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Clinics in Perinatology Dec 2011The natural environment provides a flux of concurrent stimulation to all our senses, and the integration of information from different sensory systems is a fundamental... (Review)
Review
The natural environment provides a flux of concurrent stimulation to all our senses, and the integration of information from different sensory systems is a fundamental feature of perception and cognition. How information from the different senses is integrated has long been of concern to several scientific disciplines, including psychology, cognitive science, and the neurosciences, each with different questions and methodologies. In this article, I briefly explore some of these recent advances in the understanding of the development of sensory integration and organization and discuss implications of these advances for the care and management of the preterm infant.
Topics: Brain; Humans; Infant; Neuronal Plasticity; Sensation
PubMed: 22107892
DOI: 10.1016/j.clp.2011.08.007 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Apr 2017Combining information from multiple senses creates robust percepts, speeds up responses, enhances learning, and improves detection, discrimination, and recognition. In... (Review)
Review
Combining information from multiple senses creates robust percepts, speeds up responses, enhances learning, and improves detection, discrimination, and recognition. In this review, I discuss computational models and principles that provide insight into how this process of multisensory integration occurs at the behavioral and neural level. My initial focus is on drift-diffusion and Bayesian models that can predict behavior in multisensory contexts. I then highlight how recent neurophysiological and perturbation experiments provide evidence for a distributed redundant network for multisensory integration. I also emphasize studies which show that task-relevant variables in multisensory contexts are distributed in heterogeneous neural populations. Finally, I describe dimensionality reduction methods and recurrent neural network models that may help decipher heterogeneous neural populations involved in multisensory integration.
Topics: Bayes Theorem; Humans; Learning; Models, Biological; Nerve Net; Sensation
PubMed: 27918886
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2016.11.002 -
Topics in Cognitive Science Oct 2010Control consciousness is the awareness or experience of seeming to be in control of one's actions. One view, which I will be arguing against in the present paper, is... (Review)
Review
Control consciousness is the awareness or experience of seeming to be in control of one's actions. One view, which I will be arguing against in the present paper, is that control consciousness is a form of sensory consciousness. In such a view, control consciousness is exhausted by sensory elements such as tactile and proprioceptive information. An opposing view, which I will be arguing for, is that sensory elements cannot be the whole story and must be supplemented by direct contributions of nonsensory, motor elements. More specifically, I will be arguing for the view that the neural basis of control consciousness is constituted by states of recurrent activation in relatively intermediate levels of the motor hierarchy.
Topics: Consciousness; Executive Function; Humans; Motor Activity; Sensation
PubMed: 25164048
DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2010.01084.x -
Channels (Austin, Tex.) 2015The detection of temperature is one of the most fundamental sensory functions across all species, and is critical for animal survival. Animals have thus evolved a... (Review)
Review
The detection of temperature is one of the most fundamental sensory functions across all species, and is critical for animal survival. Animals have thus evolved a diversity of thermosensory mechanisms allowing them to sense and respond to temperature changes (thermoreception). A key process underlying thermoreception is the translation of thermal energy into electrical signals, a process mediated by thermal sensors (thermoreceptors) that are sensitive to a specific range of temperatures. In disease conditions, the temperature sensitivity of thermoreceptors is altered, leading to abnormal temperature sensation such as heat hyperalgesia. Therefore, the identification of thermal sensors and understanding their functions and regulation hold great potential for developing novel therapeutics against many medical conditions such as pain.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Temperature; Thermoreceptors; Thermosensing
PubMed: 25868381
DOI: 10.1080/19336950.2015.1025186 -
Scandinavian Journal of Pain Oct 2022Emotions are allostatic processes that transform the relationship between the environment and the desired bodily states into behaviour supporting homeostasis and...
Emotions are allostatic processes that transform the relationship between the environment and the desired bodily states into behaviour supporting homeostasis and well-being. Central emotion circuits are thus tightly coupled with the visceral signaling pathways and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Although ANS activity patterns are not always emotion-specific, self-reported bodily sensations and pattern recognition analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data suggest discrete bodily and neural basis of emotions. The advent of total-body positron emission tomography (PET) systems allows simultaneous measurement of the central and peripheral axis of the emotional response. This provides a unique opportunity for quantifying the systems-level biology of the human emotion circuits.
Topics: Autonomic Nervous System; Emotions; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Self Report; Sensation
PubMed: 36151615
DOI: 10.1515/sjpain-2022-0087 -
Current Opinion in Neurobiology Dec 2016Despite its simple and highly-ordered circuitry the function of the cerebellum remains a topic of vigorous debate. This review explores connections between the... (Review)
Review
Despite its simple and highly-ordered circuitry the function of the cerebellum remains a topic of vigorous debate. This review explores connections between the cerebellum and sensory processing structures that closely resemble the cerebellum in terms of their evolution, development, patterns of gene expression, and circuitry. Recent studies of cerebellum-like structures involved in electrosensory processing in fish have provided insights into the functions of granule cells and unipolar brush cells-cell types shared with the cerebellum. We also discuss the possibility, supported by recent studies, that generating and subtracting predictions of the sensory consequences of motor commands may be core functions shared by both cerebellum-like structures and the cerebellum.
Topics: Animals; Cerebellum; Fishes; Humans; Models, Animal; Neurons; Sensation
PubMed: 27504860
DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2016.07.012 -
Developmental Biology Nov 2017A complex genetic repertoire underlies the apparently simple body plan of sponges. Among the genes present in poriferans are those fundamental to the sensory and nervous... (Review)
Review
A complex genetic repertoire underlies the apparently simple body plan of sponges. Among the genes present in poriferans are those fundamental to the sensory and nervous systems of other animals. Sponges are dynamic and sensitive animals and it is intuitive to link these genes to behaviour. The proposal that ctenophores are the earliest diverging metazoan has led to the question of whether sponges possess a 'pre-nervous' system or have undergone nervous system loss. Both lines of thought generally assume that the last common ancestor of sponges and eumetazoans possessed the genetic modules that underlie sensory abilities. By corollary extant sponges may possess a sensory cell homologous to one present in the last common ancestor, a hypothesis that has been studied by gene expression. We have performed a meta-analysis of all gene expression studies published to date to explore whether gene expression is indicative of a feature's sensory function. In sponges we find that eumetazoan sensory-neural markers are not particularly expressed in structures with known sensory functions. Instead it is common for these genes to be expressed in cells with no known or uncharacterized sensory function. Indeed, many sensory-neural markers so far studied are expressed during development, perhaps because many are transcription factors. This suggests that the genetic signal of a sponge sensory cell is dissimilar enough to be unrecognizable when compared to a bilaterian sensory or neural cell. It is possible that sensory-neural markers have as yet unknown functions in sponge cells, such as assembling an immunological synapse in the larval globular cell. Furthermore, the expression of sensory-neural markers in non-sensory cells, such as adult and larval epithelial cells, suggest that these cells may have uncharacterized sensory functions. While this does not rule out the co-option of ancestral sensory modules in later evolving groups, a distinct genetic foundation may underlie the sponge sensory system.
Topics: Animals; Evolution, Molecular; Gene Expression; Phylogeny; Porifera; Sensation; Sensory Receptor Cells; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 28647138
DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2017.06.012 -
Cell Mar 2015The perception of flavor is perhaps the most multisensory of our everyday experiences. The latest research by psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists increasingly...
The perception of flavor is perhaps the most multisensory of our everyday experiences. The latest research by psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists increasingly reveals the complex multisensory interactions that give rise to the flavor experiences we all know and love, demonstrating how they rely on the integration of cues from all of the human senses. This Perspective explores the contributions of distinct senses to our perception of food and the growing realization that the same rules of multisensory integration that have been thoroughly explored in interactions between audition, vision, and touch may also explain the combination of the (admittedly harder to study) flavor senses. Academic advances are now spilling out into the real world, with chefs and food industry increasingly taking the latest scientific findings on board in their food design.
Topics: Culture; Food Industry; Humans; Sensation; Taste; Taste Perception
PubMed: 25815982
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.03.007 -
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2021Changes in the rheological properties of dough, as well as the microstructural, mechanical, and sensory properties of sponge cakes, as a function of the substitution of...
Changes in the rheological properties of dough, as well as the microstructural, mechanical, and sensory properties of sponge cakes, as a function of the substitution of sucrose in a formulation with maltitol, erythritol, and trehalose are described. Moreover, the relationship between the examined properties was investigated. The replacement of sucrose with maltitol or trehalose did not affect the consistency index, whereas erythritol caused a decrease in its value. X-ray tomography was used to obtain the 2D and 3D microstructures of sponge cakes. All studied sweeteners caused the sponge cakes to have a typical porous structure. Erythritol and maltitol resulted in about 50% of the pores being smaller than 0.019 mm and 50% of the pores being larger than 0.032 mm. Trehalose resulted in a homogeneous microstructure, 98% of whose pores were similar in size (0.019 to 0.032 mm). The sponge cakes with polyols had a higher structure index than did the trehalose and sucrose samples. There were also significant differences in color parameters (lightness and chromaticity). The crust of the sponge cake with sweeteners was lighter and had a less saturated color than the crust of the sponge cake with sucrose. The sponge cake with maltitol was the most similar to the sponge cake with sucrose, mainly due to the mechanical and sensory properties. Trehalose led to the samples having high adhesiveness, which may limit its application as a sucrose substitute in sponge cake. Sensory properties were strongly correlated to cohesiveness, adhesiveness, and springiness and did not correlate to the 2D and 3D microstructures. It was found that 100% replacement of sucrose allows for a porous structure to be obtained. These results confirm that it is not the structure, but most of all the flavor, that determines the sensory perception of the sponge cakes.
Topics: Bread; Chemical Phenomena; Flour; Humans; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Mechanical Phenomena; Rheology; Sensation; Sweetening Agents; Taste
PubMed: 34771047
DOI: 10.3390/molecules26216638 -
The Journal of Neuroscience : the... Nov 2022Human childhood is characterized by dramatic changes in the mind and brain. However, little is known about the large-scale intrinsic cortical network changes that occur...
Human childhood is characterized by dramatic changes in the mind and brain. However, little is known about the large-scale intrinsic cortical network changes that occur during childhood because of methodological challenges in scanning young children. Here, we overcome this barrier by using sophisticated acquisition and analysis tools to investigate functional network development in children between the ages of 4 and 10 years ([Formula: see text]; 50 female, 42 male). At multiple spatial scales, age is positively associated with brain network segregation. At the system level, age was associated with segregation of systems involved in attention from those involved in abstract cognition, and with integration among attentional and perceptual systems. Associations between age and functional connectivity are most pronounced in visual and medial prefrontal cortex, the two ends of a gradient from perceptual, externally oriented cortex to abstract, internally oriented cortex. These findings suggest that both ends of the sensory-association gradient may develop early, in contrast to the classical theories that cortical maturation proceeds from back to front, with sensory areas developing first and association areas developing last. More mature patterns of brain network architecture, controlling for age, were associated with better visuospatial reasoning abilities. Our results suggest that as cortical architecture becomes more specialized, children become more able to reason about the world and their place in it. Anthropologists have called the transition from early to middle childhood the "age of reason", when children across cultures become more independent. We employ cutting-edge neuroimaging acquisition and analysis approaches to investigate associations between age and functional brain architecture in childhood. Age was positively associated with segregation between cortical systems that process the external world and those that process abstract phenomena like the past, future, and minds of others. Surprisingly, we observed pronounced development at both ends of the sensory-association gradient, challenging the theory that sensory areas develop first and association areas develop last. Our results open new directions for research into how brains reorganize to support rapid gains in cognitive and socioemotional skills as children reach the age of reason.
Topics: Humans; Child; Male; Female; Child, Preschool; Cognition; Brain Mapping; Brain; Sensation; Problem Solving; Magnetic Resonance Imaging
PubMed: 36192151
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0511-22.2022