The global landscape of cognition: hierarchical aggregation as an organizational principle of human cortical networks and functions.

ABSTRACT: Though widely hypothesized, limited evidence exists that human brain functions organize in global gradients of abstraction starting from sensory cortical inputs. Hierarchical representation is accepted in computational networks, and tentatively in visual neuroscience, yet no direct holistic demonstrations exist in vivo. Our methods developed network models enriched with tiered directionality, by including input locations, a critical feature for localizing representation in networks generally. Grouped primary sensory cortices defined network inputs, displaying global connectivity to fused inputs. Depth-oriented networks guided analyses of fMRI databases (~17,000 experiments;~1/4 of fMRI literature). Formally, we tested whether network depth predicted localization of abstract versus concrete

SUBMITTER: Taylor P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4681187 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature