Search Results

Functional neuroimaging techniques, e.g. positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and neurophysiological methods, e.g. electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalograpy (MEG), are used widely in cognitive and clinical neuroscience. A common aim is to understand brain function along two dimensions: functional specialization and functional integration. Functional specialization assumes that AQ1 distinct brain regions are specialized for certain aspects of information processing, but allows for the possibility that this specialization is anatomically segregated across multiple regions. Most current functional neuroimaging experiments have adopted this view and interpret the areas that are activated by a certain task component as the elements of a distributed system. However, this characterization does not address how the locally specialized areas are bound together by context-dependent interactions among these areas, i.e. the functional integration within the system. This chapter reviews established techniques for characterizing functional integration on the basis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data.

This chapter examines the evolutionary processes that led to the origin of body parts, with particular emphasis on the concept of “novelties.” It first considers the distinction between the evolution of adaptations and the origin of novelties, and more specifically innovations, before proposing a perspective of what evolutionary novelties are. To this end, a definition of morphological novelty is given, followed by a discussion of phenomenological modes for the origin of Type I novelties such as the differentiation of repeated elements. The chapter also describes how natural selection creates character individuality and concludes with an analysis of modularity, functional specialization, and robustness and canalization.

This chapter reviews advances in elucidating functional specialization for depth processing by the human brain while recognizing the complexity of the problem. It starts by discussing the conceptual and methodological challenges faced when investigating the neural circuits that process depth signals. It then reviews evidence for the specialization of different cortical areas in processing individual depth cues. Finally, it discusses work examining the representation of 3D structure from a combination of signals. The tenet of the chapter is that linking functional magnetic resonance imaging recordings with psychophysical measurements provides a strong basis from which to test the cortical representation of 3D structure.

This chapter takes as its starting point the theory of functional specialisation in the visual system. This theory proposes that the visual system is organised into multiple, parallel systems, which are specialised for processing particular attributes of the visual scene (such as colour, motion, form, faces etc.). This parcellation of function has subsequently lead to a neuroaesthetic theory of functional specialisation which proposes that there is not one aesthetic sense but many, each one tied to activity in a functional specialised visual processing system. One category of neuroaesthetic studies derived from this theory may be characterized as exploring artistic styles that are tied to perceptual properties, such as kinetic art with implication for motion perception and Fauvism with implication for colour vision and surrealist art which exposes perceptual object-context relationships. This chapter is additionally concerned with a higher sense of aesthetics to which the individual functional specialised attributes of aesthetics is a prerequisite. This second category of neuroaesthetic studies that will be reviewed are the neural processes involved in the formation of aesthetic judgments. Specifically, the brain’s ability to form aesthetic judgments from a visual stimulus. An aesthetic judgment in this context is defined as the neural valuation mechanism involved in assigning value to a given stimulus in the world. Visual aesthetic stimuli such as paintings has proven to be suitable stimuli for studying the neural processes invoved in computing subjective valuation.

This chapter presents studies that specifically focus on aspects of tonal processing and their neural substrates. It identifies the extent to which musical processes depend on dedicated neural circuitry or may form part of shared neural architecture. In particular, it addresses all studies relatively exploring low-level aspects of pitch processing, such as pitch discrimination. It also explains higher-order aspects, including pitch patterns. Moreover, it reports some anatomical findings that may be relevant to understanding the nature of the functional specializations that the other studies have uncovered. It is seen how a variety of different methods and techniques point towards a general conclusion about the way in which the auditory nervous system processes information relevant for the ability to process speech and tonal sounds.

This chapter begins with a brief summary of the evidence regarding functional specialization of the cortex. It then reviews the role of experience in shaping the responses of neurons in various cortical areas. There are striking commonalities in the forms of plasticity observed across cortical areas and among different types of experiential modification. These commonalities provide the basis for the subsequent outline of general rules for how memories are represented in the cortex and, more specifically, how memory is embedded in the various networks as a fundamental part of their operation.

This chapter begins with a brief summary of the evidence regarding functional specialization of the cortex. It then reviews the role of experience in shaping the responses of neurons in various cortical areas. There are striking commonalities in the forms of plasticity observed across cortical areas and among different types of experiential modifications. These commonalities provide the basis for the subsequent outline of general rules for how memories are represented in the cortex and, more specifically, how memory is embedded in the various networks, a fundamental part of these networks in operation.

This chapter describes the application of Bayesian methods to neuroimaging data. First, it introduces a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data set that is analysed using posterior probability maps (PPMs) and dynamic causal modeling (DCM) approaches. The chapter then discusses the general linear model (GLM) and the Bayesian approaches for estimating the parameters of GLMs and nonlinear models, and also describes PPMs for making inferences about functional specialization and DCM approaches for making inferences about functional integration.

This chapter deals with visual neglect and the neglect syndrome. It shows that the clinical syndrome of neglect may help shed more light on the functional specialization of the right hemisphere, and in particular the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC). The chapter reveals that specific cognitive deficits within the neglect syndrome can articulate and interact with each other. The PPC is an important point of convergence for various other types of information: sensory, motor, and goal-related. The chapter suggests that the right PPC does not appear to be purely concerned with spatial aspects of attention. Examination of the neglect syndrome and the results of functional imaging studies in healthy control subjects indicate that this region is also critical for sustaining attention and for the detection of novel or behaviorally salient events.

This chapter deals with periphrases formed in the domain of perfect aspect. This mainly concerns εἰμί‎ with the perfect participle (as in ἦν τετελευτηκώς‎ ‘he was dead’). Previous research has claimed that the construction remained stative throughout its entire history, but a more complex scenario is argued for. It is shown that already in the Classical period the construction came to be used with an anterior aspectual function (as in ἀκηκοότες ἦσαν‎ ‘they had heard’), similarly to the synthetic perfect. This is a development which can be understood in terms of transitivization, that is, the construction being used in more transitive contexts. However, in the Post-Classical period, εἰμί‎ with the perfect participle underwent a functional specialization as a resultative perfect periphrasis, due to the appearance of a new construction: εἰμί‎ with the aorist participle (as in εἰμί ποιήσας‎ ‘I have done’). Aside from these two constructions, attention is drawn to various innovative perfect constructions, whose existence has been completely overlooked in most previous accounts.