title: Characterizing the dynamics of mental representations: the temporal generalization method.
abstract: Parsing a cognitive task into a sequence of operations is a central problem in cognitive neuroscience. We argue that a major advance is now possible owing to the application of pattern classifiers to time-resolved recordings of brain activity [electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), or intracranial recordings]. By testing at which moment a specific mental content becomes decodable in brain activity, we can characterize the time course of cognitive codes. Most importantly, the manner in which the trained classifiers generalize across time, and from one experimental condition to another, sheds light on the temporal organization of information-processing stages. A repertoire of canonical dynamical patterns is observed across various experiments and brain regions. This method thus provides a novel way to understand how mental representations are manipulated and transformed.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U992, F-91191 Gif/Yvette, France; NeuroSpin Center, Institute of BioImaging Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, F-91191 Gif/Yvette, France; Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière Research Center, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U975 Paris, France. Electronic address: jeanremi.king@gmail.com.
authors.forename: J-R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: King
authors.affiliation: Cognitive Neuroimaging Unit, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U992, F-91191 Gif/Yvette, France; NeuroSpin Center, Institute of BioImaging Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, F-91191 Gif/Yvette, France; Université Paris 11, Orsay, France; Collège de France, F-75005 Paris, France. Electronic address: stanislas.dehaene@cea.fr.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dehaene
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics
keywords: EEG; MEG; decoding; multivariate pattern analyses; parallel processing; serial processing; temporal generalization