Increasing associative plasticity in temporo-occipital back-projections improves visual perception of emotions

Sara Borgomaneri (), Marco Zanon, Paolo Di Luzio, Antonio Cataneo, Giorgio Arcara, Vincenzo Romei, Marco Tamietto () and Alessio Avenanti ()
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Sara Borgomaneri: Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus
Marco Zanon: Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus
Paolo Di Luzio: Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus
Antonio Cataneo: Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus
Giorgio Arcara: IRCCS San Camillo Hospital
Vincenzo Romei: Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus
Marco Tamietto: Università degli Studi di Torino
Alessio Avenanti: Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna, Cesena Campus

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) is a critical node in a network specialized for perceiving emotional facial expressions that is reciprocally connected with early visual cortices (V1/V2). Current models of perceptual decision-making increasingly assign relevance to recursive processing for visual recognition. However, it is unknown whether inducing plasticity into reentrant connections from pSTS to V1/V2 impacts emotion perception. Using a combination of electrophysiological and neurostimulation methods, we demonstrate that strengthening the connectivity from pSTS to V1/V2 selectively increases the ability to perceive facial expressions associated with emotions. This behavior is associated with increased electrophysiological activity in both these brain regions, particularly in V1/V2, and depends on specific temporal parameters of stimulation that follow Hebbian principles. Therefore, we provide evidence that pSTS-to-V1/V2 back-projections are instrumental to perception of emotion from facial stimuli and functionally malleable via manipulation of associative plasticity.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41058-3

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