Activity in perirhinal and entorhinal cortex predicts observer-specific perceived visual similarities between objects

AbstractObservers perceive their visual environment in unique ways. How ventral visual stream (VVS) regions represent subjectively perceived object characteristics remains poorly understood. We hypothesized that the visual similarity between objects that observers perceive is reflected with highest fidelity in neural activity patterns in perirhinal and anterolateral entorhinal cortex at the apex of the VVS object-processing hierarchy. To address this issue with fMRI, we administered a task that required discrimination between images of exemplars from real-world categories. Further, we obtained ratings of perceived visual similarities. We found that perceived visual similarities predicted discrimination performance in an observer-specific manner. As anticipated, activity patterns in perirhinal and anterolateral entorhinal cortex predicted perceived similarity structure, including those aspects that are observer-specific, with higher fidelity than any other region examined. Our findings provide new evidence that representations of the visual world at the apex of the VVS differ across observers in ways that influence behaviour.

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fMRI Reveals How Pain Modulates Visual Object Processing in the Ventral Visual Stream

Neuron ◽

10.1016/j.neuron.2007.05.032 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 55 (1) ◽

pp. 157-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 88

Author(s):

Ulrike Bingel ◽

Michael Rose ◽

Jan Gläscher ◽

Christian Büchel

Keyword(s):

Visual Object ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Object Processing ◽

Ventral Visual Stream

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Functional Dissociations within the Ventral Object Processing Pathway: Cognitive Modules or a Hierarchical Continuum?

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21373 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 22 (11) ◽

pp. 2460-2479 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Rosemary A. Cowell ◽

Timothy J. Bussey ◽

Lisa M. Saksida

Keyword(s):

Visual Perception ◽

Temporal Lobe ◽

Visual Discrimination ◽

Visual Memory ◽

Modular Organization ◽

Visual Object ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Object Processing ◽

Double Dissociation ◽

Ventral Visual Stream

We examined the organization and function of the ventral object processing pathway. The prevailing theoretical approach in this field holds that the ventral object processing stream has a modular organization, in which visual perception is carried out in posterior regions and visual memory is carried out, independently, in the anterior temporal lobe. In contrast, recent work has argued against this modular framework, favoring instead a continuous, hierarchical account of cognitive processing in these regions. We join the latter group and illustrate our view with simulations from a computational model that extends the perceptual-mnemonic feature-conjunction model of visual discrimination proposed by Bussey and Saksida [Bussey, T. J., & Saksida, L. M. The organization of visual object representations: A connectionist model of effects of lesions in perirhinal cortex. European Journal of Neuroscience, 15, 355–364, 2002]. We use the extended model to revisit early data from Iwai and Mishkin [Iwai, E., & Mishkin, M. Two visual foci in the temporal lobe of monkeys. In N. Yoshii & N. Buchwald (Eds.), Neurophysiological basis of learning and behavior (pp. 1–11). Japan: Osaka University Press, 1968]; this seminal study was interpreted as evidence for the modularity of visual perception and visual memory. The model accounts for a double dissociation in monkeys' visual discrimination performance following lesions to different regions of the ventral visual stream. This double dissociation is frequently cited as evidence for separate systems for perception and memory. However, the model provides a parsimonious, mechanistic, single-system account of the double dissociation data. We propose that the effects of lesions in ventral visual stream on visual discrimination are due to compromised representations within a hierarchical representational continuum rather than impairment in a specific type of learning, memory, or perception. We argue that consideration of the nature of stimulus representations and their processing in cortex is a more fruitful approach than attempting to map cognition onto functional modules.

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Using Convolutional Neural Networks to measure the contribution of visual features to the representation of object animacy in the brain

10.31237/osf.io/fxz4q ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sushrut Thorat

Keyword(s):

Neural Networks ◽

Convolutional Neural Networks ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Large Degree ◽

Visual Features ◽

Visual Feature ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Feature Information ◽

Ventral Visual Stream ◽

Animal Images

A mediolateral gradation in neural responses for images spanning animals to artificial objects is observed in the ventral temporal cortex (VTC). Which information streams drive this organisation is an ongoing debate. Recently, in Proklova et al. (2016), the visual shape and category (“animacy”) dimensions in a set of stimuli were dissociated using a behavioural measure of visual feature information. fMRI responses revealed a neural cluster (extra-visual animacy cluster - xVAC) which encoded category information unexplained by visual feature information, suggesting extra-visual contributions to the organisation in the ventral visual stream. We reassess these findings using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) as models for the ventral visual stream. The visual features developed in the CNN layers can categorise the shape-matched stimuli from Proklova et al. (2016) in contrast to the behavioural measures used in the study. The category organisations in xVAC and VTC are explained to a large degree by the CNN visual feature differences, casting doubt over the suggestion that visual feature differences cannot account for the animacy organisation. To inform the debate further, we designed a set of stimuli with animal images to dissociate the animacy organisation driven by the CNN visual features from the degree of familiarity and agency (thoughtfulness and feelings). Preliminary results from a new fMRI experiment designed to understand the contribution of these non-visual features are presented.

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Expectation and Surprise Determine Neural Population Responses in the Ventral Visual Stream

Journal of Neuroscience ◽

10.1523/jneurosci.2770-10.2010 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 30 (49) ◽

pp. 16601-16608 ◽

Cited By ~ 185

Author(s):

T. Egner ◽

J. M. Monti ◽

C. Summerfield

Keyword(s):

Neural Population ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Population Responses ◽

Ventral Visual Stream

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Orthographic processing deficits in developmental dyslexia: Beyond the ventral visual stream

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.01.014 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 128 ◽

pp. 316-327 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Marianna Boros ◽

Jean-Luc Anton ◽

Catherine Pech-Georgel ◽

Jonathan Grainger ◽

Marcin Szwed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Developmental Dyslexia ◽

Orthographic Processing ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Ventral Visual Stream ◽

Processing Deficits

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Predictive coding of action intentions in dorsal and ventral visual stream is based on visual anticipations, memory-based information and motor preparation

10.1101/480590 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Simona Monaco ◽

Giulia Malfatti ◽

Alessandro Zendron ◽

Elisa Pellencin ◽

Luca Turella

Keyword(s):

Visual Information ◽

Visual Memory ◽

Visual Recognition ◽

Predictive Coding ◽

Action Planning ◽

Neural Signals ◽

Motor Representation ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Ventral Visual Stream ◽

Action Intention

AbstractPredictions of upcoming movements are based on several types of neural signals that span the visual, somatosensory, motor and cognitive system. Thus far, pre-movement signals have been investigated while participants viewed the object to be acted upon. Here, we studied the contribution of information other than vision to the classification of preparatory signals for action, even in absence of online visual information. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to test whether the neural signals evoked by visual, memory-based and somato-motor information can be reliably used to predict upcoming actions in areas of the dorsal and ventral visual stream during the preparatory phase preceding the action, while participants were lying still. Nineteen human participants (nine women) performed one of two actions towards an object with their eyes open or closed. Despite the well-known role of ventral stream areas in visual recognition tasks and the specialization of dorsal stream areas in somato-motor processes, we decoded action intention in areas of both streams based on visual, memory-based and somato-motor signals. Interestingly, we could reliably decode action intention in absence of visual information based on neural activity evoked when visual information was available, and vice-versa. Our results show a similar visual, memory and somato-motor representation of action planning in dorsal and ventral visual stream areas that allows predicting action intention across domains, regardless of the availability of visual information.

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Parallel processing of colors and faces in human ventral visual stream: functional evidence and technical challenges

Journal of Vision ◽

10.1167/14.10.985 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (10) ◽

pp. 985-985

Author(s):

R. Lafer-Sousa ◽

A. Kell ◽

A. Takahashi ◽

J. Feather ◽

B. Conway ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parallel Processing ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Ventral Visual Stream ◽

Technical Challenges

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Image content is more important than Bouma’s Law for scene metamers

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.42512 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Thomas SA Wallis ◽

Christina M Funke ◽

Alexander S Ecker ◽

Leon A Gatys ◽

Felix A Wichmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Perceptual Experience ◽

Receptive Fields ◽

Natural Images ◽

Retinal Eccentricity ◽

High Fidelity ◽

Prior Work ◽

Visual Stream ◽

Area V2 ◽

Ventral Visual Stream ◽

Stream Model

We subjectively perceive our visual field with high fidelity, yet peripheral distortions can go unnoticed and peripheral objects can be difficult to identify (crowding). Prior work showed that humans could not discriminate images synthesised to match the responses of a mid-level ventral visual stream model when information was averaged in receptive fields with a scaling of about half their retinal eccentricity. This result implicated ventral visual area V2, approximated ‘Bouma’s Law’ of crowding, and has subsequently been interpreted as a link between crowding zones, receptive field scaling, and our perceptual experience. However, this experiment never assessed natural images. We find that humans can easily discriminate real and model-generated images at V2 scaling, requiring scales at least as small as V1 receptive fields to generate metamers. We speculate that explaining why scenes look as they do may require incorporating segmentation and global organisational constraints in addition to local pooling.

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