Formed in 2009, the Archive Team (not to be confused with the archive.org Archive-It Team) is a rogue archivist collective dedicated to saving copies of rapidly dying or deleted websites for the sake of history and digital heritage. The group is 100% composed of volunteers and interested parties, and has expanded into a large amount of related projects for saving online and digital history.
They’re not only recording but also interpreting complex, changing phenomena as they raise awareness with members of the public.
Image credit: Mathieu Caffin on behalf of Bailey Ferguson/Schmidt Ocean Institute.
New Research In
Physical Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
Biological Sciences
Featured Portals
Articles by Topic
Edited by Michael S. Gazzaniga, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, and approved August 28, 2013 (received for review June 11, 2013)
Significance
We do not know how the human brain mediates complex and creative behaviors such as artistic, scientific, and mathematical thought. Scholars theorize that these abilities require conscious experience as realized in a widespread neural network, or “mental workspace,” that represents and manipulates images, symbols, and other mental constructs across a variety of domains. Evidence for such a complex, interconnected network has been difficult to produce with current techniques that mainly study brain activity in isolation and are insensitive to distributed informational processes. The present work takes advantage of emerging techniques in network and information analysis to provide empirical support for such a widespread and interconnected information processing network in the brain that supports the manipulation of visual imagery.
Abstract
The conscious manipulation of mental representations is central to many creative and uniquely human abilities. How does the human brain mediate such flexible mental operations? Here, multivariate pattern analysis of functional MRI data reveals a widespread neural network that performs specific mental manipulations on the contents of visual imagery. Evolving patterns of neural activity within this mental workspace track the sequence of informational transformations carried out by these manipulations. The network switches between distinct connectivity profiles as representations are maintained or manipulated.
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: schlegel{at}gmail.com.
Author contributions: A.S. and P.J.K. designed research; A.S., P.J.K., P.A., and D.K. performed research; A.S. and P.J.K. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; A.S., S.V.F., P.A., and D.K. analyzed data; and A.S., P.J.K., S.V.F., and P.U.T. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1311149110/-/DCSupplemental.
Network structure of the mental workspace
Sign up for Article Alerts
Article Classifications
- Biological Sciences
- Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Jump to section
You May Also be Interested in
Scientists should pursue a strategic approach to research, focusing on the accumulation of evidence via designed sequences of studies.
Image credit: Dave Cutler (artist).
Isotope ratios could offer a new way to closely track animal movements.
Image credit: Antoine Zazzo.
Martin Bizzarro tells what zircon crystals reveal about the geological history of Mars.
A study demonstrates how two enzymes—MHETase and PETase—work synergistically to depolymerize the plastic pollutant PET.
Image credit: Aaron McGeehan (artist).