of ADHD, only a few investigations of possible associations between people at risk and neural abnormalities in ADHD exist. In this study, we tested whether parents of children with ADHD would show atypical patterns of cerebral activations during forethought, a feature of working memory. Method: Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), we compared 12 parents of children with ADHD and 9 parents of control children during a forethought task. Results: Parents of children with ADHD exhibited significantly increased neural activations in the posterior lobes of the cerebellum and in the left inferior frontal gyrus, relative to parents of control children. Conclusion: These findings are consistent with previous reports in children and suggest the fronto-cerebellar circuit’s abnormalities during forethought in parents of children with ADHD. Future studies of people at risk of ADHD are needed to fully understand the extent of the fronto-cerebellar heritability.

scholarly journals The functional overlap of executive control and language processing in bilinguals

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMILY L. CODERRE ◽  
JASON F. SMITH ◽  
WALTER J.B. VAN HEUVEN ◽  
BARRY HORWITZ
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Flanker Task ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Linguistic Control ◽  
Multiple Languages

The need to control multiple languages is thought to require domain-general executive control in bilinguals such that the executive control and language systems become interdependent. However, there has been no systematic investigation into how and where executive control and language processes overlap in the bilingual brain. If the concurrent recruitment of executive control during bilingual language processing is domain-general and extends to non-linguistic control, we hypothesize that regions commonly involved in language processing, linguistic control, and non-linguistic control may be selectively altered in bilinguals compared to monolinguals. A conjunction of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from a flanker task with linguistic and non-linguistic distractors and a semantic categorization task showed functional overlap in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) in bilinguals, whereas no overlap occurred in monolinguals. This research therefore identifies a neural locus of functional overlap of language and executive control in the bilingual brain.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of beauty retouching to enhance attractiveness of self-depictions in women

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chisa Ota ◽  
Tamami Nakano
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Facial Attractiveness ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Amygdala Activity ◽  
Increased Activity

AbstractBeauty filters, while often employed for retouching photos to appear more attractive on social media, when used in excess cause images to give a distorted impression. The neural mechanisms underlying this change in facial attractiveness according to beauty retouching level remain unknown. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging in women as they viewed photos of their own face or unknown faces that had been retouched at three levels: no, mild, and extreme. The activity in the nucleus accumbens (NA) exhibited a positive correlation with facial attractiveness, whereas amygdala activity showed a negative correlation with attractiveness. Even though the participants rated others’ faces as more attractive than their own, the NA showed increased activity only for their mildly retouched own face and the amygdala exhibited greater activation in the others’ faces condition than the own face condition. Moreover, amygdala activity was greater for extremely retouched faces than for unretouched or mildly retouched faces for both conditions. Frontotemporal and cortical midline areas showed greater activation for one’s own than others’ faces, but such self-related activation was absent when extremely retouched. These results suggest that neural activity dynamically switches between the NA and amygdala according to perceived attractiveness of one’s face.

Motivational Salience Guides Attention to Valuable and Threatening Stimuli: Evidence from Behavior and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Haena Kim ◽  
Namrata Nanavaty ◽  
Humza Ahmed ◽  
Vani A. Mathur ◽  
Brian A. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Motivational Salience ◽  
Opposing Effects ◽  
Open Question

Abstract Rewarding and aversive outcomes have opposing effects on behavior, facilitating approach and avoidance, although we need to accurately anticipate each type of outcome to behave effectively. Attention is biased toward stimuli that have been learned to predict either type of outcome, and it remains an open question whether such orienting is driven by separate systems for value- and threat-based orienting or whether there exists a common underlying mechanism of attentional control driven by motivational salience. Here, we provide a direct comparison of the neural correlates of value- and threat-based attentional capture after associative learning. Across multiple measures of behavior and brain activation, our findings overwhelmingly support a motivational salience account of the control of attention. We conclude that there exists a core mechanism of experience-dependent attentional control driven by motivational salience and that prior characterizations of attention as being value driven or supporting threat monitoring need to be revisited.

scholarly journals Anticipatory affect: neural correlates and consequences for choice

2008 ◽  
Vol 363 (1511) ◽  
pp. 3771-3786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Knutson ◽  
Stephanie M Greer
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Monetary Incentives ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Brain Circuits ◽  
Subsequent Choice ◽  
Spatio Temporal

‘Anticipatory affect’ refers to emotional states that people experience while anticipating significant outcomes. Historically, technical limitations have made it difficult to determine whether anticipatory affect influences subsequent choice. Recent advances in the spatio-temporal resolution of functional magnetic resonance imaging, however, now allow researchers to visualize changes in neural activity seconds before choice occurs. We review evidence that activation in specific brain circuits changes during anticipation of monetary incentives, that this activation correlates with affective experience and that activity in these circuits may influence subsequent choice. Specifically, an activation likelihood estimate meta-analysis of cued response studies indicates that nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activation increases during gain anticipation relative to loss anticipation, while anterior insula activation increases during both loss and gain anticipation. Additionally, anticipatory NAcc activation correlates with self-reported positive arousal, whereas anterior insula activation correlates with both self-reported negative and positive arousal. Finally, NAcc activation precedes the purchase of desirable products and choice of high-risk gambles, whereas anterior insula activation precedes the rejection of overpriced products and choice of low-risk gambles. Together, these findings support a neurally plausible framework for understanding how anticipatory affect can influence choice.

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