Topic: whole-brain searchlight

When we look at a dolphin we see grey skin, a long body, and fins – visual features that are typical for fish. Yet we know that dolphins are mammals. How does the brain learn these exceptions? To elucidate this question, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging study (fMRI) using a categorization learning task. Across five blocks, participants learned to sort stimuli into two classes depending on their color compositions while undergoing 3 Tesla fMRI scanning. In the two sets, we also presented stimuli that shared most of their features with the respective other group (exceptions).

A major problem in identifying consistent neural markers underlying perceptual decision-making is that decisions are mostly inextricably linked to task-related confounds such as motor responses. By disentangling the choice content from choice direction and the physical response, we showed in prior studies that vibrotactile decision content is nevertheless most likely represented effector-specific (i.e. in brain areas associated to the required motor response). In the current study we used a visual adaptation of the delayed match-to-comparison task to test whether perceptual decisions would be