Awareness for surprising sensory events is shaped by prior belief inferred from past experience. Here, we combined hierarchical Bayesian modeling with fMRI on an associative learning task in 28 male human participants to characterize the effect of the prior belief of tactile events on connections mediating the outcome of perceptual decisions. Activity in anterior insular cortex (AIC), premotor cortex (PMd), and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) were modulated by prior belief on unexpected targets compared with expected targets. On expected targets, prior belief decreased the connection strength from AIC to IPL, whereas it increased the connection strength from AIC to PMd when targets were unexpected. Individual differences in the modulatory strength of prior belief on insular projections correlated with the precision that increases the influence of prediction errors on belief updating. These results suggest complementary effects of prior belief on insular-frontoparietal projections mediating the precision of prediction during probabilistic tactile learning.

SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In a probabilistic environment, the prior belief of sensory events can be inferred from past experiences. How this prior belief modulates effective brain connectivity for updating expectations for future decision-making remains unexplored. Combining hierarchical Bayesian modeling with fMRI, we show that during tactile associative learning, prior expectations modulate connections originating in the anterior insula cortex and targeting salience-related and attention-related frontoparietal areas (i.e., parietal and premotor cortex). These connections seem to be involved in updating evidence based on the precision of ascending inputs to guide future decision-making.

FAO and its partners have launched an initiative aimed at cutting food waste across the Asia-Pacific region. Save Food Asia-Pacific Campaign targets losses both straight after harvest and between the market and people’s plates. FAO estimates that reducing global food waste by just one quarter would be sufficient to feed the 870 million people suffering from chronic hunger in the world. [...]

Total food losses have been estimated at 1.3 billion tons per year, which represents roughly one-third of the world food production for human consumption. The economic value of food losses and waste amounts to $680 billion in industrialized countries and $310 billion in developing countries. In total, food loss and waste amount to one trillion dollars globally. Lost and wasted food [...]

All over the world local varieties of fruit, vegetables and grain are grown. Many are seemingly forgotten or are underutilized despite having outstanding nutritional or taste qualities. Some have good commercial potential and could be an excellent cash crop for a smallscale or family farmers, aimed at the local, regional or international market. Here are six traditional crops and six facts [...]

In the year 2000, the UN Member States set the eight Millennium Development Goals. One of the most ambitious was to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. As part of this goal, the United Nations General Assembly set a target to halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015.  But have you ever wondered how hunger is measured in [...]

Food waste has become a dangerous habit: buying more than we need at supermarkets, letting fruits and vegetables spoil at home or ordering more than we can eat at restaurants.  Each year, about 1/3 of the food we produce globally is lost or wasted. In developing countries, a large part of this food (40%) is lost at the harvest or processing [...]

Oceans cover 70 percent of our planet. But did you know that 40 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by what is known as our common oceans?  

‘What on earth were they doing there?’ one researcher asks

New research hints at how different environments impact animal behavior and the spread of infection

The findings further refute the outdated notion that humans' capacity for complex artistic expression evolved exclusively in Europe

A new theory suggests the hot, harsh planet’s interior could have contained volatiles like water

Precious data points logged on paper are in dire need of a hero. Could it be you?

Thieves pilfered "The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884" from the Singer Laren in the early hours of Monday morning

Hundreds of museums are participating in an online attempt to spread joy as COVID-19 keeps their galleries empty

Audible's new service is aimed at school-age children participating in distance learning but features selections likely to appeal to all

Mary Pearson, who was briefly engaged to the writer's brother, may be the real-life counterpart of Lydia Bennet from "Pride and Prejudice"

In the wild, only about one in 20 caterpillars grows up to be a butterfly

New research indicates that Iron Age Britons venerated brown hares and chickens long before modern Easter celebrations

This eruption is the longest since 2018 when the volcano caused a deadly tsunami

The "lost" apples will help restore genetic, culinary diversity to a crop North America once produced in astonishing variety

In the days before his death, the New York man spoke often of his lost twin and the lessons humanity seemed not to have learned

Nearly 2,000 years ago, women who rode horseback and practiced archery may have roamed the steppes of Mongolia

The simultaneous mating calls of the male pug-nosed tree frog confuses bats but not female frogs

Steeds who made headlines for winning races now get to enjoy their final years at a slower pace

Hundreds of sheets of cloth create a rainbow of colours as workers lay them out to dry. A sea of red, orange, pink, purple and yellow can be seen in these aerial shots as the fabric dries in a field. Workers can also be seen in the middle of the palette of colour as they unfold each sheet. Once the cloth dries it is used to create traditional Bangladeshi women's dresses.

This photo shows the beautiful landscape of Capital Reef National Park with its amazing old orchards in foreground. Capital Reef has many old orchards of peaches, apples and apricots. The park lets you eat all you want if you eat it in the orchard.

Sketches from the workshop of French engineer Gustave Eiffel suggest a different plan for Lady Liberty’s upraised arm

Residents can now order up to two bottles of wine, 24 cans of beer or more than a litre of spirits from local restaurants and bars.

Alcohol industry groups were successful in getting the Yukon government to pull labels warning of the connection between alcohol and cancer from liquor store shelves, but the strategy may have ultimately backfired, researchers suggest.

Schools were closed March 13 to reduce the risk of spread of the coronavirus, and there is no plan to reopen them by the end of the current school year in June.

Press release about the Basel Committee publishing consultation paper on revisions to the credit valuation adjustment risk framework, 28 November 2019.

BCBS Press release "Basel Committee and IOSCO announce deferral of final implementation phases of the margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives", 3 April 2020

A protein shredder that occurs in cell membranes of brain cells apparently also indirectly regulates the fat metabolism.

Businesses in Cape Breton are helping customers get creative with DIY take-home kits to make everything from mermaid-themed terrariums to bubble tea.

Asylum seekers make up a large portion of the "guardian angels" Quebec Premier François Legault has praised in his daily COVID-19 briefings: the orderlies who have no guarantee they'll be allowed to stay in Canada.

A young boy is recovering in hospital after being hit by a car in Montreal's LaSalle borough Friday afternoon, police say.

We're answering your questions about the pandemic. Send yours to COVID@cbc.ca and we’ll answer as many as we can. We’ll publish a selection of answers every weekday online, and also put some questions to the experts during The National and on CBC News Network.

Michigan officials are ordering a Flint hospital to take steps to reduce the risk of exposure to Legionella bacteria and Legionnaires' disease at the facility.

Ontario's police watchdog says an OPP officer didn't break the law when he shot and killed a man running at him with an aluminum bat in November 2019.

Former Canadian figure skater and Olympic medallist Joannie Rochette will be working at Quebec's long-term care homes hit hard by COVID-19.

Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet was enjoying the best season of his career, and was set to strike it rich with a lucrative new deal this summer before the coronavirus brought the NBA and global sports to its knees in mid-March.

Grit and red wine: Famous war photographer beats virus at 97  WSET

Melissa Tancredi and Rhian Wilkinson were pillars of the Team Canada for nearly two decades. Together, they've lived the highs and lows of the women's national soccer program - from the awe of their first Games in Beijing 2008, the heartbreak and redemption in London 2012, and finally, solidifying Canada's reputation as a soccer world power in Rio 2016. It's been a rollercoaster they'd ride over and over again.

Karina LeBlanc was returning home from her second hospital visit after giving birth to her first child, only this time she would have to spend 14 days in self-isolation after doctors feared she contracted COVID-19 during her stay.