Consciousness in the cradle: on the emergence of infant experience

Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Journal Year: 2023, Volume and Issue: 27(12), P. 1135 - 1149

Published: Oct. 12, 2023

Although each of us was once a baby, infant consciousness remains mysterious and there is no received view about when, in what form, first emerges. Some theorists defend 'late-onset' view, suggesting that requires cognitive capacities which are unlikely to be place before the child's birthday at very earliest. Other an 'early-onset' account, likely birth (or shortly after) may even arise during third trimester. Progress this field has been difficult, not just because challenges associated with procuring relevant behavioral neural data, but also uncertainty how best study absence capacity for verbal report or intentional behavior. This review examines both empirical methodological progress field, arguing recent research points favor early-onset accounts emergence consciousness.

Language: Английский

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Neural event segmentation of continuous experience in human infants

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal Year: 2022, Volume and Issue: 119(43)

Published: Oct. 17, 2022

How infants experience the world is fundamental to understanding their cognition and development. A key principle of adult that, despite receiving continuous sensory input, we perceive this input as discrete events. Here investigate such event segmentation in how it differs from adults. Research on often uses simplified tasks which (adult) experimenters help solve problem for by defining boundaries or presenting actions/vignettes. This presupposes events are experienced leaves open questions about principles governing infant segmentation. We take a different, data-driven approach studying input. collected whole-brain functional MRI (fMRI) data awake (and adults, comparison) watching cartoon used hidden Markov model identify states brain. quantified existence, timescale, organization multiple-event representations across brain regions. The exhibited known hierarchical gradient timescales, shorter early visual regions longer later associative In contrast, represented only events, even regions, with no timescale hierarchy. these partially overlapped defined activity behavioral judgments. These findings suggest that organized differently infants, timescales more stable neural patterns, may indicate greater temporal integration reduced precision during dynamic, naturalistic perception.

Language: Английский

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Multi-view manifold learning of human brain-state trajectories

Nature Computational Science, Journal Year: 2023, Volume and Issue: 3(3), P. 240 - 253

Published: March 27, 2023

Language: Английский

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Infant neuroscience: how to measure brain activity in the youngest minds

Trends in Neurosciences, Journal Year: 2024, Volume and Issue: 47(5), P. 338 - 354

Published: April 3, 2024

Language: Английский

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Mapping and modeling age-related changes in intrinsic neural timescales

Communications Biology, Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: 8(1)

Published: Feb. 3, 2025

Intrinsic timescales of brain regions exhibit heterogeneity, escalating with hierarchical levels, and are crucial for the temporal integration external stimuli. Aging, often associated cognitive decline, involves progressive neuronal synaptic loss, reshaping structure dynamics. However, impact these structural changes on coding in aging remains unclear. We mapped intrinsic gray matter volume (GMV) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) young elderly adults. found shorter across multiple large-scale functional networks cohort, a significant positive association between GMV. Additionally, age-related decline performance visual discrimination tasks was linked to reduction cuneus. To explain shifts, we developed an age-dependent spiking neuron network model. In younger subjects, were near critical branching regime, while subjects had fewer neurons synapses, pushing dynamics toward subcritical regime. The model accurately reproduced empirical results, showing longer adults due slowing down. Our findings reveal how may drive alterations dynamics, offering testable predictions informing possible interventions targeting decline. MRI data computational modeling shifts shedding light its effects processes, potential mechanisms underlying neurological vulnerabilities.

Language: Английский

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Data retention in awake infant fMRI: Lessons from more than 750 scanning sessions

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Journal Year: 2025, Volume and Issue: unknown

Published: Feb. 25, 2025

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in awake infants has the potential to reveal how early developing brain gives rise cognition and behavior. However, infant fMRI poses significant methodological challenges that have hampered wider adoption. The present work takes stock after collection of a substantial amount data across multiple studies from two labs at different institutions. We leveraged these glean insights on participant recruitment, experimental design, acquisition could be useful consider for future studies. Across 766 sessions, we explored factors influenced much usable were obtained per session (average 9 minutes). age an predicted whether they would successfully enter scanner (younger was more likely) and, if did enter, number minutes functional retained preprocessing. also by assigned sex (female more), paradigm (movies better than blocks events), stimulus content (social abstract). In addition, assessed value attempting collect experiments session, approach yielded one experiment averaging all sessions (including those with no data). Although any given scan is unpredictable, findings support feasibility suggest practices optimize research.

Language: Английский

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Developmental changes in story-evoked responses in the neocortex and hippocampus

eLife, Journal Year: 2022, Volume and Issue: 11

Published: July 5, 2022

How does the representation of naturalistic life events change with age? Here, we analyzed fMRI data from 414 children and adolescents (5-19 years) as they watched a narrative movie. In addition to changes in degree inter-subject correlation (ISC) age sensory medial parietal regions, used novel measure (between-group ISC) reveal age-related shifts responses across majority neocortex. Over course development, brain became more discretized into stable coherent shifted earlier time anticipate upcoming perceived event transitions, measured behaviorally an age-matched sample. However, hippocampal boundaries actually decreased age, suggesting shifting division labor between episodic encoding processes schematic representations ages 5 19.

Language: Английский

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The development of intrinsic timescales: A comparison between the neonate and adult brain

NeuroImage, Journal Year: 2023, Volume and Issue: 275, P. 120155 - 120155

Published: May 9, 2023

In human adults and other mammals, different brain regions have distinct intrinsic timescales over which they integrate information, from shorter in unimodal sensory-motor to longer transmodal higher-order regions. These been related cognitive performance clinical symptoms, but it remains unclear how develop. We asked if there are regional differences at birth that could shape learning by acting as an inductive bias, or develop later the temporal statistics of environment learned. used resting-state fMRI characterise neonates adults. They were highly consistent across two independent neonatal groups, both higher order areas, infants compared adults, might be expected their less developed myelination, recent evidence neural segments watching naturalistic stimuli. we replicated finding areas than opposite pattern was found, driven long infant somotomotor network. Across within single networks, positive (limbic) negative (visual) correlations found between conclusion, structured, suggesting act bias favours on timescales, particularly then with experience maturation. This "take slow" initial approach help create more regularised, holistic representations input bound fleeting details, would favour development abstract contextual representations.

Language: Английский

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More than a moment: What does it mean to call something an ‘event’?

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Journal Year: 2023, Volume and Issue: 30(6), P. 2067 - 2082

Published: July 5, 2023

Language: Английский

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Helpless infants are learning a foundation model

Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Journal Year: 2024, Volume and Issue: 28(8), P. 726 - 738

Published: June 5, 2024

Humans have a protracted postnatal helplessness period, typically attributed to human-specific maternal constraints causing an early birth when the brain is highly immature. By aligning neurodevelopmental events across species, however, it has been found that humans are not born with especially immature brains compared animal species shorter helpless period. Consistent this, rapidly growing field of infant neuroimaging connectivity and functional activation at share many similarities mature brain. Inspired by machine learning, where deep neural networks also benefit from 'helpless period' pre-training, we propose human infants learning foundation model: set fundamental representations underpin later cognition high performance rapid generalisation.

Language: Английский

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