Non-feature-specific elevated responses and feature-specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposure
The ability of cortical circuits to adapt in response to experience is a fundamental property of the brain. After exposure to a moving dot sequence, flashing a dot as a cue at the starting point of the sequence can elicit successive elevated responses even in the absence of the sequence. These cue-t...
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eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
2025-05-01
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| Online Access: | https://elifesciences.org/articles/101511 |
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| author | Tao He Xizi Gong Qian Wang Xinyi Zhu Yunzhe Liu Fang Fang |
| author_facet | Tao He Xizi Gong Qian Wang Xinyi Zhu Yunzhe Liu Fang Fang |
| author_sort | Tao He |
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| description | The ability of cortical circuits to adapt in response to experience is a fundamental property of the brain. After exposure to a moving dot sequence, flashing a dot as a cue at the starting point of the sequence can elicit successive elevated responses even in the absence of the sequence. These cue-triggered elevated responses have been shown to play a crucial role in predicting future events in dynamic environments. However, temporal sequences we are exposed to typically contain rich feature information. It remains unknown whether the elevated responses are feature-specific and, more crucially, how the brain organizes sequence information after exposure. To address these questions, participants were exposed to a predefined sequence of four motion directions for about 30 min, followed by the presentation of the start or end motion direction of the sequence as a cue. Surprisingly, we found that cue-triggered elevated responses were not specific to any motion direction. Interestingly, motion direction information was spontaneously reactivated, and the motion sequence was backward replayed in a time-compressed manner. These effects were observed even after brief exposure. Notably, no replay events were observed when the second or third motion direction of the sequence served as a cue. Further analyses revealed that activity in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) preceded the ripple power increase in visual cortex at the onset of replay, implying a coordinated relationship between the activities in the MTL and visual cortex. Together, these findings demonstrate that visual sequence exposure induces twofold brain plasticity that may simultaneously serve for different functional purposes. The non-feature-specific elevated responses may facilitate general processing of upcoming stimuli, whereas the feature-specific backward replay may underpin passive learning of visual sequences. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d240ef53fdee46cf975fb81e7ae740b5 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2050-084X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
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| spelling | doaj-art-d240ef53fdee46cf975fb81e7ae740b52025-08-20T03:48:47ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2025-05-011310.7554/eLife.101511Non-feature-specific elevated responses and feature-specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposureTao He0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1009-0500Xizi Gong1https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6263-0774Qian Wang2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2347-8798Xinyi Zhu3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7722-5150Yunzhe Liu4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0836-9403Fang Fang5https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7718-2354Center for the Cognitive Science of Language, Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Language Cognitive Science (Ministry of Education), Beijing Language and Culture University, Beijing, China; School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaChinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, ChinaSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China; Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, ChinaThe ability of cortical circuits to adapt in response to experience is a fundamental property of the brain. After exposure to a moving dot sequence, flashing a dot as a cue at the starting point of the sequence can elicit successive elevated responses even in the absence of the sequence. These cue-triggered elevated responses have been shown to play a crucial role in predicting future events in dynamic environments. However, temporal sequences we are exposed to typically contain rich feature information. It remains unknown whether the elevated responses are feature-specific and, more crucially, how the brain organizes sequence information after exposure. To address these questions, participants were exposed to a predefined sequence of four motion directions for about 30 min, followed by the presentation of the start or end motion direction of the sequence as a cue. Surprisingly, we found that cue-triggered elevated responses were not specific to any motion direction. Interestingly, motion direction information was spontaneously reactivated, and the motion sequence was backward replayed in a time-compressed manner. These effects were observed even after brief exposure. Notably, no replay events were observed when the second or third motion direction of the sequence served as a cue. Further analyses revealed that activity in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) preceded the ripple power increase in visual cortex at the onset of replay, implying a coordinated relationship between the activities in the MTL and visual cortex. Together, these findings demonstrate that visual sequence exposure induces twofold brain plasticity that may simultaneously serve for different functional purposes. The non-feature-specific elevated responses may facilitate general processing of upcoming stimuli, whereas the feature-specific backward replay may underpin passive learning of visual sequences.https://elifesciences.org/articles/101511visual cortexsequence exposuremagnetic field |
| spellingShingle | Tao He Xizi Gong Qian Wang Xinyi Zhu Yunzhe Liu Fang Fang Non-feature-specific elevated responses and feature-specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposure eLife visual cortex sequence exposure magnetic field |
| title | Non-feature-specific elevated responses and feature-specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposure |
| title_full | Non-feature-specific elevated responses and feature-specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposure |
| title_fullStr | Non-feature-specific elevated responses and feature-specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposure |
| title_full_unstemmed | Non-feature-specific elevated responses and feature-specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposure |
| title_short | Non-feature-specific elevated responses and feature-specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposure |
| title_sort | non feature specific elevated responses and feature specific backward replay in human brain induced by visual sequence exposure |
| topic | visual cortex sequence exposure magnetic field |
| url | https://elifesciences.org/articles/101511 |
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