AI Insight
This study introduces an updated and expanded set of Group-Constrained Subject-Specific (GSS) parcels for defining scene-selective brain regions in fMRI research, addressing limitations in coverage and reproducibility of the original parcel set. The new parcels improve spatial coverage of the occipital place area (OPA) and introduce a previously uncharacterized scene-selective region in the superior parietal lobule (SPL), while maintaining or improving functional selectivity across established regions including the parahippocampal place area (PPA) and retrosplenial complex (RSC). Validated in both adult and pediatric datasets, the updated parcels reliably identified scene-selective cortex across participant groups, reducing the need for subjective manual decisions in region-of-interest definition.
Why it matters
More objective and reproducible methods for defining brain regions of interest are critical for advancing neuroscientific research, particularly in populations such as children where signal quality is lower and manual ROI definition is more error-prone. These parcels could standardize scene-processing research across laboratories and developmental studies, improving comparability of findings across datasets.
⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
A common approach for investigating high-level visual cortex with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is to define regions of interest (ROIs) in individual participants using functional activation clusters and anatomical landmarks. Although highly productive, this approach requires manual decisions about which clusters correspond to specific regions, limiting reproducibility and posing challenges in populations with lower signal-to-noise ratios, such as children. The Group-Constrained Subject-Specific (GSS) approach reduces this subjectivity by using group-level parcels to constrain subject-specific functional ROI definition. However, the original GSS parcel set provides limited coverage of the occipital place area (OPA) and does not include more recently characterized scene-selective regions. Here, we introduce an updated and expanded set of GSS parcels for scene-selective cortex. Using a larger adult sample and dynamic scene stimuli, we generated updated parcels for OPA, parahippocampal place area (PPA), and retrosplenial complex (RSC), as well as a new parcel for a scene-selective region in superior parietal lobule (SPL). We evaluated these parcels in independent adult and pediatric datasets by testing whether they improve cross-subject coverage while preserving functional selectivity. The updated OPA parcel increased cross-subject coverage relative to the original Julian et al. parcel. Moreover, ROIs defined using the updated parcels showed equal or greater scene selectivity across OPA, PPA, and RSC, indicating improved functional ROI definition without sacrificing specificity. Across scene-selective regions, the updated parcels reproduced canonical response profiles and reliably identified scene-selective cortex in pediatric data. These parcels provide more complete and reliable coverage of the scene-processing network, supporting objective and reproducible ROI definition across adult and developmental fMRI datasets.