The extrastriate symmetry response is robust to variation in visual memory load

Derpsch, Yiovanna; Rampone, Giulia; Piovesan, Andrea; Bertamini, Marco; Makin, Alexis D. J.

doi:10.1111/psyp.13941

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…The SPN is very robust to experimental manipulations of task, but not completely indifferent to them [149,[157][158][159]. Makin et al [141] found that the parametric SPN response was comparable across five tasks but selectively enhanced when participants attended to regularity (Figure 4).…”

Section: Top-down Effects On Spn Amplitudementioning

confidence: 98%

Symmetry Perception and Psychedelic Experience

et al. 2023

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This review of symmetry perception has six parts. Psychophysical studies have investigated symmetry perception for over 100 years (part 1). Neuroscientific studies on symmetry perception have accumulated in the last 20 years. Functional MRI and EEG experiments have conclusively shown that regular visual arrangements, such as reflectional symmetry, Glass patterns, and the 17 wallpaper groups all activate the extrastriate visual cortex. This activation generates an event-related potential (ERP) called sustained posterior negativity (SPN). SPN amplitude scales with the degree of regularity in the display, and the SPN is generated whether participants attend to symmetry or not (part 2). It is likely that some forms of symmetry are detected automatically, unconsciously, and pre-attentively (part 3). It might be that the brain is hardwired to detect reflectional symmetry (part 4), and this could contribute to its aesthetic appeal (part 5). Visual symmetry and fractal geometry are prominent in hallucinations induced by the psychedelic drug N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and visual flicker (part 6). Integrating what we know about symmetry processing with features of induced hallucinations is a new frontier in neuroscience. We propose that the extrastriate cortex can generate aesthetically fascinating symmetrical representations spontaneously, in the absence of external symmetrical stimuli.

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Section: Top-down Effects On Spn Amplitudementioning

confidence: 98%

Symmetry Perception and Psychedelic Experience

et al. 2023

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“…Figure from Makin et al (2022). Derpsch et al (2019) found that whilst the brain response to symmetry can be enhanced when symmetry is presented in attended regions of the screen, it is still robust when symmetry is presented unattended regions. In addition, Derpsch et al (2021) found that the SPN is not diminished by a concurrent visual working memory task, suggesting the SPN is also robust to variations in visual memory load.…”

Section: Hosted Filementioning

confidence: 99%

The extrastriate symmetry response is robust to alcohol intoxication.

Karakashevska,

Derpsch,

Jones

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Visual symmetry activates a network of regions in the extrastriate cortex and generates an event related potential (ERP) called the sustained posterior negativity (SPN). Previous work has found that the SPN is robust to experimental manipulations of task, spatial attention, and memory load. In the current study, we investigated whether the SPN is also robust to alcohol induced changes in mental state. A pilot experiment (N = 13) found that alcohol unexpectedly increased SPN amplitude. We followed this unexpected result with two new experiments on separate groups, using an alcohol challenge paradigm. One group completed an Oddball discrimination task (N = 26). Another group completed a Regularity discrimination task (N =26). In both groups participants consumed a medium dose of alcohol (0.65 g/kg body weight) and placebo drink, in separate sessions. Alcohol reduced SPN amplitude in the Oddball task (contrary to the pilot results) but had no effect on SPN amplitude in the Regularity task. In contrast, the N1 wave was consistently dampened by alcohol in all experiments. Exploratory analysis indicated that the inconsistent effect of alcohol on SPN amplitude may be partly explained by individual differences in alcohol use. Alcohol reduced the SPN in light drinkers and increased it in heavier drinkers. Despite remaining questions, the results highlight the automaticity of symmetry processing. Symmetry still produces a large SPN response, even when participants are intoxicated, and even when symmetry is not task relevant.

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“…Almost half the SPNs (125/249) were recorded in experiments where participants were engaged in active regularity discrimination (e.g., press one key to report symmetry and another to report random). The other 124 SPNs were recorded in conditions where participants were performing a different task, such as discriminating the colour of the dots or holding information in visual working memory ( Derpsch et al, 2021 ). In most projects the stimuli were presented for at least 1 second and the judgment was entered in a non-speeded fashion after stimulus offset.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from a catalogue of 6674 brain recordings

Makin

Tyson‐Carr

Rampone

et al. 2022

eLife

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It is now possible for scientists to publicly catalogue all the data they have ever collected on one phenomenon. For a decade, we have been measuring a brain response to visual symmetry called the sustained posterior negativity (SPN). Here we report how we have made a total of 6674 individual SPNs from 2215 participants publicly available, along with data extraction and visualization tools (https://osf.io/2sncj/). We also report how re-analysis of the SPN catalogue has shed light on aspects of the scientific process, such as statistical power and publication bias, and revealed new scientific insights.

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The extrastriate symmetry response is robust to variation in visual memory load

Cited by 4 publications

References 61 publications

Symmetry Perception and Psychedelic Experience

Symmetry Perception and Psychedelic Experience

The extrastriate symmetry response is robust to alcohol intoxication.

Lessons from a catalogue of 6674 brain recordings

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