Inter-subject synchronization of prefrontal cortex hemodynamic activity during natural viewing

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Background:

• Previous studies showed correlations in posterior cortical areas during passive movie viewing.
• Frontal cortical areas often lack between-subject correlations during such tasks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if engaging subjects with a movie plot enhances frontal cortical activity correlations.
• To explore brain activity patterns during naturalistic viewing conditions.

Main Methods:

• 12 healthy volunteers watched the first 72 minutes of a movie outside an fMRI scanner.
• The last 36 minutes of the movie were presented during fMRI scanning.
• Probabilistic independent component analysis (ICA) was used to analyze brain activity.

Main Results:

• Significant between-subject correlations in fMRI activity were observed in right hemisphere frontal cortical areas.
• Correlations were also found in temporal, occipital, and parietal areas.
• ICA revealed meaningful individual subject activations during natural viewing.

Conclusions:

• Engaging subjects with a movie's plot and emotional content may lead to increased neural synchrony in frontal cortical areas.
• Naturalistic viewing, combined with plot engagement, can reveal robust brain activity correlations across individuals.
• fMRI is a valuable tool for studying brain responses during complex, engaging stimuli like movies.