Energy landscape and dynamics of brain activity during human bistable perception.

Takamitsu Watanabe,Ryota Kanai,Naoki Masuda,Geraint Rees,Fukuda Megumi

doi:10.1038/ncomms5765

Abstract

Individual differences in the structure of parietal and prefrontal cortex predict the stability of bistable visual perception. However, the mechanisms linking such individual differences in brain structures to behaviour remain elusive. Here we demonstrate a systematic relationship between the dynamics of brain activity, cortical structure and behaviour underpinning bistable perception. Using fMRI in humans, we find that the activity dynamics during bistable perception are well described as fluctuating between three spatially distributed energy minimums: visual-area-dominant, frontal-area-dominant and intermediate states. Transitions between these energy minimums predicted behaviour, with participants whose brain activity tend to reflect the visual-area-dominant state exhibiting more stable perception and those whose activity transits to frontal-area-dominant states reporting more frequent perceptual switches. Critically, these brain activity dynamics are correlated with individual differences in grey matter volume of the corresponding brain areas. Thus, individual differences in the large-scale dynamics of brain activity link focal brain structure with bistable perception.

Highlights

Individual differences in the structure of parietal and prefrontal cortex predict the stability of bistable visual perception
We investigated whether characteristics of the dynamics on the energy landscape during bistable perception were correlated with the local grey matter volumes of the seven regions of interest (ROI)
If dynamic brain activity during bistable perception can be described as transitions among relatively stable activity patterns, such stable brain statuses may correspond to local energy minimums

Summary

Introduction

Individual differences in the structure of parietal and prefrontal cortex predict the stability of bistable visual perception. Little is known about the functional mechanisms linking these anatomical features of individual brains to behavioural variability To find such links, we estimated the energy landscape of human brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participants viewed a bistable structurefrom-motion (SFM) stimulus (Fig. 1a). These analyses show that brain activity during bistable perception is effectively described as transitions among three distinct states; these transition dynamics for each participant are correlated with both individual behavioural variability and the structural characteristics of focal cortical regions These results suggest that the features of the energy landscape could link individual characteristics in brain anatomy and difference in subjective visual experience

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