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Free Energy, Precision and Learning: The Role of Cholinergic Neuromodulation.
- Source :
- Journal of Neuroscience; 5/8/2013, Vol. 33 Issue 19, p8227-8236, 10p
- Publication Year :
- 2013
-
Abstract
- Acetylcholine (ACh) is a neuromodulatory transmitter implicated in perception and learning under uncertainty. This study combined computational simulations and pharmaco-electroencephalography in humans, to test a formulation of perceptual inference based upon the free energy principle. This formulation suggests that ACh enhances the precision of bottom-up synaptic transmission in cortical hierarchies by optimizing the gain of supragranular pyramidal cells. Simulations of a mismatch negativity paradigm predicted a rapid trial-by-trial suppression of evoked sensory prediction error (PE) responses that is attenuated by cholinergic neuromodulation. We confirmed this prediction empirically with a placebo-controlled study of cholinesterase inhibition. Furthermore, using dynamic causal modeling, we found that drug-induced differences in PE responses could be explained by gain modulation in supragranular pyramidal cells in primary sensory cortex. This suggests that ACh adaptively enhances sensory precision by boosting bottom-up signaling when stimuli are predictable, enabling the brain to respond optimally under different levels of environmental uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02706474
- Volume :
- 33
- Issue :
- 19
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Neuroscience
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 87554476
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4255-12.2013