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Efforts to identify meaningful functional imaging-based biomarkers are limited by the ability to reliably characterize inter-individual differences in human brain function. Although a growing number of connectomics-based measures are reported to have moderate to high test-retest reliability, the variability in data acquisition, experimental designs, and analytic methods precludes the ability to generalize results. The Consortium for Reliability and Reproducibility (CoRR) is working to address this challenge and establish test-retest reliability as a minimum standard for methods development in functional connectomics. Specifically, CoRR has aggregated 1,629 typical individuals’ resting state fMRI (rfMRI) data (5,093 rfMRI scans) from 18 international sites, and is openly sharing them via the International Data-sharing Neuroimaging Initiative (INDI). To allow researchers to generate various estimates of reliability and reproducibility, a variety of data acquisition procedures and experimental designs are included. Similarly, to enable users to assess the impact of commonly encountered artifacts (for example, motion) on characterizations of inter-individual variation, datasets of varying quality are included.

Since the work of Wolfgang Kohler, the process of "insight" in problem solving has been the subject of considerable investigation. Yet, the neural correlates of "insight" remain unknown. Theoretically, "insight" means the reorientation of one's thinking, including breaking of the unwarranted "fixation" and forming of novel, task-related associations among the old nodes of concepts or cognitive skills. Processes closely related to these aspects have been implicated in the hippocampus. In this research, the neural correlates of "insight" were investigated using Japanese riddles, by imaging the answer presentation and comprehension events, just after participants failed to resolve them. The results of event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis demonstrated that the right hippocampus was critically highlighted and that a wide cerebral cortex was also involved in this "insight" event. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first neuroimaging study to have investigated the neural correlates of "insight" in problem solving.

Although research has provided abundant evidence for Taichi-induced improvements in psychological and physiological well-being, little is known about possible links to brain structure of Taichi practice. Using high-resolution MRI of 22 Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) practitioners and 18 controls matched for age, sex and education, we set out to examine the underlying anatomical correlates of long-term Taichi practice at two different levels of regional specificity. For this purpose, parcel-wise and vertex-wise analyses were employed to quantify the difference between TCC practitioners and the controls based on cortical surface reconstruction. We also adopted the Attention Network Test (ANT) to explore the effect of TCC on executive control. TCC practitioners, compared with controls, showed significantly thicker cortex in precentral gyrus, insula sulcus and middle frontal sulcus in the right hemisphere and superior temporal gyrus and medial occipito-temporal sulcus and lingual sulcus in the left hemisphere. Moreover, we found that thicker cortex in left medial occipito-temporal sulcus and lingual sulcus was associated with greater intensity of TCC practice. These findings indicate that long-term TCC practice could induce regional structural change and also suggest TCC might share similar patterns of neural correlates with meditation and aerobic exercise.

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The potential significance of the findings was discussed.

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Insight problem solving has been the topic of much investigation. It is believed widely that insight critically contains the process of breaking one's mental set. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research on puzzle solving showed that insight was associated with activities in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and other areas (Luo and Niki [2003]: Hippocampus 13:274-281). We proposed ACC might mediate processes of breaking one's mental set, given its well-known role in cognitive conflict. In the present research, high-density event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to examine the electrophysiologic correlates of insight problem solving. One hundred twenty interesting Chinese riddles (half difficult and half easy) were adopted as materials. For each trial, subjects were either given an easy puzzle followed by a keyword that was consistent with the subject's initial thinking ("No-aha answer"), or a difficult puzzle followed by a keyword that was consistent with an unusual interpretation, so that it broke the subject's initial mental set ("Aha answer"). Results from 14 subjects showed that Aha answers elicited a more negative ERP deflection than did No-aha answers in the time window from 250-500 msec after onset of the answer. The ERP difference wave (Aha minus No-aha answer) showed the maximum amplitude over the central site (Cz) with a peak latency of 380 msec (N380). Voltage and current density maps of the difference wave showed strong activity and current density in the frontocentral region. Dipole analysis localized the generator of the N380 in the ACC. N380 therefore probably reflects an "Aha!" effect, and the ACC generator may be involved in the breaking of mental set.