title: An area within human ventral cortex sensitive to "building" stimuli: evidence and implications.
abstract: Isolated, ventral brain lesions in humans occasionally produce specific impairments in the ability to use landmarks, particularly buildings, for way-finding. Using functional MRI, we tested the hypothesis that there exists a cortical region specialized for the perception of buildings. Across subjects, a region straddling the right lingual sulcus was identified that possessed the functional correlates predicted for a specialized building area. A series of experiments discounted several alternative explanations for the behavior of this site. These results are discussed in terms of their impact upon our understanding of the functional structure of visual processing, disorders of topographical disorientation, and the influence of environmental conditions upon neural organization.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia 19104, USA.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Aguirre
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zarahn
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: D'Esposito
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation