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Measuring selectivity in fMRI data

Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 4–5 (2007)Cite this article

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Using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Grill-Spector and colleagues1 recently reported that many voxels in the fusiform face area (FFA) gave a numerically higher response to nonface stimuli than to faces. Importantly, the response to nonface objects appeared to show extremely high category selectivity. As such, these findings pose a serious challenge to current models of object representation in the ventral occipitotemporal cortex2. The formula used by Grill-Spector to calculate selectivity, however, vastly overestimates actual voxel selectivity.

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Figure 1: Histograms showing the selectivity index of FFA voxels with respect to each of four object categories, averaged across four subjects.

References

  1. Grill-Spector, K, Sayers, R., & Ress, D. Nat. Neurosci. 9, 1177–1185 (2006).

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  2. Haxby, J.V. Nat. Neurosci. 9, 1084–1086 (2006).

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  3. Afraz, S.R., Kiani, R. & Esteky, H. Nature 442, 692–695 (2006).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Building 10, Room 4C-104, 10 Center Drive MSC 1366, Bethesda, 20892-1366, Maryland, USA

    W Kyle Simmons, Patrick S F Bellgowan & Alex Martin

Authors
  1. W Kyle Simmons
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  2. Patrick S F Bellgowan
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  3. Alex Martin
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Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1

Line graphs showing how the selectivity values of individual FFA voxels are affected by baseline adjustment. (PDF 2924 kb)

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Simmons, W., Bellgowan, P. & Martin, A. Measuring selectivity in fMRI data. Nat Neurosci 10, 4–5 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn0107-4

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