Free energy, precision and learning: the role of cholinergic neuromodulation
Entity
UAM. Departamento de Psicología BásicaPublisher
Society of NeuroscienceDate
2013-05-08Citation
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4255-12.2013
The Journal of Neuroscience (2013) 33.19: 8227-8236
ISSN
0270-6474 (print); 1529-2401 (online)DOI
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4255-12.2013Editor's Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4255-12.2013Subjects
Acetylcholine; Brain; Cholinergic Receptors; Neurotransmitters; Pyramidal Neurons; Medicina; PsicologíaRights
© 2013 the authorsAbstract
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.
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Google Scholar:Moran, Rosalyn J.
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Campo Martínez-Lage, Pablo
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Symmonds, Mkael
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Stephan, Klaas E.
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Dolan, Raymond J.
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Friston, Karl J.
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