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Acetylcholine (ACh) is a neuromodulatory transmitter implicated in perception and learning under uncertainty. This study combined computational simulations and pharmaco-electroencephalography in humans, to test a formulation of perceptual inference based upon the free energy principle. This formulation suggests that ACh enhances the precision of bottom-up synaptic transmission in cortical hierarchies by optimizing the gain of supragranular pyramidal cells. Simulations of a mismatch negativity paradigm predicted a rapid trial-by-trial suppression of evoked sensory prediction error (PE) responses that is attenuated by cholinergic neuromodulation. We confirmed this prediction empirically with a placebo-controlled study of cholinesterase inhibition. Furthermore, using dynamic causal modeling, we found that drug-induced differences in PE responses could be explained by gain modulation in supragranular pyramidal cells in primary sensory cortex. This suggests that ACh adaptively enhances sensory precision by boosting bottom-up signaling when stimuli are predictable, enabling the brain to respond optimally under different levels of environmental uncertainty.

Original publication

DOI

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4255-12.2013

Type

Journal article

Journal

J Neurosci

Publication Date

08/05/2013

Volume

33

Pages

8227 - 8236

Keywords

Acetylcholine, Acoustic Stimulation, Adolescent, Adult, Algorithms, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Computer Simulation, Double-Blind Method, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Female, Galantamine, Humans, Learning, Male, Models, Neurological, Neuropsychological Tests, Perception, Predictive Value of Tests, Young Adult