The human brain uses contextual and affective information to facilitate visual recognition and action, but little is known about the neural mechanisms mediating this facilitation. We have hypothesized that contextual and affective facilitation processes have evolved from a primitive system for identifying threats in the environment and therefore should be tightly linked with threat identification and action preparation processes. These fundamental questions have not been studied in a unified framework before and have important implications for both basic neuroscience, and for many mental and neurological disorders, including anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, depression, and autism. Here we propose to examine how contextual and affective predictions can facilitate visual recognition and action preparation with a combined approach of psychophysics, fMRI and MEG/EEG. The proposed research, in addition to addressing these novel questions, will allow the candidate to obtain intensive training in MEG/EEG and to develop conceptual and theoretical understanding in new cognitive and affective neuroscience domains of contextual and affective processing. The new skills in contextual and affective processing, MEG/EEG, and functional connectivity analyses, in conjunction with the candidate's existing strengths in fMRI and object recognition, will help to optimally prepare the candidate for starting a fully independent research program at the completion of this award.

Public Health Relevance

The proposed research program focuses on contextual and affective processes in visual cognition and action. For this reason, this research has the potential to provide insights into the neural and behavioral mechanisms that are malfunctioning in many mental and neurological disorders. Contextual association processes are thought to be impaired in depression and autistic patients. The implications of the proposed studies for mental health are particularly significant because affective processing abnormalities are observed in virtually all mental, and many neurological disorders.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Scientist Development Award - Research & Training (K01)
Project #
5K01MH084011-02
Application #
7918196
Study Section
Cognition and Perception Study Section (CP)
Program Officer
Vogel, Michael W
Project Start
2009-08-19
Project End
2013-06-30
Budget Start
2010-07-01
Budget End
2011-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$181,275
Indirect Cost
Name
Massachusetts General Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
073130411
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02199
Cushing, Cody A; Im, Hee Yeon; Adams Jr., Reginald B et al. (2018) Neurodynamics and connectivity during facial fear perception: The role of threat exposure and signal congruity. Sci Rep 8:2776
Boshyan, Jasmine; Feldman Barrett, Lisa; Betz, Nicole et al. (2018) Line-Drawn Scenes Provide Sufficient Information for Discrimination of Threat and Mere Negativity. Iperception 9:2041669518755806
Panichello, Matthew F; Kveraga, Kestutis; Chaumon, Maximilien et al. (2017) Internal valence modulates the speed of object recognition. Sci Rep 7:361
Kveraga, Kestutis; Boshyan, Jasmine; Adams Jr, Reginald B et al. (2015) If it bleeds, it leads: separating threat from mere negativity. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 10:28-35
Chaumon, Maximilien; Kveraga, Kestutis; Barrett, Lisa Feldman et al. (2014) Visual predictions in the orbitofrontal cortex rely on associative content. Cereb Cortex 24:2899-907
Aminoff, Elissa M; Kveraga, Kestutis; Bar, Moshe (2013) The role of the parahippocampal cortex in cognition. Trends Cogn Sci 17:379-90
Thomas, Cibu; Kveraga, Kestutis; Huberle, Elisabeth et al. (2012) Enabling global processing in simultanagnosia by psychophysical biasing of visual pathways. Brain 135:1578-85
Adams Jr, Reginald B; Franklin Jr, Robert G; Kveraga, Kestutis et al. (2012) Amygdala responses to averted vs direct gaze fear vary as a function of presentation speed. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 7:568-77
Kveraga, Kestutis; Ghuman, Avniel Singh; Kassam, Karim S et al. (2011) Early onset of neural synchronization in the contextual associations network. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108:3389-94
Adams Jr, Reginald B; Franklin Jr, Robert G; Rule, Nicholas O et al. (2010) Culture, gaze and the neural processing of fear expressions. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 5:340-8