Mental imagery

Reinstating details of previously seen stimuli given a recall cue is a common cognitive function. Studies suggest that such recollection involves hippocampus-mediated top-down reactivation of neural ensembles active during encoding, yet the neural mechanisms of such generative retrieval remain unknown. We formulate a biologically plausible hypothesis where transient cholinergic modulation, known to enhance backpropagated action potentials and trigger recall, initiates backward signals from sparse neurons discriminatively representing the cue to cortical areas encoding the trace. These signals

Mental imagery refers to our remarkable capacity to generate percepts, emotions, and thoughts in the absence of external stimuli. This ability allows us to generate art, simulate actions and outcomes, remember previous experiences, and imagine new ones. Little is known about the mechanisms that enable mental imagery. While neuroimaging data shows that sensory areas are active during imagery (1–4), it remains unknown whether this is due to reactivation of the same neurons that support perception or separate circuitry located in the same regions. Here we examine the single-neuron mechanisms of v

…or neglect the significance of mental imagery in decision-making. We aim to explore how gaze behavior and visual imagery interact, simulating mental states associated with potential outcomes during deliberation. Previous research has suggested the 'looking-at-nothing' phenomenon, a behavi

We have been developing Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) using electrocorticography (ECoG) [1] , which is recorded by electrodes implanted on brain surface, and magnetoencephalography (MEG) [2] , which records the cortical activities non-invasively, for the clinical applications. The invasive BCI using ECoG has been applied for severely paralyzed patient to restore the communication and motor function. The non-invasive BCI using MEG has been applied as a neurofeedback tool to modulate some pathological neural activities to treat some neuropsychiatric disorders. Although these techniques have bee

…- such as during memory, dreaming and mental imagery - activates similar neural representations as externally triggered perception. This overlap raises a fundamental challenge: how is the brain able to keep apart signals reflecting imagination and reality? In a series of online psychophysics experiments combined with computational modelling, we investigated to what extent imagination and perception are confused when the same content is simultaneously imagined and perceived. We found that simultaneous congr