Understanding What We See: How We Derive Meaning From Vision

Clarke, Alex; Tyler, Lorraine K.

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2015.08.008

Cited by 145 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…In Experiment 2, we matched the low-level features between our contexts and objects, and we found that the evidence for context and associative representations disappeared, suggesting that the results from Experiment 1 were influenced by differences in the low-level features that comprised the events. In contrast, we observed evidence for fine-grained object representation in PRC in the absence of a low-level confound, thus corroborating theories that suggest that PRC contains fine-grained semantic representations of objects (e.g., Clarke and Tyler, 2015). …”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…Furthermore, they used a modeling approach to show that BOLD activation in PRC was modulated by the confusability of objects. Taken together, their results suggest a role for PRC in fine-grained semantic representations of objects (for review see: Clarke and Tyler, 2015). Similarly, research in patient populations has revealed a necessary role for the anterior temporal cortex, and PRC in particular, in naming highly confusable objects (Kivisaari et al, 2012; Wright et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

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The influence of low-level stimulus features on the representation of contexts, items, and their mnemonic associations

Huffman

Stark

2017

NeuroImage

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Since the earliest attempts to characterize the “receptive fields” of neurons, a central aim of many neuroscience experiments is to elucidate the information that is represented in various regions of the brain. Recent studies suggest that, in the service of memory, information is represented in the medial temporal lobe in a conjunctive or associative form with the contextual aspects of the experience being the primary factor or highest level of the conjunctive hierarchy. A critical question is whether the information that has been observed in these studies reflects notions such as a cognitive representation of context or whether the information reflects the low-level sensory differences between stimuli. We performed two functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments to address this question and we found that associative representations observed between context and item (and order) in the human brain can be highly influenced by low-level sensory differences between stimuli. Our results place clear constraints on the experimental design of studies that aim to investigate the representation of contexts and items during performance of associative memory tasks. Moreover, our results raise interesting theoretical questions regarding the disambiguation of memory-related representations from processing-related representations.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

The influence of low-level stimulus features on the representation of contexts, items, and their mnemonic associations

Huffman

Stark

2017

NeuroImage

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“…[8] Recently it has been suggested that the medial perirhinal cortex, the first region of NFT deposition (Braak stage I)[8], is important in object-related semantic knowledge, particularly for “living items” such as animals, and atrophy in this region correlates with category fluency and naming. [15] While longitudinal decline in naming performance was not associated with Braak stage, naming performance was impaired at baseline and final assessment for individuals with Braak III/IV relative to Braak stage I/II. Collectively, these findings along with immediate delayed recall decline implicate a critical role for temporal lobe involvement in the cognitive difficulties observed in individuals meeting neuropathological criteria for PART.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive decline associated with pathological burden in primary age‐related tauopathy

Jefferson-George

Wolk

Lee

et al. 2017

Alzheimer's & Dementia

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INTRODUCTION Primary age-related tauopathy (PART) is a neuropathological diagnosis characterized by neurofibrillary tau tangles (NFTs) in the absence of amyloid plaque pathology. While most individuals over 50 years of age have evidence of NFTs, the clinical and cognitive consequences of PART are not known. METHODS We evaluated 226 neuropathologically-confirmed PART cases from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center database who participated in a total of 846 longitudinal neuropsychological assessments from the Alzheimer’s Disease Center program‘s Uniform Data Set. Mixed-effects statistical models tested whether cognitive decline was associated with Braak stage NFT burden. RESULTS Higher stages of NFT burden in PART, with no evidence or minimal evidence of amyloid pathology, were associated with more rapid decline on tasks involving episodic and semantic memory along with tests of processing speed and attention. DISCUSSION We conclude that PART has cognitive consequences that should be considered in the context of emerging tau-targeted therapies in age-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

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“…Computational models of semantic cognition propose that concepts are represented by a similarity-based code in an amodal "semantic hub," situated in the apex of the ventral processing stream in the temporal pole (TP) (17,18). Although other regions, such as the temporo-parietal cortex (19), have also been linked to the representation of abstract conceptual knowledge, the TP is most consistently implicated in both patient and neuroimaging studies (17,20,21).These computational models therefore make clear predictions about the expected neural basis of semantic false memory. Namely, the TP semantic hub should contain a similarity-based code, such that the neural representations of DRM words reflect the known semantic relatedness between those words.…”

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confidence: 99%

Semantic representations in the temporal pole predict false memories

Chadwick

Anjum

Kumaran

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Recent advances in neuroscience have given us unprecedented insight into the neural mechanisms of false memory, showing that artificial memories can be inserted into the memory cells of the hippocampus in a way that is indistinguishable from true memories. However, this alone is not enough to explain how false memories can arise naturally in the course of our daily lives. Cognitive psychology has demonstrated that many instances of false memory, both in the laboratory and the real world, can be attributed to semantic interference. Whereas previous studies have found that a diverse set of regions show some involvement in semantic false memory, none have revealed the nature of the semantic representations underpinning the phenomenon. Here we use fMRI with representational similarity analysis to search for a neural code consistent with semantic false memory. We find clear evidence that false memories emerge from a similarity-based neural code in the temporal pole, a region that has been called the "semantic hub" of the brain. We further show that each individual has a partially unique semantic code within the temporal pole, and this unique code can predict idiosyncratic patterns of memory errors. Finally, we show that the same neural code can also predict variation in true-memory performance, consistent with an adaptive perspective on false memory. Taken together, our findings reveal the underlying structure of neural representations of semantic knowledge, and how this semantic structure can both enhance and distort our memories.false memory | semantic | temporal pole | fMRI | pattern similarity E ach of us has a vast store of semantic knowledge that we apply to incoming sensory data to extract meaning from the world around us. Semantic representations are capable of capturing important structural features of the world at many different levels of abstraction, which allows for rapid and flexible responses to a diverse array of environmental challenges. This preexisting knowledge structure guides ongoing cognition, which usually aids performance, but under some circumstances can lead us into error (1-3). A striking example is the widely studied DRM (Deese, Roediger, and McDermott) false-memory illusion (4, 5). In a typical DRM task, subjects are asked to memorize a set of words such as "snow," "winter," "ice," and "warm." After a delay, subjects will typically falsely remember having seen the semantically related word "cold." It is widely agreed that this memory illusion is driven by the semantic relatedness between words contained in the encoding list (e.g., "snow") and falsely remembered words that were not actually presented (e.g., "cold"). As such, it is thought that each list item automatically, but weakly, activates the semantically related concept (Fig. 1A). This activation leads to memory confusion, either through a cumulative priming of the related lure (5, 6) or the encoding of the semantic overlap as a "gist" memory (3), resulting in a false memory unless the error is detected by some internal monitoring p...

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Understanding What We See: How We Derive Meaning From Vision

Cited by 145 publications

References 94 publications

The influence of low-level stimulus features on the representation of contexts, items, and their mnemonic associations

The influence of low-level stimulus features on the representation of contexts, items, and their mnemonic associations

Cognitive decline associated with pathological burden in primary age‐related tauopathy

Semantic representations in the temporal pole predict false memories

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