The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery

Pearson, Joel

doi:10.1038/s41583-019-0202-9

Cited by 511 publications

(494 citation statements)

References 144 publications

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“…Furthermore, participants with higher trait measures in perspective taking showed stronger hippocampal coupling with the fusiform gyrus during pain empathy. We speculate that the fusiform gyrus contributed to simulation processes, presumably coding for the content of visual imagination (O'Craven and Kanwisher, 2000;Pearson, 2019). Note though that this constitutes a reverse inference, in need of more direct future validation by studies incorporating measures of, for example, individual differences in self-reported visual imagery skills.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Pattern similarity and connectivity of hippocampal-neocortical regions support empathy for pain

Wagner

Ruetgen

2019

Preprint

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AbstractEmpathy is thought to engage mental simulation, which in turn is known to rely on hippocampal-neocortical processing. Here, we tested how hippocampal-neocortical pattern similarity and connectivity contributed to pain empathy. Using this approach, we analyzed a data set of 102 human participants who underwent functional MRI while painful and non-painful electrical stimulation was delivered to themselves or to a confederate. As hypothesized, results revealed increased pattern similarity between fist-hand pain and pain empathy (compared to non-painful control conditions) within the hippocampus, retrosplenial cortex, the temporo-parietal junction and anterior insula. While representations in these regions were unaffected by confederate similarity, pattern similarity in the dorsal MPFC was increased the more dissimilar the other individual was perceived. Moreover, hippocampal connectivity with regions engaged in first-hand pain was also increased during pain empathy, during which hippocampal coupling with the fusiform gyrus positively scaled with self-report measures of individual perspective taking skills. These findings highlight that shared representations and interactions within a hippocampal-neocortical network support pain empathy. This potentially reflects memory-based mental simulation processes, which seem partially modulated by personality traits and the perceived similarity of the other individual in pain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Pattern similarity and connectivity of hippocampal-neocortical regions support empathy for pain

Wagner

Ruetgen

2019

Preprint

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“…Early studies of sensory cortex activation during memory retrieval showed differences between perception and memory (Wheeler et al, 2000), and perception and memory give rise to distinct subjective experiences. A more plausible proposal is that visual memory functions as a "weak" version of feedforward perception (Pearson et al, 2015;Pearson, 2019), with memory activity organized in the same fundamental way as perceptual activity, but with reduced signal-to-noise. This hypothesis is consistent with informal comparisons between perception and memory BOLD amplitudes and data suggesting that visual imagery produces similar behavioral effects to weak physical stimuli in many tasks (Ishai & Sagi, 1995;Pearson et al, 2008;Tartaglia et al, 2009;Winawer et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception and memory have distinct spatial tuning properties in human visual cortex

Favila

Kuhl

Winawer

2019

Preprint

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Neural activity evoked during perception is thought to be reactivated during later memory retrieval. While many studies have found evidence for memory reactivation in visual cortex, few have characterized differences between stimulus-driven and mnemonic activation. Here, we leveraged population receptive field (pRF) models to quantify spatial activity in the human visual system during perception and long-term memory retrieval. We found that mnemonic activity, like perceptual activity, was precisely retinotopically mapped. However, we also observed large, systematic differences between perceptual and mnemonic activity in measures of amplitude and precision. The magnitude of these differences varied according to position in the visual hierarchy, with the largest differences observed in early areas. These differences could not be accounted for by the fact that memory data had reduced signal-to-noise or the possibility that it contained a mixture of successful and failed retrieval trials. Finally, we explore predictions from several models, showing that a simple hierarchical model with reciprocal feedforward and feedback connections accounts for many of our observations. Our results reveal novel distinctions between perceptual and mnemonic activity in visual cortex and provide insight into the computational constraints governing memory reactivation. 1/21visual cortex during perception (Kay et al., 2013b). Using these models to quantify memory-triggered activity in the visual system offers the opportunity to precisely model reactivation in visual cortex and its relationship to visual perception. In particular, the fact that pRF models are stimulus-referred may aid in interpreting differences between perception and memory activation patterns by projecting these differences onto a small number of physical dimensions.Here, we used pRF models to characterize the properties of mnemonic activity in human visual cortex. We first trained human subjects to associate spatially localized stimuli with colored fixation cues. We then measured stimulus-triggered and memory-triggered activity in visual cortex using fMRI. Separately, we fit pRF models to independent fMRI data, which allowed us to estimate receptive field location and size within multiple visual field maps for each subject. Using pRF-based analyses, we quantified the location, amplitude, and precision of activity throughout these visual field maps during perception and memory retrieval. Finally, we explored what kind of cortical computations could account for our observations by simulating responses using a stimulus-referred pRF model and a simple hierarchical model of neocortex. Results BehaviorPrior to being scanned, subjects participated in a behavioral training session. During this session, subjects learned to associate four colored fixation dot cues with four stimuli. The four stimuli were unique radial frequency patterns presented at 45, 135, 225, or 315 degrees of polar angle and 2 degrees of eccentricity ( Fig. 1a,b). Subjects alternated between study and test ...

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“…The dominant model of VMI stipulates a functional and anatomical equivalence between VMI and visual perception 56 . According to this view, VMI and visual perception should rely upon the same cortical areas across the ventral cortical visual stream 18,56 . Progression of visual information would occur in a bottom-up fashion during perception, and in a reversed, top-down direction during VMI.…”

Section: Lack Of Increased Activation In Primary Visual and Motor Cormentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual mental imagery engages the left fusiform gyrus, but not the early visual cortex: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging evidence

Spagna

Hajhajate

Liu

2020

Preprint

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The neural bases of visual mental imagery (VMI) are the object of intense debate. Their identification is central to define the brain substrates our conscious experience and can be clinically important to reveal consciousness in non-communicating patients or to alleviate posttraumatic stress disorder. The dominant model of VMI stipulates a functional and anatomical equivalence between visual mental imagery and visual perception. In patients with acquired brain damage, the model predicts a systematic co-occurrence of perceptual and imaginal deficits.However, patients with lesions restricted to the occipital cortex often experience vivid mental images, even in case of cortical blindness resulting from bilateral V1 damage. Instead, patients with extensive left temporal damage are more likely to have impaired VMI. On the other hand, some neuroimaging and neuromodulatory evidence does suggest an implication of striate cortex in VMI. To address this discrepancy, we conducted an activation-likelihood-estimation-based large-scale meta-analysis of 46 functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments to map the extent of cortical activation associated with three contrasts: (1) all studies combined; (2) VMI versus Control, (3) VMI versus Perception, and (4) Motor Mental Imagery versus Control.Results from the VMI versus Control contrast demonstrated an association between VMI and activation increase in the frontoparietal and cingulo-opercular networks, as well as in the left fusiform gyrus. Results from the VMI versus Perception contrast showed the association between VMI and activation increase of the anterior insular and supplementary motor area / anterior cingulate cortices, bilaterally. Conjunction analyses between the VMI versus Control and the VMI Mental Imagery versus Perception contrasts showed the activation of the left anterior insular cortex and in the bilateral supplementary motor area / anterior cingulate cortex.Results from the Motor Mental Imagery versus Control contrast showed that mental motor imagery increases the activation of the cerebellum and of the superior frontal gyri bilaterally, of the left supplementary motor area, of the anterior portion of the left calcarine sulcus, and of the left fusiform / parahippocampal gyri. Conjunction analyses between the VMI versus Control and the Motor Mental Imagery versus Control contrasts showed the activation of the bilateral superior frontal gyrus as well as of the left supplementary motor area / anterior cingulate cortex.Thus, the results stress the importance for VMI of brain networks associated with attentional control and working memory functions, together with rostral portions of the cortical ventral visual stream. Bayesian analysis confirmed the lack of evidence for an activation of the early visual areas in VMI, consistent with the results from brain-damaged patients. Our evidence suggests a revision of the VMI model. A Fusiform Imagery Node (FIN) in the area FG3 of the left fusiform gyrus might act as a hub retrieving visual information from long-term sem...

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The human imagination: the cognitive neuroscience of visual mental imagery

Cited by 511 publications

References 144 publications

Pattern similarity and connectivity of hippocampal-neocortical regions support empathy for pain

Pattern similarity and connectivity of hippocampal-neocortical regions support empathy for pain

Perception and memory have distinct spatial tuning properties in human visual cortex

Visual mental imagery engages the left fusiform gyrus, but not the early visual cortex: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging evidence

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