The Relationships Between Cortical Activity while Observing Images Featuring Different Degrees of Ambiguity and Ambiguit
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Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine, Vol. 169, No. 4, August, 2020
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PHYSIOLOGY The Relationships Between Cortical Activity while Observing Images Featuring Different Degrees of Ambiguity and Ambiguity Tolerance
K. G. Mazhirina1,3, O. A. Dzhafarova1,3, L. I. Kozlova1,3, O. N. Pervushina1, A. A. Fedorov1, M. V. Bliznyuk1, B. M. Khoroshilov1, A. A. Savelov2, E. D. Petrovskii2, and M. B. Shtark1,3 Translated from Byulleten’ Eksperimental’noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 169, No. 4, pp. 400-405, April, 2020 Original article submitted February 11, 2020 We performed a fMRI study during which 18 healthy subjects passively viewed abstract images and tried to name them. The images were geometric primitives, impossible images (Penrose images), and ambiguous images (Rorschach inkblots). Activation and deactivation areas were revealed for each task. The results of psychological assessment of ambiguity tolerance according to MSTAT-I inventory were used as regressors. Deactivation of the precuneus (Brodmann area 7) and neighboring structures (especially when observing geometric primitives and inventing names for them) and in the fronto-temporal areas was associated with high ambiguity tolerance. Similar links were observed for both activation and deactivation (depending on the certain contrast) of the occipito-cerebellar area. Key Words: ambiguity tolerance; visual perception; ambiguous images; functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Tolerance to ambiguity is a peculiar cognitive style associated with ability to tolerate the lack of information on the current situation with minimum discomfort. In neuroscience, the study of this characteristic is based on a model of decision-making under conditions when receiving or not receiving a reward depends on a certain choice, but its probability is not known exactly [7]. Among the studies with a similar paradigm, the correlates of ambiguity mostly thoroughly were discussed by a group of researchers [4]. In the study [5], the ambiguity was modeled by a “prompt” whether Novosibirsk National Research State University; 2International Tomography Center, Siberian Division of Russian Academy of Sciences; 3Research Institute for Molecular Biology and Biophysics, Federal Research Center of Fundamental and Translational Medicine, Novosibirsk, Russia. Address for correspondence: [email protected]. K. G. Mazhirina 1
the subject won or lost, that did not allow knowing this exactly. A few more works focused on semantic ambiguity while analyzing speech messages [6,8]. Finally, in the study [2], the subjects had to determine whether the image on the screen depended on their actions. In this case, the ambiguity was provided with the long delay between participant’s activity and visible “response”. The significance of ambiguous situation of in the context of visual perception remains much less studied. For instance, in the study [3] ambiguity was created by high complexity of the problem that excluded a confident answer. Participants were asked to estimate quickly whether the total number of
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