Biology subjects

van Kemenade, B. M.

Publications and source records attributed to van Kemenade, B. M..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

The effects of action-based predictions in early visual cortex

During voluntary movement, predictions about the sensory consequences of an action typically result in reduced sensory sensitivity. The forward model theory proposes that this reduced sensitivity is due to neural suppression or cancellation of sensory action outcomes. However, recently this theory has been challenged by three alternative theories: the pre-activation account, sharpening, and the opposing processes theory. In this fMRI study, we directly tested and compared these four theories using univariate and multivariate analyses both prior to and during stimulus presentation. Participants performed a visual orientation discrimination task on two sequentially presented gratings, which were either presented automatically (passive condition) or triggered by their own button press (active condition). Auditory cues at trial onset indicated the overall grating orientation, followed by a preparatory phase in which participants anticipated the upcoming stimuli. During this phase, the predicted stimulus orientation was decodable from early visual cortex activity in both active and passive conditions at levels significantly above chance, indicating pre-activation of the predicted orientation, but with no difference between active and passive conditions. BOLD responses did not emerge earlier in active conditions, arguing against the pre-activation theory. During stimulus presentation, actively generated stimuli elicited larger BOLD responses than passively presented ones, contradicting the forward model theory, which predicts overall response suppression. Decoding accuracy did not differ between conditions, inconsistent with the sharpening hypothesis, which predicts enhanced neural precision for actively generated stimuli. Instead, our findings align most closely with the opposing processes theory, which posits pre-activation in both conditions. However, the stronger BOLD response for actively generated stimuli is not predicted by any existing theory, suggesting that additional mechanisms--such as heightened attention or motor-related enhancement--may contribute to sensory processing during self-initiated actions.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

The effect of self- vs. externally generated actions on timing, duration and amplitude of BOLD response for visual feedback processing

It has been widely assumed that internal forward models use efference copies to create predictions about the sensory consequences of our own actions. While these predictions had been frequently associated with reduced neural processing in sensory cortices, the timing and duration of the hemodynamic response of self-generated as opposed to externally generated movements is poorly investigated. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that predictive mechanisms for self-generated actions lead to early and shorter neural processing compared with externally generated movements. Using a first and second-order Taylor approximation in terms of the temporal (TD) and dispersion (DD) derivatives of a canonical hemodynamic response function, we investigated the timing and duration of activation for self-generated and externally generated movements using a custom-made fMRI-compatible movement device. Visual video feedback of the active and passive hand movements were presented in real time or with variable delays (0 - 417 ms). Participants had to judge, whether the feedback was delayed. We found earlier feedback processing for self-generated compared to externally generated movements in several regions including the supplementary motor area, cerebellum, subcortical structures such as the putamen and visual cortices. Shorter processing was found in areas, which show also lower blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) amplitudes, such as the SMA, occipital and parietal cortex. Specifically, earlier activation in the putamen, of self-generated movements was associated with worse performance in detecting delays. These findings support our hypothesis, that efference copy based predictive mechanisms enable earlier processing of action feedback, as potential source for behavioral effects.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Action-based predictions affect visual perception, neural processing, and pupil size, regardless of temporal predictability

Sensory consequences of ones own action are often perceived as less intense, and lead to reduced neural responses, compared to externally generated stimuli. Presumably, such sensory attenuation is due to predictive mechanisms based on the motor command (efference copy). However, sensory attenuation has also been observed outside the context of voluntary action, namely when stimuli are temporally predictable. Here, we aimed at disentangling the effects of motor and temporal predictability-based mechanisms on the attenuation of sensory action consequences. During fMRI data acquisition, participants (N = 25) judged which of two visual stimuli was brighter. In predictable blocks, the stimuli appeared temporally aligned with their button press (active) or aligned with an automatically generated cue (passive). In unpredictable blocks, stimuli were presented with a variable delay after button press/cue, respectively. Eye tracking was performed to investigate pupil-size changes and to ensure proper fixation. Self-generated stimuli were perceived as darker and led to less neural activation in visual areas than their passive counterparts, indicating sensory attenuation for self-generated stimuli independent of temporal predictability. Pupil size was larger during self-generated stimuli, which correlated negatively with blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) response: the larger the pupil, the smaller the BOLD amplitude in visual areas. Our results suggest that sensory attenuation in visual cortex is driven by action-based predictive mechanisms rather than by temporal predictability. This effect may be related to changes in pupil diameter. Altogether, these results emphasize the role of the efference copy in the processing of sensory action consequences.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Non-stimulated regions in early visual cortex encode the contents of conscious visual perception

Predictions shape our perception. The theory of predictive processing poses that our brains make sense of incoming sensory input by generating predictions, which are sent back from higher to lower levels of the processing hierarchy. These predictions are based on our internal model of the world and enable inferences about the hidden causes of the sensory input data. It has been proposed that conscious perception corresponds to the currently most probable internal model of the world. Accordingly, predictions influencing conscious perception should be fed back from higher to lower levels of the processing hierarchy. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivoxel pattern analysis to show that non-stimulated regions of early visual areas contain information about the conscious perception of an ambiguous visual stimulus. These results indicate that early sensory cortices in the human brain receive predictive feedback signals that reflect the current contents of conscious perception.

neuroscience↗