Intersubject synchronization of cortical activity during natural vision

Science. 2004 Mar 12;303(5664):1634-40. doi: 10.1126/science.1089506.

Abstract

To what extent do all brains work alike during natural conditions? We explored this question by letting five subjects freely view half an hour of a popular movie while undergoing functional brain imaging. Applying an unbiased analysis in which spatiotemporal activity patterns in one brain were used to "model" activity in another brain, we found a striking level of voxel-by-voxel synchronization between individuals, not only in primary and secondary visual and auditory areas but also in association cortices. The results reveal a surprising tendency of individual brains to "tick collectively" during natural vision. The intersubject synchronization consisted of a widespread cortical activation pattern correlated with emotionally arousing scenes and regionally selective components. The characteristics of these activations were revealed with the use of an open-ended "reverse-correlation" approach, which inverts the conventional analysis by letting the brain signals themselves "pick up" the optimal stimuli for each specialized cortical area.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Attention*
  • Auditory Cortex / physiology
  • Brain Mapping
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Emotions
  • Face
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Motion Pictures*
  • Occipital Lobe / physiology
  • Photic Stimulation
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology
  • Vision, Ocular
  • Visual Cortex / physiology*
  • Visual Perception*