An automated coordinate‐based system to retrieve brain labels from the 1988 Talairach Atlas, called the Talairach Daemon (TD), was previously introduced [Lancaster et al., 1997]. In the present study, the TD system and its 3‐D database of labels for the 1988 Talairach atlas were tested for labeling of functional activation foci. TD system labels were compared with author‐designated labels of activation coordinates from over 250 published functional brain‐mapping studies and with manual atlas‐derived labels from an expert group using a subset of these activation coordinates. Automated labeling by the TD system compared well with authors' labels, with a 70% or greater label match averaged over all locations. Author‐label matching improved to greater than 90% within a search range of ±5 mm for most sites. An adaptive grey matter (GM) range‐search utility was evaluated using individual activations from the M1 mouth region (30 subjects, 52 sites). It provided an 87% label match to Brodmann area labels (BA 4 & BA 6) within a search range of ±5 mm. Using the adaptive GM range search, the TD system's overall match with authors' labels (90%) was better than that of the expert group (80%). When used in concert with authors' deeper knowledge of an experiment, the TD system provides consistent and comprehensive labels for brain activation foci. Additional suggested applications of the TD system include interactive labeling, anatomical grouping of activation foci, lesion‐deficit analysis, and neuroanatomy education. Hum. Brain Mapping 10:120–131, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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We present here the most comprehensive analysis to date of neuroaesthetic processing by reporting the results of voxel-based meta-analyses of 93 neuroimaging studies of positive-valence aesthetic appraisal across four sensory modalities. The results demonstrate that the most concordant area of activation across all four modalities is the right anterior insula, an area typically associated with visceral perception, especially of negative valence (disgust, pain, etc.). We argue that aesthetic processing is, at its core, the appraisal of the valence of perceived objects. This appraisal is in no way limited to artworks but is instead applicable to all types of perceived objects. Therefore, one way to naturalize aesthetics is to argue that such a system evolved first for the appraisal of objects of survival advantage, such as food sources, and was later co-opted in humans for the experience of artworks for the satisfaction of social needs.

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The map of the human motor cortex has lacked a representation for the intrinsic musculature of the larynx ever since the electrical stimulation studies of Penfield. In addition, there has been no attempt to localize this area using neuroimaging techniques. Because of the central importance of laryngeal function to vocalization, we sought to localize an area controlling the intrinsic muscles of the larynx by using functional magnetic resonance imaging and to place this area in a somatotopic context. We had subjects perform a series of oral tasks designed to isolate elementary components of phonation and articulation, including vocalization of a vowel, lip movement, and tongue movement. In addition, and for the first time in a neuroimaging study, we had subjects perform "glottal stops," in other words forced closure of the glottis in the absence of vocalizing. The results demonstrated a larynx-specific area in the motor cortex that is activated comparably by vocal and nonvocal laryngeal tasks. Converging evidence suggests that this area is the principal vocal center of the human motor cortex. Finally, the location of this larynx area is strikingly different from that reported in the monkey. We discuss the implications of this observation for the evolution of vocal communication in humans.

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Background: Deficits characteristic of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including poor attention and inhibitory control, are at least partially alleviated by factors that increase engagement of attention, suggesting a hypodopaminergic reward deficit. Lapses of attention are associated with attenuated deactivation of the default mode network (DMN), a distributed brain system normally deactivated during tasks requiring attention to the external world. Task-related DMN deactivation has been shown to be attenuated in ADHD relative to controls. We hypothesised that motivational incentives to balance speed against restraint would increase task engagement during an inhibitory control task, enhancing DMN deactivation in ADHD. We also hypothesised that methylphenidate, an indirect dopamine agonist, would tend to normalise abnormal patterns of DMN deactivation. Method: We obtained functional magnetic resonance images from 18 methylphenidate-responsive children with ADHD (DSM-IV combined subtype) and 18 pairwise-matched typically developing children aged 9-15 years while they performed a paced Go/No-go task. We manipulated motivational incentive to balance response speed against inhibitory control, and tested children with ADHD both on and off methylphenidate. Results: When children with ADHD were off-methylphenidate and task incentive was low, event-related DMN deactivation was significantly attenuated compared to controls, but the two groups did not differ under high motivational incentives. The modulation of DMN deactivation by incentive in the children with ADHD, off-methylphenidate, was statistically significant, and significantly greater than in typically developing children. When children with ADHD were on-methylphenidate, motivational modulation of event-related DMN deactivation was abolished, and no attenuation relative to their typically developing peers was apparent in either motivational condition. Conclusions: During an inhibitory control task, children with ADHD exhibit a raised motivational threshold at which taskrelevant stimuli become sufficiently salient to deactivate the DMN. Treatment with methylphenidate normalises this threshold, rendering their pattern of task-related DMN deactivation indistinguishable from that of typically developing children.