Tool Selectivity in Left Occipitotemporal Cortex Develops without Vision

Previous studies have provided evidence for a tool-selective region in left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC). This region responds selectively to pictures of tools and to characteristic visual tool motion. The present human fMRI study tested whether visual experience is required for the development of tool-selective responses in left LOTC. Words referring to tools, animals, and nonmanipulable objects were presented auditorily to 14 congenitally blind and 16 sighted participants. Sighted participants additionally viewed pictures of these objects. In whole-brain group analyses, sighted participants showed tool-selective activity in left LOTC in both visual and auditory tasks. Importantly, virtually identical tool-selective LOTC activity was found in the congenitally blind group performing the auditory task. Furthermore, both groups showed equally strong tool-selective activity for auditory stimuli in a tool-selective LOTC region defined by the picture-viewing task in the sighted group. Detailed analyses in individual participants showed significant tool-selective LOTC activity in 13 of 14 blind participants and 14 of 16 sighted participants. The strength and anatomical location of this activity were indistinguishable across groups. Finally, both blind and sighted groups showed significant resting state functional connectivity between left LOTC and a bilateral frontoparietal network. Together, these results indicate that tool-selective activity in left LOTC develops without ever having seen a tool or its motion. This finding puts constraints on the possible role that this region could have in tool processing and, more generally, provides new insights into the principles shaping the functional organization of OTC.Psycholog

Category selectivity in human visual cortex:beyond visual object recognition

Item does not contain fulltextHuman ventral temporal cortex shows a categorical organization, with regions responding selectively to faces, bodies, tools, scenes, words, and other categories. Why is this? Traditional accounts explain category selectivity as arising within a hierarchical system dedicated to visual object recognition. For example, it has been proposed that category selectivity reflects the clustering of category-associated visual feature representations, or that it reflects category-specific computational algorithms needed to achieve view invariance. This visual object recognition framework has gained renewed interest with the success of deep neural network models trained to "recognize" objects: these hierarchical feed-forward networks show similarities to human visual cortex, including categorical separability. We argue that the object recognition framework is unlikely to fully account for category selectivity in visual cortex. Instead, we consider category selectivity in the context of other functions such as navigation, social cognition, tool use, and reading. Category-selective regions are activated during such tasks even in the absence of visual input and even in individuals with no prior visual experience. Further, they are engaged in close connections with broader domain-specific networks. Considering the diverse functions of these networks, category-selective regions likely encode their preferred stimuli in highly idiosyncratic formats; representations that are useful for navigation, social cognition, or reading are unlikely to be meaningfully similar to each other and to varying degrees may not be entirely visual. The demand for specific types of representations to support category-associated tasks may best account for category selectivity in visual cortex. This broader view invites new experimental and computational approaches.7 p

Left occipitotemporal cortex contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions: fMRI and TMS evidence

Functional neuroimaging studies have implicated the left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) in both tool and hand perception but the functional role of this region is not fully known. Here, by using a task manipulation, we tested whether tool-/hand-selective LOTC contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions. Participants viewed briefly presented pictures of kitchen and garage tools while they performed one of two tasks: in the action task, they judged whether the tool is associated with a hand rotation action (e.g., screwdriver) or a hand squeeze action (e.g., garlic press), while in the location task they judged whether the tool is typically found in the kitchen (e.g., garlic press) or in the garage (e.g., screwdriver). Both tasks were performed on the same stimulus set and were matched for difficulty. Contrasting fMRI responses between these tasks showed stronger activity during the action task than the location task in both tool- and hand-selective LOTC regions, which closely overlapped. No differences were found in nearby object- and motion-selective control regions. Importantly, these findings were confirmed by a TMS study, which showed that effective TMS over the tool-/hand-selective LOTC region significantly slowed responses for tool action discriminations relative to tool location discriminations, with no such difference during sham TMS. We conclude that left LOTC contributes to the discrimination of tool-associated hand actions

Representational content of occipitotemporal and parietal tool areas

It is now established that the perception of tools engages a left-lateralized network of frontoparietal and occipitotemporal cortical regions. Nevertheless, the precise computational role played by these areas is not yet well understood. To address this question, we used functional MRI to investigate the distribution of responses to pictures of tools and hands relative to other object categories in the so-called “tool” areas. Although hands and tools are visually not alike and belong to different object categories, these are both functionally linked when considering the common role of hands and tools in object manipulation. This distinction can provide insight into the differential functional role of areas within the “tool” network. Results demonstrated that images of hands and tools activate a common network of brain areas in the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS), left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) and ventral occipitotemporal cortex (VOTC). Importantly, multivoxel pattern analysis revealed that the distribution of hand and tool response patterns in these regions differs. These observations provide support for the idea that the left IPS, left LOTC and VOTC might have distinct computational roles with regard to tool use. Specifically, these results suggest that while left IPS supports tool action-related computations and VOTC primarily encodes category specific aspects of objects, left LOTC bridges ventro occipitotemporal perception-related and parietal action-related representations by encoding both types of object information

Visuospatial coding as ubiquitous scaffolding for human cognition

For more than 100 years we have known that the visual field is mapped onto the surface of visual cortex, imposing an inherently spatial reference frame on visual information processing. Recent studies highlight visuospatial coding not only throughout visual cortex, but also brain areas not typically considered visual. Such widespread access to visuospatial coding raises important questions about its role in wider cognitive functioning. Here, we synthesise these recent developments and propose that visuospatial coding scaffolds human cognition by providing a reference frame through which neural computations interface with environmental statistics and task demands via perception–action loops

The Neural Development of Visuohaptic Object Processing

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Cognitive Science, 2015Object recognition is ubiquitous and essential for interacting with, as well as learning about, the surrounding multisensory environment. The inputs from multiple sensory modalities converge quickly and efficiently to guide this interaction. Vision and haptics are two modalities in particular that offer redundant and complementary information regarding the geometrical (i.e., shape) properties of objects for recognition and perception. While the systems supporting visuohaptic object recognition in the brain, including the lateral occipital complex (LOC) and the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), are well-studied in adults, there is currently a paucity of research surrounding the neural development of visuohaptic processing in children. Little is known about how and when vision converges with haptics for object recognition. In this dissertation, I investigate the development of neural mechanisms involved in multisensory processing. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and general psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) methods of functional connectivity analysis in children (4 to 5.5 years, 7 to 8.5 years) and adults, I examine the developmental changes of the brain regions underlying the convergence of visual and haptic object perception, the neural substrates supporting crossmodal processing, and the interactions and functional connections between visuohaptic systems and other neural regions. Results suggest that the complexity of sensory inputs impacts the development of neural substrates. The more complicated forms of multisensory and crossmodal object processing show protracted developmental trajectories as compared to the processing of simple, unimodal shapes. Additionally, the functional connections between visuohaptic areas weaken over time, which may facilitate the fine-tuning of other perceptual systems that occur later in development. Overall, the findings indicate that multisensory object recognition cannot be described as a unitary process. Rather, it is comprised of several distinct sub-processes that follow different developmental timelines throughout childhood and into adulthood

FMRI and ERP investigations of body representations in the human lateral and ventral occipitotemporal cortex

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Multivoxel Pattern Analysis Reveals Auditory Motion Information in MT+ of Both Congenitally Blind and Sighted Individuals

Cross-modal plasticity refers to the recruitment of cortical regions involved in the processing of one modality (e.g. vision) for processing other modalities (e.g. audition). The principles determining how and where cross-modal plasticity occurs remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate these principles by testing responses to auditory motion in visual motion area MT+ of congenitally blind and sighted individuals. Replicating previous reports, we find that MT+ as a whole shows a strong and selective responses to auditory motion in congenitally blind but not sighted individuals, suggesting that the emergence of this univariate response depends on experience. Importantly, however, multivoxel pattern analyses showed that MT+ contained information about different auditory motion conditions in both blind and sighted individuals. These results were specific to MT+ and not found in early visual cortex. Basic sensitivity to auditory motion in MT+ is thus experience-independent, which may be a basis for the region's strong cross-modal recruitment in congenital blindness