Paige E. Scalf

On the Seasonal Occurrence and Abundance of the Zika Virus Vector Mosquito Aedes Aegypti in the Contiguous United States.

Introduction: An ongoing Zika virus pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean has raised concerns that travel-related introduction of Zika virus could initiate local transmission in the United States (U.S.) by its primary vector, the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Methods: We employed meteorologically driven models for 2006-2015 to simulate the potential seasonal abundance of adult Aedes aegypti for fifty cities within or near the margins of its known U.S. range. Mosquito abundance results were analyzed alongside travel and socioeconomic factors that are proxies of viral introduction and vulnerability to human-vector contact. Results: Meteorological conditions are largely unsuitable for Aedes aegypti over the U.S. during winter months (December-March), except in southern Florida and south Texas where comparatively warm conditions can sustain low-to-moderate potential mosquito abundance. Meteorological conditions are suitable for Aedes aegypti across all fifty cities during peak summer months (July-September), though the mosquito has not been documented in all cities. Simulations indicate the highest mosquito abundance occurs in the Southeast and south Texas where locally acquired cases of Aedes-transmitted viruses have been reported previously. Cities in southern Florida and south Texas are at the nexus of high seasonal suitability for Aedes aegypti and strong potential for travel-related virus introduction. Higher poverty rates in cities along the U.S.-Mexico border may correlate with factors that increase human exposure to Aedes aegypti. Discussion: Our results can inform baseline risk for local Zika virus transmission in the U.S. and the optimal timing of vector control activities, and underscore the need for enhanced surveillance for Aedes mosquitoes and Aedes-transmitted viruses.

Competition explains limited attention and perceptual resources: implications for perceptual load and dilution theories

Both perceptual load theory and dilution theory purport to explain when and why task-irrelevant information, or so-called distractors are processed. Central to both explanations is the notion of limited resources, although the theories differ in the precise way in which those limitations affect distractor processing. We have recently proposed a neurally plausible explanation of limited resources in which neural competition among stimuli hinders their representation in the brain. This view of limited capacity can also explain distractor processing, whereby the competitive interactions and bias imposed to resolve the competition determine the extent to which a distractor is processed. This idea is compatible with aspects of both perceptual load and dilution models of distractor processing, but also serves to highlight their differences. Here we review the evidence in favor of a biased competition view of limited resources and relate these ideas to both classic perceptual load theory and dilution theory.

The perirhinal cortex modulates V2 activity in response to the agreement between part familiarity and configuration familiarity

Research has demonstrated that the perirhinal cortex (PRC) represents complex object‐level feature configurations, and participates in familiarity versus novelty discrimination. Barense et al. [(in press) Cerebral Cortex, 22:11, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhr347] postulated that, in addition, the PRC modulates part familiarity responses in lower‐level visual areas. We used fMRI to measure activation in the PRC and V2 in response to silhouettes presented peripherally while participants maintained central fixation and performed an object recognition task. There were three types of silhouettes: Familiar Configurations portrayed real‐world objects; Part‐Rearranged Novel Configurations created by spatially rearranging the parts of the familiar configurations; and Control Novel Configurations in which both the configuration and the ensemble of parts comprising it were novel. For right visual field (RVF) presentation, BOLD responses revealed a significant linear trend in bilateral BA 35 of the PRC (highest activation for Familiar Configurations, lowest for Part‐Rearranged Novel Configurations, with Control Novel Configurations in between). For left visual field (LVF) presentation, a significant linear trend was found in a different area (bilateral BA 38, temporal pole) in the opposite direction (Part‐Rearranged Novel Configurations highest, Familiar Configurations lowest). These data confirm that the PRC is sensitive to the agreement in familiarity between the configuration level and the part level. As predicted, V2 activation mimicked that of the PRC: for RVF presentation, activity in V2 was significantly higher in the left hemisphere for Familiar Configurations than for Part‐Rearranged Novel Configurations, and for LVF presentation, the opposite effect was found in right hemisphere V2. We attribute these patterns in V2 to feedback from the PRC because receptive fields in V2 encompass parts but not configurations. These results reveal two new aspects of PRC function: (1) it is sensitive to the congruency between the familiarity of object configurations and the parts comprising those configurations and (2) it likely modulates familiarity responses in visual area V2.

Working memory encoding delays top-down attention to visual cortex

The encoding of information from one event into working memory can delay high-level, central decision-making processes for subsequent events [e.g., Jolicoeur, P., & DellAcqua, R. The demonstration of short-term consolidation. Cognitive Psychology, 36, 138–202, 1998, doi:10.1006/cogp.1998.0684]. Working memory, however, is also believed to interfere with the deployment of top–down attention [de Fockert, J. W., Rees, G., Frith, C. D., & Lavie, N. The role of working memory in visual selective attention. Science, 291, 1803–1806, 2001, doi:10.1126/science.1056496]. It is, therefore, possible that, in addition to delaying central processes, the engagement of working memory encoding (WME) also postpones perceptual processing as well. Here, we tested this hypothesis with time-resolved fMRI by assessing whether WME serially postpones the action of top–down attention on low-level sensory signals. In three experiments, participants viewed a skeletal rapid serial visual presentation sequence that contained two target items (T1 and T2) separated by either a short (550 msec) or long (1450 msec) SOA. During single-target runs, participants attended and responded only to T1, whereas in dual-target runs, participants attended and responded to both targets. To determine whether T1 processing delayed top–down attentional enhancement of T2, we examined T2 BOLD response in visual cortex by subtracting the single-task waveforms from the dual-task waveforms for each SOA. When the WME demands of T1 were high (Experiments 1 and 3), T2 BOLD response was delayed at the short SOA relative to the long SOA. This was not the case when T1 encoding demands were low (Experiment 2). We conclude that encoding of a stimulus into working memory delays the deployment of attention to subsequent target representations in visual cortex.

Trial history effects in the ventral attentional network

The ventral attentional network (VAN) is thought to drive “stimulus driven attention” [e.g., Asplund, C. L., Todd, J. J., Snyder, A. P., & Marois, R. A central role for the lateral prefrontal cortex in goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention. Nature Neuroscience, 13, 507–512, 2010; Shulman, G. L., McAvoy, M. P., Cowan, M. C., Astafiev, S. V., Tansy, A. P., D Avossa, G., et al. Quantitative analysis of attention and detection signals during visual search. Journal of Neurophysiology, 90, 3384–3397, 2003]; in other words, it instantiates within the current stimulus environment the top–down attentional biases maintained by the dorsal attention network [e.g., Kincade, J. M., Abrams, R. A., Astafiev, S. V., Shulman, G. L., & Corbetta, M. An event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging study of voluntary and stimulus-driven orienting of attention. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 25, 4593–4604, 2005]. Previous work has shown that the dorsal attentional network is sensitive to trial history, such that it is challenged by changes in task goals and facilitated by repetition thereof [e.g., Kristjánsson, A., Vuilleumier, P., Schwartz, S., Macaluso, E., & Driver, J. Neural basis for priming of pop-out during visual search revealed with fMRI. Cerebral Cortex, 17, 1612–1624, 2007]. Here, we investigate whether the VAN also preserves information across trials such that it is challenged when previously rejected stimuli become task relevant. We used fMRI to investigate the sensitivity of the ventral attentional system to prior history effects as measured by the distractor preview effect. This behavioral phenomenon reflects a bias against stimuli that have historically not supported task performance. We found regions traditionally considered to be part of the VAN (right middle frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus and right supramarginal gyrus) [Shulman, G. L., McAvoy, M. P., Cowan, M. C., Astafiev, S. V., Tansy, A. P., D Avossa, G., et al. Quantitative analysis of attention and detection signals during visual search. Journal of Neurophysiology, 90, 3384–3397, 2003] to be more active when task-relevant stimuli had not supported task performance in a previous trial than when they had. Investigations of the ventral visual system suggest that this effect is more reliably driven by trial history preserved within the VAN than that preserved within the visual system per se. We conclude that VAN maintains its interactions with top–down stimulus biases and bottom–up stimulation across time, allowing previous experience with the stimulus environment to influence attentional biases under current circumstances.

Reaction times and perceptual adjustments are sensitive to the illusory distortion of space

The Oppel-Kundt illusion (OKI) consists of the perception of a filled space as larger than an empty space of the same size. Here, we used a modified version of that illusion composed of a gradient of vertical lines whose spacing decreased progressively from one side to the other: space is expected to be perceived as larger where the lines are more compressed. We tested the hypothesis that a horizontal stimulus presented in a space perceived as larger will produce faster RTs by asking forty-four healthy subjects to respond as quickly as possible to lateralized stimuli (horizontal bars, vertical bars and circles) presented on different backgrounds (control condition: evenly spaced vertical lines or an empty space; illusory conditions: vertical lines progressively compressed to the right or the left). Subjects’ RTs were reliably faster for horizontal stimuli presented on the space perceived as larger than on the space perceived as smaller. To verify that this effect was actually due to a size illusion, the same subjects were asked to adjust the size of the stimuli presented on the same backgrounds as to make them equal to a reference stimulus. For horizontal stimuli, subjects produced adjustments in accordance with the predicted effect of the illusion. Together, these data show that the OKI produces a distortion of space that extends to stimuli placed in front of it and that RTs are influenced by the perceived and not the physical size of the stimuli. Implications for neural bases of illusions and for spatial neglect are discussed.

Neural evidence for competition-mediated suppression in the perception of a single object

Multiple objects compete for representation in visual cortex. Competition may also underlie the perception of a single object. Computational models implement object perception as competition between units on opposite sides of a border. The border is assigned to the winning side, which is perceived as an object (or figure), whereas the other side is perceived as a shapeless ground. Behavioral experiments suggest that the ground is inhibited to a degree that depends on the extent to which it competed for object status, and that this inhibition is relayed to low-level brain areas. Here, we used fMRI to assess activation for ground regions of task-irrelevant novel silhouettes presented in the left or right visual field (LVF or RVF) while participants performed a difficult task at fixation. Silhouettes were designed so that the insides would win the competition for object status. The outsides (grounds) suggested portions of familiar objects in half of the silhouettes and novel objects in the other half. Because matches to object memories affect the competition, these two types of silhouettes operationalized, respectively, high competition and low competition from the grounds. The results showed that activation corresponding to ground regions was reduced for high- versusxa0low-competition silhouettes in V4, where receptive fields (RFs) are large enough to encompass the familiar objects in the grounds, and in V1/V2, where RFs are much smaller. These results support a theory of object perception involving competition-mediated ground suppression and feedback from higher to lower levels. This pattern of results was observed in the left hemisphere (RVF), but not in the right hemisphere (LVF). One explanation of the lateralized findings is that task-irrelevant silhouettes in the RVF captured attention, allowing us to observe these effects, whereas those in the LVF did not. Experiment 2 provided preliminary behavioral evidence consistent with this possibility.

Brain correlates of memory reconsolidation: A role for the TPJ

HighlightsTemporal parietal junction activity predicts new memory formation.Strongly reactivated memories are protected from inappropriate reconsolidation.We propose that new memory formation is triggered by violated expectations (prediction error). Abstract In this paper, we investigate the process by which new experiences reactivate and potentially update old memories. Such memory reconsolidation appears dependent on the extent to which current experience deviates from what is predicted by the reactivated memory (i.e. prediction error). If prediction error is low, the reactivated memory is likely to be updated with new information. If it is high, however, a new, separate, memory is more likely to be formed. The temporal parietal junction TPJ has been shown across a broad range of content areas (attention, social cognition, decision making and episodic memory) to be sensitive to the degree to which current information violates the observer’s expectations – in other words, prediction error. In the current paper, we investigate whether the level of TPJ activation during encoding predicts if the encoded information will be used to form a new memory or update a previous memory. We find that high TPJ activation predicts new memory formation. In a secondary analysis, we examine whether reactivation strength – which we assume leads to a strong memory‐based prediction – mediates the likelihood that a given individual will use new information to form a new memory rather than update a previous memory. Individuals who strongly reactivate previous memories are less likely to update them than individuals who weakly reactivate them. We interpret this outcome as indicating that strong predictions lead to high prediction error, which favors new memory formation rather than updating of a previous memory.

Ground-based inhibition: Suppressive perceptual mechanisms interact with top-down attention to reduce distractor interference

Successful attentional function requires inhibition of distracting information (e.g., Deutsch & Deutsch, 1963). Similarly, perceptual segregation of the visual world into figure and ground entails ground suppression (e.g., Likova & Tyler, 2008; Peterson & Skow, 2008). Here, we ask whether the suppressive processes of attention and perception-distractor inhibition and ground suppression-interact to more effectively insulate task performance from interfering information. We used a variant of the Eriksen flanker paradigm to assess the efficacy of distractor inhibition. Participants indicated the right/left orientation of a central arrow, which could be flanked by congruent, neutral, or incongruent stimuli. We manipulated the degree to which the ground region of a display was suppressed and measured the influence of this manipulation on the efficacy with which participants could inhibit responses from incongruent flankers. Greater ground suppression reduced the influence on target identification of interfering, incongruent information, but not that of facilitative, congruent information. These data are the first to show that distractor inhibition interacts with ground suppression to improve attentional function.

Age-related changes in perirhinal cortex sensitivity to configuration and part familiarity and connectivity to visual cortex.

The perirhinal cortex (PRC) is a medial temporal lobe (MTL) structure known to be involved in assessing whether an object is familiar (i.e., meaningful) or novel. Recent evidence shows that the PRC is sensitive to the familiarity of both whole object configurations and their parts, and suggests the PRC may modulate part familiarity responses in V2. Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated age-related decline in the PRC’s sensitivity to part/configuration familiarity and assessed its functional connectivity to visual cortex in young and older adults. Participants categorized peripherally presented silhouettes as familiar (“real-world”) or novel. Part/configuration familiarity was manipulated via three silhouette configurations: Familiar (parts/configurations familiar), Control Novel (parts/configurations novel), and Part-Rearranged Novel (parts familiar, configurations novel). “Real-world” judgments were less accurate than “novel” judgments, although accuracy did not differ between age groups. The fMRI data revealed differential neural activity, however: In young adults, a linear pattern of activation was observed in left hemisphere (LH) PRC, with Familiar > Control Novel > Part-Rearranged Novel. Older adults did not show this pattern, indicating age-related decline in the PRC’s sensitivity to part/configuration familiarity. A functional connectivity analysis revealed a significant coupling between the PRC and V2 in the LH in young adults only. Older adults showed a linear pattern of activation in the temporopolar cortex (TPC), but no evidence of TPC-V2 connectivity. This is the first study to demonstrate age-related decline in the PRC’s representations of part/configuration familiarity and its covariance with visual cortex.