Inter-subject correlations during watching dance: An fMRI study
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1
University of Western Sydney, The MARCS Institute, Australia
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2
University of Glasgow, Department of Psychology, United Kingdom
Background: An essential question within cognitive neuroscience regards the extent to which we can assume that the brains of different individuals respond in a similar manner. Numerous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated remarkable similarity in the pattern of response across different brains. However, these results have often been obtained from highly controlled experimental settings in which stimuli are reduced versions of real-world events. This is particularly true in the case of neuroimaging studies of dance or dance-like body movement, in which stimuli are typically 1-3s clips of a single movement in isolation. In the current research we sought to extend knowledge of the neural correlates of action observation by looking for similarities in the neural responses of different individuals watching the same performance.
Method: In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we presented 18 different individuals with a 5 minute dance film. Participants were instructed to simply watch the performance. A behavioural memory task was also completed post-scan.
Results: Using the relatively novel method of inter-subject correlation analysis (ISC), we obtained a remarkable level of synchronised activity across the brains of the 18 individuals, spanning primary visual and auditory cortices as well as frontal and somatosensory regions. The characteristics of these activations were further analysed by a reverse correlation approach in which significant events within the dance performance were identified as the regions driving synchronous activity amongst observers.
Discussion: This study is novel in identifying events that appear to drive collective neural response amongst observers watching the dance, giving clearer insight into moments in time in which different individuals appear to perceive and process sequences of complex actions in a similar way.
Keywords:
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI),
intersubject correlation,
dance,
BOLD,
action observation
Conference:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Clayton, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013.
Presentation Type:
Poster
Topic:
Sensation and Perception
Citation:
Vicary
SA,
Pollick
FE,
Noble
K and
Stevens
CJ
(2013). Inter-subject correlations during watching dance: An fMRI study.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00040
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Received:
15 Oct 2013;
Published Online:
25 Nov 2013.
*
Correspondence:
Ms. Staci A Vicary, University of Western Sydney, The MARCS Institute, Penrith, Australia, Staci.vicary@acap.edu.au