title: Functional subdivisions of medial parieto-occipital cortex in humans and nonhuman primates using resting-state fMRI.
abstract: Based on its diverse and wide-spread patterns of connectivity, primate posteromedial cortex (PMC) is well positioned to support roles in several aspects of sensory-, cognitive- and motor-related processing. Previous work in both humans and non-human primates (NHPs) using resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) suggests that a subregion of PMC, the medial parieto-occipital cortex (mPOC), by virtue of its intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) with visual cortex, may only play a role in higher-order visual processing. Recent neuroanatomical tracer studies in NHPs, however, demonstrate that mPOC also has prominent cortico-cortical connections with several frontoparietal structures involved in movement planning and control, a finding consistent with increasing observations of reach- and grasp-related activity in the mPOC of both NHPs and humans. To reconcile these observations, here we used rs-fMRI data collected from both awake humans and anesthetized macaque monkeys to more closely examine and compare parcellations of mPOC across species and explore the FC patterns associated with these subdivisions. Seed-based and voxel-wise hierarchical cluster analyses revealed four broad spatially separated functional boundaries that correspond with graded differences in whole-brain FC patterns in each species. The patterns of FC observed are consistent with mPOC forming a critical hub of networks involved in action planning and control, spatial navigation, and working memory. In addition, our comparison between species indicates that while there are several similarities, there may be some species-specific differences in functional neural organization. These findings and the associated theoretical implications are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: rhutchison@FAS.Harvard.edu.
authors.forename: R Matthew
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hutchison
authors.affiliation: Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Jody C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Culham
authors.affiliation: Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: J Randall
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Flanagan
authors.affiliation: Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada; Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Everling
authors.affiliation: Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: jasongallivan@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jason P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gallivan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Functional connectivity; Homologies; Macaque; Parietal cortex; mPOC