Multivariate pattern analysis of the human pSTS: A comparison of three prototypical localizers

NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA

卷:120

Article

Dasgupta, Samhita¹  Srinivasan, Ramesh¹  Grossman, Emily D.¹ 

[1] Univ Calif Irvine, Dept Cognit Sci, 3151 Social Sci Plaza, Irvine, CA 92697 USA

关键词: Biological motion perception;    Face perception;    Social understanding;    Posterior superior temporal sulcus;    Functional magnetic resonance imaging;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.10.004

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The posterior extent of the human superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) is an important cortical region for detecting animacy, attributing agency to others, and decoding goal-directed behavior. Theoretical accounts attribute these cognitive skills to unique neural populations that have been difficult to identify empirically (Hein and Knight, 2008). The aim of this study is to evaluate the multivariate statistical structure of pSTS activation patterns when viewing different social cues. We identified a core conjunction region on pSTS from univariate responses with preference for point-light biological motion, faces and the attribution of social concepts to simple animated shapes. In a multivariate analysis, we characterized the similarity structure of the resulting activation patterns after controlling for variance in the activation profile elicited by form and motion features. We found strong antagonistic activation profiles between the social conditions and their localizer controls, a harbinger of why these canonical localizers are so effective, even in individual subjects. We also found unique patterns of similarity between the three core social conditions. Our findings are consistent with the Shultz et al. (2015) model of pSTS function in which separate neural populations exist for animacy detection from body parts versus for extracting intentional cues from movement.

【 授权许可】

Free