Strategic mindset facilitates social feedback processing and self-concept adjustment The mindsets related to individuals’ abilities and personalities can explain why some people are more open to learning from others and improving themselves. A strategic mindset, which involves frequently asking oneself strategy-eliciting questions, has been linked to better academic performance among students. Yet the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying the strategic mindset in the domain of social interaction remain unclear. Here, we investigated the relationships among a strategic mindset, social feedback processing, and self-concept adjustment. Our event-related potential study (n = 41) showed a negative correlation between a strategic mindset and the neural indicator of social conflict (ie the N400 component). Moreover, a strategic mindset selectively responds to positive social feedback, supported by its positive correlations with the amplitude of the late positive potential in response to desirable feedback. Our behavioral study (n = 45) further demonstrated that individuals with a higher level of strategic mindset were more likely to update their self-concept based on conflicting opinions presented by others. We differentiated a strategic mindset from a growth mindset and showed that it explained unique variance in two studies. These findings may have practical implications for interventions aimed at encouraging individuals to ask strategy-eliciting questions and facilitating personal growth.
Cerebral topographies of perceived and felt emotions Emotions modulate behavioral priorities based on exteroceptive and interoceptive inputs, and the related central and peripheral changes may be experienced subjectively. Yet, it remains unresolved whether the perceptual and subjectively felt components of the emotion processes rely on shared brain mechanisms. We applied functional magnetic resonance imaging, a rich set of emotional movies, and high-dimensional, continuous ratings of perceived and felt emotions in the movies to investigate their cerebral organization. Emotions evoked during natural movie scene perception were represented in the brain across numerous spatial scales and patterns. Perceived and felt emotions generalized both between individuals and between different stimuli depicting the same emotions. The neural affective space demonstrated an anatomical gradient from emotion-general responses in polysensory areas and default mode regions to more emotion-specific discrete processing in subcortical regions. Differences in brain activation during felt and perceived emotions suggest that temporoparietal areas and precuneus have a key role in evaluating the affective value of the sensory input, and subjective emotional state generation is associated with further and significantly stronger recruitment of the temporoparietal junction, anterior prefrontal cortices, cerebellum, and thalamus. These data reveal the similarities and differences of domain-general and emotion-specific affect networks in the brain during a wide range of perceived and felt emotions.
The role of episodic retrieval in evaluative conditioning: evaluative conditioning effects differ depending on the temporal distance to the last stimulus pairing Liking of a previously neutral stimulus can change based on co-occurrences with positive or negative stimuli, a phenomenon denoted evaluative conditioning (EC). Prior research suggests that EC depends on information about previous stimulus pairings that is remembered when the neutral stimulus is evaluated. According to recent findings from contingency learning, the temporal distance to the last occurrence of a given stimulus determines which information about its previous occurrences is retrieved, favouring recent information after short temporal delays and frequent information after longer delays. In this research, we tested whether EC follows the same retrieval principles. Across three online experiments, we found that EC reflected the valence of the most recently paired valence, but not of the most frequently paired valence, when measured shortly after a pairing. Conversely, when measured after a longer temporal interval, EC reflected the most frequently paired valence, but not the most recently paired valence. These results support a role of episodic memory and retrieval in EC. Our research highlights parallels to contingency learning and suggests that episodic memory processes govern various types of learning resulting from stimulus contingencies.
The visuomotor transformations underlying target-directed behavior The visual system can process diverse stimuli and make the decision to execute appropriate behaviors, but it remains unclear where and how this transformation takes place. Innate visually evoked behaviors such as hunting, freezing, and escape are thought to be deeply conserved, and have been described in a range of species from insects to humans. We found that zebrafish larvae would respond to predator-like visual stimuli with immobility and bradycardia, both hallmarks of freezing, in a head-fixed behavioral paradigm. We then imaged the zebrafish visual system while larvae responded to different visual stimuli with hunting, freezing, and escape behaviors and systematically identified visually driven neurons and behaviorally correlated sensorimotor neurons. Our analyses indicate that within the optic tectum, broadly tuned sensory neurons are functionally correlated with sensorimotor neurons which respond specifically during one behavior, indicating that it contains suitable information for sensorimotor transformation. We also identified sensorimotor neurons in four other areas downstream of the tectum, and these neurons are also specific for one behavior, indicating that the segregation of the pathways continues in other areas. While our findings shed light on how sensorimotor neurons may integrate visual inputs, further investigation will be required to determine how sensorimotor neurons in different regions interact and where the decision to behave is made.
Effect of extrinsic reward on motor plasticity during skill learning Human motor skill acquisition is improved by performance feedback and coupling such feedback with extrinsic reward (such as money) can enhance skill learning. However, the neurophysiology underlying such behavioral effect is unclear. To bridge this gap, we assessed the effects of reward on multiple forms of motor plasticity during skill learning. Sixty-five healthy participants divided in three groups performed a pinch-grip skill task with sensory feedback only, sensory and reinforcement feedback or both feedback coupled with an extrinsic monetary reward during skill training. To probe motor plasticity, we applied transcranial magnetic stimulation at rest, on the left primary motor cortex before, at an early training time-point and after training in the three groups and measured Motor Evoked Potentials from task relevant muscle of the right arm. This allowed us to evaluate the amplitude and variability of corticospinal output, GABA-ergic short-intracortical inhibition and use-dependent plasticity before training and at two additional time points (early- and end-training). At the behavioral level, monetary reward accelerated skill learning. In parallel, corticospinal output became less variable early on during training in the presence of extrinsic reward. Interestingly, this effect was particularly pronounced for participants who were more sensitive to reward, as evaluated in an independent questionnaire. Other measures of motor excitability remained comparable across groups. These findings highlight that a mechanism underlying the benefit of reward on motor skill learning is the fine tuning of early-training resting-state corticospinal variability.
The value of initiating a pursuit in temporal decision-making Reward-rate maximization is a prominent normative principle in behavioral ecology, neuroscience, economics, and AI. Here, we identify, compare, and analyze equations to maximize reward rate when assessing whether to initiate a pursuit. In deriving expressions for the value of a pursuit, we show that time’s cost consists of both apportionment and opportunity cost. Reformulating value as a discounting function, we show precisely how a reward-rate-optimal agent’s discounting function (1) combines hyperbolic and linear components reflecting apportionment and opportunity costs, and (2) is dependent not only on the considered pursuit’s properties but also on time spent and rewards obtained outside the pursuit. This analysis reveals how purported signs of suboptimal behavior (hyperbolic discounting, and the Delay, Magnitude, and Sign effects) are in fact consistent with reward-rate maximization. To better account for observed decision-making errors in humans and animals, we then analyze the impact of misestimating reward-rate-maximizing parameters and find that suboptimal decisions likely stem from errors in assessing time’s apportionment—specifically, underweighting time spent outside versus inside a pursuit—which we term the ‘Malapportionment Hypothesis’. This understanding of the true pattern of temporal decision-making errors is essential to deducing the learning algorithms and representational architectures actually used by humans and animals.
Gaze dynamics during natural scene memorization and recognition Humans can rapidly memorize numerous images, which is surprising considering the limited visual sampling of each image. To enhance the probability of recognition, it is crucial to focus on previously sampled locations most likely to support memory. How does the visuomotor system achieve this? To study this, we analyzed the eye movements of a group of neurotypical observers while they performed a natural scene memorization task. Using comprehensive gaze analysis and computational modeling, we show that observers traded off visual exploration for exploiting information at the most memorable scene locations with repeated viewing. Furthermore, both the explore-exploit trade-off and gaze consistency predicted accurate recognition memory. Finally, false alarms were predicted by confusion of the incoming visual information at fixated locations with previously sampled information from other images. Together, our findings shed light on the symbiotic relationship between attention and memory in facilitating accurate natural scene memory.
Brain Networks Differ According to Levels of Interference in Spatiotemporal Processing The ability to form different neural representations for similar inputs is a central process of episodic memory. Although the dorsal dentate gyrus and CA3 have been indicated as important in this phenomenon, the neuronal circuits underlying spatiotemporal memory processing with different levels of spatial similarity are still elusive. In this study, we measured the expression of the immediate early gene c-Fos to evaluate brain areas activated when rats recalled the temporal order of object locations in a task, with either high or low levels of spatial interference. Animals showed spatiotemporal memory in both conditions once they spent more time exploring the older object locations relative to the more recent ones. We found no difference in the levels of c-Fos expression between high and low spatial interference. However, the levels of c-Fos expression in CA2 positively correlated with the discrimination index in the low spatial interference condition. More importantly, functional network connectivity analysis revealed a wider and more interconnected neuronal circuit in conditions of high than in low spatial interference. Our study advances the understanding of brain networks recruited in episodic memory with different degrees of spatial similarity.
Frontal noradrenergic and cholinergic transients exhibit distinct spatiotemporal dynamics during competitive decision-making Norepinephrine (NE) and acetylcholine (ACh) are crucial for learning and decision-making. In the cortex, NE and ACh are released transiently at specific sites along neuromodulatory axons, but how the spatiotemporal patterns of NE and ACh signaling link to behavioral events is unknown. Here, we use two-photon microscopy to visualize neuromodulatory signals in the premotor cortex (medial M2) as mice engage in a competitive matching pennies game. Spatially, NE signals are more segregated with choice and outcome encoded at distinct locations, whereas ACh signals can multiplex and reflect different behavioral correlates at the same site. Temporally, task-driven NE transients were more synchronized and peaked earlier than ACh transients. To test functional relevance, we stimulated neuromodulatory signals using optogenetics to find that NE, but not ACh, increases the animals’ propensity to explore alternate options. Together, the results reveal distinct subcellular spatiotemporal patterns of ACh and NE transients during decision-making in mice.