Similar cortical correlates underlie visual object identification and orientation judgment

Neuropsychologia. 2005;43(14):2101-8. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2005.03.015. Epub 2005 Apr 20.

Abstract

Visual object perception has been suggested to follow two different routes in the human brain: a ventral, view-invariant occipital-temporal route processes object identity, whereas a dorsal, view-dependent occipital-parietal route processes spatial properties of an object. Using fMRI, we addressed the question whether these routes are exclusively involved in either object recognition or spatial representation. We presented subjects with images of natural objects and involved them either in object identification or object orientation judgment task. For both tasks, we observed activation in ventro-temporal as well as parietal areas bilaterally, with significantly stronger responses for the orientation judgment in both ventro-temporal as well as parietal areas. Our findings suggest that object identification and orientation judgment do not follow strictly separable cortical pathways, but rather involve both the dorsal and the ventral stream.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Brain Mapping
  • Cerebral Cortex / blood supply
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Discrimination, Psychological / physiology*
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
  • Judgment / physiology*
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Orientation / physiology*
  • Oxygen / blood
  • Photic Stimulation / methods
  • Reaction Time / physiology
  • Time Factors
  • Visual Perception / physiology*

Substances

  • Oxygen