A Computational Role for Top–Down Modulation from Frontal Cortex in Infancy

Abstract

Recent findings have shown that full-term infants engage in top–down sensory prediction, and these predictions are impaired as a result of premature birth. Here, we use an associative learning model to uncover the neuroanatomical origins and computational nature of this top–down signal. Infants were exposed to a probabilistic audiovisual association. We find that both groups (full term, preterm) have a comparable stimulus-related response in sensory and frontal lobes and track prediction error in their frontal lobes. However, preterm infants differ from their full-term peers in weaker tracking of prediction error in sensory regions. We infer that top–down signals from the frontal lobe to the sensory regions carry information about prediction error. Using computational learning models and comparing neuroimaging results from full-term and preterm infants, we have uncovered the computational content of top–down signals in young infants when they are engaged in a probabilistic associative learning.

Anticipation across modalities in children and adults: Relating anticipatory alpha rhythm lateralization, reaction time, and executive function

“…As such, anticipatory alpha may be a promising, developmentally consistent neural correlate for measuring the binding of prediction and action (Brown et al, 2011;Feldman & Friston, 2010), useful for testing computational, action-oriented cognitive neuroscience (Engel et al, 2013;Friston et al, 2011;Huang & Rao, 2011). This study advances an integrative perspective of anticipation while also narrowing down an instance in time and activity in which prediction is evident (Baek et al, 2020;Jaffe-Dax et al, 2020), with potential for considering how individual differences in behavior and cognitive abilities reflect the accumulation of multilevel, multimodal developmental processes (Marshall, 2014).…”

Using functional near-infrared spectroscopy to study the early developing brain: future directions and new challenges

“…The authors found that while the neural and behavioral signatures of audiovisual learning were intact, infants did not show neural signatures of sensory prediction (also see Refs. 58 and 59 ).…”

Visual perception is highly flexible and context-dependent in young infants: A case of top-down modulated motion perception

“…This is a pressing issue as it has been established that infants have more sophisticated cognitive and learning abilities than previously believed. For example, neuroimaging work has established that infants are employing higher-level neural systems (e.g., the prefrontal cortex) in a variety of tasks (Grossmann, 2013;Jaffe-Dax et al, 2019;Werchan & Amso, 2017;Werchan et al, 2016). These learning abilities enabled infants to form rich representations of the external world, which could be a source of top-down signals.…”

“…As infants' top-down processes were restricted to neuroimaging findings, what remains unknown is whether these neural signatures of topdown modulation were behaviorally meaningful. Establishing behavioral signatures of top-down perceptual modulation is crucial for numerous reasons: 1) Prominent critiques of top-down processes have argued that neuroimaging evidence cannot be considered evidence of top-down perception (Firestone & Scholl, 2016); 2) These neuroimaging findings could have a variety of cognitive consequences from modifying perception to supporting learning through communicating error signals to other brain regions (e.g., Jaffe-Dax et al, 2019); and 3) Neural changes can happen below a threshold for behavioral changes. This was particularly the case when considering early competencies in immature brains (Karuza et al, 2014).…”