Abstract
Inter-individual variability in perception, thought and action is frequently treated as a source of 'noise' in scientific investigations of the neural mechanisms that underlie these processes, and discarded by averaging data from a group of participants. However, recent MRI studies in the human brain show that inter-individual variability in a wide range of basic and higher cognitive functions — including perception, motor control, memory, aspects of consciousness and the ability to introspect — can be predicted from the local structure of grey and white matter as assessed by voxel-based morphometry or diffusion tensor imaging. We propose that inter-individual differences can be used as a source of information to link human behaviour and cognition to brain anatomy.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank B. Bahrami for reading earlier versions of the manuscript. R.K. is supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). G.R. is supported by the Wellcome Trust.
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Glossary
- Corpus callosum
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A white matter structure that connects the left and right cerebral hemispheres.
- Cortical magnification factor
-
The size of the surface area of the visual cortex relative to the size of the visual field it represents. It is generally larger for the central part of the visual field near the fovea and smaller for higher eccentricity.
- Decision criterion
-
An evaluative criterion used for selecting one option from several possible actions or percepts.
- Developmental prosopagnosia
-
A congenital impairment in the ability to recognize faces without any deficit in recognizing other categories of objects.
- Eccentricity from fixation
-
The distance of a given position in the visual field from the point of fixation (that is, the centre of the visual field). Eccentricity is usually measured in degrees of visual angle.
- Fractional anisotropy
-
A scalar measure of directionality of diffusion of water molecules derived from a collection of diffusion-weighted images. It is thought to reflect regional white matter features such as axon calibre, fibre density and myelination that are associated with white matter integrity.
- Multiple-comparison problem
-
The high probability of obtaining a false-positive result when multiple inferential statistical tests are conducted in parallel (for example, across many voxels). Statistical methods to address this problem require a strong level of evidence to detect genuine relationships.
- Optic radiation
-
A bundle of white matter fibres that relays visual information from the lateral geniculate nucleus to the visual cortex.
- Response conflict
-
A situation in which an automated response competes with a voluntary choice of task-relevant action.
- Signal detection theory
-
A theoretical framework to compute the ability to discriminate a signal from noise.
- Type 2 performance
-
A measure of the ability to discriminate correct responses from incorrect responses using introspection or subjective confidence.
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Kanai, R., Rees, G. The structural basis of inter-individual differences in human behaviour and cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci 12, 231–242 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3000
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3000
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