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Updated: Sep 11, 2025
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Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis
Published on: June 20, 2012
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A tight relationship between BOLD fMRI activation/deactivation and increase/decrease in single neuron responses in
Marie-Alphée Laurent1, Corentin Jacques1, Xiaoqian Yan2
1Université de Lorraine, CNRS, IMoPA, Nancy, France.
Elife
|August 12, 2025
Summary
Researchers investigated how neural firing rates relate to brain activity signals measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They found that face-selective neurons in the human brain can both increase and decrease their firing rates, clarifying the physiological basis of fMRI signals.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- The relationship between Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) signals in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and underlying neural firing rates is not fully understood, particularly in human association cortex.
- Previous studies have primarily focused on increases in BOLD signals correlating with neural activity, leaving the interpretation of BOLD decreases less clear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To directly contrast neuronal activity with fMRI signals in adjacent brain regions of the human fusiform gyrus (FG).
- To investigate whether face-selective neural activity is exclusively associated with increased neural firing or if it can also involve decreased firing rates.
Main Methods:
- Utilized direct electrophysiological recordings of single neurons (single units) in the human fusiform gyrus.
- Employed frequency-tagging stimulation to objectively identify face-selective neurons.
- Contrasted neuronal activity in lateral FG (associated with fMRI increases) and medial FG (associated with fMRI decreases) during face perception.
Main Results:
- Approximately 70% of recorded neurons were identified as face-selective.
- Neurons in the lateral FG showed a selective increase in firing rate in response to faces.
- Neurons in the medial FG exhibited a selective decrease in spiking activity to faces, with about a third showing genuine suppression of baseline activity.
Conclusions:
- Human face-selective neural activity can be expressed as both increases and active suppressions (decreases) in spiking activity.
- These findings provide crucial insights into the physiological basis of the fMRI signal, explaining both positive and negative BOLD responses.
- The study clarifies the nature of neural processing in the fusiform gyrus during face perception.
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