PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The propensity to experience meaningful patterns in random arrangements and unrelated events shows considerable interindividual differences. Reduced inhibitory control (over sensory processes) and decreased working memory capacities are associated with this trait, which implies that the activation of frontal as well as posterior brain regions may be altered during rest and working memory tasks. In addition, people experiencing more meaningful coincidences showed reduced gray matter of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which is linked to the inhibition of irrelevant information in working memory and the control and integration of multisensory information. To study deviations in the functional connectivity of the IFG with posterior associative areas, the present study investigated the fMRI resting state in a large sample of n = 101 participants. We applied seed-to-voxel analysis and found that people who perceive more meaningful coincidences showed negative functional connectivity of the left IFG (i.e. pars triangularis) with areas of the left posterior associative cortex (e.g. superior parietal cortex). A data-driven multivoxel pattern analysis further indicated that functional connectivity of a cluster located in the right cerebellum with a cluster including parts of the left middle frontal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, and the left IFG (pars opercularis) was associated with meaningful coincidences. These findings add evidence to the neurocognitive foundations of the propensity to experience meaningful coincidences, which strengthens the idea that deviations of working memory functions and inhibition of sensory and motor information explain why people experience more meaning in meaningless noise.
摘要：
在随机安排和无关事件中体验有意义模式的倾向显示出相当大的个体差异。抑制控制减少（超过感觉过程）和工作记忆能力下降与这种特征有关，这意味着在休息和工作记忆任务期间，额叶和后脑区域的激活可能会发生变化。此外,经历更有意义的巧合的人显示左额下回（IFG）的灰质减少，这与工作记忆中无关信息的抑制以及多感信息的控制和整合有关。为了研究IFG与后关联区域的功能连通性偏差，本研究调查了n=101名参与者的大样本中的fMRI静息状态.我们应用了种子到体素分析，发现感知到更有意义的巧合的人显示出左IFG（即三角部）与左后联想皮层（例如上顶叶皮层）的负功能连接。数据驱动的多体素模式分析进一步表明，位于右小脑的簇与包括左额中回部分的簇的功能连通性，左中前回,左IFG（即位）与有意义的巧合有关。这些发现为经历有意义的巧合的倾向的神经认知基础增加了证据，这加强了这样一种观点，即工作记忆功能的偏差和对感觉和运动信息的抑制解释了为什么人们在无意义的噪音中体验到更多的意义。
