Maryam Nouri Kadijani;Theda Backen;Kaustubh Manchanda;Sandeep K. Mody;Stefan Treue;Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo
Allocating visual attention to behaviorally relevant stimuli is easier when distractors are in the opposite visual hemifield relative to when they are in the same hemifield. The neural mechanisms underlying this bilateral field advantage remains unclear. We documented this effect in two macaques performing a covert spatial attention task in two different conditions: when the target and distracter were positioned in different hemifields (across condition), and when they were positioned on the top and bottom quadrants within the same visual hemifield (within condition). The animals' behavioral performance at detecting a change in the attended stimulus was higher in the across relative to the within condition. We recorded the responses of lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC, area 8A) neurons in one animal. The proportion of LPFC neurons encoding the allocation of attention was larger in the across relative to the within condition. The latter was accompanied by an increase in the ability of single neurons to discriminate the allocation of attention in the across relative to the within condition. Finally, we used linear classifiers to decode the allocation of attention from the activity of neuronal ensembles and found a similar bilateral field advantage in decoding performance in the across relative to the within condition that generalized to different integration time windows and number of neurons used by the classifier. Our finding provides a neural correlate of the bilateral field advantage reported in behavioral studies of attention and suggest a role of the LPFC circuitry in its origin.
当干扰物处于相反的视觉半球时，将视觉注意力分配到与行为相关的刺激上比当它们处于相同的视觉半球时更容易。这种双侧磁场优势背后的神经机制尚不清楚。我们在两种不同的条件下记录了这一效应：当目标和干扰物位于不同的半域（跨条件）时，以及当它们位于同一视觉半域的上下象限时（内条件）。动物在检测被注意刺激物变化时的行为表现在跨组中高于内组。我们记录了一只动物外侧前额皮质（LPFC, area 8A）神经元的反应。相对于内条件，跨条件下编码注意分配的LPFC神经元比例更大。后者伴随着单个神经元在相对于内部条件下区分注意力分配的能力的增加。最后，我们使用线性分类器从神经元集合的活动中解码注意力分配，并发现相对于内部条件（推广到不同的积分时间窗和分类器使用的神经元数量），在解码性能上具有类似的双边场优势。我们的发现提供了在注意力行为研究中报道的双侧场优势的神经关联，并提出了LPFC回路在其起源中的作用。
{"title":"Bilateral Field Advantage of Spatial Attention in Macaque Lateral Prefrontal Cortex","authors":"Maryam Nouri Kadijani;Theda Backen;Kaustubh Manchanda;Sandeep K. Mody;Stefan Treue;Julio C. Martinez-Trujillo","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.58","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.58","url":null,"abstract":"Allocating visual attention to behaviorally relevant stimuli is easier when distractors are in the opposite visual hemifield relative to when they are in the same hemifield. The neural mechanisms underlying this bilateral field advantage remains unclear. We documented this effect in two macaques performing a covert spatial attention task in two different conditions: when the target and distracter were positioned in different hemifields (across condition), and when they were positioned on the top and bottom quadrants within the same visual hemifield (within condition). The animals' behavioral performance at detecting a change in the attended stimulus was higher in the across relative to the within condition. We recorded the responses of lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC, area 8A) neurons in one animal. The proportion of LPFC neurons encoding the allocation of attention was larger in the across relative to the within condition. The latter was accompanied by an increase in the ability of single neurons to discriminate the allocation of attention in the across relative to the within condition. Finally, we used linear classifiers to decode the allocation of attention from the activity of neuronal ensembles and found a similar bilateral field advantage in decoding performance in the across relative to the within condition that generalized to different integration time windows and number of neurons used by the classifier. Our finding provides a neural correlate of the bilateral field advantage reported in behavioral studies of attention and suggest a role of the LPFC circuitry in its origin.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2430-2444"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144267855","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}
The congruency sequence effect, a hypothesized marker of top–down cognitive control, refers to a reduced congruency effect after incongruent trials compared with congruent trials. Although this effect has been observed across various distractor interference tasks, the nature of the control processes underlying the congruency sequence effect remains a topic of active debate. It has been suggested that cognitive control may resolve conflicts in information processing either by (a) enhancing the representation of goal information and/or (b) suppressing the representation of distractor information. The present study aimed to identify the conflict resolution processes within the context of the color Simon task by decoding the goal and distracting information from human scalp EEG signals. For the decoding analysis, models were trained separately for color and location attributes corresponding to goal and distractor information. In addition, decoding accuracy was calculated in different frequency bands: theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–12 Hz), low beta (12–20 Hz), and high beta (20–30 Hz). Results showed that decoding accuracy for distractor information was reduced when cognitive control was activated, and this pattern was only observed in the high beta-frequency band (20–30 Hz). In contrast, no such difference was observed for target information. These findings suggest that cognitive control regulates Simon conflict by inhibiting distractor representation in the brain, thereby preventing unwanted distraction-driven behaviors.
{"title":"Inhibition Resolves Simon Conflict: Evidence From Electroencephalogram Decoding","authors":"Yoon Seo Lee;Gi-Yeul Bae;Yang Seok Cho","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.59","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.59","url":null,"abstract":"The congruency sequence effect, a hypothesized marker of top–down cognitive control, refers to a reduced congruency effect after incongruent trials compared with congruent trials. Although this effect has been observed across various distractor interference tasks, the nature of the control processes underlying the congruency sequence effect remains a topic of active debate. It has been suggested that cognitive control may resolve conflicts in information processing either by (a) enhancing the representation of goal information and/or (b) suppressing the representation of distractor information. The present study aimed to identify the conflict resolution processes within the context of the color Simon task by decoding the goal and distracting information from human scalp EEG signals. For the decoding analysis, models were trained separately for color and location attributes corresponding to goal and distractor information. In addition, decoding accuracy was calculated in different frequency bands: theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–12 Hz), low beta (12–20 Hz), and high beta (20–30 Hz). Results showed that decoding accuracy for distractor information was reduced when cognitive control was activated, and this pattern was only observed in the high beta-frequency band (20–30 Hz). In contrast, no such difference was observed for target information. These findings suggest that cognitive control regulates Simon conflict by inhibiting distractor representation in the brain, thereby preventing unwanted distraction-driven behaviors.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2568-2588"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144310789","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}
The default mode network (DMN) is a collection of interconnected transmodal brain regions that is engaged during internally oriented thought processes. It has been linked with multiple functions, including self-referential judgment, social cognition, episodic memory, and semantic memory. In an effort to identify a unitary overarching purpose of the DMN, Menon [Menon, V. 20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis. Neuron, 111, 2469–2487, 2023] proposed that it uses its diverse capacities to create an “ongoing internal narrative” that represents dynamically shifting frames of thought and develops ontogenetically from self-directed overt speech during childhood. My aim was to evaluate this hypothesis. The core of the hypothesis is the notion of an ongoing internal narrative, but this is open to different interpretations. If it is interpreted rather narrowly as referring to a story-like stream of inner speech (IS), then Menon's hypothesis faces at least five challenges. First, regarding its developmental assumptions, research suggests that IS does not originate from self-directed overt speech. Second, there are huge individual differences in the frequency of IS, which implies that if the DMN does mediate an internal narrative, this narrative is not ongoing for everyone; instead, its rate of occurrence varies greatly across the population. Third, rodents and nonhuman primates possess a putative DMN, but they lack language and hence also IS, so the function of their DMN is left unclear. Fourth, IS often has a condensed, note-like form rather than being experienced as a full-fledged narrative. And fifth, so far only a couple neuroscientific studies support DMN engagement during IS. It is also possible, however, to interpret Menon's key notion of an ongoing internal narrative more broadly as involving a coherent sequence of situation models that are strongly influenced by language but not completely dependent on it. This interpretation not only obviates most of the problems just mentioned but also brings Menon's hypothesis more in line with other recent proposals regarding the DMN. Further work is needed, however, to refine and test this version of the hypothesis.
{"title":"Does the Default Mode Network Mediate an Ongoing Internal Narrative? An Evaluation of Menon's (2023) Hypothesis","authors":"David Kemmerer","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.66","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.66","url":null,"abstract":"The default mode network (DMN) is a collection of interconnected transmodal brain regions that is engaged during internally oriented thought processes. It has been linked with multiple functions, including self-referential judgment, social cognition, episodic memory, and semantic memory. In an effort to identify a unitary overarching purpose of the DMN, Menon [Menon, V. 20 years of the default mode network: A review and synthesis. Neuron, 111, 2469–2487, 2023] proposed that it uses its diverse capacities to create an “ongoing internal narrative” that represents dynamically shifting frames of thought and develops ontogenetically from self-directed overt speech during childhood. My aim was to evaluate this hypothesis. The core of the hypothesis is the notion of an ongoing internal narrative, but this is open to different interpretations. If it is interpreted rather narrowly as referring to a story-like stream of inner speech (IS), then Menon's hypothesis faces at least five challenges. First, regarding its developmental assumptions, research suggests that IS does not originate from self-directed overt speech. Second, there are huge individual differences in the frequency of IS, which implies that if the DMN does mediate an internal narrative, this narrative is not ongoing for everyone; instead, its rate of occurrence varies greatly across the population. Third, rodents and nonhuman primates possess a putative DMN, but they lack language and hence also IS, so the function of their DMN is left unclear. Fourth, IS often has a condensed, note-like form rather than being experienced as a full-fledged narrative. And fifth, so far only a couple neuroscientific studies support DMN engagement during IS. It is also possible, however, to interpret Menon's key notion of an ongoing internal narrative more broadly as involving a coherent sequence of situation models that are strongly influenced by language but not completely dependent on it. This interpretation not only obviates most of the problems just mentioned but also brings Menon's hypothesis more in line with other recent proposals regarding the DMN. Further work is needed, however, to refine and test this version of the hypothesis.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2676-2683"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144486830","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}
Matthew Slayton;Cortney M. Howard;Shenyang Huang;Mariam Hovhannisyan;Roberto Cabeza;Simon W. Davis
Recent work in vision sciences contends that objects carry an intrinsic property called memorability that describes the likelihood that an object can be successfully encoded and later retrieved from memory. It has been shown that object memorability is supported by semantic information, but the neural correlates of this relationship are largely unexplored. The present study explores these premises and asks whether neural correlates of object memorability can be accounted for by semantic dimensions. We combine three data sets: (1) feature norms for a database of ∼1000 natural object images, (2) normative conceptual and perceptual memory data for those objects, and (3) neuroimaging data from an fMRI study collected using a subset (n = 360) of those objects. We found that object-wise memorability elicits consistent brain activation across participants in key mnemonic regions, including the hippocampus and rhinal cortex, and that the variance in this neural activity is mediated by the semantic factors describing these images. We propose that the features of memorable images may be facilitating memory formation by more deeply engaging encoding processes.
{"title":"Semantic Dimensions Support the Cortical Representation of Object Memorability","authors":"Matthew Slayton;Cortney M. Howard;Shenyang Huang;Mariam Hovhannisyan;Roberto Cabeza;Simon W. Davis","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.60","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.60","url":null,"abstract":"Recent work in vision sciences contends that objects carry an intrinsic property called memorability that describes the likelihood that an object can be successfully encoded and later retrieved from memory. It has been shown that object memorability is supported by semantic information, but the neural correlates of this relationship are largely unexplored. The present study explores these premises and asks whether neural correlates of object memorability can be accounted for by semantic dimensions. We combine three data sets: (1) feature norms for a database of ∼1000 natural object images, (2) normative conceptual and perceptual memory data for those objects, and (3) neuroimaging data from an fMRI study collected using a subset (n = 360) of those objects. We found that object-wise memorability elicits consistent brain activation across participants in key mnemonic regions, including the hippocampus and rhinal cortex, and that the variance in this neural activity is mediated by the semantic factors describing these images. We propose that the features of memorable images may be facilitating memory formation by more deeply engaging encoding processes.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2589-2615"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144310790","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}
Recent experimental results suggest that alpha oscillations in brain neuroelectrical activity do not merely represent an idling phenomenon but actively participate in attention to suppress distractors and reduce cognitive workload. However, the exact mechanism responsible for this attentional processing is still a matter of research. In this work, we propose a simple mechanism for distractor suppression using a neural mass model of oscillating, interconnected cortical regions, based on alpha oscillations and their interaction with the gamma rhythm. Essentially, the model distinguishes between certain “sensory” areas, where stimuli are coded and represented via gamma oscillations, a downstream “detection” area dedicated to processing these stimuli, and a “control” region that generates the alpha rhythm. Unattended stimuli in a sensory area can be suppressed by simply imposing an alpha rhythm that is out of phase compared with the detection layer. A sensitivity analysis performed on a simple paradigmatic model emphasizes the robustness of the proposed mechanism versus parameter changes. Moreover, a more complex example (concerning spatial attention, where objects are represented through a Gestalt proximity rule) supports the capacity of the mechanism to suppress distractors in multi-unit networks. The model aligns with several experimental results and can be further utilized to investigate cognitive alterations in pathological conditions, such as schizophrenia, characterized by dysfunction in the gamma rhythm.
{"title":"Modeling the Role of the Alpha Rhythm in Attentional Processing during Distractor Suppression","authors":"Mauro Ursino","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.65","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.65","url":null,"abstract":"Recent experimental results suggest that alpha oscillations in brain neuroelectrical activity do not merely represent an idling phenomenon but actively participate in attention to suppress distractors and reduce cognitive workload. However, the exact mechanism responsible for this attentional processing is still a matter of research. In this work, we propose a simple mechanism for distractor suppression using a neural mass model of oscillating, interconnected cortical regions, based on alpha oscillations and their interaction with the gamma rhythm. Essentially, the model distinguishes between certain “sensory” areas, where stimuli are coded and represented via gamma oscillations, a downstream “detection” area dedicated to processing these stimuli, and a “control” region that generates the alpha rhythm. Unattended stimuli in a sensory area can be suppressed by simply imposing an alpha rhythm that is out of phase compared with the detection layer. A sensitivity analysis performed on a simple paradigmatic model emphasizes the robustness of the proposed mechanism versus parameter changes. Moreover, a more complex example (concerning spatial attention, where objects are represented through a Gestalt proximity rule) supports the capacity of the mechanism to suppress distractors in multi-unit networks. The model aligns with several experimental results and can be further utilized to investigate cognitive alterations in pathological conditions, such as schizophrenia, characterized by dysfunction in the gamma rhythm.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2469-2492"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11235876","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144486831","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}
The P600 ERP component is elicited by a wide range of anomalies and ambiguities during sentence comprehension and remains important for neurocognitive models of language processing. It has been proposed that the P600 is a more domain-general component, signaling phasic norepinephrine release from the locus coeruleus in response to salient stimuli that require attention and behavioral adaptation. Because such norepinephrine release promotes explicit memory formation, we here investigated whether the P600 during sentence reading (encoding) is thus predictive of such explicit memory formation using a subsequent old/new word recognition task. Indeed, the P600 amplitude during our encoding task was related to behavioral recognition effects in the memory task on a trial-by-trial basis, although only for one type of violation. Recognition performance was better for semantically, but not syntactically, violated words that had previously elicited a larger P600. However, the P600 to both types of violations during encoding was positively related to a more subtle, neural marker of recognition, namely, the amplitude of the recollection ERP component in response to old words. In summary, we find that the P600 predicts later recognition memory both on the behavioral and neural level. Such explicit memory effects further link the late positivity to norepinephrine activity, suggesting a more domain-general nature of the component. The connection between the P600 and later recognition indicates that the neurocognitive processes that deal with salient and anomalous aspects in the linguistic input in the moment will also be involved in keeping this event available for later recognition.
{"title":"The P600 during Sentence Reading Predicts Behavioral and Neural Markers of Recognition Memory","authors":"Friederike Contier;Melissa Höger;Milena Rabovsky","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.68","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.68","url":null,"abstract":"The P600 ERP component is elicited by a wide range of anomalies and ambiguities during sentence comprehension and remains important for neurocognitive models of language processing. It has been proposed that the P600 is a more domain-general component, signaling phasic norepinephrine release from the locus coeruleus in response to salient stimuli that require attention and behavioral adaptation. Because such norepinephrine release promotes explicit memory formation, we here investigated whether the P600 during sentence reading (encoding) is thus predictive of such explicit memory formation using a subsequent old/new word recognition task. Indeed, the P600 amplitude during our encoding task was related to behavioral recognition effects in the memory task on a trial-by-trial basis, although only for one type of violation. Recognition performance was better for semantically, but not syntactically, violated words that had previously elicited a larger P600. However, the P600 to both types of violations during encoding was positively related to a more subtle, neural marker of recognition, namely, the amplitude of the recollection ERP component in response to old words. In summary, we find that the P600 predicts later recognition memory both on the behavioral and neural level. Such explicit memory effects further link the late positivity to norepinephrine activity, suggesting a more domain-general nature of the component. The connection between the P600 and later recognition indicates that the neurocognitive processes that deal with salient and anomalous aspects in the linguistic input in the moment will also be involved in keeping this event available for later recognition.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2632-2651"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144612407","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}
Anton Pashkov;Ivan Dakhtin;Inna Feklicheva;Julia Shmotina;Mahmoud Hassan
Intelligence is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in successful behavioral and emotional regulation. Neuroimaging techniques coupled with machine learning algorithms have proven to be valuable tools for uncovering the neural foundations of individual cognitive abilities. Nevertheless, current EEG studies primarily focus on classification tasks to predict the intelligence category of subjects (e.g., high, medium, or low intelligence), rather than providing quantitative intelligence-level forecasts. Furthermore, the outcomes obtained are significantly impacted by the specific data processing pipeline chosen, which could potentially compromise result generalizability. In this study, we implemented a connectome-based predictive modeling approach on high-density resting-state EEG data from healthy participants to predict their nonverbal intelligence level. This method was applied to three independently collected data sets (n = 255) with different functional connectivity methods, parcellation atlases, threshold p values, and curve fitting orders used to ensure the reliability of the findings. Prediction accuracy, measured as correlation between predicted and observed values, varied significantly across pipeline configurations. The most consistent results across data sets were found in the alpha frequency band. Furthermore, we employed a computational lesioning approach to identify the valuable edges that made the most significant contribution to predicting intelligence. This analysis highlighted the crucial role of frontal and parietal regions in complex cognitive computations. Overall, these findings support and expand upon previous research, underscoring the close relationship between alpha rhythm characteristics and cognitive functions and emphasizing the critical consideration of method selection in result evaluation.
{"title":"Electroencephalography Connectome-based Predictive Modeling of Nonverbal Intelligence Level in Healthy Individuals","authors":"Anton Pashkov;Ivan Dakhtin;Inna Feklicheva;Julia Shmotina;Mahmoud Hassan","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.70","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.70","url":null,"abstract":"Intelligence is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in successful behavioral and emotional regulation. Neuroimaging techniques coupled with machine learning algorithms have proven to be valuable tools for uncovering the neural foundations of individual cognitive abilities. Nevertheless, current EEG studies primarily focus on classification tasks to predict the intelligence category of subjects (e.g., high, medium, or low intelligence), rather than providing quantitative intelligence-level forecasts. Furthermore, the outcomes obtained are significantly impacted by the specific data processing pipeline chosen, which could potentially compromise result generalizability. In this study, we implemented a connectome-based predictive modeling approach on high-density resting-state EEG data from healthy participants to predict their nonverbal intelligence level. This method was applied to three independently collected data sets (n = 255) with different functional connectivity methods, parcellation atlases, threshold p values, and curve fitting orders used to ensure the reliability of the findings. Prediction accuracy, measured as correlation between predicted and observed values, varied significantly across pipeline configurations. The most consistent results across data sets were found in the alpha frequency band. Furthermore, we employed a computational lesioning approach to identify the valuable edges that made the most significant contribution to predicting intelligence. This analysis highlighted the crucial role of frontal and parietal regions in complex cognitive computations. Overall, these findings support and expand upon previous research, underscoring the close relationship between alpha rhythm characteristics and cognitive functions and emphasizing the critical consideration of method selection in result evaluation.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2684-2712"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144612391","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}
Path integration refers to the ability to monitor self-motion cues to keep track of changes in position and orientation. This function is often assumed to rely predominantly on medial temporal lobe structures containing grid, place, and head direction cells. Recent evidence, however, suggests that key navigational computations may occur outside this system, for example, in posterior parietal areas. Here, we adopted a novel perspective derived from animal research and examined whether human path integration relies on processing streams in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), depending on the involvement of actively controlled motion as opposed to passive perception of visual optic flow. We compared the effects of inhibiting the PPC via TMS on two path integration tasks in a virtual reality, only one of which involved active control of a visually simulated forward movement. Behavioral performance showed that distance judgments were selectively affected in the action-related path integration task. This finding shows that the processing of actively controlled motion depends on computations in the PPC, whereas passive processing of optic flow is largely independent of the PPC computations. Our results reinforce the hypothesis that the PPC plays a critical role for the integration of goal locations and self-positional signals within an egocentric frame of reference. In addition to the medial temporal lobe, the posterior parietal system is recruited during tasks involving actively controlled movements, whereas medial temporal computations are sufficient for passive monitoring of positional changes.
{"title":"Transient Inhibition of the Posterior Parietal Cortex Affects Action-related But Not Action-unrelated Visual Processing during Path Integration","authors":"Florian Bublatzky;Martin Riemer","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.63","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.63","url":null,"abstract":"Path integration refers to the ability to monitor self-motion cues to keep track of changes in position and orientation. This function is often assumed to rely predominantly on medial temporal lobe structures containing grid, place, and head direction cells. Recent evidence, however, suggests that key navigational computations may occur outside this system, for example, in posterior parietal areas. Here, we adopted a novel perspective derived from animal research and examined whether human path integration relies on processing streams in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), depending on the involvement of actively controlled motion as opposed to passive perception of visual optic flow. We compared the effects of inhibiting the PPC via TMS on two path integration tasks in a virtual reality, only one of which involved active control of a visually simulated forward movement. Behavioral performance showed that distance judgments were selectively affected in the action-related path integration task. This finding shows that the processing of actively controlled motion depends on computations in the PPC, whereas passive processing of optic flow is largely independent of the PPC computations. Our results reinforce the hypothesis that the PPC plays a critical role for the integration of goal locations and self-positional signals within an egocentric frame of reference. In addition to the medial temporal lobe, the posterior parietal system is recruited during tasks involving actively controlled movements, whereas medial temporal computations are sufficient for passive monitoring of positional changes.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2371-2382"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144486834","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}
Most memory is not formed deliberately but as a by-product of natural behavior. These incidental representations, when generated during visual search, can be stronger than intentionally memorized content (search superiority effect). However, it is unknown if the search superiority effect is purely quantitative (stronger memory) or also driven by differences in the degrees of recollection and familiarity, two hallmark processes supporting recognition memory. Here, we use signal detection modeling, introspective judgments, event-related EEG potentials, and eye tracking measures to answer this question. In a preregistered study, 30 participants searched for objects in scenes and intentionally memorized others before completing a surprise recognition memory test. Behavioral data from remember–know judgments and receiver operating characteristics indicate that search targets were more often recollected compared with intentionally memorized objects, whereas the two tasks did not lead to differences in familiarity. Surprisingly, the neural signatures did not fully align with the behavioral findings regarding recollection and familiarity. That is, both search targets and intentionally memorized objects elicited a more positive-going mid-frontal negativity peaking at around 400 msec post stimulus onset (FN400), which is associated with familiarity, as well as a more positive-going parietal late component (LPC), indicative of recollection. Both components showed no differences between tasks, indicating equal contributions of recollection and familiarity to remembering searched and memorized objects. Furthermore, the LPC was, as expected, sensitive to differences between recollected and familiar objects when these were intentionally memorized, but it was not affected by these differences for searched objects. Overall, our findings indicate that search superiority relies predominantly on increased recollection. The fact that established neural markers of recollection (LPC) behaved as anticipated for intentionally memorized objects but carried no predictive power for incidentally memorized objects implies that memories established in more ecologically valid tasks might involve neural processes different from those activated in commonly used settings that are more reductionist.
{"title":"Incidental Encoding of Objects during Search Is Stronger Than Intentional Memorization due to Increased Recollection Rather Than Familiarity","authors":"Jason Helbing;Dejan Draschkow;Melissa L.-H. Võ","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.80","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.80","url":null,"abstract":"Most memory is not formed deliberately but as a by-product of natural behavior. These incidental representations, when generated during visual search, can be stronger than intentionally memorized content (search superiority effect). However, it is unknown if the search superiority effect is purely quantitative (stronger memory) or also driven by differences in the degrees of recollection and familiarity, two hallmark processes supporting recognition memory. Here, we use signal detection modeling, introspective judgments, event-related EEG potentials, and eye tracking measures to answer this question. In a preregistered study, 30 participants searched for objects in scenes and intentionally memorized others before completing a surprise recognition memory test. Behavioral data from remember–know judgments and receiver operating characteristics indicate that search targets were more often recollected compared with intentionally memorized objects, whereas the two tasks did not lead to differences in familiarity. Surprisingly, the neural signatures did not fully align with the behavioral findings regarding recollection and familiarity. That is, both search targets and intentionally memorized objects elicited a more positive-going mid-frontal negativity peaking at around 400 msec post stimulus onset (FN400), which is associated with familiarity, as well as a more positive-going parietal late component (LPC), indicative of recollection. Both components showed no differences between tasks, indicating equal contributions of recollection and familiarity to remembering searched and memorized objects. Furthermore, the LPC was, as expected, sensitive to differences between recollected and familiar objects when these were intentionally memorized, but it was not affected by these differences for searched objects. Overall, our findings indicate that search superiority relies predominantly on increased recollection. The fact that established neural markers of recollection (LPC) behaved as anticipated for intentionally memorized objects but carried no predictive power for incidentally memorized objects implies that memories established in more ecologically valid tasks might involve neural processes different from those activated in commonly used settings that are more reductionist.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2538-2557"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11235893","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144709774","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}
Baptiste M. Waltzing;Siobhan McAteer;Marcos Moreno-Verdú;Elise E. Van Caenegem;Yue Du;Robert M. Hardwick
Observing different body stimuli can influence the speed and accuracy of our responses. Prior work indicates this effect is influenced by factors such as spatial congruence and perspective. We hypothesized that the influence of these factors would vary depending on the amount of time that participants had to process visual stimuli. Experiment 1 was a RT task (n = 29) with stimuli varying in spatial congruence (congruent, incongruent, neutral), perspective (first- or third-person), and stimulus type (body or control). Experiment 2 (n = 50) used the same stimuli in a “Forced Response” paradigm, which controlled the time participants had to prepare a response. This allowed us to assess responses as a function of preparation time. Experiment 1 showed effects of spatial congruence, with longer RTs and more errors for spatially incongruent stimuli. This effect was greater for body stimuli. Experiment 2 showed that spatial information was processed faster than anatomical information, inducing incorrect responses at short preparation times for spatially incongruent body stimuli. There was little-to-no corresponding effect for control stimuli. Both experiments also showed weak-to-no effects of perspective, which appear to have been driven by spatial congruence. Our results indicate that spatial information is processed faster than anatomical information during observation of body stimuli. These data are consistent with the dual visual streams hypothesis, whereby spatial information would be processed rapidly via the dorsal stream, whereas anatomical processing would occur later via the ventral stream. These data also indicate differences in processing between body and control stimuli.
{"title":"Separate Timescales for Spatial and Anatomical Information Processing of Body Stimuli","authors":"Baptiste M. Waltzing;Siobhan McAteer;Marcos Moreno-Verdú;Elise E. Van Caenegem;Yue Du;Robert M. Hardwick","doi":"10.1162/JOCN.a.71","DOIUrl":"10.1162/JOCN.a.71","url":null,"abstract":"Observing different body stimuli can influence the speed and accuracy of our responses. Prior work indicates this effect is influenced by factors such as spatial congruence and perspective. We hypothesized that the influence of these factors would vary depending on the amount of time that participants had to process visual stimuli. Experiment 1 was a RT task (n = 29) with stimuli varying in spatial congruence (congruent, incongruent, neutral), perspective (first- or third-person), and stimulus type (body or control). Experiment 2 (n = 50) used the same stimuli in a “Forced Response” paradigm, which controlled the time participants had to prepare a response. This allowed us to assess responses as a function of preparation time. Experiment 1 showed effects of spatial congruence, with longer RTs and more errors for spatially incongruent stimuli. This effect was greater for body stimuli. Experiment 2 showed that spatial information was processed faster than anatomical information, inducing incorrect responses at short preparation times for spatially incongruent body stimuli. There was little-to-no corresponding effect for control stimuli. Both experiments also showed weak-to-no effects of perspective, which appear to have been driven by spatial congruence. Our results indicate that spatial information is processed faster than anatomical information during observation of body stimuli. These data are consistent with the dual visual streams hypothesis, whereby spatial information would be processed rapidly via the dorsal stream, whereas anatomical processing would occur later via the ventral stream. These data also indicate differences in processing between body and control stimuli.","PeriodicalId":51081,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":"37 12","pages":"2383-2408"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144612405","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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