Abstract
Successful navigation is largely dependent on the ability to make correct decisions at navigational decision points. However, the interaction between the brain regions associated with the navigational decision point in a schematic map is unclear. In this study, we adopted a 2D subway paradigm to study the neural basis underlying decision points. Twenty-eight subjects performed a spatial navigation task using a subway map during fMRI scanning. We adopted a voxel-wise general linear model (GLM) approach and found four brain regions, the left hippocampus (HIP), left parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), and right retrosplenial cortex (RSC), activated at a navigational decision point in a schematic map. Using a psychophysiological interactions (PPI) method, we found that (1) both the left vmPFC and right HIP interacted cooperatively with the right RSC, and (2) the left HIP and the left vmPFC interacted cooperatively at the decision point. These findings may be helpful for revealing the neural mechanisms underlying decision points in a schematic map during spatial navigation.
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Data and code availability statement
The datasets generated and analyzed in the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- BA:
-
Brodmann’s area
- HIP:
-
Hippocampus
- mPFC:
-
Medial prefrontal cortex
- OPA:
-
Occipital place area
- PCUN:
-
Precuneus
- PFC:
-
Prefrontal cortex
- PHG:
-
Parahippocampal gyrus
- PPA:
-
Parahippocampal place area
- RSC:
-
Retrosplenial cortex
- vmPFC:
-
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex
- DP:
-
Decision points
- nonDP:
-
Non-decision points
- fMRI:
-
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
- GLM:
-
General linear model
- GRF:
-
Gaussian random field
- HRF:
-
Hemodynamic response function
- PPI:
-
Psychophysiological interactions
- ROI:
-
Region of interest
- TFCE:
-
Threshold-free cluster enhancement
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr. Jan Balaguer and Prof. Christopher Summerfield for providing the code of the subway paradigm. The authors appreciate Drs. Rhoda E. and Edmund F. Perozzi for editing the manuscript. The multiband accelerated EPI pulse sequence was obtained from the University of Minnesota Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR) through a C2P agreement. We also appreciate the University of Minnesota CMRR for the development of the sequence.
Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers: 82171914 and 81871338) and the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant numbers: 2018YFC1705006).
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Conceptualization: QQ, YW and RH; methodology: QQ, YW, SZ and SW; software: SW and SZ; investigation: YW, QQ, SW and SZ; formal analysis: QQ and YW; writing—original draft preparation: QQ and YW; writing—review and editing: QQ, YW, SZ, SL, QH and RH; visualization: QQ; funding acquisition: RH; resources: RH; supervision: RH.
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The study protocol was approved by the Research Review Board of South China Normal University. Written informed consent was obtained from each subject before the study.
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Qi, Q., Weng, Y., Zheng, S. et al. Task-related connectivity of decision points during spatial navigation in a schematic map. Brain Struct Funct 227, 1697–1710 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-022-02466-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-022-02466-1