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Current Protocols in Neuroscience Jun 2020We describe a set of protocols for doing visual psychophysical experiments in head-fixed mice. The goal of this approach was to conduct in mice the same type of precise...
We describe a set of protocols for doing visual psychophysical experiments in head-fixed mice. The goal of this approach was to conduct in mice the same type of precise and well-controlled tests of visual perception and decision making as is commonly done in primates. For example, these experimental protocols were the basis for our demonstration that mice are capable of visual selective attention in paradigms adapted from classic attention cueing paradigms in primates. Basic Protocol 1 describes how to construct the experimental apparatus, including the removable wheel assembly on which the mice run during the visual tasks, the lick spout used to deliver rewards and detect licks, and the behavioral box that places these components together with the visual displays. We also describe the functions of the computerized control system and the design of the customized head fixture. Basic Protocol 2 describes the preparation of mice for the experiments, including the detailed surgical steps. Basic Protocol 3 describes the transition to a food schedule for the mice and how to operate the experimental apparatus. Basic Protocol 4 outlines the logic of the task design and the steps necessary for training the mice. Finally, Basic Protocol 5 describes how to obtain and analyze the psychometric data. Our methods include several distinctive features, including a custom quick-release method for holding the head and specific strategies for training mice over multiple weeks. Published 2020. U.S. Government. Basic Protocol 1: Experimental apparatus Basic Protocol 2: Head fixture surgery Basic Protocol 3: General operation of the experimental apparatus Basic Protocol 4: Behavioral task design and training Basic Protocol 5: Psychometric data collection and analysis.
Topics: Animals; Attention; Behavior, Animal; Cues; Mice; Neurosciences; Psychophysics; Reward
PubMed: 32216169
DOI: 10.1002/cpns.95 -
Perception Dec 2022First, I agree with Cheng that the argument from illusions to indirect realism is controversial, especially as to what is meant by "realism," "veridical," and "sense...
First, I agree with Cheng that the argument from illusions to indirect realism is controversial, especially as to what is meant by "realism," "veridical," and "sense data" and the background assumptions underlying them. I provide a finer specification of some of the sub-movements that were the specific concerns of my previous article, particularly phenomenology as it currently sees itself in perception research, and the relevance of illusions. Perception has turned out to be far more complex than traditional philosophy realized, as has been revealed by recent research in neuroscience and psychophysics. Lastly, I answer Cheng's question about the "causal exclusion argument" by suggesting it is obviated by the temporal substructure of metaphysical states, and I provide a detailed supporting case in Supplementary Material.
Topics: Humans; Illusions; Metaphysics; Philosophy; Psychophysics
PubMed: 36129072
DOI: 10.1177/03010066221127368 -
PLoS Computational Biology Jan 2021The connection between stimulus perception and time perception remains unknown. The present study combines human and rat psychophysics with sensory cortical neuronal...
The connection between stimulus perception and time perception remains unknown. The present study combines human and rat psychophysics with sensory cortical neuronal firing to construct a computational model for the percept of elapsed time embedded within sense of touch. When subjects judged the duration of a vibration applied to the fingertip (human) or whiskers (rat), increasing stimulus intensity led to increasing perceived duration. Symmetrically, increasing vibration duration led to increasing perceived intensity. We modeled real spike trains recorded from vibrissal somatosensory cortex as input to dual leaky integrators-an intensity integrator with short time constant and a duration integrator with long time constant-generating neurometric functions that replicated the actual psychophysical functions of rats. Returning to human psychophysics, we then confirmed specific predictions of the dual leaky integrator model. This study offers a framework, based on sensory coding and subsequent accumulation of sensory drive, to account for how a feeling of the passage of time accompanies the tactile sensory experience.
Topics: Action Potentials; Adult; Animals; Computational Biology; Humans; Male; Models, Neurological; Psychophysics; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Somatosensory Cortex; Task Performance and Analysis; Time Perception; Vibration; Vibrissae; Young Adult
PubMed: 33513135
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008668 -
Attention, Perception & Psychophysics Jan 2020Anne Treisman's Feature Integration Theory (FIT) is a landmark in cognitive psychology and vision research. While many have discussed how Treisman's theory has fared... (Review)
Review
Anne Treisman's Feature Integration Theory (FIT) is a landmark in cognitive psychology and vision research. While many have discussed how Treisman's theory has fared since it was first proposed, it is less common to approach FIT from the other side in time: to examine what experimental findings, theoretical concepts, and ideas inspired it. The theory did not enter into a theoretical vacuum. Treisman's ideas were inspired by a large literature on a number of topics within visual psychophysics, cognitive psychology, and visual neurophysiology. Several key ideas developed contemporaneously within these fields that inspired FIT, and the theory involved an attempt at integrating them. Our aim here was to highlight the conceptual problems, experimental findings, and theoretical positions that Treisman was responding to with her theory and that the theory was intended to explain. We review a large number of findings from the decades preceding the proposal of feature integration theory showing how the theory integrated many ideas that developed in parallel within neurophysiology, visual psychophysics, and cognitive psychology. Our conclusion is that FIT made sense of many preceding findings, integrating them in an elegant way within a single theoretical account.
Topics: Cognition; Humans; Neurophysiology; Psychological Theory; Psychophysics; Visual Perception
PubMed: 31290134
DOI: 10.3758/s13414-019-01803-7 -
Pain Medicine (Malden, Mass.) Sep 2021Endogenous pain modulation can be quantified through the use of various paradigms. Commonly used paradigms include conditioned pain modulation (CPM), offset analgesia...
OBJECTIVE
Endogenous pain modulation can be quantified through the use of various paradigms. Commonly used paradigms include conditioned pain modulation (CPM), offset analgesia (OA), spatial summation of pain (SSP), and temporal summation of pain (TSP), which reflect spatial and temporal aspects of pro- and antinociceptive processing. Although these paradigms are regularly used and are of high clinical relevance, the underlying physiological mechanisms are not fully understood.
DESIGN
The aim of this study is therefore to assess the association between these paradigms by using comparable protocols and methodological approaches.
SETTING
University campus.
SUBJECTS
Healthy and pain-free volunteers (n = 48) underwent psychophysical assessment of CPM, OA, SSP, and TSP (random order) at the same body area (volar nondominant forearm) with individualized noxious stimuli.
METHODS
CPM included heat stimuli before, during, and after a noxious cold-water bath, whereas for OA, three heat stimuli were applied: baseline trial, offset trial, and constant trial. For the SSP paradigm, two differently sized heat stimulation areas were evaluated, whereas for TSP, the first and last stimulus of 10 consecutive short heat stimuli were assessed. A computerized visual analog scale was used to continuously evaluate pain intensity. The magnitudes of all associations between all paradigm pairs were analyzed with Spearman's correlation, and individual influencing factors were assessed with a multivariate linear regression model.
RESULTS
Weak to moderate correlations among all four paradigms were found (P > 0.05), and no distinct influencing factors were identified.
CONCLUSIONS
A limited association between pain modulation paradigms suggests that CPM, OA, SSP, and TSP assess distinct aspects of endogenous analgesia with different underlying physiological mechanisms.
Topics: Analgesia; Humans; Pain; Pain Measurement; Psychophysics; Space Perception; Time Perception
PubMed: 33587117
DOI: 10.1093/pm/pnab067 -
Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics : the... Mar 2020Adaptive Optics allows measurement and manipulation of the optical aberrations of the eye. We review two Adaptive Optics set-ups implemented at the Visual Optics and... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
Adaptive Optics allows measurement and manipulation of the optical aberrations of the eye. We review two Adaptive Optics set-ups implemented at the Visual Optics and Biophotonics Laboratory, and present examples of their use in better understanding of the role of optical aberrations on visual perception, in normal and treated eyes.
RECENT FINDINGS
Two systems (AOI and AOII) are described that measure ocular aberrations with a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor, which operates in closed-loop with an electromagnetic deformable mirror, and visual stimuli are projected in a visual display for psychophysical measurements. AOI operates in infrared radiation (IR) light. AOII is provided with a supercontiniuum laser source (IR and visible wavelengths), additional elements for simulation (spatial light modulator, temporal multiplexing with optotunable lenses, phase plates, cuvette for intraocular lenses-IOLs), and a double-pass retinal camera. We review several studies undertaken with these AO systems, including the evaluation of the visual benefits of AO correction, vision with simulated multifocal IOLs (MIOLs), optical aberrations in pseudophakic eyes, chromatic aberrations and their visual impact, and neural adaptation to ocular aberrations.
SUMMARY
Monochromatic and chromatic aberrations have been measured in normal and treated eyes. AO systems have allowed understanding the visual benefit of correcting aberrations in normal eyes and the adaptation of the visual system to the eye's native aberrations. Ocular corrections such as intraocular and contact lenses modify the wave aberrations. AO systems allow simulating vision with these corrections before they are implanted/fitted in the eye, or even before they are manufactured, revealing great potential for industry and the clinical practice. This review paper is part of a special issue of Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics on women in visual optics, and is co-authored by all women scientists of the research team.
Topics: Contact Lenses; Humans; Lenses, Intraocular; Optics and Photonics; Psychophysics; Refraction, Ocular; Visual Acuity; Visual Perception
PubMed: 32147855
DOI: 10.1111/opo.12677 -
The Laryngoscope Jul 2021The aim of this study was to generate normative data of retronasal olfactory threshold values for normosmic and hyposmic individuals and to test the validity of that... (Observational Study)
Observational Study
OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS
The aim of this study was to generate normative data of retronasal olfactory threshold values for normosmic and hyposmic individuals and to test the validity of that data by determining the discriminative power for normosmic/hyposmic differentiation.
STUDY DESIGN
Prospective, descriptive and methodological study.
METHODS
The orthonasal olfactory function of 20 normosmic and 20 hyposmic cases was evaluated using the Sniffin' Sticks Olfactory test. Sniffin' Sticks odor threshold, odor discrimination, and odor identification values and threshold discrimination identification (TDI) scores were recorded. A 13-item test battery previously prepared in our Rhinology Laboratory for retronasal olfactory threshold test that consisted of concentrated solutions prepared from 2:1 diluted 99% phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) and water was used. Each concentration was evaluated with water control, and if not answered correctly, the same process was continued by moving to a higher concentration series. Four consecutive correct answers were determined as the patient's retronasal olfactory threshold.
RESULTS
A strong correlation was found between Sniffin' Sticks TDI scores and retronasal odor threshold values in the normosmic group (P < .001, r:0.67). A very strong correlation was found between Sniffin' Sticks TDI scores and retronasal olfactory threshold values in the hyposmic group (P < .001, r:0.81). Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that the sensitivity and the specificity of normosmic/hyposmic differentiation of retronasal olfactory threshold test was 95% and 100%, respectively. The diagnostic cutoff value was 8.5.
CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that the retronasal olfactory test, a psychophysical odor test performed using an orally presented stimulus, can be used to differentiate normosmic and hyposmic cases.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
3 Laryngoscope, 131:1608-1614, 2021.
Topics: Administration, Oral; Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Odorants; Olfaction Disorders; Psychophysics; Reference Values; Sensory Thresholds; Smell; Symptom Assessment; Young Adult
PubMed: 33533495
DOI: 10.1002/lary.29395 -
The Journal of the Acoustical Society... Mar 2022The aviation sector is rapidly evolving with more electric propulsion systems and a variety of new technologies of vertical take-off and landing manned and unmanned...
The aviation sector is rapidly evolving with more electric propulsion systems and a variety of new technologies of vertical take-off and landing manned and unmanned aerial vehicles. Community noise impact is one of the main barriers for the wider adoption of these new vehicles. Within the framework of a perception-driven engineering approach, this paper investigates the relationship between sound quality and first order physical parameters in rotor systems to aid design. Three case studies are considered: (i) contra-rotating versus single rotor systems, (ii) varying blade diameter and thrust in both contra-rotating and single rotor systems, and (iii) varying rotor-rotor axial spacing in contra-rotating systems. The outcomes of a listening experiment, where participants assessed a series of sound stimuli with varying design parameters, allow a better understanding of the annoyance induced by rotor noise. Further to this, a psychoacoustic annoyance model optimised for rotor noise has been formulated. The model includes a novel psychoacoustic function to account for the perceptual effect of impulsiveness. The significance of the proposed model lies in the quantification of the effects of psychoacoustic factors, such as loudness as the dominant factor, and also tonality, high frequency content, temporal fluctuations, and impulsiveness on rotor noise annoyance.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Auditory Perception; Humans; Noise; Psychoacoustics; Sound
PubMed: 35364939
DOI: 10.1121/10.0009801 -
Nature Communications Mar 2023Humans are voracious imaginers, with internal simulations supporting memory, planning and decision-making. Because the neural mechanisms supporting imagery overlap with...
Humans are voracious imaginers, with internal simulations supporting memory, planning and decision-making. Because the neural mechanisms supporting imagery overlap with those supporting perception, a foundational question is how reality and imagination are kept apart. One possibility is that the intention to imagine is used to identify and discount self-generated signals during imagery. Alternatively, because internally generated signals are generally weaker, sensory strength is used to index reality. Traditional psychology experiments struggle to investigate this issue as subjects can rapidly learn that real stimuli are in play. Here, we combined one-trial-per-participant psychophysics with computational modelling and neuroimaging to show that imagined and perceived signals are in fact intermixed, with judgments of reality being determined by whether this intermixed signal is strong enough to cross a reality threshold. A consequence of this account is that when virtual or imagined signals are strong enough, they become subjectively indistinguishable from reality.
Topics: Humans; Imagination; Imagery, Psychotherapy; Learning; Computer Simulation; Psychophysics
PubMed: 36959279
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37322-1 -
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review Feb 2022Research in psychophysics argues that incentivized sensorimotor decisions (such as deciding where to reach to get a reward) maximize expected gain, suggesting that these...
Research in psychophysics argues that incentivized sensorimotor decisions (such as deciding where to reach to get a reward) maximize expected gain, suggesting that these decisions may be impervious to cognitive biases and heuristics. We tested this hypothesis in two experiments, directly comparing the predictive accuracy of an optimal model and plausible suboptimal models. We obtained strong evidence that people deviated from the optimal strategy by excessively avoiding loss regions when the potential loss was zero and failing to shift far enough away from loss regions when potential losses outweighed the potential gains. Although allowing nonlinear distortions of value and probability information improved the fit of value-maximizing models, behavior was best described by a model encapsulating a simple heuristic strategy. This suggests that visuomotor decisions are likely influenced by biases and heuristics observed in more classical economic decision-making tasks.
Topics: Decision Making; Heuristics; Humans; Probability; Psychophysics; Reward
PubMed: 34508307
DOI: 10.3758/s13423-021-01986-x