TY - JOUR
T1 - Spontaneous Brain Activity Predicts Task-Evoked Activity During Animate Versus Inanimate Touch
AU - Scalabrini, Andrea
AU - Ebisch, Sjoerd J.H.
AU - Huang, Zirui
AU - Di Plinio, Simone
AU - Perrucci, Mauro Gianni
AU - Romani, Gian Luca
AU - Mucci, Clara
AU - Northoff, Georg
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/12/17
Y1 - 2019/12/17
N2 - The spontaneous activity of the brain is characterized by an elaborate temporal structure with scale-free properties as indexed by the power law exponent (PLE). We test the hypothesis that spontaneous brain activity modulates task-evoked activity during interactions with animate versus inanimate stimuli. For this purpose, we developed a paradigm requiring participants to actively touch either animate (real hand) or inanimate (mannequin hand) stimuli. Behaviorally, participants perceived the animate target as closer in space, temporally more synchronous with their own self, and more personally relevant, compared with the inanimate. Neuronally, we observed a modulation of task-evoked activity by animate versus inanimate interactions in posterior insula, in medial prefrontal cortex, comprising anterior cingulate cortex, and in medial superior frontal gyrus. Among these regions, an increased functional connectivity was shown between posterior insula and perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (PACC) during animate compared with inanimate interactions and during resting state. Importantly, PLE during spontaneous brain activity in PACC correlated positively with PACC task-evoked activity during animate versus inanimate stimuli. In conclusion, we demonstrate that brain spontaneous activity in PACC can be related to the distinction between animate and inanimate stimuli and thus might be specifically tuned to align our brain with its animate environment.
AB - The spontaneous activity of the brain is characterized by an elaborate temporal structure with scale-free properties as indexed by the power law exponent (PLE). We test the hypothesis that spontaneous brain activity modulates task-evoked activity during interactions with animate versus inanimate stimuli. For this purpose, we developed a paradigm requiring participants to actively touch either animate (real hand) or inanimate (mannequin hand) stimuli. Behaviorally, participants perceived the animate target as closer in space, temporally more synchronous with their own self, and more personally relevant, compared with the inanimate. Neuronally, we observed a modulation of task-evoked activity by animate versus inanimate interactions in posterior insula, in medial prefrontal cortex, comprising anterior cingulate cortex, and in medial superior frontal gyrus. Among these regions, an increased functional connectivity was shown between posterior insula and perigenual anterior cingulate cortex (PACC) during animate compared with inanimate interactions and during resting state. Importantly, PLE during spontaneous brain activity in PACC correlated positively with PACC task-evoked activity during animate versus inanimate stimuli. In conclusion, we demonstrate that brain spontaneous activity in PACC can be related to the distinction between animate and inanimate stimuli and thus might be specifically tuned to align our brain with its animate environment.
KW - animate stimuli
KW - perigenual anterior cingulate cortex
KW - scale-free brain dynamics
KW - spontaneous brain activity
KW - task evoked activity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077464306&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85077464306&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/cercor/bhy340
DO - 10.1093/cercor/bhy340
M3 - Article
C2 - 30668664
AN - SCOPUS:85077464306
SN - 1047-3211
VL - 29
SP - 4628
EP - 4645
JO - Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
JF - Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
IS - 11
ER -