Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Processing (Brain vs. Ear)

[jeff W]

This debate has been going on for some time in psychology, it may seem abstract in relation to something like tinnitus but objective measurements of how the body measures its environment (information) through the sense organs is a perfect opportunity to understand mechanisms and then apply theory with tests & controls. Below are some videos on two of the main positions (if there are others you are aware of, comment below).

Cognitive Neuroscience - Top Down Position from @ 1:28




Ecological Psychology - Direct Perception Position (JJ Gibson)
​

I would very much like to hear other thoughts/opinions on this topic. From light discussion to even academic texts or whatever you may wish to include, just comment below. I just thought that this discussion needed its own thread as it seems to be able to wiggle itself into all the other topics which then veers such discussions in another direction completely.

 

[jeff W]

I would like to add this here to further thought on the topic, I think that molyneux's problem can be useful for tinnitus and hearing restoration.

 

[John Young]

This debate has been going on for some time in psychology, it may seem abstract in relation to something like tinnitus but objective measurements of how the body measures its environment (information) through the sense organs is a perfect opportunity to understand mechanisms and then apply theory with tests & controls. Below are some videos on two of the main positions (if there are others you are aware of, comment below).

Cognitive Neuroscience - Top Down Position from @ 1:28




Ecological Psychology - Direct Perception Position (JJ Gibson)
​

I would very much like to hear other thoughts/opinions on this topic. From light discussion to even academic texts or whatever you may wish to include, just comment below. I just thought that this discussion needed its own thread as it seems to be able to wiggle itself into all the other topics which then veers such discussions in another direction completely.

Honestly, I just want an injection/pill cure.

 

[Frédéric]

Top-down and bottom-up regulated auditory phantom perception
Sven Vanneste, Ola Alsaman and Dirk De Ridder
Journal of Neuroscience 2 November 2018, 0966-18; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0966-18.2018

Abstract
Auditory phantom percepts such as tinnitus are associated with auditory deafferentation. The idea is that auditory deafferentation limits the amount of information the brain can acquire to make sense of the world. Because of this, auditory deafferentation increases the uncertainty of the auditory environment. In order to minimize uncertainty, the deafferented brain will attempt to obtain or fill in the missing information. A proposed multiphase compensation model suggests two distinct types of bottom-up related tinnitus: an auditory cortex related tinnitus and a parahippocampal cortex related tinnitus. The weakness of this model is that it cannot explain why some people without hearing loss develop tinnitus while conversely others with hearing loss do not develop tinnitus. In this human study, we provide evidence for a top-down type of tinnitus associated with a deficient noise-cancelling mechanism. A total of 72 participants (age: 40.96 ± 7.67 years; males: 48; females: 24) were recruited for this study. We demonstrate that top-down related tinnitus is related to a change in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex that corresponds to increased activity in the auditory cortex. This is in accordance with the idea that tinnitus can have different generators as proposed in a recent model that suggests that different compensation mechanisms at a cortical level can be linked to phantom percepts.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

Chronic tinnitus affects 15% of the population worldwide. The term "tinnitus" however represents a highly heterogeneous condition, as evidenced by the fact that there are no effective treatments or even an adequate understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms. Consistent with this idea, our research shows that tinnitus indeed has different subtypes related to hearing loss. In a human study tightly controlled for hearing loss, we establish a tinnitus subtype associated with a deficient top-down noise-cancelling mechanism, which distinguishes it from bottom-up subtypes. We demonstrate that top-down related tinnitus relates to a change in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex that corresponds to increased activity in the auditory cortex, while bottom-up tinnitus instead relates to changes in the parahippocampal cortex.

Footnotes

• The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Source: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2018/11/02/JNEUROSCI.0966-18.2018

 

[Autumnly]

Chronic tinnitus affects 15% of the population worldwide.

There are around 7.600.000.000 people on this planet.
15% of that = 1.140.000.000
Let's say only 1% has severe, debilitating chronic tinnitus, that's still 11.400.000 (11.4 million) people!

Anyway, thank you @Frédéric for continuously posting new research articles and studies!

 

[jeff W]

Top-down and bottom-up regulated auditory phantom perception
Sven Vanneste, Ola Alsaman and Dirk De Ridder
Journal of Neuroscience 2 November 2018, 0966-18; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0966-18.2018

Abstract
Auditory phantom percepts such as tinnitus are associated with auditory deafferentation. The idea is that auditory deafferentation limits the amount of information the brain can acquire to make sense of the world. Because of this, auditory deafferentation increases the uncertainty of the auditory environment. In order to minimize uncertainty, the deafferented brain will attempt to obtain or fill in the missing information. A proposed multiphase compensation model suggests two distinct types of bottom-up related tinnitus: an auditory cortex related tinnitus and a parahippocampal cortex related tinnitus. The weakness of this model is that it cannot explain why some people without hearing loss develop tinnitus while conversely others with hearing loss do not develop tinnitus. In this human study, we provide evidence for a top-down type of tinnitus associated with a deficient noise-cancelling mechanism. A total of 72 participants (age: 40.96 ± 7.67 years; males: 48; females: 24) were recruited for this study. We demonstrate that top-down related tinnitus is related to a change in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex that corresponds to increased activity in the auditory cortex. This is in accordance with the idea that tinnitus can have different generators as proposed in a recent model that suggests that different compensation mechanisms at a cortical level can be linked to phantom percepts.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

Chronic tinnitus affects 15% of the population worldwide. The term "tinnitus" however represents a highly heterogeneous condition, as evidenced by the fact that there are no effective treatments or even an adequate understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms. Consistent with this idea, our research shows that tinnitus indeed has different subtypes related to hearing loss. In a human study tightly controlled for hearing loss, we establish a tinnitus subtype associated with a deficient top-down noise-cancelling mechanism, which distinguishes it from bottom-up subtypes. We demonstrate that top-down related tinnitus relates to a change in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex that corresponds to increased activity in the auditory cortex, while bottom-up tinnitus instead relates to changes in the parahippocampal cortex.

Footnotes

• The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Source: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2018/11/02/JNEUROSCI.0966-18.2018

Thanks for that link, I have not read the full paper yet, perhaps we can all have a gander at it first.

 

[Frédéric]

@jeff W : good thing you can have access to the full article, thank you. I will read it later.