A simple clustering approach to map the human brain's cortical semantic network organization during task

Abstract

Constructing task-state large-scale brain networks can enhance our understanding of the organization of brain functions during cognitive tasks. The primary goal of brain network partitioning is to cluster functionally homogeneous brain regions. However, a brain region often serves multiple cognitive functions, complicating the partitioning process. This study proposes a novel clustering method for partitioning large-scale brain networks based on specific cognitive functions, selecting semantic representation as the target cognitive function to evaluate the validity of the proposed method. Specifically, we analyzed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 11 subjects, each exposed to 672 concepts, and correlated this with semantic rating data related to these concepts. We identified distinct semantic networks based on the concept comprehension task and validated the robustness of our network partitioning through multiple methods. We found that the semantic networks derived from multidimensional semantic activation clustering exhibit high reliability and cross-semantic model consistency (semantic ratings and word embeddings extracted from GPT-2), particularly in networks associated with high semantic functions. Moreover, these semantic networks exhibits significant differences from the resting-state and task-based brain networks obtained using traditional methods. Further analysis revealed functional differences between semantic networks, including disparities in their multidimensional semantic representation capabilities, differences in the information modalities they rely on to acquire semantic information, and varying associations with general cognitive domains. This study introduces a novel approach for analyzing brain networks tailored to specific cognitive functions, establishing a standard semantic parcellation with seven networks for future research, potentially enriching our understanding of complex cognitive processes and their neural bases.