title: How the brain detects invariance and inhibits variance during category induction.
abstract: A stepwise category-learning task was designed to examine brain activation associated with invariance detection and variance inhibition during category induction (CI). Three stimuli were displayed sequentially and participants were asked to learn the target category based on the invariant feature among stimuli. The processes of invariance detection and variance inhibition were necessary during certain events; however, these processes were not required for other events. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results indicated that the processes of detecting invariant features and inhibiting variant features were associated with significant activation in the left prefrontal cortex, including the left superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and mid-ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, as well as other regions (e.g., bilateral parietal cortex and putamen). These findings confirmed the important role of the fronto-parietal network and striatum in the invariance detection of category learning.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China; School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, 116029, China.
authors.forename: Heming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Psychological Research and Counseling Center, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610031, China.
authors.forename: Xueli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, 330022, China. Electronic address: lifh@foxmail.com.
authors.forename: Fuhong
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Teacher Training College, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China. Electronic address: Zhangshu317@163.com.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Social, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Category induction; Invariance detection; Left PFC; Putamen; fMRI