title: Striatal activation as a neural link between cognitive and perceptual flexibility.
abstract: Our brain continuously evaluates different perceptual interpretations of the available sensory data in order to enable flexible updates of conscious experience. Individuals' perceptual flexibility can be assessed using ambiguous stimuli that cause our perception to continuously switch between two mutually exclusive interpretations. Neural processes underlying perceptual switching are thought to involve the visual cortex, but also non-sensory brain circuits that have been implicated in cognitive processes, such as frontal and parietal regions. Perceptual flexibility varies strongly between individuals and has been related to dopaminergic neurotransmission. Likewise, there is also considerable individual variability in tasks that require flexibility in cognition, and dopamine-dependent striato-frontal signals have been associated with processes promoting cognitive flexibility. Given the anatomical and neurochemical similarities with regard to perceptual and cognitive flexibility, we here probed whether individual differences in perceptual flexibility during bistable perception are related to individual cognitive flexibility associated neural correlates. 126 healthy individuals performed rule-based task switching during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and reported perceptual switching during the viewing of a modified version of the Necker cube. Mean phase duration as measure of perceptual flexibility correlated with task-switching associated activity in the right putamen as part of the basal ganglia. In addition, we found a tentative correlation between perceptual and cognitive flexibility. These results indicate that individual differences in cognitive flexibility and associated fronto-striatal processing contribute to differences in perceptual flexibility. Our findings thus provide empirical support for the general notion of shared mechanisms between perception and cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: maria.sekutowicz@charite.de.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sekutowicz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmack
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, D-01062 Dresden, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Steimke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-12489 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Lena
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paschke
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging, D-10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sterzer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging, D-10117 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-10117 Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, D-12489 Berlin, Germany; International Psychoanalytic University, D-10555 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stelzel
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Basal ganglia; Bistable perception; Cognitive flexibility; Perceptual flexibility; Task-switching