Individual variation in fornix microstructure and macrostructure is related to visual discrimination accuracy for scenes but not faces

Postans, Mark, Hodgetts, Carl J., Mundy, Matthew Edward, Jones, Derek K., Lawrence, Andrew David and Graham, Kim Samantha 2014. Individual variation in fornix microstructure and macrostructure is related to visual discrimination accuracy for scenes but not faces. Journal of Neuroscience 34 (36) , pp. 12121-12126. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0026-14.2014

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Abstract

Transection of the nonhuman primate fornix has been shown to impair learning of configurations of spatial features and object-in-scene memory. Although damage to the human fornix also results in memory impairment, it is not known whether there is a preferential involvement of this white-matter tract in spatial learning, as implied by animal studies. Diffusion-weighted MR images were obtained from healthy participants who had completed versions of a task in which they made rapid same/different discriminations to two categories of highly visually similar stimuli: (1) virtual reality scene pairs; and (2) face pairs. Diffusion-MRI measures of white-matter microstructure [fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD)] and macrostructure (tissue volume fraction, f) were then extracted from the fornix of each participant, which had been reconstructed using a deterministic tractography protocol. Fornix MD and f measures correlated with scene, but not face, discrimination accuracy in both discrimination tasks. A complementary voxelwise analysis using tract-based spatial statistics suggested the crus of the fornix as a focus for this relationship. These findings extend previous reports of spatial learning impairments after fornix transection in nonhuman primates, critically highlighting the fornix as a source of interindividual variation in scene discrimination in humans.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine Psychology Systems Immunity Research Institute (SIURI) Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Publisher:	Society for Neuroscience
ISSN:	0270-6474
Funders:	BBRSC, MRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2018 21:33
URI:	http://orca.cf.ac.uk/id/eprint/64129

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