Figure 3.
Toe Activity Patterns in the Foot Area by Using Representational Similarity Analysis
(A) Representational dissimilarity matrices (RDMs) for the artists’ dextrous foot and controls (average, n = 9) showing dissimilarity (lighter colors) versus similarity (darker colors) of inter-digit multivariate representation patterns (Mahalanobis distances).
(B) Dissimilarity between digit activity patterns represented by spatial distance, i.e., two-dimensional projections of the RDM, by using multi-dimensional scaling. Individual digits are presented in different colors (see color key in C); ellipses reflect control SE after Procrustes alignment.
(C) As a visual reference, the matrix and projection for a canonical hand in the hand area of typically developed participants (average).
(D) Mean RDM dissimilarity values and correlations between toe RDM in the foot area and the canonical hand RDM for individual controls (gray) and the artists (red). Both artists showed a stronger correlation between canonical hand RDM and their toe RDM compared with controls, indicating more hand-like patterns. Error bars represent SD across controls. All other abbreviations are as described in the Figure 2 legend.