Selective Biasing of a Specific Bistable-Figure Percept Involves fMRI Signal Changes in Frontostriatal Circuits: A Step Toward Unlocking the Neural Correlates of Top-Down Control and Self-Regulation

Abstract

Attention, suggestion, context and expectation can all exert top-down influence on bottom-up processes (e.g., stimulus-driven mechanisms). Identifying the functional neuroanatomy that subserves top-down influences on sensory information processing can unlock the neural substrates of how suggestion can modulate behavior. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we scanned 10 healthy participants (five men) viewing five bistable figures. Participants received a directional cue to perceive a particular spatial orientation a few seconds before the bistable figure appeared. After presentation, participants pressed a button to indicate their locking into the one desired orientation of the two possible interpretations. Participants additionally performed tests of impulse control and sustained attention. Our findings reveal the role of specific frontostriatal structures in selecting a particular orientation for bistable figures, including dorsolateral prefrontal regions and the putamen. Additional contrasts further bolstered the role of the frontostriatal system m the top-down processing of competing visual perceptions. Separate correlations of behavioral variables with fMRI activations support the idea that the frontostriatal system may mediate attentional control when selecting among competing visual perceptions. These results may generalize to other psychological functions. With special relevance to clinical neuroscience and applications involving attention, expectation and suggestion (e.g., hypnosis), our results address the importance of frontostriatal circuitry in behavioral modulation. KeywordsTop-down effect; cognitive control; coruco-striato-thalamocortical (CSTC) circuits; attention; expectation; hypnosis; self-regulation; impulse control 1 The ability to manipulate one's own emotions, thoughts, or actions upon direction from the self or another person. Emotion regulation can be a form of self-regulation, but it could also be induced by a caregiver's actions. 2 The reduction in the probability, speed, or vigor of the normal response to a stimulus based upon instruction from the self or other. It is often measured by scale scores on a questionnaire or by a task that requires one to withhold or delay a response. 3 The literature typically uses the appellation "emotional-regulation" to mean the reduction, increase, or sustaining of an emotional response (e.g., fear, anger, or pleasure) based upon the actions of the self or another. 4 The ability to inhibit, activate or sustain a response, including the capacity to inhibit a dominant response in order to perform a subdominant response. In temperament research individual differences in effortful control are measured as a factor score that combines scales dealing with attention and the ability to regulate behavior on command.NIH Public Access

Neural Mechanisms for Binocular Depth, Rivalry and Multistability

“…Other depth studies used methods more similar to those used for binocular rivalry, such as multivoxel pattern analysis [8], event-related adaptation [15], event-related designs in which brain activation was correlated to changes in perceived depth [5,16], or adaptation in a block design to assess population responsiveness to different types of depth stimuli [14]. These differences in methodology also mean that subjects performed a task in rivalry or multistabiity studies using event-related designs [5,19,20,22,[28][29][30]32,33,36], or block designs [1,2,26,31,34,35], but subjects did not perform tasks in depth studies [3,6,[9][10][11][12][13]17], although there are a few exceptions to this generalization for depth [2,4,5,7,17]. Also, a few rivalry or multistability studies did not use a task [21,37,61], and some rivalry studies used fixation tasks unrelated to the perception of rivalry [23,28].…”

“…These frontal and parietal areas were the most frequently reported sites of activation in these studies. However, several studies confirmed that activation also occurs in occipital areas, including ventral occipital (fusiform gyrus) [1,29,32,36], medial temporal areas (hMT+) [19,30,32,33,[35][36][37][38] and areas V1, V2, V3, V3A or V4-d topo [1,5,31,32,37,38].…”

“…In general, multistability studies have used methods which are quite similar to those used in rivalry studies. For example, a large number of multistability studies used event-related designs correlating brain activation to reversals [29,30,32,33,36], while others used block designs comparing multistability to baseline conditions [31,34,35,37], or multivariate pattern analysis to predict perceptual states [38].…”

“…These parietal areas included superior parietal lobe [1,19,30,32,[34][35][36][37][38], intraparietal sulcus [1,19,29,30,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38] and temporoparietal junction [19,29,30,32,33,[35][36][37]. The frontal sites of activation which also could be related to attention included dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or middle frontal gyrus [1,19,31,32,[34][35][36], ventrolateral prefrontal cortex or inferior frontal gyrus [1,19,30,33]. Again, as was seen earlier for rivalry, a number of frontal areas were present which could be associated with attention or the preparation and execution of motor reports, such as frontal eye fields, anterior cingulate [1,19,29,[30][31][32]…”

“…The frontal sites of activation which also could be related to attention included dorsolateral prefrontal cortex or middle frontal gyrus [1,19,31,32,[34][35][36], ventrolateral prefrontal cortex or inferior frontal gyrus [1,19,30,33]. Again, as was seen earlier for rivalry, a number of frontal areas were present which could be associated with attention or the preparation and execution of motor reports, such as frontal eye fields, anterior cingulate [1,19,29,[30][31][32][33][34] and supplementary motor area [1,33,35,36]. These frontal and parietal areas were the most frequently reported sites of activation in these studies.…”