Search Abstracts | Symposia | Slide Sessions | Poster Sessions
The Systematic Variability of Individual Differences in Neural Representations across Tasks within Large-Scale Brain Networks
Poster Session A - Sandbox Series, Thursday, October 24, 10:00 - 11:30 am, Great Hall 3 and 4
This poster is part of the Sandbox Series.
Liu Linyan1, Ding Guosheng1; 1Beijing normal university
The current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research is shifting from the traditional focus on the average effects at the group level to the recognition of individual-level differences. However, most studies have not controlled for individual genetic differences, and the characterization of individual differences using small samples and single tasks has severe limitations. This study utilized the Human Connectome Project dataset to compare the neural representation similarity between monozygotic twins across various cognitive tasks (such as language task, emotion task and decision-making task). Furthermore, the study explored the distribution and topological structure in individual differences of neural representation in large-scale brain networks across different cognitive tasks. The results showed that the individual differences in neural representations between monozygotic twins exhibited strong flexibility across different cognitive tasks. In language and mathematical operations tasks that requiring higher-order cognition, the individual differences in neural representations within the default network decreased (i.e., representation similarity increased). However, when cognitive processing relied more on external stimuli, the individual differences in neural representations within the default network increased, while the individual differences in somato-motor networks decreased. Across different cognitive tasks, the individual differences in neural representations within the default network strongly and positively modulated the individual differences in transmodal networks (language, fronto-parietal, orbito-affective networks), while negatively modulating the individual differences in unimodal networks (visual, somato-motor and attention networks). That is, the greater the individual differences in the default network, the greater the individual differences in the language, fronto-parietal, and orbito-affective networks, and vice versa for the unimodal networks. These results suggest that individual differences in cognitive representations are flexibly adjusted across different tasks, especially in tasks involving higher-level cognitive processing such as language, the default network is believed to play a core role in this regulation.
Topic Areas: Multisensory or Sensorimotor Integration, Genetics