Neuroscientists create a comprehensive map of the cerebral cortex while subjects performed a task

Amazing stuff!

"By analyzing brain scans taken as people watched movie clips, MIT researchers have created the most comprehensive map yet of the functions of the brain’s cerebral cortex.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data, the research team identified 24 networks with different functions, which include processing language, social interactions, visual features, and other types of sensory input. ...

Up to now, most studies of networks were based on doing functional MRI in the resting-state condition. ...

However, during the resting state, many parts of the cortex may not be active at all. To gain a more comprehensive picture of what all these regions are doing, the MIT team analyzed data recorded while subjects performed a more natural task: watching a movie. ...

The data for this study was generated as part of the Human Connectome Project. Using a 7-Tesla MRI scanner, which offers higher resolution than a typical MRI scanner ..."

From the highlights and abstract:

"Highlights

• Cerebral cortex was parcellated into 24 functional networks using movie fMRI data

• The topographic relationship between networks and known cortical areas was evaluated

• Executive control networks showed a characteristic response during movie watching

• A push-pull interaction was found between domain-general and domain-specific areas

Summary

Characterizing the functional organization of cerebral cortex is a fundamental step in understanding how different kinds of information are processed in the brain. However, it is still unclear how these areas are organized during naturalistic visual and auditory stimulation. Here, we used high-resolution functional MRI data from 176 human subjects to map the macro-architecture of the entire cerebral cortex based on responses to a 60-min audiovisual movie stimulus. A data-driven clustering approach revealed a map of 24 functional areas/networks, each explicitly linked to a specific aspect of sensory or cognitive processing. Novel features of this map included an extended scene-selective network in the lateral prefrontal cortex, separate clusters responsive to human-object and human-human interaction, and a push-pull interaction between three executive control (domain-general) networks and domain-specific regions of the visual, auditory, and language cortex. Our cortical parcellation provides a comprehensive and unified map of functionally defined areas in the human cerebral cortex."

Neuroscientists create a comprehensive map of the cerebral cortex | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Using fMRI, the research team identified 24 networks that perform specific functions within the brain’s cerebral cortex."

Functional architecture of cerebral cortex during naturalistic movie watching

Figure 1 Naturalistic movie-watching paradigm and clustering analysis of fMRI data