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"What" becoming "where": functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence for pragmatic relevance driving premotor cortex.

Previous studies using the serial prediction task (SPT) have shown that attending to the locations of objects activates the dorsal part of premotor cortex more than attending to the sizes of objects. The opposite holds for the ventral part of the premotor cortex. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate whether the learning of arbitrary stimulus-response mappings influences this functional dissociation. One experimental group learned to assign stimuli to response buttons based on stimulus size; another group did so based on stimulus location. More specifically, one-half of the participants in both experimental groups learned to assign stimuli to finger movements of their right hand, whereas the other half assigned stimuli to finger movements of their left hand. During scanning, all participants performed both size SPT and location SPT. Thus, we investigated the effects of the attended stimulus property (size or location), the motor effector assigned to it (fingers of left or right hand), and the spatial arrangement of the targets (the same in all groups). As expected, without motor training, the dorsal premotor cortex was less activated during size SPT compared with location SPT. The opposite held for ventral premotor cortex. With motor training, however, this differential activity pattern vanished. Activity in dorsal premotor cortex reflected neither the attended stimulus property nor the motor effector assigned to it. Instead, its activity may be related to the spatial properties of the response targets once some object property, such as size, takes on the "pragmatic relevance" of a spatially directed response.

Adult↗

Cue-invariant networks for figure and background processing in human visual cortex.

Lateral occipital cortical areas are involved in the perception of objects, but it is not clear how these areas interact with first tier visual areas. Using synthetic images portraying a simple texture-defined figure and an electrophysiological paradigm that allows us to monitor cortical responses to figure and background regions separately, we found distinct neuronal networks responsible for the processing of each region. The figure region of our displays was tagged with one temporal frequency (3.0 Hz) and the background region with another (3.6 Hz). Spectral analysis was used to separate the responses to the two regions during their simultaneous presentation. Distributed source reconstructions were made by using the minimum norm method, and cortical current density was measured in a set of visual areas defined on retinotopic and functional criteria with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results of the main experiments, combined with a set of control experiments, indicate that the figure region, but not the background, was routed preferentially to lateral cortex. A separate network extending from first tier through more dorsal areas responded preferentially to the background region. The figure-related responses were mostly invariant with respect to the texture types used to define the figure, did not depend on its spatial location or size, and mostly were unaffected by attentional instructions. Because of the emergent nature of a segmented figure in our displays, feedback from higher cortical areas is a likely candidate for the selection mechanism by which the figure region is routed to lateral occipital cortex.

Adult↗

Predicting the extension of equivalence classes from primary generalization gradients: the merger of equivalence classes and perceptual classes.

In Experiment 1, 6 college students were given generalization tests using 25 line lengths as samples with a long line, a short line, and a "neither" option as comparisons. The neither option was to be used if a sample did not go with the other comparisons. Then, four-member equivalence classes were formed. Class 1 included three nonsense words and the short line. Class 2 included three other nonsense words and the long line. After repeating the generalization test for line length, additional tests were conducted using members of the equivalence classes (i.e., nonsense words and lines) as comparisons and intermediate-length lines as samples. All Class 2 comparisons were selected in the presence of the test lines that also evoked the selection of the long line in the generalization test that had been given before equivalence class formation. Class 1 yielded complementary findings. Thus, the preclass primary generalization gradient predicted which test lines acted as members of each equivalence class. Regardless of using comparisons that were nonsense words or lines, the post-class-formation gradients overlapped, showing the substitutability of class members. Experiment 2 assessed the discriminability of the intermediate-length test lines from the Class 1 (shortest) and Class 2 (longest) lines. The test lines that functioned as members of an equivalence class were discriminable from the line that was a member of the same class by training. Thus, these test lines also acted as members of a dimensionally defined class of "long" or "short" lines. Extension of an equivalence class, then, involved its merger with a dimensionally defined class, which converted a close-ended class to an open-ended class. These data suggest a means of predicting class membership in naturally occurring categories.

Conditioning, Operant↗

Amount of verbal information and ear-differences in 5- and 6-year old boys and girls.

Tow experiments were performed. The first was to determine the effects of varying the amount of information in verbal instructions presented monaurally on differences between ears and sex in 5-yr.-old boys and girls. Verbal instructions were given for the performance of a visual-motor task. The results indicated that the amount of verbal information affects ear-asymmetry in girls and not boys. The second experiment was performed to determine the effects of varying the amount of verbal information in verbal instructions presented monaurally on differences between ears, sexes, and reading ability of 6-yr.-old boys and girls. The findings indicated that above average readers performed better than below average readers. Ear-asymmetry was observed across sex and reading abilities for sentences containing 7 and 8 stimulus attributes. No ear-asymmetry was observed in sentences containg 9 stimulus attributes. The results appear to support the progressive lateralization hypothesis which states that ear-asymmetry is dependent on task conditions. The results also support sex differences in the development of brain lateralization.

Aptitude↗

Reaction time as a function of peripheral retinal locus around fovea: effect of stimulus size.

Using targets of four sizes between 18' and 116' at a fixed luminance of 5.8 cd/m2, human visual reaction times (RT) were measured on a circle at 30 degrees eccentric to the fovea. A foveal and 12 peripheral retinal loci were explored, covering the range between 0 degrees and 330 degrees in steps of 30 degrees units on a circle about the fovea. RT decreased significantly by the stimulation to the quadrant retinal loci between nasal and superior side. RT decreased as a function of increasing target size and the amount of decrement was relatively larger in the periphery than in the fovea.

Female↗

Volume discrimination in golden hamsters.

To 8 subjects (golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratus), having learned to discriminate between two cubic volumes of very different size, test-situations were presented to determine if the three spatial dimensions were taken into account during learning. The results show that width is the most used dimension.

Animals↗

Role of familiar size in spatial judgments under natural viewing conditions.

The purpose of the present experiment was to examine the role of familiar size in judgments of size and egocentric distance under natural (non-reduced) viewing conditions. Independent groups (ns = 14) judged normal and large off-size chairs and control objects presented at a distance of 25.6 m. Subjects also judged the size of unfamiliar objects (adjacent stimuli) attached to the chairs and stakes. The results indicate that the effects of familiar size are specific to spatial judgments of the familiar object itself since judgments of the adjacent stimuli were unaffected by familiar size.

Cues↗