Elizabeth A. McDevitt;Ghootae Kim;Nicholas B. Turk-Browne;Kenneth A. Norman
When faced with a familiar situation, we can use memory to make predictions about what will happen next. If such predictions turn out to be erroneous, the brain can adapt by differentiating the representations of the cue from the mispredicted item itself, reducing the likelihood of future prediction errors. Prior work by Kim, G., Norman, K. A., and Turk-Browne, N. B. Neural differentiation of incorrectly predicted memories. Journal of Neuroscience, 37, 2022–2031 [2017] found that violating a sequential association in a statistical learning paradigm triggered differentiation of the neural representations of the associated items in the hippocampus. Here, we used fMRI to test the preregistered hypothesis that this hippocampal differentiation occurs only when violations are followed by rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Participants first learned that some items predict others (e.g., A predicts B) and then encountered a violation in which a predicted item (B) failed to appear when expected after its associated item (A); the predicted item later appeared on its own after an unrelated item. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of three conditions: remain awake, take a nap containing non-REM sleep only, or take a nap with both non-REM and REM sleep. While the predicted results were not observed in the preregistered left CA2/3/dentate gyrus (DG) ROI, we did observe evidence for our hypothesis in closely related hippocampal ROIs, uncorrected for multiple comparisons: In right CA2/3/DG, differentiation in the group with REM sleep was greater than in the groups without REM sleep (wake and non-REM nap); this differentiation was item-specific and concentrated in right DG. REM-related differentiation effects were also greater in bilateral DG when the predicted item was more strongly reactivated during the violation. Overall, these results provide initial evidence linking REM sleep to changes in the hippocampal representations of memories in humans.
{"title":"The Role of Rapid Eye Movement Sleep in Neural Differentiation of Memories in the Hippocampus","authors":"Elizabeth A. McDevitt;Ghootae Kim;Nicholas B. Turk-Browne;Kenneth A. Norman","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.82","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.82","url":null,"abstract":"When faced with a familiar situation, we can use memory to make predictions about what will happen next. If such predictions turn out to be erroneous, the brain can adapt by differentiating the representations of the cue from the mispredicted item itself, reducing the likelihood of future prediction errors. Prior work by Kim, G., Norman, K. A., and Turk-Browne, N. B. Neural differentiation of incorrectly predicted memories. Journal of Neuroscience, 37, 2022–2031 [2017] found that violating a sequential association in a statistical learning paradigm triggered differentiation of the neural representations of the associated items in the hippocampus. Here, we used fMRI to test the preregistered hypothesis that this hippocampal differentiation occurs only when violations are followed by rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Participants first learned that some items predict others (e.g., A predicts B) and then encountered a violation in which a predicted item (B) failed to appear when expected after its associated item (A); the predicted item later appeared on its own after an unrelated item. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of three conditions: remain awake, take a nap containing non-REM sleep only, or take a nap with both non-REM and REM sleep. While the predicted results were not observed in the preregistered left CA2/3/dentate gyrus (DG) ROI, we did observe evidence for our hypothesis in closely related hippocampal ROIs, uncorrected for multiple comparisons: In right CA2/3/DG, differentiation in the group with REM sleep was greater than in the groups without REM sleep (wake and non-REM nap); this differentiation was item-specific and concentrated in right DG. REM-related differentiation effects were also greater in bilateral DG when the predicted item was more strongly reactivated during the violation. Overall, these results provide initial evidence linking REM sleep to changes in the hippocampal representations of memories in humans.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"126-143"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144755074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Across the first years of schooling, children learn numerical information that is foundational to mathematical learning. Individual differences in math skills and the math learning support children receive at home may be related to their brain activity when viewing numbers. However, little is known regarding how numerical information is represented in children's brains in early elementary school and how their math skills and home math environment (HME) relates to these foundational neurocognitive processes. Here, we measured children's neural activity while viewing symbolic (digits) and nonsymbolic (dot sets) numbers using fMRI, indexed their HME using caregiver report, and measured their math skills using the KeyMath-3 Diagnostic Assessment. We found that, from 5 to 8 years of age, neural activation (1) distinguished between symbolic and nonsymbolic number formats across occipital and temporal cortices; (2) scaled with quantity differently for symbolic and nonsymbolic number formats across the occipital cortex; (3) scaled with quantity differently for symbolic and nonsymbolic number formats depending on children's HME in insula and subcortical regions; and (4) changed with age across left occipital and parietal cortex depending quantity and children's math skills. Across middle childhood, format-dependent number processing and abstract quantity processing is distributed across occipital, temporal, parietal, frontal, and subcortical regions. Moreover, children's home learning experiences and math skills may shape the neurocognitive processes supporting number processing, providing evidence for experience-dependent neuroplasticity.
{"title":"Five- to Eight-Year-Old Children's Home Numeracy Support and Math Skills Are Associated with Their Neural Number Processing","authors":"Andrew Lynn;Gavin R. Price","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.86","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.86","url":null,"abstract":"Across the first years of schooling, children learn numerical information that is foundational to mathematical learning. Individual differences in math skills and the math learning support children receive at home may be related to their brain activity when viewing numbers. However, little is known regarding how numerical information is represented in children's brains in early elementary school and how their math skills and home math environment (HME) relates to these foundational neurocognitive processes. Here, we measured children's neural activity while viewing symbolic (digits) and nonsymbolic (dot sets) numbers using fMRI, indexed their HME using caregiver report, and measured their math skills using the KeyMath-3 Diagnostic Assessment. We found that, from 5 to 8 years of age, neural activation (1) distinguished between symbolic and nonsymbolic number formats across occipital and temporal cortices; (2) scaled with quantity differently for symbolic and nonsymbolic number formats across the occipital cortex; (3) scaled with quantity differently for symbolic and nonsymbolic number formats depending on children's HME in insula and subcortical regions; and (4) changed with age across left occipital and parietal cortex depending quantity and children's math skills. Across middle childhood, format-dependent number processing and abstract quantity processing is distributed across occipital, temporal, parietal, frontal, and subcortical regions. Moreover, children's home learning experiences and math skills may shape the neurocognitive processes supporting number processing, providing evidence for experience-dependent neuroplasticity.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"185-200"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144856982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mrinmayi Kulkarni;Lydia Jiang;Jessica Robin;Jung Won Choi;Bradley R. Buchsbaum;Rosanna K. Olsen
A hallmark feature of episodic memory is the ability to flexibly recombine information across episodes to form new associations and guide behavior. This process, termed associative inference, relies on the hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe (MTL) subregions. We previously found that cross-episode binding was improved when episodes were linked by scenes rather than by faces or objects. Here, we tested whether differential recruitment of category-sensitive MTL subregions underlies these behavioral differences. Participants completed study-test phases of the Associative Inference in Memory task while undergoing fMRI scanning. During the study phase, they encoded overlapping AB and BC pairs. A and C items were always objects. The linking B item was either a face or a scene. At test, memory for the direct (AB, BC) and indirect associations (inferred AC) was tested. Category sensitivity in MTL subregions was tested using an independent functional localizer and the low integration (AB) trials from the study phase of the Associative Inference in Memory task. Within the MTL, no subregions exhibited face sensitivity. The anterior hippocampal head, anterolateral and posteromedial entorhinal cortices, and parahippocampal cortex were identified as scene sensitive. Although accuracy of the indirect inferences did not differ between pairs linked by faces and scenes, MTL subregion recruitment differed across categories. Scene-sensitive subregions in MTL cortex (anterolateral entorhinal cortex, posteromedial entorhinal cortex, and parahippocampal cortex), but not the hippocampus (anterior hippocampal head), were recruited to support associative inference for faces during encoding. These findings suggest that regions in MTL cortex identified as scene sensitive here may be involved in integrating disparate elements of episodes into coherent representations, and may be recruited for non-scene stimuli when integration demands during encoding are high (e.g., during associative inference).
{"title":"Scene-sensitive Medial Temporal Lobe Subregions Are Recruited for the Integration of Non-scene Stimuli","authors":"Mrinmayi Kulkarni;Lydia Jiang;Jessica Robin;Jung Won Choi;Bradley R. Buchsbaum;Rosanna K. Olsen","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.73","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.73","url":null,"abstract":"A hallmark feature of episodic memory is the ability to flexibly recombine information across episodes to form new associations and guide behavior. This process, termed associative inference, relies on the hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe (MTL) subregions. We previously found that cross-episode binding was improved when episodes were linked by scenes rather than by faces or objects. Here, we tested whether differential recruitment of category-sensitive MTL subregions underlies these behavioral differences. Participants completed study-test phases of the Associative Inference in Memory task while undergoing fMRI scanning. During the study phase, they encoded overlapping AB and BC pairs. A and C items were always objects. The linking B item was either a face or a scene. At test, memory for the direct (AB, BC) and indirect associations (inferred AC) was tested. Category sensitivity in MTL subregions was tested using an independent functional localizer and the low integration (AB) trials from the study phase of the Associative Inference in Memory task. Within the MTL, no subregions exhibited face sensitivity. The anterior hippocampal head, anterolateral and posteromedial entorhinal cortices, and parahippocampal cortex were identified as scene sensitive. Although accuracy of the indirect inferences did not differ between pairs linked by faces and scenes, MTL subregion recruitment differed across categories. Scene-sensitive subregions in MTL cortex (anterolateral entorhinal cortex, posteromedial entorhinal cortex, and parahippocampal cortex), but not the hippocampus (anterior hippocampal head), were recruited to support associative inference for faces during encoding. These findings suggest that regions in MTL cortex identified as scene sensitive here may be involved in integrating disparate elements of episodes into coherent representations, and may be recruited for non-scene stimuli when integration demands during encoding are high (e.g., during associative inference).","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"100-125"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144612404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sagarika Jaiswal;Lakshman N. C. Chakravarthula;Srikanth Padmala
Although there is a rapidly growing interest in reward–emotion interactions, our current understanding of how negative emotion influences reward motivation and modulates reward-driven enhancements in visual perception remains limited. To address these gaps, we conducted an fMRI study using a novel variant of the monetary incentive delay task where the valence (negative or neutral) of an emotional scene image served as a cue to indicate a reward or no-reward prospect in the subsequent house–building discrimination task. During the initial cue stage, we hypothesized competitive interactions between reward anticipation and negative emotion along the common value/valence dimension. However, we instead found independent neural signatures of reward (vs. no-reward) anticipation in the ventral striatum and negative (vs. neutral) emotion in the ventromedial pFC and amygdala, with a lack of evidence for their interaction. Notably, during the subsequent task stage, we detected an Emotion × Reward interaction in the parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), wherein reward-driven enhancements in task-related processing were attenuated in the case of negative (vs. neutral) cue images. Furthermore, the Emotion × Reward interaction scores in PHG and behavioral RTs were correlated across participants. Finally, a regression analysis revealed that negative valence-related activity in ventromedial pFC moderated the relationship between ventral striatum reward anticipation activity and PHG task-related processing. These findings demonstrate that negative emotion and reward motivation, which were largely segregated during the cue stage, interactively modulated subsequent visual perception, thus potentially influencing behavior.
{"title":"The Interactive Effects of Negative Emotion and Reward Motivation on Visual Perception","authors":"Sagarika Jaiswal;Lakshman N. C. Chakravarthula;Srikanth Padmala","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.89","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.89","url":null,"abstract":"Although there is a rapidly growing interest in reward–emotion interactions, our current understanding of how negative emotion influences reward motivation and modulates reward-driven enhancements in visual perception remains limited. To address these gaps, we conducted an fMRI study using a novel variant of the monetary incentive delay task where the valence (negative or neutral) of an emotional scene image served as a cue to indicate a reward or no-reward prospect in the subsequent house–building discrimination task. During the initial cue stage, we hypothesized competitive interactions between reward anticipation and negative emotion along the common value/valence dimension. However, we instead found independent neural signatures of reward (vs. no-reward) anticipation in the ventral striatum and negative (vs. neutral) emotion in the ventromedial pFC and amygdala, with a lack of evidence for their interaction. Notably, during the subsequent task stage, we detected an Emotion × Reward interaction in the parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), wherein reward-driven enhancements in task-related processing were attenuated in the case of negative (vs. neutral) cue images. Furthermore, the Emotion × Reward interaction scores in PHG and behavioral RTs were correlated across participants. Finally, a regression analysis revealed that negative valence-related activity in ventromedial pFC moderated the relationship between ventral striatum reward anticipation activity and PHG task-related processing. These findings demonstrate that negative emotion and reward motivation, which were largely segregated during the cue stage, interactively modulated subsequent visual perception, thus potentially influencing behavior.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"15-38"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144977679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Leili Soo;Plamen A. Antonov;Ramakrishna Chakravarthi;Søren K. Andersen
Crowding is a phenomenon in which visual object identification is impaired by the close proximity of other stimuli. The neural processes leading to object recognition and its breakdown as seen in crowding are still debated. To assess how crowding affects the processing of stimuli in visual cortex, we recorded steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by flickering target and flanker stimuli while manipulating the spacing of these stimuli (Experiment 1) as well as target similarity (Experiment 2). Participants who performed an orientation discrimination task while proportion correct, along with frequency-tagged SSVEPs elicited by target and flanker stimuli, were recorded. Decreasing target–flanker distance reduced both behavioral performance and target-elicited SSVEP amplitudes. Estimates of the critical spacing, a measure of the spatial extent of crowding, from both behavioral data and SSVEP amplitudes were similar. In addition, manipulating target similarity affected both measures in the same way. These findings establish a clear connection between the suppression of stimulus processing by nearby flankers in visual cortex and crowding, and demonstrate the usefulness of SSVEPs in studying the cortical mechanisms of visual crowding.
{"title":"Suppressive Interactions between Nearby Stimuli in Visual Cortex Reflect Crowding","authors":"Leili Soo;Plamen A. Antonov;Ramakrishna Chakravarthi;Søren K. Andersen","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.79","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.79","url":null,"abstract":"Crowding is a phenomenon in which visual object identification is impaired by the close proximity of other stimuli. The neural processes leading to object recognition and its breakdown as seen in crowding are still debated. To assess how crowding affects the processing of stimuli in visual cortex, we recorded steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) elicited by flickering target and flanker stimuli while manipulating the spacing of these stimuli (Experiment 1) as well as target similarity (Experiment 2). Participants who performed an orientation discrimination task while proportion correct, along with frequency-tagged SSVEPs elicited by target and flanker stimuli, were recorded. Decreasing target–flanker distance reduced both behavioral performance and target-elicited SSVEP amplitudes. Estimates of the critical spacing, a measure of the spatial extent of crowding, from both behavioral data and SSVEP amplitudes were similar. In addition, manipulating target similarity affected both measures in the same way. These findings establish a clear connection between the suppression of stimulus processing by nearby flankers in visual cortex and crowding, and demonstrate the usefulness of SSVEPs in studying the cortical mechanisms of visual crowding.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144709777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Predictive processing plays a central role in language comprehension, allowing listeners to generate predictions about upcoming linguistic input. Although considerable evidence supports segmental prediction, less is known about whether listeners can form predictions about suprasegmental features such as lexical tone. This study investigates whether listeners can generate and neurally represent predicted tonal information in the absence of auditory input. Using a Mandarin Chinese tone sandhi paradigm, we established tonal predictions based on sentence and visual context, recording brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Multivariate pattern analysis showed that predicted tonal categories could be decoded from brain activity even without tonal stimuli present. These representations were localized in auditory areas, articulatory motor regions, and the right cerebellum. We also found that predicted tone representations had distinct neural substrates compared to perceived tone representations. The study provides direct neural evidence that listeners can form representations of lexical tone in predictions of auditory input. The findings expand our understanding of suprasegmental prediction in speech and highlight the cerebellum's role in linguistic prediction.
{"title":"Neural Evidence for Tonal Prediction: Multivariate Decoding of Predicted Tone Categories Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data","authors":"Shun Liu;Wenjia Zhang;Suiping Wang","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.84","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.84","url":null,"abstract":"Predictive processing plays a central role in language comprehension, allowing listeners to generate predictions about upcoming linguistic input. Although considerable evidence supports segmental prediction, less is known about whether listeners can form predictions about suprasegmental features such as lexical tone. This study investigates whether listeners can generate and neurally represent predicted tonal information in the absence of auditory input. Using a Mandarin Chinese tone sandhi paradigm, we established tonal predictions based on sentence and visual context, recording brain activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Multivariate pattern analysis showed that predicted tonal categories could be decoded from brain activity even without tonal stimuli present. These representations were localized in auditory areas, articulatory motor regions, and the right cerebellum. We also found that predicted tone representations had distinct neural substrates compared to perceived tone representations. The study provides direct neural evidence that listeners can form representations of lexical tone in predictions of auditory input. The findings expand our understanding of suprasegmental prediction in speech and highlight the cerebellum's role in linguistic prediction.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"55-70"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144755073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
William Dupont;Nicolas Amiez;Richard Palluel-Germain;Alain Martin;Marcela Perrone-Bertolotti;Carol Madden-Lombardi;Florent Lebon
Language comprehension is increasingly recognized as extending beyond the traditional linguistic system to engage motor and perceptual processes. This perspective is supported by numerous studies demonstrating that understanding action-related words often induces behavioral and neurophysiological changes in the motor system. However, it remains unclear whether the influence of action language on the motor system is restricted to cortical regions or whether it also extends to spinal structures, as observed during motor imagery. To address this, we used TMS and peripheral nerve stimulation to assess corticospinal excitability and cortico-motoneuronal transmission, respectively. Fifteen healthy and right-handed volunteers participated in four conditions: (i) rest, (ii) kinesthetic motor imagery of finger and wrist flexion, (iii) reading action sentences, and (iv) reading non-action sentences. As anticipated, corticospinal excitability increased during both kinesthetic motor imagery and action reading compared to rest. Interestingly, although kinesthetic motor imagery also led to the expected increase in cortico-motoneuronal transmission, no such modulation occurred during action reading. These findings suggest that action reading do not modulate the excitability of high-threshold motoneurons at the spinal level, contrary to motor imagery. Further investigation is needed to test whether action reading activates lower-threshold spinal structures, such as interneurons involved in spinal presynaptic inhibition.
{"title":"Neural Activation Down to the Spinal Cord during Action Language? A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Peripheral Nerve Stimulation Study","authors":"William Dupont;Nicolas Amiez;Richard Palluel-Germain;Alain Martin;Marcela Perrone-Bertolotti;Carol Madden-Lombardi;Florent Lebon","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.83","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.83","url":null,"abstract":"Language comprehension is increasingly recognized as extending beyond the traditional linguistic system to engage motor and perceptual processes. This perspective is supported by numerous studies demonstrating that understanding action-related words often induces behavioral and neurophysiological changes in the motor system. However, it remains unclear whether the influence of action language on the motor system is restricted to cortical regions or whether it also extends to spinal structures, as observed during motor imagery. To address this, we used TMS and peripheral nerve stimulation to assess corticospinal excitability and cortico-motoneuronal transmission, respectively. Fifteen healthy and right-handed volunteers participated in four conditions: (i) rest, (ii) kinesthetic motor imagery of finger and wrist flexion, (iii) reading action sentences, and (iv) reading non-action sentences. As anticipated, corticospinal excitability increased during both kinesthetic motor imagery and action reading compared to rest. Interestingly, although kinesthetic motor imagery also led to the expected increase in cortico-motoneuronal transmission, no such modulation occurred during action reading. These findings suggest that action reading do not modulate the excitability of high-threshold motoneurons at the spinal level, contrary to motor imagery. Further investigation is needed to test whether action reading activates lower-threshold spinal structures, such as interneurons involved in spinal presynaptic inhibition.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"174-184"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144755072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Graphical representations of quantitative data abound in our culture, and yet the brain mechanisms of graphicacy, by which viewers quickly extract statistical information from a data graphic, are unknown. Here, using scatterplots as stimuli, we tested two hypotheses about the brain areas underlying graphicacy. First, at the perceptual level, we hypothesized that the visual processing of scatterplots and their main trend recycles cortical regions devoted to the perception of the principal axis of objects. Second, at a higher level, we speculated that the math-responsive network active during arithmetic and mathematical truth judgments should also be involved in graphical perception. Using fMRI, we indeed found that the judgment of the trend in a scatterplot recruits a right lateral occipital area involved in detecting the orientation of objects, as well as a right anterior intraparietal region also recruited during mathematical tasks. Both behavior and brain activity were driven by the t value that indexes the statistical correlation in the data, and right intraparietal activation covaried with participants' graphicacy level. On the basis of this first approach to the neural bases of graphical perception, we suggest that, like literacy and numeracy, graphicacy relies on the recycling of brain areas previously attuned to a similar problem, here the perception of object orientation.
{"title":"The Neural Bases of Graphical Perception: A Novel Instance of Cultural Recycling?","authors":"Lorenzo Ciccione;Stanislas Dehaene","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.81","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.81","url":null,"abstract":"Graphical representations of quantitative data abound in our culture, and yet the brain mechanisms of graphicacy, by which viewers quickly extract statistical information from a data graphic, are unknown. Here, using scatterplots as stimuli, we tested two hypotheses about the brain areas underlying graphicacy. First, at the perceptual level, we hypothesized that the visual processing of scatterplots and their main trend recycles cortical regions devoted to the perception of the principal axis of objects. Second, at a higher level, we speculated that the math-responsive network active during arithmetic and mathematical truth judgments should also be involved in graphical perception. Using fMRI, we indeed found that the judgment of the trend in a scatterplot recruits a right lateral occipital area involved in detecting the orientation of objects, as well as a right anterior intraparietal region also recruited during mathematical tasks. Both behavior and brain activity were driven by the t value that indexes the statistical correlation in the data, and right intraparietal activation covaried with participants' graphicacy level. On the basis of this first approach to the neural bases of graphical perception, we suggest that, like literacy and numeracy, graphicacy relies on the recycling of brain areas previously attuned to a similar problem, here the perception of object orientation.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"71-88"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7618408/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144709778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Studies on first-year infants' pitch perception have witnessed shifts of perceptual focus from acoustic to linguistic information and from a wide range of contrasts to those relevant to their native language. Nevertheless, how linguistic experience interacts with this developmental process remains an open question. This study compared the neural discrimination of speech/lexical and nonspeech/violin tone contrasts by 5- to 6- and 11- to 12-month-old infants across three types of language backgrounds: monolingual infants learning a non-tone language (Mono), bilingual infants learning two non-tone languages (Bi-NT), and bilingual infants learning a non-tone and a tone language (Bi-Tone). Although Mono infants do not show significant responses to the lexical tone contrast, both Bi-NT and Bi-Tone infants showed positive mismatch responses at both ages, indicating an enhancement effect brought by a complex language environment as early as 5 months after birth. Regarding the violin tone perception, distinct patterns were observed across language backgrounds: a perceptual decrease for Mono infants, no significant response for Bi-NT infants, and a perceptual increase for Bi-Tone infants over the first year. These patterns suggest that pitch perception may be affected across domains by language experiences at this stage, where interactions in cognitive processing between speech and nonspeech prosodic information may occur.
{"title":"Monolingual, Non-tone Bilingual, and Tone Bilingual Infants: Language Experiences Alter Speech and Nonspeech Perception","authors":"Liquan Liu;Varghese Peter;Zhen Zeng;Gabrielle Weidemann","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.76","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.76","url":null,"abstract":"Studies on first-year infants' pitch perception have witnessed shifts of perceptual focus from acoustic to linguistic information and from a wide range of contrasts to those relevant to their native language. Nevertheless, how linguistic experience interacts with this developmental process remains an open question. This study compared the neural discrimination of speech/lexical and nonspeech/violin tone contrasts by 5- to 6- and 11- to 12-month-old infants across three types of language backgrounds: monolingual infants learning a non-tone language (Mono), bilingual infants learning two non-tone languages (Bi-NT), and bilingual infants learning a non-tone and a tone language (Bi-Tone). Although Mono infants do not show significant responses to the lexical tone contrast, both Bi-NT and Bi-Tone infants showed positive mismatch responses at both ages, indicating an enhancement effect brought by a complex language environment as early as 5 months after birth. Regarding the violin tone perception, distinct patterns were observed across language backgrounds: a perceptual decrease for Mono infants, no significant response for Bi-NT infants, and a perceptual increase for Bi-Tone infants over the first year. These patterns suggest that pitch perception may be affected across domains by language experiences at this stage, where interactions in cognitive processing between speech and nonspeech prosodic information may occur.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"158-173"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11303644","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144709775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alberto Ara;Albert León-Alsina;Gemma Fàbrega Camps;Oscar Bedford;Josep Marco-Pallarés;Robert J. Zatorre
The enjoyment of music involves a complex interplay between brain perceptual areas and the reward network. While previous studies have shown that musical liking is related to an enhancement of synchronization between the right temporal and frontal brain regions via theta frequency band oscillations, the underlying mechanisms of this interaction remain elusive. Specifically, a causal relationship between theta oscillations and musical pleasure has yet to be shown. In the present study, we address this question by using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Twenty-four participants underwent three different sessions where they received tACS over the right auditory cortex before listening to and rating a set of melodies selected to vary in familiarity and complexity. In the target session, participants received theta stimulation, while in the other two sessions, they received beta and sham stimulation, serving as controls. We recorded brain activity using EEG during task performance to confirm the effects of tACS on oscillatory activity. Results revealed that compared with sham, theta, but not beta, stimulation resulted in higher liking ratings specifically for unfamiliar music with low complexity. In addition, we found increased theta connectivity between the right temporal and frontal electrodes for these stimuli when they were most liked after theta stimulation but not after beta stimulation. These findings support a causal and frequency-specific relationship between music hedonic judgments and theta oscillatory mechanisms that synchronize the right temporal and frontal areas. These mechanisms play a crucial role in different cognitive processes supported by frontotemporal loops, such as auditory working memory and predictive processing, which are fundamental to music reward processing.
{"title":"Unveiling the Causal Role of Auditory Theta Rhythms in Musical Pleasure: A Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation/Electroencephalogram Study","authors":"Alberto Ara;Albert León-Alsina;Gemma Fàbrega Camps;Oscar Bedford;Josep Marco-Pallarés;Robert J. Zatorre","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.91","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.91","url":null,"abstract":"The enjoyment of music involves a complex interplay between brain perceptual areas and the reward network. While previous studies have shown that musical liking is related to an enhancement of synchronization between the right temporal and frontal brain regions via theta frequency band oscillations, the underlying mechanisms of this interaction remain elusive. Specifically, a causal relationship between theta oscillations and musical pleasure has yet to be shown. In the present study, we address this question by using transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Twenty-four participants underwent three different sessions where they received tACS over the right auditory cortex before listening to and rating a set of melodies selected to vary in familiarity and complexity. In the target session, participants received theta stimulation, while in the other two sessions, they received beta and sham stimulation, serving as controls. We recorded brain activity using EEG during task performance to confirm the effects of tACS on oscillatory activity. Results revealed that compared with sham, theta, but not beta, stimulation resulted in higher liking ratings specifically for unfamiliar music with low complexity. In addition, we found increased theta connectivity between the right temporal and frontal electrodes for these stimuli when they were most liked after theta stimulation but not after beta stimulation. These findings support a causal and frequency-specific relationship between music hedonic judgments and theta oscillatory mechanisms that synchronize the right temporal and frontal areas. These mechanisms play a crucial role in different cognitive processes supported by frontotemporal loops, such as auditory working memory and predictive processing, which are fundamental to music reward processing.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"38 1","pages":"201-212"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-12-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144876704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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