A similarity-based approach for decoding the human object recognition pathway

描述(由申请人提供)：该应用程序的总体目标有两个：(1)研究人类物体识别路径中生命体的表示，(2)开发使用认知状态之间的多变量相似性度量来分析功能脑图像的改进方法。以下假设将被检验：基于模式的测量与观看动画对象相关的认知状态之间的神经相似性将揭示大脑不同部分相对于各种信息的表征结构。具体目标1：确定构成对各种动画刺激反应模式的神经相似结构的基本维度，重点关注三个代表性领域：视觉形式(种内和种间)、生物运动和威胁。具体目标2：测试动画实体的神经表征的相似结构是否在不同的脑区有所不同。具体地说，评估解剖上不同的区域被假设为代表三种类型的信息的相对贡献：枕下部和颞叶腹侧皮质(视觉形式)，颞叶上沟(生物运动)，以及杏仁核和前额叶腹内侧皮质(威胁)。具体目标3：将从不同大脑区域计算出的神经相似性与参与者在不同维度上判断的行为相似性联系起来。建立神经表征和心理直觉之间的直接联系，关于视觉形式、生物运动和威胁这三个表征领域的相似结构。具体目标4：开发一种利用体素之间的空间信息来计算神经相似性的方法。FMR1和行为数据将在三个为满足这些特定目标而量身定做的实验中收集。数据分析涉及图像预处理、模式分类、基于信息的脑成像、神经相似性的多变量测量、聚类分析和多维尺度的最新技术的组合。与公共健康相关：这项研究将阐明大脑中支持生命力表征的主要途径--社会性大脑的核心组成部分。对这一系统的了解将为社会神经科学的研究和与一系列以社会认知受损为主要特征的障碍相关的翻译研究提供基石。人脑成像中多变量技术的发展极大地提高了脑成像揭示神经表征结构的能力；特别是基于相似性的方法的发展，有望为我们提供将神经表征结构与认知表征模型联系起来的强大工具。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The application's overall goal is twofold: (1) to investigate the representation of animacy in the human object recognition pathway, and (2) to develop improved methods for analyzing functional brain images using multivariate measures of similarity among cognitive states. The following hypothesis will be tested: Pattern-based measurements of neural similarity among cognitive states associated with viewing animate objects will reveal the structure of representation in different parts of the brain with respect to various types of information. Specific Aim 1: To identify the underlying dimensions that form the basis of neural similarity structure for patterns of response to a wide variety of animate stimuli focusing on three representational domains: visual form (both within-species and between-species), biological motion, and threat. Specific Aim 2: To test whether the similarity structure of the neural representations of animate entities varies across brain areas. Specifically, to evaluate the relative contributions of anatomically distinct regions hypothesized to represent three types of information: inferior-occipital and ventral temporal cortex (visual form), superior temporal sulcus (biological motion), and the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (threat). Specific Aim 3: To correlate neural similarity-calculated from various brain regions-with behavioral similarity judged by participants along various dimensions. To establish direct links between neural representation and psychological intuitions about similarity structure with respect to the three representational domains: visual form, biological motion, and threat. Specific aim 4: To develop a method for calculating neural similarity that exploits the spatial information among voxels. FMRl and behavioral data will be collected in three experiments tailored to meet these specific aims. Data analysis involves a combination of state-of-the-art techniques for image preprocessing, pattern-classification, information-based brain mapping, multivariate measures of neural similarity, cluster analyses, and multidimensional scaling. Relevance to public health: This research will shed light on a major pathway in the brain that supports the representation of animacy-a core component of the social brain. Understanding of this system will provide a cornerstone for research in social neuroscience and translational research relevant to a broad range of disorders in which impaired social cognition is a major feature. The growth of multivariate techniques in human brain imaging has greatly increased the power of brain imaging to reveal the structure of neural representation; in particular, the development of similarity-based approaches promises to provide us with a powerful tool for linking the structure of neural representation with models of cognitive representation.