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Introduction Despite abundant research on the role of Broca's area in language processing, there is still no consensus on language specificity of this region and its connectivity network. Methods The present study employed the meta‐analytic connectivity modeling procedure to identify and compare domain‐specific (language‐specific) and domain‐general (shared between language and other domains) functional connectivity patterns of three subdivisions within the broadly defined Broca's area: pars opercularis (IFGop), pars triangularis (IFGtri), and pars orbitalis (IFGorb) of the left inferior frontal gyrus. Results The findings revealed a left‐lateralized frontotemporal network for all regions of interest underlying domain‐specific linguistic functions. The domain‐general network, however, spanned frontoparietal regions that overlap with the multiple‐demand network and subcortical regions spanning the thalamus and the basal ganglia. Conclusions The findings suggest that language specificity of Broca's area emerges within a left‐lateralized frontotemporal network, and that domain‐general resources are garnered from frontoparietal and subcortical networks when required by task demands. •Domain‐general and ‐specific connectivity of Broca's area was investigated using meta‐analytic connectivity modeling • Language‐specificity of Broca's area arises from a left‐lateralized frontotemporal network • Domain‐general resources are garnered from frontoparietal and subcortical networks when required by task demands

Detecting novel environmental events is a fundamental survival mechanism, enabling organisms to identify and respond to salient changes. This function can operate in at least two broad modes, differing in task demands: active and passive novelty processing. Active processing involves explicitly recognizing novel or deviant stimuli and engaging goal-directed, top-down attentional control and memory-related systems. In contrast, passive processing is driven primarily by bottom-up attentional reorienting and does not necessarily require an explicit response or conscious evaluation. The present study asked whether these two modes recruit a shared neural architecture across task demands. We conducted a coordinate-based meta-analysis using Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) across fMRI studies of active and passive novelty processing. Conjunction and subtraction analyses were performed on the resulting ALE maps to identify common and distinct neural substrates associated with each mode of novelty processing. The conjunction analysis revealed a core novelty-responsive network encompassing the bilateral medial temporal lobes (MTLs), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and medial frontal regions. Subtraction analyses further identified task-dependent specializations: studies of active novelty processing showed greater spatial convergence in the left precentral gyrus, left IFG, right MTL, and medial frontal areas, whereas studies of passive processing showed greater convergence in the left superior temporal gyrus, bilateral MTL, and right IFG. These findings suggest that active and passive conditions share a common novelty-responsive network but differentially weight its components, reflecting distinct cognitive and attentional demands imposed by the explicit versus incidental processing of novel events.

Introduction Numerous studies have reported brain alterations in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). However, they pointed to inconsistent findings. Methods We used a meta‐analytic approach to identify the convergent structural and functional brain abnormalities in bvFTD. Following current best‐practice neuroimaging meta‐analysis guidelines, we searched PubMed and Embase databases and performed reference tracking. Then, the coordinates of group comparisons between bvFTD and controls from 73 studies were extracted and tested for convergence using activation likelihood estimation. Results We identified convergent abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortices, anterior insula, amygdala, paracingulate, striatum, and hippocampus. Task‐based and resting‐state functional connectivity pointed to the networks that are connected to the obtained consistent regions. Functional decoding analyses suggested associated dysfunction of emotional processing, interoception, reward processing, higher‐order cognitive functions, and olfactory and gustatory perceptions in bvFTD. Discussion Our findings highlighted the key role of the salience network and subcortical regions in the pathophysiology of bvFTD.

Neuroimaging evidence suggests that executive functions (EF) depend on brain regions that are not closely tied to specific cognitive demands but rather to a wide range of behaviors. A multiple-demand (MD) system has been proposed, consisting of regions showing conjoint activation across multiple demands. Additionally, a number of studies defining networks specific to certain cognitive tasks suggest that the MD system may be composed of a number of sub-networks each subserving specific roles within the system. We here provide a robust definition of an extended MDN (eMDN) based on task-dependent and task-independent functional connectivity analyses seeded from regions previously shown to be convergently recruited across neuroimaging studies probing working memory, attention and inhibition, i.e., the proposed key components of EF. Additionally, we investigated potential sub-networks within the eMDN based on their connectional and functional similarities. We propose an eMDN network consisting of a core whose integrity should be crucial to performance of most operations that are considered higher cognitive or EF. This then recruits additional areas depending on specific demands. •A neurobiological substrate for executive processes is proposed.•Proposed network consists of a core, crucial to performance of executive functions.•Core network in turn recruits other brain regions depending on specific demands.•Hierarchical clustering grouped regions into three cliques each with specific roles.

Social exclusion refers to the experience of being disregarded or rejected by others and has wide-ranging negative consequences for well-being and cognition. Cyberball, a game where a ball is virtually tossed between players, then leads to the exclusion of the research participant, is a common method used to examine the experience of social exclusion. The neural correlates of social exclusion remain a topic of debate, particularly with regards to the role of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the concept of social pain. Here we conducted a quantitative meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation (ALE) to identify brain activity reliably engaged by social exclusion during Cyberball task performance (Studies = 53; total N = 1,817 participants). Results revealed consistent recruitment in ventral anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate cortex, inferior and superior frontal gyri, posterior insula, and occipital pole. No reliable activity was observed in dACC. Using a probabilistic atlas to define dACC, fewer than 15% of studies reported peak coordinates in dACC. Meta-analytic connectivity mapping suggests patterns of co-activation are consistent with the topography of the default network. Reverse inference for cognition associated with reliable Cyberball activity computed in Neurosynth revealed social exclusion to be associated with cognitive terms Social, Autobiographical, Mental States, and Theory of Mind. Taken together, these findings highlight the role of the default network in social exclusion and warns against interpretations of the dACC as a key region involved in the experience of social exclusion in humans.

The human insula has been parcellated on the basis of resting state functional connectivity and diffusion tensor imaging. Little is known about the organization of the insula when involved in active tasks. We explored this issue using a novel meta-analytic clustering approach. We queried the BrainMap database asking for papers involving normal subjects that recorded activations in the insular cortex, retrieving 1305 papers, involving 22,872 subjects and a total of 2957 foci. Data were analyzed with several different methodologies, some of which expressly designed for this work. We used meta-analytic connectivity modeling and meta-analytic clustering of data obtained from the BrainMap database. We performed cluster analysis to subdivide the insula in areas with homogeneous connectivity, and density analysis of the activated foci using Voronoi tessellation. Our results confirm and extend previous findings obtained investigating the resting state connectivity of the anterior-posterior and left-right insulae. They indicate, for the first time, that some blocks of the anterior insula play the role of hubs between the anterior and the posterior insulae, as confirmed by their activation in several different paradigms. This finding supports the view that the network to which the anterior insula belongs is related to saliency detection. The insulae of both sides can be parcellated in two clusters, the anterior and the posterior: the anterior is characterized by an attentional pattern of connectivity with frontal, cingulate, parietal, cerebellar and anterior insular highly connected areas, whereas the posterior is characterized by a more local connectivity pattern with connections to sensorimotor, temporal and posterior cingulate areas. This antero-posterior subdivision, better characterized on the right side, results sharper with the connectivity based clusterization than with the behavioral based clusterization. The circuits belonging to the anterior insula are very homogeneous and their blocks in multidimensional scaling of MACM-based profiles are in central position, whereas those belonging to the posterior insula, especially on the left, are located at the periphery and sparse, thus suggesting that the posterior circuits bear a more heterogeneous connectivity. The anterior cluster is mostly activated by cognition, whereas the posterior is mostly activated by interoception, perception and emotion.

Meta-analysis based techniques are emerging as powerful, robust tools for developing models of connectivity in functional neuroimaging. Here, we apply meta-analytic connectivity modeling to the human caudate to 1) develop a model of functional connectivity, 2) determine if meta-analytic methods are sufficiently sensitive to detect behavioral domain specificity within region-specific functional connectivity networks, and 3) compare meta-analytic driven segmentation to structural connectivity parcellation using diffusion tensor imaging. Results demonstrate strong coherence between meta-analytic and data-driven methods. Specifically, we found that behavioral filtering resulted in cognition and emotion related structures and networks primarily localized to the head of the caudate nucleus, while perceptual and action specific regions localized to the body of the caudate, consistent with early models of nonhuman primate histological studies and postmortem studies in humans. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) revealed support for meta-analytic connectivity modeling's (MACM) utility in identifying both direct and indirect connectivity. Our results provide further validation of meta-analytic connectivity modeling, while also highlighting an additional potential, namely the extraction of behavioral domain specific functional connectivity. ► Meta-analytic connectivity modeling methods were used to examine the human caudate. ► MACM revealed behavioral domain specific circuits and topographical organization. ► Results were compared to DTI data to parse direct and indirect influences. ► MACM is a robust and sensitive method for modeling functional connectivity.

Action is a cover term used to refer to a large set of motor processes differing in domain specificities (e.g. execution or observation). Here we review neuroimaging evidence on action processing (N = 416; Subjects = 5912) using quantitative Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) and Meta-Analytic Connectivity Modeling (MACM) approaches to delineate the functional specificities of six domains: (1) Action Execution, (2) Action Imitation, (3) Motor Imagery, (4) Action Observation, (5) Motor Learning, (6) Motor Preparation. Our results show distinct functional patterns for the different domains with convergence in posterior BA44 (pBA44) for execution, imitation and imagery processing. The functional connectivity network seeding in the motor-based localized cluster of pBA44 differs from the connectivity network seeding in the (language-related) anterior BA44. The two networks implement distinct cognitive functions. We propose that the motor-related network encompassing pBA44 is recruited when processing movements requiring a mental representation of the action itself.

Cytoarchitectonic area 44 of Broca's region in the left inferior frontal gyrus is known to be involved in several functional domains including language, action and music processing. We investigated whether this functional heterogeneity is reflected in distinct modules within cytoarchitectonically defined left area 44 using meta-analytic connectivity-based parcellation (CBP). This method relies on identifying the whole-brain co-activation pattern for each area 44 voxel across a wide range of functional neuroimaging experiments and subsequently grouping the voxels into distinct clusters based on the similarity of their co-activation patterns. This CBP analysis revealed that five separate clusters exist within left area 44. A post-hoc functional characterization and functional connectivity analysis of these five clusters was then performed. The two posterior clusters were primarily associated with action processes, in particular with phonology and overt speech (posterior-dorsal cluster) and with rhythmic sequencing (posterior-ventral cluster). The three anterior clusters were primarily associated with language and cognition, in particular with working memory (anterior-dorsal cluster), with detection of meaning (anterior-ventral cluster) and with task switching/cognitive control (inferior frontal junction cluster). These five clusters furthermore showed specific and distinct connectivity patterns. The results demonstrate that left area 44 is heterogeneous, thus supporting anatomical data on the molecular architecture of this region, and provide a basis for more specific interpretations of activations localized in area 44. •Left area 44 of Broca's region is functionally heterogeneous.•Parcellation revealed five distinct clusters based on co-activation pattern.•Posterior clusters more linked with action (overt speech/rhythmic sequencing).•Anterior clusters more linked with language (semantics and meaning/working memory).•Inferior frontal junction cluster linked with cognitive control.

The putamen is a subcortical structure that forms part of the dorsal striatum of basal ganglia, and has traditionally been associated with reinforcement learning and motor control, including speech articulation. However, recent studies have shown involvement of the left putamen in other language functions such as bilingual language processing (Abutalebi et al. 2012 ) and production, with some authors arguing for functional segregation of anterior and posterior putamen (Oberhuber et al. 2013 ). A further step in exploring the role of putamen in language would involve identifying the network of coactivations of not only the left, but also the right putamen, given the involvement of right hemisphere in high order language functions (Vigneau et al. 2011 ). Here, a meta-analytic connectivity modeling technique was used to determine the patterns of coactivation of anterior and bilateral putamen in the language domain. Based on previous evidence, we hypothesized that left putamen coactivations would include brain regions directly associated with language processing, whereas right putamen coactivations would encompass regions involved in broader semantic processes, such as memory and visual imagery. The results showed that left anterior putamen coactivated with clusters predominantly in left hemisphere, encompassing regions directly associated with language processing, a left posterior putamen network spanning both hemispheres, and cerebellum. In right hemisphere, coactivations were in both hemispheres, in regions associated with visual and orthographic processing. These results confirm the differential involvement of right and left putamen in different language components, thus highlighting the need for further research into the role of putamen in language.