Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Fluctuations in Neuronal Synchronization in Brain Activity Correlate with the Subjective Experience of Visual Recognition

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Biological Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The scientific study of subjective experience is a current major research area in the neurosciences. Coordination patterns of brain activity are being studied to address the question of how brain function relates to behaviour, and particularly methods to estimate neuronal synchronization can unravel the spatio-temporal dynamics of the transient formation of neuronal assemblies. We report here a biophysical correlate of subjective experience. Subjects visualised figures with different levels of noise, while their brain activity was recorded using magnetoencephalography (MEG), and reported the moment in time (corresponding to a noise level) of figure recognition, which varied between individuals, as well as the moment when they saw the figure more clearly, which was mostly common among the participants (thus less subjective). This latter moment is considered to represent psychophysical stochastic resonance (PSR). Fluctuations in neuronal synchronization, quantified using a diffusion coefficient, were lower in occipital cortex when subjects recognised the figure, for a certain noise level, but did not correlate with the moment of PSR. A different pattern was observed in frontal cortex, where lower values of the diffusion coefficient in neuronal synchronization was maintained from the moment of recognition to the moment of PSR. No specific pattern was found analysing signals from temporal or parietal cortical areas. These observations provide support for distinct synchronization patterns in different cortical areas, and represent another demonstration that the subjective, first-person perspective is accessible to scientific methods.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Adey, W.R.: Organization of brain tissue: is the brain a noisy processor? Intern. J. Neuroscience 3, 271–284 (1972)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Fatt, P., Katz, B.: Some observations on biological noise. Nature 166, 597–598 (1950)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Moss, F., Ward, L.M., Sannita, W.G.: Stochastic resonance and sensory information processing: a tutorial and review of application. Clin. Neurophysiol. 115, 267–281 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Manjarrez, E., Rojas-Piloni, J.G., Mendez, I., Martinez, L., Velez, D., Vazquez, D., Flores, A.: Internal stochastic resonance in the coherence between spinal and cortical neuronal ensembles in the cat. Neurosci. Lett. 326, 93–96 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ward, L.M.: Psychophysics of stochastic resonance. Fluctuation and Noise Lett. 4, L11–L21 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kitajo, K., Nozaki, D., Ward, L.M., Yamamoto, Y.: Behavioral stochastic resonance within the human brain. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 218103 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Simonotto, E., Riani, M., Seife, C., Roberts, M., Twitty, J., Moss, F.: Visual perception of stochastic resonance. Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 1186–1189 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ditzinger, T., Stadler, M., Strüber, D., Kelso, J.A.S.: Noise improves three-dimensional perception: stochastic resonance and other impacts of noise to perception of autostereograms. Phys. Rev. E 62, 2566–2575 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Piana, M., Canfora, M., Riani, M.: Role of noise in image processing by the human perceptive system. Phys. Rev. E 62, 1104–1109 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Richardson, K.A., Imhoff, T.T., Grigg, P., Collins, J.J.: Using electrical noise to enhance the ability of humans to detect subthreshold mechanical cutaneous stimuli. Chaos 8, 599–603 (1998)

    Article  MATH  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Zeng, F.G., Fu, Q.J., Morse, R.: Human hearing enhanced by noise. Brain. Res. 869, 251–255 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gluckman, B.J., Netoff, T.I., Neel, E.J., Ditto, W.L., Spano, M.L., Schiff, S.J.: Stochastic resonance in a neuronal network from mammalian brain. Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 4098–5002 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. Stacey, W.C., Durand, D.M.: Stochastic resonance improves signal detection in hippocampal CA1 neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 83, 1394–1402 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Varela, F.J., Lachaux, J.-P., Rodriguez, E., Martinerie, J.: The brainweb: phase synchronization and large scale integration. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 2, 229–239 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Friston, K.J.: Brain function, nonlinear coupling, and neuronal transients. Neuroscientist 7, 406–418 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Kelso, J.A.S.: Dynamic patterns: the self-organization of brain and behaviour. MIT Press, Massachusetts (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Breakspear, M., Williams, L.M., Stam, C.J.: A novel method for the topographic analysis of neural activity reveals formation and dissolution of “dynamic cell assemblies”. J. Comp. Neurosci. 16, 49–68 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Greenfield, S.A., Collins, T.F.T.: In the boundaries of consciousness. Elsevier, Amsterdam (2005)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  19. Neiman, A., Silchenko, A., Anishchenko, V., Schimansky-Geier, L.: Stochastic resonance: noise-induced phase coherence. Phys. Rev. E 58, 7118–7125 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. Anishchenko, V.S., Vadivasova, T.E.: Synchronization of self-oscillations and noise-induced oscillations. J. Commun. Technol. Electron. 47, 117–148 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mori, T., Kai, S.: Noise-induced entrainment and stochastic resonance in human brain waves. Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 218101 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  22. Sorrentino, A., Parkkonen, L., Piana, M., Massone, A.M., Narici, L., Carozzo, S., Riani, M., Sannita, W.G.: Modulation of brain and behavioural responses to cognitive visual stimuli with varying signal-to-noise ratios. Clin. Neurophysiol. 117, 1098–1105 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Garcia Dominguez, L., Wennberg, R.A., Gaetz, W., Cheyne, D., Snead, O.C., Perez Velazquez, J.L.: Enhanced synchrony in epileptiform activity? Local versus distant phase synchronization in generalized seizures. J. Neurosci. 31, 8077–8084 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Pikovsky, A., Rosemblum, M.G., Kurths, J.: Synchronization: a universal concept in nonlinear sciences. Cambrige University Press, Cambridge (2001)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  25. Simonotto, E., Spano, F., Riani, M., Ferrari, A., Levrero, F., Pilot, A., Renzetti, P., Parodi, R.C., Sardanelli, F., Vitali, P., Twitty, J., Chiou-Tan, F., Moss, F.: fMRI studies of visual cortical activity during noise stimulation. Neurocomputing 26–27, 511–516 (1999)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Anishchenko, V.S., Astakhov, V.V., Neiman, A.B., Vadivasova, T.E., Schimansky-Geier, L.: Nonlinear dynamics of chaotic and stochastic systems. Springer, Berlin (2002)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  27. Guevara Erra, R., Pérez Velazquez, J.L., Nenadovic, V., Wennberg, R., Senjanovic, G., García Dominguez, L.: Phase synchronization measurements using electroencephalographic recordings: what can we really say about neuronal synchrony? Neuroinformatics 3, 301–313 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Levelt, W.J.: Binocular brightness averaging and contour information. Br. J. Psychol. 56, 1–13 (1965)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Babiloni, C., Bares, M., Vecchio, F., Brazdil, M., Jurak, P., Moretti, D.V., Usbaldi, A., Rossini, P.M., Rektor, I.: Synchronization of gamma oscillations increases functional connectivity of human hippocampus and inferior-middle temporal cortex during repetitive visuomotor events. Eur. J. Neurosci. 19, 3088–3098 (2004)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Srinivasan, R., Russell, D.P., Edelman, G.M., Tononi, G.: Increased synchronization of neuromagnetic responses during conscious perception. J. Neurosci. 19, 5435–5448 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Mima, T., Oluwatimilehin, T., Hiraoka, T., Hallett, M.: Transient interhemispheric neuronal synchrony correlates with object recognition. J. Neurosci. 21, 3942–3948 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Desmedt, J., Tomberg, C.: Transient phase-locking of 40 Hz electrical oscillations in prefrontal and parietal human cortex reflects the process of conscious somatic perception. Neurosci. Lett. 168, 126–129 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Lamme, V.A.F.: Why visual attention and awareness are different. Trends Cogn. Sci. 7, 12–18 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Tononi, G., Edelman, G.M., Sporns, O.: Complexity and coherency: integrating information in the brain. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2, 474–484 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Kitajo, K., Yamanaka, Nozaki, D., Ward, L.M., Yamamoto, Y.: Behavioral stochastic resonance is associated with large-scale synchronization of human brain activity. In: Abbott, Bezrukov, Sanchez (eds.) Fluctuations and noise in biological, biophysical, and biomedical systems II. Proc. of SPIE Vol 5467 (2004)

  36. Fuster, J.M.: The prefrontal cortex: anatomy, physiology and neuropsychology of the frontal lobe. Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Fuster, J.M.: Cortex and mind. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Lumer E.D., Rees, G.: Covariation of activity in visual and prefrontal cortex associated with subjective visual perception. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 96, 1669–1673 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain and Behaviour Programme, Department of Paediatrics and Division of Neurology, Hospital for Sick Children and University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5G1X8, Canada

    Jose Luis Perez Velazquez, Luis Garcia Dominguez & Ramon Guevara Erra

Authors
  1. Jose Luis Perez Velazquez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Luis Garcia Dominguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ramon Guevara Erra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jose Luis Perez Velazquez.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Velazquez, J.L.P., Dominguez, L.G. & Erra, R.G. Fluctuations in Neuronal Synchronization in Brain Activity Correlate with the Subjective Experience of Visual Recognition. J Biol Phys 33, 49–59 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10867-007-9041-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10867-007-9041-4

Keywords

PACS

Search

Navigation