How domain general is information coding in the brain? A meta-analysis of 93 multi-voxel pattern analysis studies
-
1
Macquarie University, Perception in Action Research Centre, Department of Cognitive Science, Australia
-
2
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders, Australia
-
3
MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, United Kingdom
-
4
University of Oxford, Experimental Psychology, United Kingdom
Multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) of fMRI data is a powerful and increasingly popular technique used to examine information coding in the brain. Using a "roaming searchlight" it can map brain regions that make particular stimulus, rule, or response distinctions. What is the result of these exploratory analyses? Drawing on a decade of work, we examine the extent to which different brain regions are specialised for different types of information.
We identified 93 published papers which used a roaming searchlight to perform MVPA on fMRI data. Since most tasks comprise sensory input, task rules, and motor output, we focused on these task features.
First, the peak decoding co-ordinates reported in each study were projected onto a single template brain. The resulting map, which indicates regions most commonly identified as making task-relevant distinctions in the literature, comprised discrete regions in sensory (visual and auditory), motor, task positive (frontoparietal), and task negative (default) networks.
Next, we characterised the type of information coded in each network. Auditory, visual and motor networks predominantly coded information from their own domain (e.g. the auditory network primarily discriminated between auditory stimuli). By contrast, the frontoparietal network was characterised by domain generality, coding visual, auditory, motor, and rule information. After correcting for network area and the number of studies examining each feature, the contribution of the default mode network and voxels elsewhere was minor.
The data suggest a degree of domain generality across brain networks, with relative speciality in sensory and motor networks for information in their own domain. Consistent with the observation that frontoparietal cortex is active in many tasks, and the suggestion that its neurons adapt their function as needed for current behaviour (Duncan 2001), frontoparietal cortex codes information from across sensory and task domains.
Keywords:
auditory,
cognitive control,
fMRI,
visual,
parietal,
frontal,
motor,
task,
MVPA,
cognitive flexibility,
searchlight
Conference:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII), Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 27 Jul - 31 Jul, 2014.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Cognition and Executive Processes
Citation:
Woolgar
A,
Jackson
J and
Duncan
J
(2015). How domain general is information coding in the brain? A meta-analysis of 93 multi-voxel pattern analysis studies.
Conference Abstract:
XII International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON-XII).
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.217.00350
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
19 Feb 2015;
Published Online:
24 Apr 2015.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Alexandra Woolgar, Macquarie University, Perception in Action Research Centre, Department of Cognitive Science, Syndey, Australia, alexandra.woolgar@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk