High prevalence of functional clustering in human cortex revealed by intracranial EEG during naturalistic audiovisual movies

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event High prevalence of functional clustering in human cortex revealed by intracranial EEG during naturalistic audiovisual movies Meir Meshulam1*, Michal Ramot2, Michal Harel1, Svetlana Kipervasser3, Miri Neufeld3, Uri Kramer3, 4 and Itzhak Fried3, 5 1 Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel 2 The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel 3 Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Israel 4 University of Wisconsin, United States 5 University of California at Los Angeles, United States Neurons in human high-order sensory areas are clustered by functional properties. This was typically demonstrated using stimulus-response paradigms and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), which revealed specific responses to specific image categories such as faces and houses. Here, we showed an audio-visual movie clip to patients implanted with intracranial EEG electrodes (590 in total) which covered large parts of the cortex. The complex naturalistic stimulus and the superior spatial and temporal resolution of iEEG compared to fMRI allowed us to gain new insights into the prevalence of functional selectivity in the human cortex. We found that only a small minority of electrodes showed highly reliable responses the movie clip, with only 15% of electrodes having a between-presentations correlation coefficient r > .27, while 71% of electrodes had a correlation coefficient r < .13. Using a “reverse correlation” approach (Hasson et al., 2004) we found conspicuous examples of category-selective responses to faces, body movements and actions. However, since neurons may be clustered according to functional features that are not easily recognized, we correlated the signals recorded from electrodes across our pool. Our results show that the electrode response selectivity was extremely narrow, so that 99.6% of the electrode population showed a significant difference in response profile. Given that the iEEG signals reflect the averaged response of a large number of neurons, these results provide clear evidence for functional clustering of cortical neurons in human sensory cortex. Funding: Supported by ISF, Bikura, and Mark Scher’s estate grants to RM. Keywords: EEG, fMRI, Perception Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Neurophysiology of Sensation and Perception Citation: Meshulam M, Ramot M, Harel M, Kipervasser S, Neufeld M, Kramer U and Fried I (2011). High prevalence of functional clustering in human cortex revealed by intracranial EEG during naturalistic audiovisual movies. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00343 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: 23 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Meir Meshulam, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, meir.meshulam@weizmann.ac.il Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Meir Meshulam Michal Ramot Michal Harel Svetlana Kipervasser Miri Neufeld Uri Kramer Itzhak Fried Google Meir Meshulam Michal Ramot Michal Harel Svetlana Kipervasser Miri Neufeld Uri Kramer Itzhak Fried Google Scholar Meir Meshulam Michal Ramot Michal Harel Svetlana Kipervasser Miri Neufeld Uri Kramer Itzhak Fried PubMed Meir Meshulam Michal Ramot Michal Harel Svetlana Kipervasser Miri Neufeld Uri Kramer Itzhak Fried Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.