A probabilistic atlas of the human motion complex built from large-scale functional localizer data

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Accurate motion perception is vital for navigating dynamic visual environments.
• The human MT+ complex (hMT+) is a key brain region for motion processing.
• Existing hMT+ atlases lack direct definition based on motion response.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a probabilistic atlas of the human MT+ complex (hMT+) directly based on its motion response.
• To assess the reliability and functional agreement of this motion-defined hMT+ atlas.
• To compare the sensitivity of the functional hMT+ atlas with existing structural and connectivity-based atlases.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 509 participants were used to identify hMT+ based on motion localizer tasks.
• A probabilistic atlas was constructed using this large-scale fMRI data.
• The functional atlas's agreement and sensitivity were evaluated against cytoarchitectural, retinotopic, connectivity, and multimodal atlases using independent datasets.

Main Results:

• Significant interindividual variability in hMT+ location was observed.
• Atlas stability was achieved with over 100 participants.
• The functional hMT+ atlas demonstrated strong agreement with structural and connectivity-based atlases.
• The functional hMT+ atlas exhibited superior sensitivity in region of interest (ROI) analyses compared to most other atlases.

Conclusions:

• Large-scale functional localizer data yield a reliable and representative hMT+ atlas.
• The developed functional hMT+ atlas offers improved localization for motion perception studies.
• This freely available atlas can assist researchers in identifying hMT+ when functional localizer data are unavailable.