Contributions of Lower Structures to Higher Cognition: Towards a Dynamic Network Model

The advent of various neuroimaging methodologies has greatly aided in the conceptualization of large-scale brain networks in the field of cognitive neuroscience. However, there is inconsistency across studies in both nomenclature and the functional entities being described. There is a need for a unifying framework which standardizes terminology across studies while also bringing analyses and results into the same reference space. Here we present a functional whole-brain atlas of canonical brain networks derived from more than 100k resting-state fMRI datasets. These data-driven networks are highly replicable across datasets as well as multiple spatial scales. We have organized, labeled, and described them with terms familiar to the fields of cognitive and affective neuroscience in order to optimize their utility in future neuroimaging analyses and enhance the accessibility of new findings. The benefits of this atlas are not limited to future template-based or reference-guided analyses, but also extend to other data-driven neuroimaging approaches across modalities, such as those using blind independent component analysis (ICA). Future studies utilizing this atlas will contribute to greater harmonization and standardization in functional neuroimaging research.

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Distinct Contributions of the Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia to Arithmetic Procedures

Saban,

Pinheiro-Chagas,

Borra

et al. 2023

J. Neurosci.

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Humans exhibit complex mathematical skills attributed to the exceptional enlargement of neocortical regions throughout evolution. In the current work, we initiated a novel exploration of the ancient subcortical neural network essential for mathematical cognition. Using a neuropsychological approach, we report that degeneration of two subcortical structures, the cerebellum and basal ganglia, impairs performance in symbolic arithmetic. We identify distinct computational impairments in male and female participants with cerebellar degeneration (CD) or Parkinson's disease (PD). The CD group exhibited a disproportionate cost when the arithmetic sum increased, suggesting that the cerebellum is critical for iterative procedures required for calculations. The PD group showed a disproportionate cost for equations with increasing addends, suggesting that the basal ganglia are critical for chaining multiple operations. In Experiment 2, the two patient groups exhibited intact practice gains for repeated equations at odds with an alternative hypothesis that these impairments were related to memory retrieval. Notably, we discuss how the counting and chaining operations relate to cerebellar and basal ganglia function in other task domains (e.g., motor processes). Overall, we provide a novel perspective on how the cerebellum and basal ganglia contribute to symbolic arithmetic. Our studies demonstrate the constraints on the computational role of two subcortical regions in higher cognition.Significance StatementResearch on the neurobiology of mathematics has focused on the cerebral cortex, particularly the frontoparietal regions. In the present study, we asked how disorders primarily affecting subcortical structures impact performance on symbolic arithmetic operations. Participants with Parkinson's disease showed a greater impairment as the number of operations increased, and participants with cerebellar degeneration showed a greater impairment as the magnitude of the operations increased. This selective impairment points to the distinctive roles of the cerebellum and basal ganglia in symbolic arithmetic. These results suggest that two major subcortical structures can support symbolic complex cognition.

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Contributions of Lower Structures to Higher Cognition: Towards a Dynamic Network Model

Cited by 5 publications

References 95 publications

The subcortex as a trainer for cortical automaticity

The subcortex as a trainer for cortical automaticity

Addressing Inconsistency in Functional Neuroimaging: A Replicable Data-Driven Multi-Scale Functional Atlas for Canonical Brain Networks

Distinct Contributions of the Cerebellum and Basal Ganglia to Arithmetic Procedures

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