title: The network architecture of cortical processing in visuo-spatial reasoning.
abstract: Reasoning processes have been closely associated with prefrontal cortex (PFC), but specifically emerge from interactions among networks of brain regions. Yet it remains a challenge to integrate these brain-wide interactions in identifying the flow of processing emerging from sensory brain regions to abstract processing regions, particularly within PFC. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected while participants performed a visuo-spatial reasoning task. We found increasing involvement of occipital and parietal regions together with caudal-rostral recruitment of PFC as stimulus dimensions increased. Brain-wide connectivity analysis revealed that interactions between primary visual and parietal regions predominantly influenced activity in frontal lobes. Caudal-to-rostral influences were found within left-PFC. Right-PFC showed evidence of rostral-to-caudal connectivity in addition to relatively independent influences from occipito-parietal cortices. In the context of hierarchical views of PFC organization, our results suggest that a caudal-to-rostral flow of processing may emerge within PFC in reasoning tasks with minimal top-down deductive requirements.
authors.affiliation: Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, 75235-7205, USA. shokri@utdallas.edu
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shokri-Kojori
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Motes
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rypma
authors.forename: Daniel C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Krawczyk
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008959:Models, Neurological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult