We illustrate this approach in a multisubject fMRI study employing visual structure-from-motion stimuli encoding faces and control random shapes. We show that: (1) IC-fingerprints are a valuable tool for the inspection, characterization and selection of fMRI-ICs and (2) automatic classifications of fMRI-ICs in new subjects present a high correspondence with those obtained by expert visual inspection of the components.
Importantly, our classification procedure highlights several neurophysiologically interesting processes. The most intriguing of which is reflected, with high intra- and inter-subject reproducibility, in one IC exhibiting a transiently task-related activation in the ‘face’ region of the primary sensorimotor cortex. This suggests that in addition to or as part of the mirror system, somatotopic regions of the sensorimotor cortex are involved in disambiguating the perception of a moving body part.
Finally, we show that the same classification algorithm can be successfully applied, without re-training, to fMRI collected using acquisition parameters, stimulation modality and timing considerably different from those used for training.