Biology subjects

Netzer, O.

Publications and source records attributed to Netzer, O..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

'Eye Know': Gaze reflects confidence in explicit predictions while relying on a distinct computational mechanism

Decisions are naturally accompanied by a feeling of confidence in their correctness. Typically measured via self-reported judgments, decision confidence is also expressed implicitly through sensorimotor behavior. In one exploratory and two preregistered experiments (total N = 115), we combined VR-based probabilistic-learning and spatial-cueing paradigms with computational modeling to examine whether post-decision gaze can serve as an implicit behavioral measure of decision confidence. Gaze direction generally aligned with predictive decisions about a targets upcoming location, while the degree of alignment tracked the model-based probability underlying the decision. Gaze-decision alignment also exhibited previously established statistical hallmarks of confidence. Under increased uncertainty, gaze and decisions tended to diverge, reflecting strategic "hedging" behavior. Gaze-decision alignment and explicit confidence judgments were modestly correlated, and remained correlated after controlling for the decisions probability, suggesting that the two are partially overlapping manifestations of internal confidence. Notably, reported confidence showed higher metacognitive sensitivity and increased serial dependence across trials, while gaze-based confidence expressed a more trial-specific readout of internal confidence. These findings suggest that post-decision gaze in visual-spatial learning tasks is an implicit, embodied manifestation of confidence. The complementary functional characteristics of implicit and explicit expressions of confidence may support adaptive behavior during learning.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Trauma Under Psychedelics: MDMA Shows Protective Effects During the Peritraumatic Period

Traumatic events play a causal role in the etiology of stress-related psychopathologies such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Recent research highlighted the therapeutic potential of psychoactive substances in alleviating trauma symptoms among chronic stress-related patients. This study is the first to investigate the impact of psychoactive substances consumed during actual trauma exposure. Our cohort includes 772 adult survivors (487 males, Mean{+/-}SD Age: 26.96{+/-}6.55) of the high-casualty attack that occurred at the Supernova festival in Israel on October 7th, 2023. Survivors completed the study during the peritraumatic period of one to four months following the attack. Primary outcomes include the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6), and a self-reported rating of feeling overwhelmed. Secondary outcomes include subjective experiences during the attack and reports on social interactions and sleep quality. All survivors reported being in direct danger of death during the attack. Approximately two-thirds of the sampled survivors were under the influence of psychoactive substances at the time of the attack, including LSD, MDMA, Ketamine, Cannabis, and Alcohol, creating a tragic and unique natural experiment to study the impact of psychoactive compounds on trauma processing. Analysis revealed that participants that were under the influence of MDMA during the attack (n=99) reported feeling less overwhelmed, having more social interactions, improved sleep quality, and reduced psychological distress compared to those not under the influence of any substance during the attack (n=216). In contrast, those consuming Cannabis and/or Alcohol during the attack (n=68) showed higher psychological distress, more PTSD symptoms, and worse sleep quality compared to those not under the influence of any substance during the attack. Together, these novel findings suggest that trauma exposure under the influence of MDMA is associated with reduced psychological distress and higher sociality, possibly mediated through MDMAs known effects of reducing negative emotions and elevating prosociality, while Cannabis and/or Alcohol consumption produces deleterious effects. Further research is needed to explore the cognitive and physiological mechanisms linking psychoactive substances to trauma recovery and establish the putative protective role of MDMA.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

The Body Knows Better: Sensorimotor signals reveal "Suboptimal" inference of the Sense of Agency in the human mind

Sense of Agency (SoA) is the feeling of control over our actions. SoA has been suggested to arise from both implicit sensorimotor integration as well as higher-level decision processes. SoA is typically measured by collecting participants subjective judgments, conflating both implicit and explicit processing. Consequently, the interplay between implicit sensorimotor processing and explicit agency judgments is not well understood. Here, we evaluated in one exploratory and one preregistered experiment (N=60), using a machine learning approach, the relation between a well-known mechanism of implicit sensorimotor adaptation and explicit SoA judgments. Specifically, we examined whether subjective judgments of SoA and sensorimotor conflicts could be inferred from hand kinematics in a sensorimotor task using a virtual hand (VH). In both experiments participants performed a hand movement and viewed a virtual hand making a movement that could either be synchronous with their action or include a parametric temporal delay. After each movement, participants judged whether their actual movement was congruent with the movement they observed. Our results demonstrated that sensorimotor conflicts could be inferred from implicit motor kinematics on a trial by trial basis. Moreover, detection of sensorimotor conflicts from machine learning models of kinematic data provided more accurate classification of sensorimotor congruence than participants explicit judgments. These results were replicated in a second, preregistered, experiment. These findings show evidence of diverging implicit and explicit processing for SoA and suggest that the brain holds high-quality information on sensorimotor conflicts that is not fully utilized in the inference of conscious agency.

neuroscience↗