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Imagery May Arise from Associations Formed through Sensory Experience: A Network of Spiking Neurons Controlling a Robot Learns Visual Sequences in Order to Perform a Mental Rotation Task

Mental imagery occurs “when a representation of the type created during the initial phases of perception is present but the stimulus is not actually being perceived.” How does the capability to perform mental imagery arise? Extending the idea that imagery arises from learned associations, we propose...

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Autores principales: McKinstry, Jeffrey L., Fleischer, Jason G., Chen, Yanqing, Gall, W. Einar, Edelman, Gerald M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031450/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27653977
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162155
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author McKinstry, Jeffrey L.
Fleischer, Jason G.
Chen, Yanqing
Gall, W. Einar
Edelman, Gerald M.
author_facet McKinstry, Jeffrey L.
Fleischer, Jason G.
Chen, Yanqing
Gall, W. Einar
Edelman, Gerald M.
author_sort McKinstry, Jeffrey L.
collection PubMed
description Mental imagery occurs “when a representation of the type created during the initial phases of perception is present but the stimulus is not actually being perceived.” How does the capability to perform mental imagery arise? Extending the idea that imagery arises from learned associations, we propose that mental rotation, a specific form of imagery, could arise through the mechanism of sequence learning–that is, by learning to regenerate the sequence of mental images perceived while passively observing a rotating object. To demonstrate the feasibility of this proposal, we constructed a simulated nervous system and embedded it within a behaving humanoid robot. By observing a rotating object, the system learns the sequence of neural activity patterns generated by the visual system in response to the object. After learning, it can internally regenerate a similar sequence of neural activations upon briefly viewing the static object. This system learns to perform a mental rotation task in which the subject must determine whether two objects are identical despite differences in orientation. As with human subjects, the time taken to respond is proportional to the angular difference between the two stimuli. Moreover, as reported in humans, the system fills in intermediate angles during the task, and this putative mental rotation activates the same pathways that are activated when the system views physical rotation. This work supports the proposal that mental rotation arises through sequence learning and the idea that mental imagery aids perception through learned associations, and suggests testable predictions for biological experiments.
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spelling pubmed-50314502016-10-10 Imagery May Arise from Associations Formed through Sensory Experience: A Network of Spiking Neurons Controlling a Robot Learns Visual Sequences in Order to Perform a Mental Rotation Task McKinstry, Jeffrey L. Fleischer, Jason G. Chen, Yanqing Gall, W. Einar Edelman, Gerald M. PLoS One Research Article Mental imagery occurs “when a representation of the type created during the initial phases of perception is present but the stimulus is not actually being perceived.” How does the capability to perform mental imagery arise? Extending the idea that imagery arises from learned associations, we propose that mental rotation, a specific form of imagery, could arise through the mechanism of sequence learning–that is, by learning to regenerate the sequence of mental images perceived while passively observing a rotating object. To demonstrate the feasibility of this proposal, we constructed a simulated nervous system and embedded it within a behaving humanoid robot. By observing a rotating object, the system learns the sequence of neural activity patterns generated by the visual system in response to the object. After learning, it can internally regenerate a similar sequence of neural activations upon briefly viewing the static object. This system learns to perform a mental rotation task in which the subject must determine whether two objects are identical despite differences in orientation. As with human subjects, the time taken to respond is proportional to the angular difference between the two stimuli. Moreover, as reported in humans, the system fills in intermediate angles during the task, and this putative mental rotation activates the same pathways that are activated when the system views physical rotation. This work supports the proposal that mental rotation arises through sequence learning and the idea that mental imagery aids perception through learned associations, and suggests testable predictions for biological experiments. Public Library of Science 2016-09-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5031450/ /pubmed/27653977 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162155 Text en © 2016 McKinstry et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
McKinstry, Jeffrey L.
Fleischer, Jason G.
Chen, Yanqing
Gall, W. Einar
Edelman, Gerald M.
Imagery May Arise from Associations Formed through Sensory Experience: A Network of Spiking Neurons Controlling a Robot Learns Visual Sequences in Order to Perform a Mental Rotation Task
title Imagery May Arise from Associations Formed through Sensory Experience: A Network of Spiking Neurons Controlling a Robot Learns Visual Sequences in Order to Perform a Mental Rotation Task
title_full Imagery May Arise from Associations Formed through Sensory Experience: A Network of Spiking Neurons Controlling a Robot Learns Visual Sequences in Order to Perform a Mental Rotation Task
title_fullStr Imagery May Arise from Associations Formed through Sensory Experience: A Network of Spiking Neurons Controlling a Robot Learns Visual Sequences in Order to Perform a Mental Rotation Task
title_full_unstemmed Imagery May Arise from Associations Formed through Sensory Experience: A Network of Spiking Neurons Controlling a Robot Learns Visual Sequences in Order to Perform a Mental Rotation Task
title_short Imagery May Arise from Associations Formed through Sensory Experience: A Network of Spiking Neurons Controlling a Robot Learns Visual Sequences in Order to Perform a Mental Rotation Task
title_sort imagery may arise from associations formed through sensory experience: a network of spiking neurons controlling a robot learns visual sequences in order to perform a mental rotation task
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031450/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27653977
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0162155
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