The neural basis of object perception

Current Opinion in Neurobiology

Volumn 13, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 159-166

  Grill Spector, Kalanit ^a  

^a STANFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AROUSAL; ATTENTION; BRAIN REGION; COLOR DISCRIMINATION; FACE; HUMAN; NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING; OCCIPITAL CORTEX; PATTERN RECOGNITION; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RECOGNITION; REVIEW; TEMPORAL CORTEX; VISUAL FIELD; VISUAL MEMORY; VISUAL STIMULATION; VISUAL SYSTEM;

EID: 0038057867     PISSN: 09594388     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S0959-4388(03)00040-0     Document Type: Review

References (52)

1. Grill-Spector K., Kushnir T., Hendler T., Edelman S., Itzchak Y., Malach R. A sequence of object-processing stages revealed by fMRI in the human occipital lobe. Hum. Brain Mapp. 6:1998;316-328.
2. Puce A., Allison T., Asgari M., Gore J.C., McCarthy G. Differential sensitivity of human visual cortex to faces, letterstrings, and textures: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. J. Neurosci. 16:1996;5205-5215.
3. Kanwisher N., McDermott J., Chun M.M. The fusiform face area: a module in human extrastriate cortex specialized for face perception. J. Neurosci. 17:1997;4302-4311.
4. Haxby J.V., Hoffman E.A., Gobbini M.I. The distributed human neural system for face perception. Trends Cogn. Sci. 4:2000;223-233.
5. Epstein R., Kanwisher N. A cortical representation of the local visual environment. Nature. 392:1998;598-601.
6. Aguirre G.K., Zarahn E., D'Esposito M. An area within human ventral cortex sensitive to 'building' stimuli: evidence and implications. Neuron. 21:1998;373-383.
7. Ishai A., Ungerleider L.G., Martin A., Schouten J.L., Haxby J.V. Distributed representation of objects in the human ventral visual pathway. Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. USA. 96:1999;9379-9384.
8. Haxby J.V., Gobbini M.I., Furey M.L., Ishai A., Schouten J.L., Pietrini P. Distributed and overlapping representations of faces and objects in ventral temporal cortex. Science. 293:2001;2425-2430 The authors show that the activation of eight object categories is replicable within the same subjects. They also show that object category can be predicted on the basis of the pattern of activation across all ventral temporal cortex, even when the most selective regions for a category are excluded.
9. ••] by showing that the activation of eight object categories is replicable within the same subjects, even when object format and viewpoint are changed. This analysis also shows that regions that are selective for faces and places cannot be used to distinguish between non-preferred categories.
10. Levy I., Hasson U., Avidan G., Hendler T., Malach R. Center-periphery organization of human object areas. Nat. Neurosci. 4:2001;533-539 This study demonstrates that eccentricity mapping extends beyond early retinotopic regions. The authors show that higher order areas that prefer faces (versus buildings) have a bias for central visual field representations, whereas regions that prefer buildings (versus faces) have a bias towards peripheral representations.
11. ••] by showing that letter strings also have a bias towards central representations. But regions that represent tools seem to overlap with both central and peripheral representations.
12. Martin A., Wiggs C.L., Ungerleider L.G., Haxby J.V. Neural correlates of category-specific knowledge. Nature. 379:1996;649-652.
13. Chao L.L., Haxby J.V., Martin A. Attribute-based neural substrates in temporal cortex for perceiving and knowing about objects. Nat. Neurosci. 2:1999;913-919.
14. Allison T., McCarthy G., Nobre A., Puce A., Belger A. Human extrastriate visual cortex and the perception of faces, words, numbers, and colors. Cereb. Cortex. 4:1994;544-554.
15. Avidan G., Hasson U., Hendler T., Zohary E., Malach R. Analysis of the neuronal selectivity underlying low fMRI signals. Curr. Biol. 12:2002;964-972 Using fMR-adaptation and low-contrast stimuli, the authors propose that low fMRI signals can be as meaningful as high fMRI signals. They suggest that low signals may reflect a small but selective population of neurons inside a voxel in which most neurons have a different selectivity.
16. Lerner Y., Hendler T., Ben-Bashat D., Harel M., Malach R. A hierarchical axis of object processing stages in the human visual cortex. Cereb. Cortex. 4:2001;287-297.
17. Lerner Y., Hendler T., Ben-Bashat D., Harel M., Malach R. A hierarchical axis of object processing stages in the human visual cortex. Cereb. Cortex. 11:2001;287-297 Authors presented subjects with pictures of whole objects, and pictures in which the objects were scrambled into smaller and smaller blocks. Their results revealed that as subjects progressed anteriorly object representations became more sensitive to object scrambling. However, even in most anterior object selective regions the fMRI signal was strong when subjects were presented with objects scrambled into two or four fragments.
18. Kanwisher N. Domain specificity in face perception. Nat. Neurosci. 3:2000;759-763.
19. Downing P.E., Jiang Y., Shuman M., Kanwisher N. A cortical area selective for visual processing of the human body. Science. 293:2001;2470-2473 This study shows that a region that is located in the lateral occipital cortex posterior to hMT (human middle temporal motion area) is selective for human body parts. The authors propose that this reflects a specialized neural system for visual perception of the human body.
20. Tarr M.J., Gauthier I. FFA: a flexible fusiform area for subordinate-level visual processing automatized by expertise. Nat. Neurosci. 3:2000;764-769.
21. Gauthier I., Tarr M.J., Anderson A.W., Skudlarski P., Gore J.C. Activation of the middle fusiform 'face area' increases with expertise in recognizing novel objects. Nat. Neurosci. 2:1999;568-573.
22. Gauthier I., Skudlarski P., Gore J.C., Anderson A.W. Expertise for cars and birds recruits brain areas involved in face recognition. Nat. Neurosci. 3:2000;191-197.
23. Malach R., Levy I., Hasson U. The topography of high-order human object areas. Trends Cogn. Sci. 6:2002;176-184.
24. Hasson U, Harel M, Levy I, Malach R: Large-scale mirror-symmetry organization of human occipito-temporal objects areas. Neuron 2003. In press.
25. Grill-Spector K., Kushnir T., Edelman S., Itzchak Y., Malach R. Cue-invariant activation in object-related areas of the human occipital lobe. Neuron. 21:1998;191-202.
26. Kastner S., De Weerd P., Ungerleider L.G. Texture segregation in the human visual cortex: a functional MRI study. J. Neurophysiol. 83:2000;2453-2457.
27. Gilaie-Dotan S., Ullman S., Kushnir T., Malach R. Shape-selective stereo processing in human object-related visual areas. Hum. Brain Mapp. 15:2002;67-79.
28. Kourtzi Z., Kanwisher N. Cortical regions involved in perceiving object shape. J. Neurosci. 20:2000;3310-3318.
29. Ishai A., Ungerleider L.G., Martin A., Haxby J.V. The representation of objects in the human occipital and temporal cortex. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 12:2000;35-51.
30. Mendola J.D., Dale A.M., Fischl B., Liu A.K., Tootell R.B. The representation of illusory and real contours in human cortical visual areas revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. J. Neurosci. 19:1999;8560-8572.
31. Kourtzi Z., Kanwisher N. Representation of perceived object shape by the human lateral occipital complex. Science. 293:2001;1506-1509 Using fMR-adaptation, the authors show that shapes with different contours that yield the same perception show adaptation, but different shapes that contain identical contours show a recovery from adaptation. They suggest that neural populations in the lateral occipital complex process object shape rather than object contours.
32. Grill-Spector K., Malach R. fMR-Adaptation: a tool for studying the functional properties of human cortical neurons. Acta Psychologica. 107:2001;293-321 In this paper we describe how fMR-adaptation can be used as experimental method to delineate functional properties of neurons in subvoxel resolution. We also propose a computational model for fMR-adaptation.
33. Lerner Y., Hendler T., Malach R. Object-completion effects in the human lateral occipital complex. Cereb. Cortex. 12:2002;163-177.
34. Grill-Spector K., Kushnir T., Edelman S., Avidan G., Itzchak Y., Malach R. Differential processing of objects under various viewing conditions in the human lateral occipital complex. Neuron. 24:1999;187-203.
35. Vuilleumier P., Henson R.N., Driver J., Dolan R.J. Multiple levels of visual object constancy revealed by event-related fMRI of repetition priming. Nat. Neurosci. 5:2002;491-499.
36. James T.W., Humphrey G.K., Gati J.S., Menon R.S., Goodale M.A. Differential effects of viewpoint on object-driven activation in dorsal and ventral streams. Neuron. 35:2002;793-801.
37. Vanni S., Revonsuo A., Saarinen J., Hari R. Visual awareness of objects correlates with activity of right occipital cortex. NeuroReport. 8:1996;183-186.
38. Dolan R.J., Fink G.R., Rolls E., Booth M., Holmes A., Frackowiak R.S., Friston K.J. How the brain learns to see objects and faces in an impoverished context. Nature. 389:1997;596-599.
39. Tong F., Nakayama K., Vaughan J.T., Kanwisher N. Binocular rivalry and visual awareness in human extrastriate cortex. Neuron. 21:1998;753-759.
40. Kleinschmidt A., Buchel C., Zeki S., Frackowiak R.S. Human brain activity during spontaneously reversing perception of ambiguous figures. Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. B. 265:1998;2427-2433.
41. George N., Dolan R.J., Fink G.R., Baylis G.C., Russell C., Driver J. Contrast polarity and face recognition in the human fusiform gyrus. Nat. Neurosci. 2:1999;574-580.
42. Grill-Spector K., Kushnir T., Hendler T., Malach R. The dynamics of object-selective activation correlate with recognition performance in humans. Nat. Neurosci. 3:2000;837-843.
43. James T.W., Humphrey G.K., Gati J.S., Menon R.S., Goodale M.A. The effects of visual object priming on brain activation before and after recognition. Curr. Biol. 10:2000;1017-1024.
44. Doniger G.M., Foxe J.J., Murray M.M., Higgins B.A., Snodgrass J.G., Schroeder C.E., Javitt D.C. Activation timecourse of ventral visual stream object-recognition areas: high density electrical mapping of perceptual closure processes. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 12:2000;615-621.
45. Bar M., Tootell R.B., Schacter D.L., Greve D.N., Fischl B., Mendola J.D., Rosen B.R., Dale A.M. Cortical mechanisms specific to explicit visual object recognition. Neuron. 29:2001;529-535 An event-related fMRI experiment, in which line drawings of objects are shown briefly and then masked, is used to find regions that are correlated with an increased perceptual awareness of objects. The authors show that anterior regions in the fusiform gyrus display stronger activation in trials where subjects report that they have recognized objects than in trials where subjects report that they have almost recognized objects.
46. Hasson U., Hendler T., Ben Bashat D., Malach R. Vase or face? A neural correlate of shape-selective grouping processes in the human brain. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 13:2001;744-753.
47. Andrews T., Schluppeck D., Homfray D., Matthews P., Blakemore C. Activity in the fusiform gyrus predicts conscious perception of Rubin's vase-face illusion. NeuroImage. 17:2002;890.
48. Kleinschmidt A., Buchel C., Hutton C., Friston K.J., Frackowiak R.S. The neural structures expressing perceptual hysteresis in visual letter recognition. Neuron. 34:2002;659-666 The authors use a phenomenon of perceptual hysteresis in which the threshold of detecting letters embedded in random noise changes before and after recognition. They show that before recognition the functional magnetic resonance signal increases until the recognition point, but owing to hysteresis the signal tapers down at a different level of noise contrast.
49. Avidan G., Harel M., Hendler T., Ben-Bashat D., Zohary E., Malach R. Contrast sensitivity in human visual areas and its relationship to object recognition. J. Neurophysiol. 87:2002;3102-3116.
50. Moutoussis K., Zeki S. The relationship between cortical activation and perception investigated with invisible stimuli. Proc. Natl. Acad Sci. U S A. 99:2002;9527-9532.
51. Grill-Spector K: in Attention and Performance. Edited by Kanwisher N, Duncan J. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003: In press.
52. Liu J., Harris A., Kanwisher N. Stages of processing in face perception: an MEG study. Nat. Neurosci. 5:2002;910-916 The authors use magnetoencephalography to study processing stages in face perception. They show that an early component (M100) that occurs 100 ms after stimulus onset over extrastriate cortex is correlated with successful face detection, whereas a later component (M170) that occurs 170 ms after stimulus onset is correlated with face identification.