Sentence-level embeddings reveal dissociable word- and sentence-level cortical representation across coarse- and fine-grained levels of meaning.

In this large-sample (N = 64) fMRI study, sentence embeddings (text-embedding-ada-002, OpenAI) and representational similarity analysis were used to contrast sentence-level and word-level semantic representation. Overall, sentence-level information resulted in a 20-25 % increase in the model's ability to captures neural representation when compared to word-level only information (word-order scrambled embeddings). This increase was relatively undifferentiated across the cortex.

Efficacy of the oxime HI-6 dimethanesulphonate in the treatment of guinea-pigs exposed to the nerve agents GB and GD.

The bispyridinium oxime HI-6 DMS is in development as an improved therapy for the treatment of patients exposed to organophosphorus nerve agents. The aim of the work described in this paper was to provide non-clinical data to support regulatory approval of HI-6 DMS, by demonstrating efficacy against an oxime-sensitive agent, GB and an oxime-resistant agent, GD. We investigated the dose-dependent protection afforded by therapy including atropine, avizafone and HI-6 DMS in guinea-pigs challenged with GB or GD.

Task-based activation and resting-state connectivity predict individual differences in semantic capacity for complex semantic knowledge.

Our ability to know and access complex factual information has far reaching effects, influencing our scholastic, professional and social lives. Here we employ functional MRI to assess the relationship between individual differences in semantic aptitude in the task-based activation and resting-state functional connectivity. Using psychometric and behavioural measures, we quantified the semantic and executive aptitude of individuals and had them perform a general-knowledge semantic-retrieval task (N = 41) and recorded resting-state data (N = 43).

Improved prediction of behavioral and neural similarity spaces using pruned DNNs.

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have become an important tool for modeling brain and behavior. One key area of interest has been to apply these networks to model human similarity judgements. Several previous works have used the embeddings from the penultimate layer of vision DNNs and showed that a reweighting of these features improves the fit between human similarity judgments and DNNs.

Similar representation of names and faces in the network for person perception.

Person-knowledge encompasses the diverse types of knowledge we have about other people. This knowledge spans the social, physical, episodic, semantic & nominal information we possess about others and is served by a distributed cortical network including core (perceptual) and extended (non-perceptual) subsystems. Our understanding of this cortical system is tightly linked to the perception of faces and the extent to which cortical knowledge-access processes are independent of perception is unclear.

Similarity-based fMRI-MEG fusion reveals hierarchical organisation within the brain's semantic system.

Our ability to understand and interact with our environment relies upon conceptual knowledge of the meaning of objects. This process is supported by a distributed network of frontal, parietal, and temporal brain regions. Insight into the differential roles of various elements of this system can be inferred from the timing of activation, and here we use similarity-based fMRI-MEG fusion to understand when the representational spaces in different elements of the semantic system converge with representational spaces in the evolving MEG signal.

Recruitment of Control and Representational Components of the Semantic System during Successful and Unsuccessful Access to Complex Factual Knowledge.

Our ability to effectively retrieve complex semantic knowledge meaningfully impacts our daily lives, yet the neural processes that underly successful access and transient failures in access remain only partially understood. In this fMRI study, we contrast activation during successful semantic access, unsuccessful semantic access because of transient access failures (i.e.

Deep neural networks reveal topic-level representations of sentences in medial prefrontal cortex, lateral anterior temporal lobe, precuneus, and angular gyrus.

When reading a sentence, individual words can be combined to create more complex meaning. In this study, we sought to uncover brain regions that reflect the representation of the meaning of sentences at the topic level, as opposed to the meaning of their individual constituent words when considered irrespective of their context. Using fMRI, we recorded the neural activity of participants while reading sentences.

Combining concepts across categorical domains: a linking role of the precuneus.

The human capacity for semantic knowledge entails not only the representation of single concepts but the capacity to combine these concepts into the increasingly complex ideas that underlie human thought. This process involves not only the combination of concepts from within the same semantic category but frequently the conceptual combination across semantic domains. In this fMRI study (N=24) we investigate the cortical mechanisms underlying our ability to combine concepts across different semantic domains.

Representations of conceptual information during automatic and active semantic access.

When we read a word or see an object, conceptual meaning is automatically accessed. However, previous research investigating non-perceptual sensitivity to semantic class has employed active tasks. In this fMRI study, we tested whether conceptual representations in regions constituting the semantic network are invoked during passive semantic access and whether these representations are modulated by the need to access deeper knowledge.

fMRI response to automatic and purposeful familiar-face processing in perceptual and nonperceptual cortical regions.

Viewing the faces of familiar people selectively activates a distributed network of brain regions implicated in both the perceptual and nonperceptual processing of conspecifics. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigate the influence of depth of famous-face processing on this network, comparing a passive incidental face processing to a task that required the extraction of identity and biographic information. We observed that the precuneus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior temporal face patch (ATFP), and the amygdala exhibit a selective response even during incidental face processing.

fMRI-Indexed neural temporal tuning reveals the hierarchical organsiation of the face and person selective network.

Recognising and knowing about conspecifics is vital to human interaction and is served in the brain by a well-characterised cortical network. Understanding the temporal dynamics of this network is critical to gaining insight into both hierarchical organisation and regional coordination. Here, we combine the high spatial resolution of fMRI with a paradigm that permits investigation of differential temporal tuning across cortical regions.

General and feature-based semantic representations in the semantic network.

How semantic representations are manifest over the brain remains a topic of active debate. A semantic representation may be determined by specific semantic features (e.g.

Spatiotemporal properties of the neural representation of conceptual content for words and pictures - an MEG study.

The entwined nature of perceptual and conceptual processes renders an understanding of the interplay between perceptual recognition and conceptual access a continuing challenge. Here, to disentangle perceptual and conceptual processing in the brain, we combine magnetoencephalography (MEG), picture and word presentation and representational similarity analysis (RSA). We replicate previous findings of early and robust sensitivity to semantic distances between objects presented as pictures and show earlier (~105 ​msec), but not later, representations can be accounted for by contemporary computer models of visual similarity (AlexNet).

Cross Recruitment of Domain-Selective Cortical Representations Enables Flexible Semantic Knowledge.

Knowledge about objects encompasses not only their prototypical features but also complex, atypical, semantic knowledge (e.g., "Pizza was invented in Naples").

Regional Specialization and Coordination Within the Network for Perceiving and Knowing About Others.

Seeing familiar faces prompts the recall of diverse kinds of person-related knowledge. How this information is encoded within the well-characterized face-/person-selective network remains an outstanding question. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, participants rated famous faces in 10 tasks covering 5 domains of person knowledge (social, episodic, semantic, physical, and nominal).

Temporal dynamics of access to amodal representations of category-level conceptual information.

Categories describe semantic divisions between classes of objects and category-based models are widely used for investigation of the conceptual system. One critical issue in this endeavour is the isolation of conceptual from perceptual contributions to category-differences. An unambiguous way to address this confound is combining multiple input-modalities.

Assessment of N-acetylcysteine as a therapy for phosgene-induced acute lung injury.

The toxic industrial chemical (TIC) phosgene remains an important chemical intermediate in many industrial processes. Inhalation of phosgene can cause an acute lung injury (ALI) which, in severe cases may result in death. There are currently no effective pharmacological therapies or evidence-based treatment guidelines for managing exposed individuals.

Continuous positive airway pressure: An early intervention to prevent phosgene-induced acute lung injury.

Exposure to toxic industrial chemicals such as phosgene may occur through accidental or deliberate release. Inhalation may result in an acute lung injury which manifests as hypoxaemia with insufficient oxygen being delivered to the tissues resulting in hypoxia, respiratory failure and death. No effective pharmacological therapy currently exists and treatment remains supportive, often requiring intensive care facilities.

Plastic reorganization of neural systems for perception of others in the congenitally blind.

Recent evidence suggests that the function of the core system for face perception might extend beyond visual face-perception to a broader role in person perception. To critically test the broader role of core face-system in person perception, we examined the role of the core system during the perception of others in 7 congenitally blind individuals and 15 sighted subjects by measuring their neural responses using fMRI while they listened to voices and performed identity and emotion recognition tasks. We hypothesised that in people who have had no visual experience of faces, core face-system areas may assume a role in the perception of others via voices.

Spatiotopic updating across saccades revealed by spatially-specific fMRI adaptation.

Brain representations of visual space are predominantly eye-centred (retinotopic) yet our experience of the world is largely world-centred (spatiotopic). A long-standing question is how the brain creates continuity between these reference frames across successive eye movements (saccades). Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to address whether spatially specific repetition suppression (RS) is evident during trans-saccadic perception.

Pharmacokinetic profile and quantitation of protection against soman poisoning by the antinicotinic compound MB327 in the guinea-pig.

Current organophosphorus nerve agent medical countermeasures do not directly address the nicotinic effects of poisoning. A series of antinicotinic bispyridinium compounds has been synthesized in our laboratory and screened in vitro. Their actions can include open-channel block at the nicotinic receptor which may contribute to their efficacy.

Temporal integration windows for naturalistic visual sequences.

There is increasing evidence that the brain possesses mechanisms to integrate incoming sensory information as it unfolds over time-periods of 2-3 seconds. The ubiquity of this mechanism across modalities, tasks, perception and production has led to the proposal that it may underlie our experience of the subjective present. A critical test of this claim is that this phenomenon should be apparent in naturalistic visual experiences.

Predication drives verb cortical signatures.

Verbs and nouns are fundamental units of language, but their neural instantiation remains poorly understood. Neuropsychological research has shown that nouns and verbs can be damaged independently of each other, and neuroimaging research has found that several brain regions respond differentially to the two word classes. However, the semantic-lexical properties of verbs and nouns that drive these effects remain unknown.

Category-selective neural substrates for person- and place-related concepts.

The influence of object-category on the representation of semantic knowledge remains unresolved. We present a functional magnetic resonance imaging study that investigates whether there are distinct neural substrates for semantic knowledge of kinds of people (e.g.