Spontaneous fluctuations in neural responses to heartbeats predict visual detection
Hyeong-Dong Park1, Stéphanie Correia1, Antoine Ducorps2
1Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-École Normale Supérieure (ENS), Paris, France.
Nature Neuroscience
|March 11, 2014
Summary
Neural events synchronized with heartbeats influence visual perception. This study reveals how physiological signals shape conscious experience and brain activity in key cortical regions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Psychology
Background:
- Spontaneous neural activity significantly impacts sensory and cognitive functions.
- Bodily signals are continuously transmitted to the neocortex, suggesting a role in shaping ongoing neural activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether neural events synchronized with heartbeats predict visual detection performance.
- To explore the role of physiological signals in shaping conscious experience.
Main Methods:
- Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used in human participants.
- Neural activity locked to heartbeats prior to visual stimulus presentation was analyzed.
Main Results:
- Heartbeat-locked neural events in the posterior right inferior parietal lobule and ventral anterior cingulate cortex predicted visual grating detection.
- These findings were independent of fluctuations in bodily parameters or overall cortical excitability.
- Neural events synchronized with heartbeats contribute to differential activation in multifunctional cortical areas.
Conclusions:
- Neural events synchronized with heartbeats play a crucial role in shaping visual conscious experience.
- These findings suggest that physiological inputs, like heartbeats, influence behaviorally relevant neural processing in higher-order brain regions.
