Neural representations underlying mental imagery as unveiled by representation similarity analysis

Boccia, Maddalena; Sulpizio, Valentina; Bencivenga, Federica; Guariglia, Cecilia; Galati, Gaspare

doi:10.1007/s00429-021-02266-z

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Albeit several studies (Kosslyn et al, 1995 ; Kosslyn & Thompson, 2003 ; Pearson, 2019 ; Pearson & Kosslyn, 2015 ) have stressed the importance of early visual areas during imagery, subsequent work has led to contradictory findings (Lee et al, 2012 ) emphasizing instead the role of the HVC during imagery. Crucially, beyond the canonical activation analysis, a collection of studies using multivariate analyses (e.g., multivoxel pattern analysis and representational similarity analysis), has revealed that the areas of the HVC play a crucial role during imagery of scenes (Lee et al, 2012 ) and their locations (Boccia et al, 2015 , 2017 , 2021 ). With this in mind, to circumvent the potential difference between the imagery and the visual stimulus, in the DCM analysis, we specified condition‐specific connectivity models including only the scene‐selective and hippocampal regions, together with V1 in the visual perception.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferential signal pathways during the perception and imagery of familiar scenes: An effective connectivity study

Tullo

Almgren

Steen

et al. 2023

Human Brain Mapping

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The perception and imagery of landmarks activate similar content-dependent brain areas, including occipital and temporo-medial brain regions. However, how these areas interact during visual perception and imagery of scenes, especially when recollecting their spatial location, remains unknown. Here, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), resting-state functional connectivity (rs-fc), and effective connectivity to assess spontaneous fluctuations and task-induced modulation of signals among regions entailing scene-processing, the primary visual area and the hippocampus (HC), responsible for the retrieval of stored information. First, we functionally defined the scene-selective regions, that is, the occipital place area (OPA), the retrosplenial complex (RSC) and the parahippocampal place area (PPA), by using the face/scene localizer, observing that two portions of the PPA-anterior and posterior PPA-were consistently activated in all subjects. Second, the rs-fc analysis (n = 77) revealed a connectivity pathway similar to the one described in macaques, showing separate connectivity routes linking the anterior PPA with RSC and HC, and the posterior PPA with OPA. Third, we used dynamic causal modelling to evaluate whether the dynamic couplings among these regions differ between perception and imagery of familiar landmarks during a fMRI task (n = 16). We found a positive effect of HC on RSC during the retrieval of imagined places and an effect of occipital regions on both RSC and pPPA during the perception of scenes. Overall, we propose that under similar functional architecture at rest, different neural interactions take place between regions in the occipito-temporal higher-level visual cortex and the HC, subserving scene perception and imagery.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferential signal pathways during the perception and imagery of familiar scenes: An effective connectivity study

Tullo

Almgren

Steen

et al. 2023

Human Brain Mapping

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“…Similar results were observed in Ragni et al, (2021), with significantly above-chance decoding accuracy observed from the left fusiform face area, the bilateral parahippocampal place area, and frontoparietal regions, but not in early visual cortex regions. Evidence for successful decoding of face imagery from VTC regions has also been demonstrated by Boccia et al (2021) using representational similarity analysis. Results showed that activation patterns in high-level visual areas (ie., bilateral fusiform face area, bilateral occipital face area, and left occipito-place area) could be observed across imagined stimuli categories.…”

Section: Mental Imagery Of Facesmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Further evidence for the role of regions within the VTC (encompassing the fusiform gyrus / fusiform face area) in face mental imagery stems from the studies using multivariate voxel pattern analysis of fMRI data to decode imagined stimuli from brain activity (Boccia et al, 2021;Ragni et al, 2021;Reddy et al, 2010;VanRullen & Reddy, 2019). For example, Reddy et al (2010) asked participants to either see or imagine stimuli from four domains (shapes, tools, faces, and places) and then estimated activity patterns from object-responsive voxels separately from the perception and imagery tasks.…”

Section: Mental Imagery Of Facesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach resulted in two distinct unintended outcomes that were nevertheless interrelated. First, the act of imagining a specific stimulus, such as a familiar route, can be accompanied by activation of additional domains, for instance, envisioning that path in color (Boccia et al, 2021;Whittingstall et al, 2014). This intriguing and unexplored area of research questions the automaticity of cross-domain activation in VMI (e.g.…”

Section: How Is Vmi Studied?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Visual mental imagery: evidence for a heterarchical neural architecture

Spagna,

Heidenry,

Lambert

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Visual Mental Imagery (VMI) allows the generation of an image of an item in its absence, via retrieving, modifying, and recombining sensory information from long-term memory. The literature on this field has been rapidly expanding within five domains of VMI: visuospatial, colors, shapes, letters, and face imagery. Yet, the extent of overlap between behavioral and neural correlates associated with VMI domains is still undefined, and the debate regarding the similarities between imagination and perception within each domain has not settled. This literature review analyzes findings from these five VMI domains, and delineates the many aspects and features at which VMI has been studied in humans, linking evidence to theory. We draw four main conclusions: first, at the methodological level, over 60 different experimental designs populate the repertoire of VMI researchers, allowing the study of various facets of this construct. Second, there seems to be sporadic behavioral evidence regarding the increased difficulty (slower reaction times and lower accuracy) for mental imagery tasks compared to perceptual tasks. Third, domain-general activation for voluntary VMI was found in the frontoparietal network and the fusiform gyrus of the left hemisphere. We suggest that these two may be part of a domain-general VMI network. Fourth, domain-specific activation was also found in regions of the ventral and dorsal pathways supporting visual perception (e.g., fusiform face area for faces imagery; lingual gyrus for color imagery). We conclude by devising a heterarchical model of VMI, an architecture mixing vertical and horizontal connections between domain-general and domain-specific mechanisms. The next step would be to precisely characterize the key regions of this architecture, their spatiotemporal dynamics, and the connectivity patterns giving rise to domain-specific VMI.

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“…Notably, some evidence shows a decrease in activity in the occipital cortex during VMI (Kilintari et al, 2016). Second, during voluntary VMI there is consistent activation of frontal and parietal regions (Boccia et al, 2015;Boly et al, 2007;Daselaar et al, 2010;Formisano et al, 2002;Ganis et al, 2004;Gardini et al, 2005;Goebel et al, 1998;Guillot et al, 2009;Kilintari et al, 2016;Kukolja et al, 2006;Logie et al, 2011;Newman et al, 2005;Whittingstall et al, 2014;Zvyagintsev et al, 2013) and of the left hemisphere's fusiform gyrus (Belardinelli et al, 2009;Boccia et al, 2015Boccia et al, , 2021de Volder et al, 2001;D'Esposito et al, 1997;Howard et al, 1998;Hsu et al, 2011;Ishai, 2002;Ishai et al, 2000;Khuvis et al, 2021;Palmiero et al, 2009;Ragni et al, 2021;Reddy et al, 2010;Silson et al, 2019;Slotnick et al, 2005;VanRullen & Reddy, 2019). A meta-analysis of 27 fMRI studies, we (Spagna et al, 2021) defined the boundaries of this region in the mid-fusiform gyrus (Tailarach coordinates: -40, -55, -11) and named it the Fusiform Imagery Node (FIN).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Tracking the mind’s eyes: Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Domain-General and Domain-Specific Visual Mental Imagery

Spagna,

Liu,

et al. 2024

Preprint

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When we relive our memories, enjoy a novel, create a painting, or predict whether our car will fit in a parking spot, we use our “Mind’s Eye” to engage in Visual Mental Imagery (VMI). The current consensus is that VMI depends crucially on early visual areas. By contrast, longstanding evidence from neurological patients demonstrates that vivid VMI is possible even with no contribution from these areas. Instead, VMI can be impaired by left temporal damage. In a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies, we discovered VMI-associated activity, not only in fronto-parietal areas, where it had been detected by earlier studies, but also in a previously undescribed functional region of the left ventrotemporal cortex, which we have called the Fusiform Imagery Node (FIN). The role of this region in VMI was apparent in a ultra-high field 7T fMRI that showed activation in left-hemisphere fronto-parietal areas, the relevant domain-preferring areas in the ventral temporal cortex partly overlapping with the perceptual domain-preferring areas, and the domain-general FIN. These recent results make this the ideal moment to build a new neurocognitive model of voluntary VMI, reliant on a heterarchical neural architecture that mixes domain-general and domain-specific mechanisms. In this study, we will identify the functional role of cortical nodes in VMI-related networks using MEG in neurotypical participants, and we will ascertain the temporal dynamics of the relevant neural processes associated with domain-specific VMI. Results will be compared and contrasted against predictions from competing models of visual mental imagery, providing new hypotheses for the mechanisms underlying this function, and building a bridge to broader theories of conscious awareness.

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Neural representations underlying mental imagery as unveiled by representation similarity analysis

Cited by 6 publications

References 41 publications

Preferential signal pathways during the perception and imagery of familiar scenes: An effective connectivity study

Preferential signal pathways during the perception and imagery of familiar scenes: An effective connectivity study

Visual mental imagery: evidence for a heterarchical neural architecture

Tracking the mind’s eyes: Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Domain-General and Domain-Specific Visual Mental Imagery

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