Hello,
We have a new semester of YNiC Seminars kicking off this week!!
We will be hearing from Dr Lauren Welbourne with a short talk titled "Measuring binocular combination of luminance and chromatic stimuli using fMRI" and Dr David Watson with a talk titled "Mapping the connectivity of the scene network in the human brain" (see abstract below).
We look forward to seeing you then!!
Many thanks,
Jennifer
Dr David Watson
Mapping the connectivity of the scene network in the human brainThe
perception of places has been linked to a network of scene-selective
regions in the human brain (OPA: occipital place area; PPA:
parahippocampal place area; RSC: retrosplenial complex). However, the
connectivity of these regions to each other and the rest of the brain
remains poorly understood. Here, we measured the functional and
structural connectivity of the scene network. Functional connectivity,
measured at rest and during movie watching, revealed a bias between
posterior and anterior scene regions that have been implicated in
perceptual versus mnemonic aspects of scene perception. For example, OPA
and posterior PPA showed greater connectivity with visual and dorsal
attention networks, which may play a role in the visual representation
of scenes. In contrast, anterior PPA and RSC showed preferential
connectivity with default-mode and frontoparietal control networks and
the hippocampus, which may reflect our memory for places. We also
measured the structural connectivity of the scene network using
diffusion tractography. This indicated both similarities and differences
with the functional connectivity, highlighting distinctions between
posterior and anterior but also ventral and dorsal scene regions. These
findings provide a map of the connectivity of the scene network,
informing possible roles for scene-selective regions in brain function
and human behaviour.
-- Jennifer Ashton, PhD
Senior Research Technician
Working days: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday