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Start Over Community Princeton Neuroscience Institute

1. CLEVR-Matrices

Author(s):
Mondal, Shanka Subhra; Webb, Taylor; Cohen, Jonathan
Abstract:
A dataset of Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM)-like problems using realistically rendered 3D shapes, based on source code from CLEVR (a popular visual-question-answering dataset) (Johnson, J., Hariharan, B., Van Der Maaten, L., Fei-Fei, L., Lawrence Zitnick, C., & Girshick, R. (2017). Clevr: A diagnostic dataset for compositional language and elementary visual reasoning. In Proceedings of the IEEE conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (pp. 2901-2910)).
Type:
Dataset
Issue Date:
1 March 2023

3. Spike Trains of Retinal Ganglion Cells Viewing a Repeated Natural Movie

Author(s):
Berry II, Michael J.
Abstract:
This archive contains spike trains simultaneously recorded from ganglion cells in the tiger salamander retina with a multi-electrode array while viewing a repeated natural movie clip. These data have been analyzed in previous papers, notably Puchalla et al. Neuron 2005 and Schneidman et al. Nature 2006.
Type:
Dataset
Issue Date:
8 March 2022

6. Integrative Mechanisms of Social Attention

Author(s):
Bio, Branden; Graziano, Michael
Abstract:
Monitoring the attention of others is fundamental to social cognition. Most of the literature on the topic assumes that our social cognitive machinery is tuned specifically to the gaze direction of others as a proxy for attention. This standard assumption reduces attention to an externally visible parameter. Here we show that this assumption is wrong and a deeper, more meaningful representation is involved. We presented subjects with two cues about the attentional state of a face: direction of gaze and emotional expression. We tested whether people relied predominantly on one cue, the other, or both. If the traditional view is correct, then the gaze cue should dominate. Instead, people employed a variety of strategies, some relying on gaze, some on expression, and some on an integration of cues. We also assessed people’s social cognitive ability using two, independent, standard tests. If the traditional view is correct, then social cognitive ability, as assessed by the independent tests, should correlate with the degree to which people successfully use the gaze cue to judge the attention state of the face. Instead, social cognitive ability correlated best with the degree to which people successfully integrated the cues together, instead of with the use of any one specific cue. The results suggest a rethink of a fundamental component of social cognition: monitoring the attention of others involves constructing a deep model that is informed by a combination of cues. Attention is a rich process and monitoring the attention of others involves a similarly rich representation.
Type:
Dataset
Issue Date:
22 July 2021

7. The 21st year: transcription, motif list, and relation score

Author(s):
Chang, Claire H. C.; Lazaridi, Christina; Yeshurun, Yaara; Norman, Kenneth A.; Hasson, Uri
Abstract:
This study examined how the brain dynamically updates event representations by integrating new information over multiple minutes while segregating irrelevant input. A professional writer custom-designed a narrative with two independent storylines, interleaving across minute-long segments (ABAB). In the last (C) part, characters from the two storylines meet and their shared history is revealed. Part C is designed to induce the spontaneous recall of past events, upon the recurrence of narrative motifs from A/B, and to shed new light on them. Our fMRI results showed storyline-specific neural patterns, which were reinstated (i.e. became more active) during storyline transitions. This effect increased along the processing timescale hierarchy, peaking in the default mode network. Similarly, the neural reinstatement of motifs was found during part C. Furthermore, participants showing stronger motif reinstatement performed better in integrating A/B and C events, demonstrating the role of memory reactivation in information integration over intervening irrelevant events.
Type:
Dataset and text
Issue Date:
2021

8. The Attention Schema Theory in an Artificial Neural Network Agent: Controlling Visuospatial Attention Using a Descriptive Model of Attention

Author(s):
Wilterson, Andrew; Graziano, Michael
Abstract:
In the attention schema theory, the brain constructs a model of attention, the attention schema, to aid in the endogenous control of attention. Growing behavioral evidence appears to support this proposal. However, a central question remains: does a controller of attention actually benefit by having access to an attention schema? We constructed an artificial, deep Q-learning, neural network agent that was trained to control a simple form of visuospatial attention, tracking a stimulus with its attention spotlight in order to solve a catch task. The agent was tested with and without access to an attention schema. In both conditions, the agent received sufficient information such that it should, theoretically, be able to learn the task. We found that with an attention schema present, the agent learned to control its attention spotlight and learned the catch task to a high degree of performance. Once the agent learned, if the attention schema was disabled, the agent could no longer perform effectively. If the attention schema was removed before learning began, the agent was drastically impaired at learning. The results show how the presence of even a simple attention schema provides a profound benefit to a controller of attention. We interpret these results as supporting the central argument of AST: the brain evolved an attention schema because of its practical benefit in the endogenous control of attention.
Type:
Dataset and Software
Issue Date:
2021

9. Attention and awareness in the dorsal attention network

Author(s):
Wilterson, Andrew; Nastase, Samuel; Bio, Branden; Guterstam, Arvid; Graziano, Michael
Abstract:
The attention schema theory (AST) posits a specific relationship between subjective awareness and attention, in which awareness is the control model that the brain uses to aid in the endogenous control of attention. We proposed that the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) is involved in that interaction between awareness and attention. In previous experiments, we developed a behavioral paradigm in human subjects to manipulate awareness and attention. The paradigm involved a visual cue that could be used to guide a shift of attention to a target stimulus. In task 1, subjects were aware of the visual cue, and their endogenous control mechanism was able to use the cue to help control attention. In task 2, subjects were unaware of the visual cue, and their endogenous control mechanism was no longer able to use it to control attention, even though the cue still had a measurable effect on other aspects of behavior. Here we tested the two tasks while scanning brain activity in human volunteers. We predicted that the right TPJ would be active in relation to the cue in task 1, but not in task 2. This prediction was confirmed. The right TPJ was active in relation to the cue in task 1; it was not measurably active in task 2; the difference was significant. In our interpretation, the right TPJ is involved in a complex interaction in which awareness aids in the control of attention.
Type:
Dataset
Issue Date:
2020

10. Dataset for 'Auditory Activity is Diverse and Widespread Throughout the Central Brain of Drosophila'

Author(s):
Pacheco, Diego A; Thiberge, Stephan; Pnevmatikakis, Eftychios; Murthy, Mala
Abstract:
Sensory pathways are typically studied starting at receptor neurons and following postsynaptic neurons into the brain. However, this leads to a bias in analysis of activity towards the earliest layers of processing. Here, we present new methods for volumetric neural imaging with precise across-brain registration, to characterize auditory activity throughout the entire central brain of Drosophila and make comparisons across trials, individuals, and sexes. We discover that auditory activity is present in most central brain regions and in neurons responsive to other modalities. Auditory responses are temporally diverse, but the majority of activity is tuned to courtship song features. Auditory responses are stereotyped across trials and animals in early mechanosensory regions, becoming more variable at higher layers of the putative pathway, and this variability is largely independent of spontaneous movements. This study highlights the power of using an unbiased, brain-wide approach for mapping the functional organization of sensory activity.
Type:
Dataset
Issue Date:
October 2020

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