Encoding of Predictable and Unpredictable Stimuli by Inferior Temporal Cortical Neurons

Susheel Kumar; Peter Kaposvari; Rufin Vogels

doi:10.1162/jocn_a_01135

Encoding of Predictable and Unpredictable Stimuli by Inferior Temporal Cortical Neurons

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01135 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 29 (8) ◽

pp. 1445-1454 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Susheel Kumar ◽

Peter Kaposvari ◽

Rufin Vogels

Keyword(s):

Cortical Neurons ◽

Random Sequence ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Stimulus Order ◽

Standard Sequence ◽

Activation Level ◽

Statistical Regularities ◽

Image Identity ◽

Transitional Probabilities ◽

Decoding Accuracy

Animals and humans learn statistical regularities that are embedded in sequences of stimuli. The neural mechanisms of such statistical learning are still poorly understood. Previous work in macaque inferior temporal (IT) cortex demonstrated suppressed spiking activity to visual images of a sequence in which the stimulus order was defined by transitional probabilities (labeled as “standard” sequence), compared with a sequence in which the stimulus order was random (“random” sequence). Here, we asked whether IT neurons encode the images of the standard sequence more accurately compared with images of the random sequence. Previous human fMRI studies in different sensory modalities also found a suppressed response to expected relative to unexpected stimuli but obtained various results regarding the effect of expectation on encoding, with one study reporting an improved classification accuracy of expected stimuli despite the reduced activation level. We employed a linear classifier to decode image identity from the spiking responses of the recorded IT neurons. We found a greater decoding accuracy for images of the standard compared with the random sequence during the early part of the stimulus presentation, but further analyses suggested that this reflected the sustained, stimulus-selective activity from the previous stimulus of the sequence, which is typical for IT neurons. However, the peak decoding accuracy was lower for the standard compared with the random sequence, in line with the reduced response to the former compared with the latter images. These data suggest that macaque IT neurons represent less accurately predictable compared with unpredictable images.

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Probability Strategies in Similar Concurrent Tasks as a Function of Instructions and Stimulus-Presentation Conditions

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1973.32.2.375 ◽

1973 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 375-380

Author(s):

Herbert U. Schenck ◽

Colleen Surber

Keyword(s):

Probability Learning ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Correct Choice ◽

Individual Behavior ◽

Stimulus Order ◽

Concurrent Tasks ◽

Choice Tasks

48 adults learned 2 concurrent 4-choice tasks with 70% probable reinforcement for the correct choice. Stimuli for the 2 tasks were presented in 3 orders, and 2 instruction conditions were used. One stimulus order led to more maximization than the others, and 48% of the Ss changed strategies between the 2 tasks. Questions about the predictability of individual behavior in probability-learning situations are discussed.

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Dynamics of the orientation tuning of postsynaptic potentials in the cat visual cortex

Visual Neuroscience ◽

10.1017/s0952523800008919 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 621-628 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

M. Volgushev ◽

T.R. Vidyasagar ◽

Xing Pei

Keyword(s):

Cortical Neurons ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Stimulus Onset ◽

Temporal Coding ◽

Orientation Tuning ◽

Integration Time ◽

Cortical Cells ◽

Postsynaptic Potentials ◽

Temporal Windows

AbstractWe evaluated the dynamic aspects of the orientation tuning of the input to cat visual cortical neurons by analyzing the postsynaptic potentials (PSPs) evoked by flashing bars of light. The PSPs were recorded using in vivo whole-cell technique, and we analyzed the orientation tuning during subsequent temporal windows after stimulus onset and offset. Our results show that the amplitudes of the postsynaptic potential are reliably tuned to orientation and matching that of the spike responses only during certain temporal windows. During the first 100 ms after stimulus presentation, orientation tuning of the membrane potential underwent regular changes. Within particular intervals, orientation tuning of the input was much sharper than that estimated according to the whole response. In most cells, optimal orientation was usually stable over the whole period. In several cells which had a second hump of EPSPs in the response, this second hump was tuned to the same orientation as the first one, but always showed sharper tuning. Estimation of the integration time revealed sufficient delay between the appearance of EPSPs and spikes, to let inhibition influence spike generation. These results show that orientation selectivity of the input to cortical cells is a dynamic function, and also indicate the possibility of temporal coding in the visual system.

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Acquisition of Visual-Auditory Associations by Good and Excellent Readers

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1972.35.3.847 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 35 (3) ◽

pp. 847-855 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Bonnie N. Bartholomeus ◽

D. G. Doehring

Keyword(s):

Reading Instruction ◽

Visual Stimuli ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Visual Presentation ◽

Order Effect ◽

Good Readers ◽

Reading Groups ◽

Stimulus Order ◽

Order And Type ◽

Stimulus Modalities

The acquisition of visual-auditory associations was studied in 96 7-yr.-old Ss who had successfully completed 1 yr. of reading instruction. The effects of reading status, stimulus order, and type of associative task were assessed. Children classified as Excellent Readers made significantly fewer errors in learning the associative tasks than did children classified as Good Readers. Visual-preceding-auditory stimulus presentation was consistently easier than auditory-preceding-visual presentation for Good Readers; whereas this order effect was limited to tasks involving verbal visual stimuli for Excellent Readers. For both reading groups associations involving verbal visual stimuli were more difficult than those involving nonverbal visual stimuli. There were no significant differences between associative tasks involving verbal and nonverbal sounds, and no significant interaction of stimulus modalities with the verbal-nonverbal characteristics of the stimuli. The results were compared with those obtained in a previous study with adult Ss.

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Fast ballistic arm movements triggered by visual, auditory, and somesthetic stimuli in the monkey. II. Effects of unilateral dentate lesion on discharge of precentral cortical neurons and reaction time

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1983.50.6.1359 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 50 (6) ◽

pp. 1359-1379 ◽

Cited By ~ 83

Author(s):

G. Spidalieri ◽

L. Busby ◽

Y. Lamarre

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Motor Cortex ◽

Cortical Neurons ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Reference Points ◽

Neuronal Firing ◽

Time Interval ◽

Cortical Cells ◽

Before And After ◽

Motor Cortical

Single-unit recordings from motor cortex (area 4) were obtained before and after dentate lesion in two monkeys executing fast elbow flexions and extensions in response to randomly presented visual, auditory, and somesthetic stimuli. There were no starting or ending reference points or preparatory signals. Monkeys were trained to perform movements larger than 15 degrees within 500 ms of the stimulus presentation. After electrolytic lesion of the dentate nucleus ipsilateral to the trained arm, changes in reaction time (RT) were observed. Mean daily RTs of movements triggered by light and sound were lengthened by 50-70 ms. RTs of movements triggered by somesthetic stimuli were not changed in one monkey, whereas a small increase of only 20 ms was observed in the other animal. Spontaneous firing of precentral neurons was about the same before and after dentate lesion. However, movement-related responses of cortical neurons were affected by the lesion. Whenever there was an increase in RT according to the triggering stimuli, a corresponding increase in the response time of neurons (RS) appeared. Both RS and RT increased by the same amount when movements were triggered by visual and auditory stimuli, whereas they remained about the same when somesthetic stimuli were used to trigger movements. In contrast, the time interval between the appearance of the change of neuronal firing and onset of arm displacement (RM) was not modified after the lesion. Gating of sensory conditioning inputs and modification of RT by the presentation of more than one stimulus were not abolished by dentate lesion. As a whole, the effects of dentate lesion on motor cortical neurons are consistent with the hypothesis that the neocerebellum controls the initiation of simple ballistic limb movements by controlling the discharge of motor cortex neurons. The effects could be attributed to the withdrawal of a facilitatory influence of dentate neurons on the motor cortical cells, particularly for movements triggered by teleceptive inputs.

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Fuzzy combination of Kohonen's and ART neural network models to detect statistical regularities in a random sequence of multi-valued input patterns

Proceedings of International Conference on Neural Networks (ICNN'97) ◽

10.1109/icnn.1997.611679 ◽

2002 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

A. Baraldi ◽

F. Parmiggiani

Keyword(s):

Neural Network ◽

Random Sequence ◽

Network Models ◽

Neural Network Models ◽

Statistical Regularities

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Controlling precedence in sequential stimulus presentation with Euler tours

10.31234/osf.io/y8r6k ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jacob Johannes Willem Bakermans ◽

Timothy E.J. Behrens

Keyword(s):

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Stimulus Order ◽

History Effects ◽

Repetition Suppression ◽

Euler Tours ◽

Generating Sequences

It is important to control for stimulus history in experiments probing responses to and similarity between sequentially presented stimuli. We present a method for stimulus order randomisation that guarantees identical precedence across stimuli. Generating sequences through sampling Euler tours allows for perfectly uniform stimulus history. This deconfounds the stimulus history from the present stimulus and maximises sensitivity to stimulus history effects including repetition suppression.

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Magnetoencephalographic Activity Related to Conscious Perception Is Stable within Individuals across Years but Not between Individuals

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00525 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 26 (4) ◽

pp. 840-853 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Kristian Sandberg ◽

Gareth Robert Barnes ◽

Geraint Rees ◽

Morten Overgaard

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Binocular Rivalry ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Time Window ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Classification Algorithms ◽

Conscious Perception ◽

Large Drop ◽

Decoding Accuracy

Studies indicate that conscious perception is related to changes in neural activity within a time window that varies between 130 and 320 msec after stimulus presentation, yet it is not known whether such neural correlates of conscious perception are stable across time. Here, we examined the generalization across time within individuals and across different individuals. We trained classification algorithms to decode conscious perception from neural activity recorded during binocular rivalry using magnetoencephalography (MEG). The classifiers were then used to predict the perception of the same participants during different recording sessions either days or years later as well as between different participants. No drop in decoding accuracy was observed when decoding across years compared with days, whereas a large drop in decoding accuracy was found for between-participant decoding. Furthermore, underlying percept-specific MEG signals remained stable in terms of latency, amplitude, and sources within participants across years, whereas differences were found in all of these domains between individuals. Our findings demonstrate that the neural correlates of conscious perception are stable across years for adults, but differ across individuals. Moreover, the study validates decoding based on MEG data as a method for further studies of correlations between individual differences in perceptual contents and between-participant decoding accuracies.

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Effect of Stimulus Order on Verbal and Nonverbal Visual-Auditory Association

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1971.33.3.891 ◽

1971 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 891-897 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Bonnie N. Bartholomeus ◽

Donald G. Doehring

Keyword(s):

Visual Stimuli ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Auditory Stimuli ◽

Verbal Stimuli ◽

Stimulus Order

The acquisition of visual-auditory associations was studied in 96 adult Ss to assess the effect of order of stimulus presentation and differences between verbal and nonverbal stimuli. Associations involving verbal sounds were learned more easily than those involving nonverbal sounds when the sounds were presented at the same time or following visual stimuli, but the associative task was relatively difficult when verbal sounds preceded verbal visual stimuli. Associations involving nonverbal visual stimuli were learned more easily than those involving verbal stimuli when visual stimuli followed auditory stimuli.

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