Functional Segregation of the Middle Temporal Visual Motion Area Revealed With Coactivation-Based Parcellation

Jingjing Gao; Min Zeng; Xin Dai; Xun Yang; Haibo Yu; Kai Chen; Qingmao Hu; Jinping Xu; Bochao Cheng; Jiaojian Wang

doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.00427

Functional Segregation of the Middle Temporal Visual Motion Area Revealed With Coactivation-Based Parcellation

Front Neurosci. 2020 May 27:14:427. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00427. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jingjing Gao¹, Min Zeng², Xin Dai³, Xun Yang⁴, Haibo Yu⁵, Kai Chen⁶, Qingmao Hu^{7

8}, Jinping Xu⁸, Bochao Cheng⁹, Jiaojian Wang^{10

11}

Affiliations

¹ School of Information and Communication Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
² Department of Radiology, Pidu District People's Hospital, Chengdu, China.
³ School of Automation, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
⁴ School of Public Affairs, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
⁵ Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
⁶ School of Automation Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
⁷ Institute of Biomedical and Health Engineering, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
⁸ CAS Key Laboratory of Human-Machine Intelligence-Synergy Systems, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
⁹ Department of Radiology, West China Second University Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
¹⁰ School of Life Sciences and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
¹¹ Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

Traditionally, the visual motion area (MT) is considered as a brain region specialized for visual motion perception. However, accumulating evidence showed that MT is also related to various functions, suggesting that it is a complex functional area and different functional subregions might exist in this area. To delineate functional subregions of this area, left and right masks of MT were defined using meta-analysis in the BrainMap database, and coactivation-based parcellation was then performed on these two masks. Two dorsal subregions (Cl1 and Cl2) and one ventral subregion (Cl3) of left MT, as well as two dorsal-anterior subregions (Cl1 and Cl2), one ventral-anterior subregion (Cl3), and an additional posterior subregion (Cl4) of right MT were identified. In addition to vision motion, distinct and specific functions were identified in different subregions characterized by task-dependent functional connectivity mapping and forward/reverse inference on associated functions. These results not only were in accordance with the previous findings of a hemispheric asymmetry of MT, but also strongly confirmed the existence of subregions in this region with distinct and specific functions. Furthermore, our results extend the special role of visual motion perception on this area and might facilitate future cognitive study.

Keywords: MT; coactivation-based parcellation; meta-analysis; meta-analytic connectivity mapping; visual motion perception.