A neural representation of categorization uncertainty in the human brain - PubMed (original) (raw)

Comparative Study

. 2006 Mar 2;49(5):757-63.

doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.01.032.

Affiliations

Free article

Comparative Study

A neural representation of categorization uncertainty in the human brain

Jack Grinband et al. Neuron. 2006.

Free article

Abstract

The ability to classify visual objects into discrete categories ("friend" versus "foe"; "edible" versus "poisonous") is essential for survival and is a fundamental cognitive function. The cortical substrates that mediate this function, however, have not been identified in humans. To identify brain regions involved in stimulus categorization, we developed a task in which subjects classified stimuli according to a variable categorical boundary. Psychophysical functions were used to define a decision variable, categorization uncertainty, which was systematically manipulated. Using event-related functional MRI, we discovered that activity in a fronto-striatal-thalamic network, consisting of the medial frontal gyrus, anterior insula, ventral striatum, and dorsomedial thalamus, was modulated by categorization uncertainty. We found this network to be distinct from the frontoparietal attention network, consisting of the frontal and parietal eye fields, where activity was not correlated with categorization uncertainty.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding