Decoding information in the human hippocampus: a user's guide

Chadwick, Martin J, Bonnici, Heidi M and Maguire, Eleanor A (2012) Decoding information in the human hippocampus: a user's guide. Neuropsychologia, 50 (13). pp. 3107-3121. ISSN 0028-3932

Preview

PDF (Decoding - Chadwick) - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA), or 'decoding', of fMRI activity has gained popularity in the neuroimaging community in recent years. MVPA differs from standard fMRI analyses by focusing on whether information relating to specific stimuli is encoded in patterns of activity across multiple voxels. If a stimulus can be predicted, or decoded, solely from the pattern of fMRI activity, it must mean there is information about that stimulus represented in the brain region where the pattern across voxels was identified. This ability to examine the representation of information relating to specific stimuli (e.g., memories) in particular brain areas makes MVPA an especially suitable method for investigating memory representations in brain structures such as the hippocampus. This approach could open up new opportunities to examine hippocampal representations in terms of their content, and how they might change over time, with aging, and pathology. Here we consider published MVPA studies that specifically focused on the hippocampus, and use them to illustrate the kinds of novel questions that can be addressed using MVPA. We then discuss some of the conceptual and methodological challenges that can arise when implementing MVPA in this context. Overall, we hope to highlight the potential utility of MVPA, when appropriately deployed, and provide some initial guidance to those considering MVPA as a means to investigate the hippocampus.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	fmri,hippocampus,decoding,mvpa,autobiographical memory,episodic memory,navigation,scenes
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	01 Dec 2015 07:26
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 01:12
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/55530
DOI:	10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.07.007

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item