Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jianghao Liu

@jianghaoliu.bsky.social

88 followers 190 following 65 posts

postdoc on cognitive neuroscience. I’m interested in mental imagery, mental simulation and aphantasia. my website: https://jianghao-liu.github.io

jianghao-liu.github.io

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Aug 21

📢preprint (first time single author)
An attention-based neural model of subjective imagery and aphantasia

Aphantasia show us the reactivation of the visual cortex (culminating so called imagery generation!) is NOT sufficient for imagery experience. But what is missing?
doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🧵1/8

OSF

doi.org

1 1 10

Reposted by Jianghao Liu

Chaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 23h

This is a big one! A 4-year writing project over many timezones, arguing for a reimagining of the influential "core knowledge" thesis.

Led by @daweibai.bsky.social, we argue that much of our innate knowledge of the world is not "conceptual" in nature, but rather wired into perceptual processing. 👇

Screenshot of a paper abstract:

“Core knowledge” refers to a set of cognitive systems that underwrite early representations of the physical and social world, appear universally across cultures, and likely result from our genetic endowment. Although this framework is canonically considered as a hypothesis about early emerging conception — how we think and reason about the world — here we present an alternative view: that many such representations are inherently perceptual in nature. This “core perception” view explains an intriguing (and otherwise mysterious) aspect of core-knowledge processes and representations: that they also operate in adults, where they display key empirical signatures of perceptual processing. We first illustrate this overlap using recent work on “core physics”, the domain of core knowledge concerned with physical objects, representing properties such as persistence through time, cohesion, solidity, and causal interactions. We review evidence that adult vision incorporates exactly these representations of core physics, while also displaying empirical signatures of genuinely perceptual mechanisms, such as rapid and automatic operation on the basis of specific sensory inputs, informational encapsulation, and interaction with other perceptual processes. We further argue that the same pattern holds for other areas of core knowledge, including geometrical, numerical, and social domains. In light of this evidence, we conclude that many infant results appealing to precocious reasoning abilities are better explained by sophisticated perceptual mechanisms shared by infants and adults. Our core-perception view elevates the status of perception in accounting for the origins of conceptual knowledge, and generates a range of ready-to-test hypotheses in developmental psychology, vision science, and more.

5 44 110

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 4d

Thanks! This is exactly the idea! I’m trying to dissociate these stages by behavior, if possible.

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 4d

Any #aphantasics here? We’re looking for participants for a short test on memory (~15 min, online, aph. or not).
You can do it right on your phone, just using your fingers — no setup needed. The task is quite challenging... at least it was for me! 😅
www.etabbane.fr/experiments/...

Memocrush

www.etabbane.fr

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 4d

There is a new theoretical neural model paper on this, osf.io/preprints/ps...

I’m also looking forward to reliable behavior measurement apart from introspection.

OSF

osf.io

1 1

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 4d

Agree, this is the point. From our experiment, individuals reporting NO imagery still have strong stimulus-specific visual activity www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Visual mental imagery in typical imagers and in aphantasia: A millimeter-scale 7-T fMRI study

Most of us effortlessly describe visual objects, whether seen or remembered. Yet, around 4% of people report congenital aphantasia: they struggle to v…

www.sciencedirect.com

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 4d

how about someone doing conceptual simulation without any imagery experience? This lead to the same change of pattern in the report and similar change in neural activity.

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 4d

Cool. The approximate estimation of number doesn’t necessarily to be rendered as visual imagery, it could be conceptual and abstract. Thus collapse may reflect the quantity change but not the quality of imagery, right ?

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 4d

Absolutely. I agree that the pattern of internal thought changes. I think the question is HOW to probe subjective report from behavior. The neuro imaging is another story.

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 4d

This is an excellent example, which shows a well-defined way of introspection of rotating nuggets, by its N. The question is 1/this is again introspection, how objective and reliable it is? 2/is the task defining a “tracking aphantasia” instead of aphantasia of representing an imagined nugget?

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 9d

Totally agree

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 24d

Very inspiring study exploring psychogenic aphantasia! Well done !

juhasilvanto.bsky.social @juhasilvanto.bsky.social · 24d

affective-autonomic pathway to acquired aphantasia: appr. 60% of acquired cases of aphantasia have psychogenic origin. In the interoceptive model, affective disorders disrupt the integration of bodily & cognitive signals needed for imagery. work with Yoko Nagai www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Autonomic, Neurodevelopmental, and Early Adversity Correlates of Acquired Aphantasia

Aphantasia (the inability to voluntarily generate mental imagery) has traditionally been studied as a congenital or neurological condition. However, h…

www.sciencedirect.com

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · 24d

Adam’s response to recent letters, including two of ours. A real privilege to contribute to such a young research field that unites researchers across disciplines, driven by passion and thoughtful debate, and all this, is inspired by Adam’s pioneering discovery of aphantasia.

Trends in Cognitive Sciences @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social · 29d

Online Now: Live questions about the mind’s eye

Live questions about the mind’s eye

We live much of our lives in our heads, detached from the here and now – as when we recollect the past, anticipate future possibilities, lose ourselves in a daydream, a novel, or our favourite corner of science [1]: ‘what sets us apart is…a life in the mind, the ability to imagine’ [2]. For most of us, sensory imagery, which allows us to experience the sensory properties of objects in their absence, is a central element of our imaginings [3]. The realisation that ~4% of people lack visual imagery, facilitated by a term with which to describe this, aphantasia [4], while an even higher proportion, with hyperphantasia, enjoy imagery rivalling the vividness of perception, has triggered a recent surge of research.

dlvr.it

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Sep 5

Btw, we recently discussed the possibility of unconscious imagery with Chang et al. about recent neural findings
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Absence of shared representation in the visual cortex challenges unconscious imagery in aphantasia

Whether aphantasia involves unconscious mental imagery remains hotly debated. Scholz et al. argue that absent perception-like representations in recent neuroimaging studies challenge this notion in ap...

www.cell.com

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Sep 5

we found that aph. have reduced confidence in visual perceptual tasks.
An important difference between aph. And blindsight is that aph. have ceiling effect in imagery task accuracy, while blindsight often «guess » just above chance.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Probing the unimaginable: The impact of aphantasia on distinct domains of visual mental imagery and visual perception

Different individuals experience varying degrees of vividness in their visual mental images. The distribution of these variations across different ima…

www.sciencedirect.com

2 1

Reposted by Jianghao Liu

Thomas Andrillon @thomasandrillon.bsky.social · Sep 3

📜 ¡New preprint! 📜

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬
osf.io/preprints/ps...
🧪🧠

With amazing alumni from @mesec-community.bsky.social and including:
@zefanzheng.bsky.social
@robertchisciure.bsky.social
@jaanaru.bsky.social
@bechir-jarraya.bsky.social

OSF

osf.io

3 6 13

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Sep 1

5/ However, how aphantasia impacts distinct aspects of attention (selective, sustained, shifting, etc.) and how these, in turn, interact with conscious experience remains an intriguing empirical question. The show will go on :)

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Sep 1

4/ I love the idea that aphantasia is associated with shifting attention inward! I mentioned the shift between external and internal states of attention, or sensory vs. memory content, I should have been more clear on this.

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Sep 1

3/ Deficits appears to be present in attentional template, stroop tasks and reduced P300 in oddball task, as recently found by Rebecca, Monzel and @andreablomkvist.bsky.social. Thus, it's task-dependent. Similar behaviour may also due to other strategy, especially when task is relatively easy.

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Sep 1

2/ Increasing neural evidence points to altered activity in FP attention networks in aphantasia, but how these neural differences map onto behavior remains unclear; But current behavioral findings on executive or attentional control are inconclusive.

1 1

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Sep 1

Many thanks for these advice, Reshanne! @kerblooee.bsky.social and I totally agree with you that the attention model should have been more specific, since the term of attention means many things. The paper draws a neural model, based on fronto-parietal attention networks
🧵1/

Dr Reshanne Reeder @kerblooee.bsky.social · Aug 31

New preprint states "The attention model conceptualizes aphantasia as primarily a deficit in top-down attentional control":
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

@jianghaoliu.bsky.social is on a good role, but "attention control deficits" need to be carefully specified and here's why...

1/6

(PDF) An attention-based neural model of subjective imagery and aphantasia

PDF | Subjective imagery refers to one’s quasi-perceptual experience in the absence of direct external input. Yet around 4% of individuals with... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on Re...

www.researchgate.net

1 1

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Aug 24

Another one, among many others, to show (imagery is tiny for cognition) vs. (imagery affects everything in litterature) 😆

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Aug 21

8/8 hopefully this new theoretical framework could provide additional thought to advance current models of imagery in the context of subjective experience! Comments are welcome ✋

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Aug 21

7/8 I also discussed how the attention model:
-> explain phenomenological aspects of aphantasia: involuntary imagery, unconscious imagery, spectrum of vividness (hypo- vs. aph.), acquired aph., unimodal and multimodal, etc.
-> provide testable hypothesis for future studies !

1 1

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Aug 21

6/8 In this model, aphantasia is primarily a deficit in top-down attentional control. While some subliminal or preconscious visual processing is preserved, whereas conscious imagery is limited due to reduced functional disconnection.

Jianghao Liu @jianghaoliu.bsky.social · Aug 21

5/8 i proposed a putative neural basis of such process in typical visualizers:
-> dorsal attention network: hierarchical processing: generation (lIFG, IPS); integration (FIN), and amplification (PFC)
-> ventral attention network: switching between internal/external states and suppresses distractors.