Embodied metacognition as strengthened functional connection between neural correlates of metacognition and dance in dancers: exploring creativity implications

This paper describes DARTEL, which is an algorithm for diffeomorphic image registration. It is implemented for both 2D and 3D image registration and has been formulated to include an option for estimating inverse consistent deformations. Nonlinear registration is considered as a local optimisation problem, which is solved using a Levenberg-Marquardt strategy. The necessary matrix solutions are obtained in reasonable time using a multigrid method. A constant Eulerian velocity framework is used, which allows a rapid scaling and squaring method to be used in the computations. DARTEL has been applied to intersubject registration of 471 whole brain images, and the resulting deformations were evaluated in terms of how well they encode the shape information necessary to separate male and female subjects and to predict the ages of the subjects.

Brain imaging efforts are being increasingly devoted to decode the functioning of the human brain. Among neuroimaging techniques, resting-state fMRI (R-fMRI) is currently expanding exponentially. Beyond the general neuroimaging analysis packages (e.g., SPM, AFNI and FSL), REST and DPARSF were developed to meet the increasing need of user-friendly toolboxes for R-fMRI data processing. To address recently identified methodological challenges of R-fMRI, we introduce the newly developed toolbox, DPABI, which was evolved from REST and DPARSF. DPABI incorporates recent research advances on head motion control and measurement standardization, thus allowing users to evaluate results using stringent control strategies. DPABI also emphasizes test-retest reliability and quality control of data processing. Furthermore, DPABI provides a user-friendly pipeline analysis toolkit for rat/monkey R-fMRI data analysis to reflect the rapid advances in animal imaging. In addition, DPABI includes preprocessing modules for task-based fMRI, voxel-based morphometry analysis, statistical analysis and results viewing. DPABI is designed to make data analysis require fewer manual operations, be less time-consuming, have a lower skill requirement, a smaller risk of inadvertent mistakes, and be more comparable across studies. We anticipate this open-source toolbox will assist novices and expert users alike and continue to support advancing R-fMRI methodology and its application to clinical translational studies.

The insula is a brain structure implicated in disparate cognitive, affective, and regulatory functions, including interoceptive awareness, emotional responses, and empathic processes. While classically considered a limbic region, recent evidence from network analysis suggests a critical role for the insula, particularly the anterior division, in high-level cognitive control and attentional processes. The crucial insight and view we present here is of the anterior insula as an integral hub in mediating dynamic interactions between other large-scale brain networks involved in externally oriented attention and internally oriented or self-related cognition. The model we present postulates that the insula is sensitive to salient events, and that its core function is to mark such events for additional processing and initiate appropriate control signals. The anterior insula and the anterior cingulate cortex form a "salience network" that functions to segregate the most relevant among internal and extrapersonal stimuli in order to guide behavior. Within the framework of our network model, the disparate functions ascribed to the insula can be conceptualized by a few basic mechanisms: (1) bottom-up detection of salient events, (2) switching between other large-scale networks to facilitate access to attention and working memory resources when a salient event is detected, (3) interaction of the anterior and posterior insula to modulate autonomic reactivity to salient stimuli, and (4) strong functional coupling with the anterior cingulate cortex that facilitates rapid access to the motor system. In this manner, with the insula as its integral hub, the salience network assists target brain regions in the generation of appropriate behavioral responses to salient stimuli. We suggest that this framework provides a parsimonious account of insula function in neurotypical adults, and may provide novel insights into the neural basis of disorders of affective and social cognition.