A neuroscience of top-down control

RÉSENTATEUR Amir Raz, Ph.D., ABPH Canada Research Chair in the Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention Professor, Department(s) of Psychiatry (Neurology & Neurosurgery, and Psychology).

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Mind-Body Regulation. Member of the McGill Board of Governors Representative of the Board of Governors on Senate McGill University and the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research of the Jewish General Hospital.

When specific information is missing even easy perceptual tasks can become difficult.

But can we suggest that critical information is present in order to simplify a difficult perceptual task? We hypothesized that suggesting the presence of visual occluders – critical information in a well-documented paradigm – would metamorphose an effortful task into an effortless one.

Research findings propose that, at least for certain individuals, suggestion can strikingly change the computational nature of specific tasks. Specific forms of suggestion, moreover, can cause highly-suggestible individuals (HSIs) to override ballistic processes.

Investigating such top-down influences elucidates the regulation of ascending sensory physiological mechanisms by higher cognitive systems. This research prospect paves the road to a more scientific understanding of how top-down control modulates perceptual processes downstream.