Subthreshold noise facilitates the detection and discrimination of visual signals

Sasaki, Hirokazu; Sakane, Sadatsugu; Ishida, Takuya; Todorokihara, Masayoshi; Kitamura, Taku; Aoki, Ryôzô

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2008.03.036

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Although uncertainty is discomforting, it is equally true that monotony is an even greater affliction 105,106 . Humans and other animals have evolved to cope with external and internal noise, and hence uncertainty in the environment may benefit neural computations [107][108][109][110][111][112] . Perhaps this is why Homo sapiens continuously strives to cross frontiers, reach higher ground, is addicted to exploration and invests so much store in scientific research -activities that abolish old uncertainties and endlessly create new ones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowing how much you don't know: a neural organization of uncertainty estimates

2012

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How we estimate uncertainty is important in decision neuroscience and has wide-ranging implications in basic and clinical neuroscience, from computational models of optimality to ideas on psychopathological disorders including anxiety, depression and schizophrenia. Empirical research in neuroscience, which has been based on divergent theoretical assumptions, has focused on the fundamental question of how uncertainty is encoded in the brain and how it influences behaviour. Here, we integrate several theoretical concepts about uncertainty into a decision-making framework. We conclude that the currently available evidence indicates that distinct neural encoding (including summary statistic-type representations) of uncertainty occurs in distinct neural systems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowing how much you don't know: a neural organization of uncertainty estimates

2012

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“…Neither channel uncertainty produced by the broadband nature of the 1/f stimulus (Pelli, 1985) nor noise masking (Lu & Dosher, 1999;Schofield & Georgeson, 2003) would be expected to produce facilitation of increment thresholds. Furthermore, stochastic resonance (Blackwell, 1998;Goris, Wagemans, & Wichman, 2008;Sasaki et al, 2008), the phenomenon whereby a certain amount of noise facilitates performance of a complex system, would be expected to occur only for a certain level of background noise; however, in the case of these stimuli, the facilitation seems to occur over a broad range of background noise contrasts.…”

Section: Model Application To Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrast sensitivity for oriented patterns in 1/f noise: Contrast response and the horizontal effect

Haun

Essock

2010

Journal of Vision

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When observers detect an oriented, broadband contrast increment on a background of 1/f spatial noise, thresholds will be lowest for obliquely orientated stimuli and highest for horizontally oriented stimuli-an anisotropy termed the "horizontal effect." Here, we assessed what spatial frequencies within the broadband increment were relied on by observers in performing the original task and which spatial frequencies contribute to the anisotropic performance. We found that against a background of 1/f noise, contrast thresholds are lowest for content around 8 cycles per degree, and that at this spatial frequency a horizontal effect is seen which closely resembles the anisotropy observed in broadband masking. The magnitude of the horizontal effect decreased at lower and higher spatial frequencies. To allow for a fit to a standard "gain control" model of psychophysical contrast discrimination, threshold-versus-contrast (TvC) functions were measured for the 8-cpd noise broadband content against either an identical pattern (i.e., pedestal) or a broadband 1/f noise pattern, whose contrast was varied. Results and model application indicate that the threshold pattern for oriented noise around 8 cpd, and for oriented broadband content, is best explained as the result of an anisotropic contrast gain control process.

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“…One proposed hypothesis is that noise generates small changes in receptor transmembrane characteristics allowing the detection of a weak stimulus (Gravelle et al, 2002 ; Collins et al, 2003 ; Mulavara et al, 2011 ). There is evidence that all three sensory systems responsible for balance (i.e., vision, somatosensation, and vestibular) are capable of improved detection of weak sensory signals through SR, thus helping improve performance of balance control (Collins et al, 2003 ; Priplata et al, 2003 , 2006 ; Sasaki et al, 2006 , 2008 ; Aihara et al, 2008 ; Pal et al, 2009 ; Mulavara et al, 2011 ; Goel et al, 2015 ). Numerous studies have shown the signaling capacity of somatosensory afferents to be enhanced with the addition of noise stimuli delivered just at or below that of perceptual thresholds (Collins et al, 1996a , b ; Dhruv et al, 2002 ; Liu et al, 2002 ; Khaodhiar et al, 2003 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of Stochastic Vestibular Stimulation to Improve Locomotor Performance During Adaptation to Visuomotor and Somatosensory Distortion

et al. 2018

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Astronauts exposed to microgravity face sensorimotor challenges affecting balance control when readapting to Earth's gravity upon return from spaceflight. Small amounts of electrical noise applied to the vestibular system have been shown to improve balance control during standing and walking under discordant sensory conditions in healthy subjects, likely by enhancing information transfer through the phenomenon of stochastic resonance. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that imperceptible levels of stochastic vestibular stimulation (SVS) could improve short-term adaptation to a locomotor task in a novel sensory discordant environment. Healthy subjects (14 males, 10 females, age = 28.7 ± 5.3 years, height = 167.2 ± 9.6 cm, weight = 71.0 ± 12.8 kg) were tested for perceptual thresholds to sinusoidal currents applied across the mastoids. Subjects were then randomly and blindly assigned to an SVS group receiving a 0–30 Hz Gaussian white noise electrical stimulus at 50% of their perceptual threshold (stim) or a control group receiving zero stimulation during Functional Mobility Tests (FMTs), nine trials of which were done under conditions of visual discordance (wearing up/down vision reversing goggles). Time to complete the course (TCC) was used to test the effect of SVS between the two groups across the trials. Adaptation rates from the normalized TCCs were also compared utilizing exponent values of power fit trendline equations. A one-tailed independent-samples t-test indicated these adaptation rates were significantly faster in the stim group (n = 12) than the control (n = 12) group [t(16.18) = 2.00, p = 0.031]. When a secondary analysis was performed comparing “responders” (subjects who showed faster adaptation rates) of the stim (n = 7) group to the control group (n = 12), independent-samples t-tests revealed significantly faster trial times for the last five trials with goggles in the stim group “responders” than the controls. The data suggests that SVS may be capable of improving short-term adaptation to a locomotion task done under sensory discordance in a group of responsive subjects.

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Subthreshold noise facilitates the detection and discrimination of visual signals

Cited by 14 publications

References 23 publications

Knowing how much you don't know: a neural organization of uncertainty estimates

Knowing how much you don't know: a neural organization of uncertainty estimates

Contrast sensitivity for oriented patterns in 1/f noise: Contrast response and the horizontal effect

Efficacy of Stochastic Vestibular Stimulation to Improve Locomotor Performance During Adaptation to Visuomotor and Somatosensory Distortion

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