Multiple brain activation patterns for the same perceptual decision-making task.

ABSTRACT: Meaningful variation in internal states that impacts cognition and behavior remains challenging to discover and characterize. Here we leverage trial-to-trial fluctuations in the brain-wide signal recorded using functional MRI to test if distinct sets of brain regions are activated on different trials when accomplishing the same task. Across three different perceptual decision-making experiments, we estimate the brain activations for each trial. We then cluster the trials based on their similarity using modularity-maximization, a data-driven classification method. In each experiment, we find multiple distinct but stable subtypes of trials, suggesting that the same task can be accomplished in the presence of widely varying brain activation patterns. Surprisingly, in all experiments, one of t

SUBMITTER: Nakuci J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11839902 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature