Brain network dynamics predict moments of surprise across contexts.

We experience surprise when reality conflicts with our expectations. When we encounter such expectation violations in psychological tasks and daily life, are we experiencing completely different forms of surprise? Or is surprise a fundamental psychological process with shared neural bases across contexts? To address this question, we identified a brain network model, the surprise edge-fluctuation-based predictive model (EFPM), whose regional interaction dynamics measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) predicted surprise in an adaptive learning task. The same model generalized to predict surprise as a separate group of individuals watched suspenseful basketball games and as a third group watched videos violating psychological expectations.

Sex differences in olfactory behavior and neurophysiology in Long Evans Rats.

In many species, olfactory abilities in females are more acute than those in males. Studies in humans show that women have lower olfactory thresholds and are better able to discriminate and identify odors than men. In mice, odorants elicit faster activation from a larger number of olfactory bulb glomeruli in females than males.

A preprocessing toolbox for 2-photon subcellular calcium imaging.

Recording the spiking activity from subcellular compartments of neurons such as axons and dendrites during behavior with 2-photon calcium imaging is increasingly common yet remains challenging due to low signal-to-noise, inaccurate region-of-interest (ROI) identification, movement artifacts, and difficulty in grouping ROIs from the same neuron. To address these issues, we present a computationally efficient pre-processing pipeline for subcellular signal detection, movement artifact identification, and ROI grouping. For subcellular signal detection, we capture the frequency profile of calcium transient dynamics by applying Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) on smoothed time-series calcium traces collected from axon ROIs.

Understanding cognitive processes across spatial scales of the brain.

Cognition arises from neural operations at multiple spatial scales, from individual neurons to large-scale networks. Despite extensive research on coding principles and emergent cognitive processes across brain areas, investigation across scales has been limited. Here, we propose ways to test the idea that different cognitive processes emerge from distinct information coding principles at various scales, which collectively give rise to complex behavior.

Memory augmentation with an adaptive cognitive interface.

What we remember reflects both what we encounter, such as the intrinsic memorability of a stimulus, and our internal attentional state when we encounter that stimulus. Our memories are better for memorable images and images encountered in an engaged attentional state. Here, in an effort to modulate long-term memory performance, we manipulated these factors in combination by selecting the memorability of presented images contingent on individuals' natural fluctuations in sustained attention.

Cortically Disparate Visual Features Evoke Content-Independent Load Signals during Storage in Working Memory.

It is well established that holding information in working memory (WM) elicits sustained stimulus-specific patterns of neural activity. Nevertheless, here we provide evidence for a distinct class of neural activity that tracks the number of individuated items in working memory, independent of the type of visual features stored. We present two EEG studies of young adults of both sexes that provide robust evidence for a signal tracking the number of individuated representations in working memory, regardless of the specific feature values stored.

Recognition memory fluctuates with sustained attention regardless of task relevance.

Sustained attention fluctuates over time, affecting task-related processing and memory. However, it is less clear how attentional state affects processing and memory when images are accompanied by irrelevant visual information. We first quantify behavioral signatures of attentional state in an online sample (N1=92) and demonstrate that images presented in high attentional states are better remembered.

Persistent Impact of Prior Experience on Spatial Learning.

Learning to solve a new problem involves identifying the operating rules, which can be accelerated if known rules generalize in the new context. We ask how prior experience affects learning a new rule that is distinct from known rules. We examined how rats learned a new spatial navigation task after having previously learned tasks with different navigation rules.

Categorically distinct subsets allow flexible memory selection in hybrid search.

In many everyday situations, we search our visual surroundings for any one of many memorized items held in memory, a process termed . In some cases, only a portion of the memorized mental list is relevant within a specific visual context, thus, restricting memory search to the relevant subset would be desirable. Previous research had shown that participants largely fail to "partition" memory into several distinct subsets, on a trial-by-trial basis.

Transitioning an In-Person Survey of Older Adults to Multi-Mode Data Collection.

Objectives: The first three rounds of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) were in-person. Preparing for Round Four (R4), NSHAP began developing ways to collect complex questionnaire and biomeasure data remotely. R4 was scheduled to begin in 2020, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, NSHAP delayed R4 data collection and instead conducted a study on respondents' experiences during the pandemic, as well as pretests to strengthen NSHAP's remote data collection capability.

Drawing as a means to characterize memory and cognition.

As psychological research embraces more naturalistic questions and large-scale analytic methods, drawing has emerged as an exciting tool for studying cognition. Drawing provides rich information about how we view the world, ranging from largely veridical perceptual representations to abstracted meta-cognitive representations. Drawing also requires the integration of multiple processes (e.

Which Social Variables Predict Diabetes Onset? Robust Findings in Two National Surveys.

Background And Objectives: The role of social factors in diabetes onset has been obscured by wide variation in their conceptualization and operationalization. We apply 3 theoretical frameworks to categorize social relationship variables along several dimensions and identify which dimension(s) are robustly associated with incident diabetes in the older adult population.

Research Design And Methods: The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (n = 2,365) and the Health and Retirement Study (n =11,824) provided longitudinal data from 57 to 90-year-old respondents over a 4- to 5-year period.

Prediabetes Progression and Reversion: Social Factors and Racial/Ethnic Differences.

Objective: Racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by diabetes. Social characteristics, such as family structure, social support, and loneliness, may contribute to these health disparities. In a nationally representative sample of diverse older adults, we evaluated longitudinal rates of both progression from prediabetes to diabetes and reversion from prediabetes to normoglycemia.

Examining the Longitudinal Relationship Between Olfactory Dysfunction and Frailty in Community-Dwelling, older US Adults.

Objective: Olfactory dysfunction is a "canary in the coalmine" for aging conditions. We evaluated olfactory dysfunction as a biomarker of early frailty in older adults living in the United States.

Study Design: Prospective, longitudinal, nationally representative study.

Rectal Swab DNA Collection Protocol for PCR Genotyping in Rats.

DNA collection is essential for genotyping laboratory animals. However, common collection methods require tissue amputation, causing discomfort and injury. Rectal swabbing has been proposed as an effective non-invasive alternative, but an evidence-backed protocol for the technique remains unavailable.

What is the basis of ensemble subset selection?

The visual system can rapidly calculate the ensemble statistics of a set of objects; for example, people can easily estimate an average size of apples on a tree. To accomplish this, it is not always useful to summarize all the visual information. If there are various types of objects, the visual system should select a relevant subset: only apples, not leaves and branches.

Encoded and updated spatial working memories share a common representational format in alpha activity.

Working memory (WM) flexibly updates information to adapt to the dynamic environment. Here, we used alpha-band activity in the EEG to reconstruct the content of dynamic WM updates and compared this representational format to static WM content. An inverted encoding model using alpha activity precisely tracked both the initially encoded position and the updated position following an auditory cue signaling mental updating.

Edge-Based General Linear Models Capture Moment-to-Moment Fluctuations in Attention.

Although we must prioritize the processing of task-relevant information to navigate life, our ability to do so fluctuates across time. Previous work has identified fMRI functional connectivity (FC) networks that predict an individual's ability to sustain attention and vary with attentional state from 1 min to the next. However, traditional dynamic FC approaches typically lack the temporal precision to capture moment-to-moment network fluctuations.

Facial and genital color ornamentation, testosterone, and reproductive output in high-ranking male rhesus macaques.

Males in many vertebrate species have colorful ornaments that evolved by sexual selection. The role of androgens in the genesis and maintenance of these signals is unclear. We studied 21 adult high-ranking male rhesus macaques from nine social groups in the free-ranging population on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico, and analyzed facial and genital skin luminance and redness, fecal androgens, rates of mating behaviors, and offspring sired.

Curious about threats: Morbid curiosity and interest in conspiracy theories in US adults.

Conspiracy theories allege secret plots between two or more powerful actors to achieve an outcome, sometimes explaining important events or proposing alternative understandings of reality in opposition to mainstream accounts, and commonly highlight the threat presented by the plot and its conspirators. Research in psychology proposes that belief in conspiracy theories is motivated by a desire to understand threats and is predicted by increased anxiety. Morbid curiosity describes the tendency to seek out information about threatening or dangerous situations and is associated with an interest in threat-related entertainment and increased anxiety.

The dynamics of attentional guidance by working memory contents.

Working memory (WM) contents can guide attention toward matching sensory information in the environment, but there are mixed findings regarding whether only a single prioritized item or multiple items held in WM can guide attention. The present study examines the limit of WM-guided attention with a novel task procedure and mouse trajectory analysis. Specifically, we introduced a perceptual-matching task utilizing the continuous estimation procedure within the maintenance interval of a WM task for one or two colors.

Olfactory decline develops in parallel with frailty in older US adults with obstructive lung diseases.

Background: Frailty is prevalent among older adults with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (obstructive lung diseases [OLDs]). Frailty and OLD's co-occurrence is associated with increased hospitalization/mortality. Chemosensory dysfunction is closely connected to both OLD and frailty.