| 1. |
- Afdile, Mamdooh, et al.
(author)
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Contextual knowledge provided by a movie biases implicit perception of the protagonist
- 2019
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In: Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience. - London : Oxford University Press. - 1749-5016 .- 1749-5024. ; 14:5, s. 519-527
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We are constantly categorizing other people as belonging to our in-group (‘one of us’) or out-group (‘one of them’). Such grouping occurs fast and automatically and can be based on others’ visible characteristics such as skin color or clothing style. Here we studied neural underpinnings of implicit social grouping not often visible on the face, male sexual orientation. A total of 14 homosexuals and 15 heterosexual males were scanned in functional magnetic resonance imaging while watching a movie about a homosexual man, whose face was also presented subliminally before (subjects did not know about the character’s sexual orientation) and after the movie. We discovered significantly stronger activation to the man’s face after seeing the movie in homosexual but not heterosexual subjects in medial prefrontal cortex, frontal pole, anterior cingulate cortex, right temporal parietal junction and bilateral superior frontal gyrus. In previous research, these brain areas have been connected to social perception, self-referential thinking, empathy, theory of mind and in-group perception. In line with previous studies showing biased perception of in-/out-group faces to be context dependent, our novel approach further demonstrates how complex contextual knowledge gained under naturalistic viewing can bias implicit social perception.
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| 2. |
- Botvinik-Nezer, Rotem, et al.
(author)
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Variability in the analysis of a single neuroimaging dataset by many teams
- 2020
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In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 582, s. 84-88
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Data analysis workflows in many scientific domains have become increasingly complex and flexible. Here we assess the effect of this flexibility on the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging by asking 70 independent teams to analyse the same dataset, testing the same 9 ex-ante hypotheses(1). The flexibility of analytical approaches is exemplified by the fact that no two teams chose identical workflows to analyse the data. This flexibility resulted in sizeable variation in the results of hypothesis tests, even for teams whose statistical maps were highly correlated at intermediate stages of the analysis pipeline. Variation in reported results was related to several aspects of analysis methodology. Notably, a meta-analytical approach that aggregated information across teams yielded a significant consensus in activated regions. Furthermore, prediction markets of researchers in the field revealed an overestimation of the likelihood of significant findings, even by researchers with direct knowledge of the dataset(2-5). Our findings show that analytical flexibility can have substantial effects on scientific conclusions, and identify factors that may be related to variability in the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging. The results emphasize the importance of validating and sharing complex analysis workflows, and demonstrate the need for performing and reporting multiple analyses of the same data. Potential approaches that could be used to mitigate issues related to analytical variability are discussed. The results obtained by seventy different teams analysing the same functional magnetic resonance imaging dataset show substantial variation, highlighting the influence of analytical choices and the importance of sharing workflows publicly and performing multiple analyses.
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| 3. |
- Ruotsalainen, Ilona, et al.
(author)
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Physical activity and aerobic fitness in relation to local and interhemispheric functional connectivity in adolescents' brains
- 2021
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In: Brain and Behavior. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 2162-3279 .- 2162-3279. ; 11:2
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction: Adolescents have experienced decreased aerobic fitness levels and insufficient physical activity levels over the past decades. While both physical activity and aerobic fitness are related to physical and mental health, little is known concerning how they manifest in the brain during this stage of development, characterized by significant physical and psychosocial changes. The aim of the study is to examine the associations between both physical activity and aerobic fitness with brains’ functional connectivity.Methods: Here, we examined how physical activity and aerobic fitness are associated with local and interhemispheric functional connectivity of the adolescent brain (n = 59), as measured with resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Physical activity was measured by hip‐worn accelerometers, and aerobic fitness by a maximal 20‐m shuttle run test.Results: We found that higher levels of moderate‐to‐vigorous intensity physical activity, but not aerobic fitness, were linked to increased local functional connectivity as measured by regional homogeneity in 13–16‐year‐old participants. However, we did not find evidence for significant associations between adolescents’ physical activity or aerobic fitness and interhemispheric connectivity, as indicated by homotopic connectivity.Conclusions: These results suggest that physical activity, but not aerobic fitness, is related to local functional connectivity in adolescents. Moreover, physical activity shows an association with a specific brain area involved in motor functions but did not display any widespread associations with other brain regions. These results can advance our understanding of the behavior–brain associations in adolescents.
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| 4. |
- Ruotsalainen, Ilona, et al.
(author)
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Physical activity is positively related tolocal functional connectivity in adolescents’ brains
- 2024
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Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Adolescents have experienced decreased aerobic fitness levels and insufficient physical activity levels over the past decades. While both physical activity and aerobic fitness are related to physical and mental health, little is known concerning how they manifest in the brain during this stage of development, characterized by significant physical and psychosocial changes. Previous investigations have demonstrated associations of physical activity and aerobic fitness with the brain’s functional connectivity in both children and adults. However, it is difficult to generalize these results to adolescents because the development of functional connectivity has unique features during adolescence. Here, we examined how physical activity and aerobic fitness are associated with local and interhemispheric functional connectivity of the adolescent brain, as measured with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Physical activity was measured by hip-worn accelerometers, and aerobic fitness by a maximal 20-m shuttle run test. We found that higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, but not aerobic fitness, were linked to increased local functional connectivity as measured by regional homogeneity in 13–16-year-old participants. However, we did not find evidence for significant associations between adolescents’ physical activity or aerobic fitness and interhemispheric connectivity, as indicated by homotopic connectivity. These results suggest that physical activity, but not aerobic fitness, is related to local functional connectivity in adolescents. Moreover, physical activity shows an association with a specific brain area involved in motor functions but did not display any widespread associations with other brain regions. These results can advance our understanding of the behavior-brain associations in adolescents.
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