# Linking sensory uncertainty with motivation and memory

> **NIH NIH F31** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2021 · $46,036

## Abstract

Abstract:
Processing information that reduces uncertainty is a key role of the brain. Emerging evidence shows that, in
addition to using information that is given to them, animals actively seek to obtain information about future
rewards or semantic (trivia) questions. Information demand (ID) is robust even when it is non-instrumental
(cannot be exploited to increase reward gains). Moreover, non-instrumental ID activates the reward-sensitive
dopaminergic midbrain and enhances memory, suggesting that uncertainty, independently of reward gains, is a
source of motivation for decision making and cognitive function. However, little is known about the neural
mechanisms mediating these effects of uncertainty. I will address this question by designing a new task that
measures perceptual ID and allows me to examine how signals of sensory uncertainty relate to those of
motivation and memory. I identified visual images – “texforms” – that reliably activate human ventral temporal
cortex (VTC) and can be distorted in a controlled fashion to parametrically manipulate the uncertainty about
animate/ inanimate stimulus categories. Second, I will use a generative model to decode trial-by-trial sensory
uncertainty from stimulus-evoked multi-voxel activity in the VTC. Finally, I show preliminary evidence that
perceptual ID (the desire to reveal the identity of an ambiguous image) is related to behavioral reports of
confidence (a proxy of uncertainty). In Aim 1, I will examine the hypothesis that sensory uncertainty in VTC
relates to midbrain activity either directly or mediated by univariate responses to confidence (such as those in
the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex). In Aim 2, I will examine the hypothesis that VTC uncertainty modulates the
hippocampus and generates ID-related memory enhancements. Furthermore, I will explore the possibility that
distinct network interactions mediate the effect of ID on immediate and delayed memory. Together, the findings
will bring significant new insights into the pathways through which multivariate and univariate signals of
uncertainty motivate actions that reduce uncertainty and affect memory. In addition, the results will expand our
understanding of pathways that produce maladaptive effects of uncertainty in disorders of mood and anxiety.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10315376
- **Project number:** 1F31MH125589-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael Cohanpour
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $46,036
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10315376

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10315376, Linking sensory uncertainty with motivation and memory (1F31MH125589-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10315376. Licensed CC0.

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