Transient and linearly graded deactivation of the human default-mode network by a visual detection task.

In this fMRI study, we show that an extended network of brain areas, previously described as the default-mode network, is suppressed during the performance of a global visual motion discrimination task. For the first time, we demonstrate that this network is transiently suppressed in an event-related fashion, reflecting a true negative activation compared to baseline, and that this deactivation occurs in a strongly graded fashion depending on the strength of the global motion signal. Deactivation across the network varied in an inverse linear relationship with motion coherency, demonstrating that the strongest suppression occurs for the most error-prone tasks.

The temporal sequence of evoked and induced cortical responses to implied-motion processing in human motion area V5/MT+.

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that the human visual motion area V5/MT+ is differentially activated by stimuli in which the presence of motion is implied by the content of static photographs, compared with similar static scenes in which no motion is implied. Here, using a group magnetoencephalography study, we confirm the role of V5/MT+ in the perception of implied motion (IM) by the measurement and localization of task-related evoked and induced oscillatory responses, and demonstrate the temporal sequence of these responses. Within the lateral occipital complex, including V5/MT+, statistically significant differential oscillatory responses to IM and implied-static (IS) stimuli were only found in the beta band (15-20 Hz).

Realistic spatial sampling for MEG beamformer images.

The spatial resolution achievable using magnetoencephalography (MEG) beamformer techniques is inhomogeneous across the brain and is related directly to the amplitude of the underlying electrical sources [Barnes and Hillebrand, Hum Brain Mapp 2003;18:1-12; Gross et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2001;98:694-699; Van Veen et al., IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 1997;44:867-860; Vrba and Robinson, Proc 12th Int Conf Biomagn 2001].

The temporal frequency tuning of human visual cortex investigated using synthetic aperture magnetometry.

Using synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAM) analyses of magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data, we investigated the variation in cortical response magnitude and frequency as a function of stimulus temporal frequency. In two separate experiments, a reversing checkerboard stimulus was used in the right or left lower visual field at frequencies from 0 to 21 Hz. Average temporal frequency tuning curves were constructed for regions-of-interest located within medial visual cortex and V5/MT.