More exciting than 'Female orgasm captured in series of brain scans'

The intrinsic functional connectivity networks of human lateral frontal cortex!




"The intrinsic functional connectivity networks of human lateral frontal cortex are displayed for a 4-mm seed region that is gradually moved along the cortical surface. The functional connectivity networks are estimated on the surface using resting-state functional MRI data from 1000 young adults. The seed region begins in a region at or near the human homologue of FEF and gradually moves through distinct lateral frontal regions including those primarily coupled to limbic regions. The borders reflect estimates of networks from the 17-network parcellation of Yeo et al. (2011; see Figure 13). Note that multiple interdigitated networks converge on contiguous regions of frontal cortex. Some of these regions are embedded within sensory-motor circuits; others are absent coupling to sensory or motor regions and are embedded within networks comprising what has come to be known as the 'default network'. Thus, human lateral frontal cortex represents a nexus of multiple, interdigitated association pathways. Quantification of the distinct connectivity profiles for the lateral frontal regions (their connectivity 'fingerprints') can be found in Figure 31 of Yeo et al. (2011)."

Watch all nine Cortical Network Organization videos!
[I'm sure you haven't already.] ¹

SexyBrain

Who hasn't seen Female orgasm captured in series of brain scans, clearly the hit of the recent SfN meeting?

The animation was compiled from sequential brain scans of Nan Wise, a 54-year-old PhD student and sex therapist in Komisaruk's lab. "It's my dissertation," Wise told the Guardian. "I'm committed to it."

But you do know about the dire effects of motion in the scanner (Jiang et al., 1995; Power et al., 2011), right? And that the "movie" was based on unpublished data (Komisaruk et al., 2011) from one participant, right?



So I'm not expecting to see the 1000 Orgasm Connectomes Project any time soon...


Footnote

¹ Who wants to read a 40 page tour de force when you can watch a series of 30 sec movies?

References

A. Jiang, D.N. Kennedy, J.R. Baker, R.M. Weisskoff, R.B.H. Tootell, R.P. Woods, R.R. Benson, K.K. Kwong, T.J. Brady, B.R. Rosen and J.W. Belliveau (1995). Motion detection and correction in functional MR imaging. Hum. Brain Mapp., 3:224–235.

B.R. Komisaruk, N. Wise, E. Frangos, W. Birbano, K. Allen (2011). An fMRI video animation time-course analysis of brain regions activated during self-stimulation to orgasm in women. Poster No. 495.03/SS27. Neuroscience Meeting Planner. Washington, DC: Society for Neuroscience, 2011. Online.

Power JD, Barnes KA, Snyder AZ, Schlaggar BL, Petersen SE. (2011). Spurious but systematic correlations in functional connectivity MRI networks arise from subject motion. Neuroimage Oct 14. [Epub ahead of print].

Yeo BT, Krienen FM, Sepulcre J, Sabuncu MR, Lashkari D, Hollinshead M, Roffman JL, Smoller JW, Zöllei L, Polimeni JR, Fischl B, Liu H, Buckner RL. (2011). The organization of the human cerebral cortex estimated by intrinsic functional connectivity. J Neurophysiol. 106:1125-65.