A cortical area selective for visual processing of the human body.
Despite extensive evidence for regions of human visual cortex that respond selectively to faces, few studies have considered the cortical representation of the appearance of the rest of the human body. We present a series of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies revealing substantial evidence for a distinct cortical region in humans that responds selectively to images of the human body, as compared with a wide range of control stimuli. This region was found in the lateral occipitotemporal cortex in all subjects tested and apparently reflects a specialized neural system for the visual perception of the human body.
Downing
P E
PE
School of Psychology, Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2AS, UK. p.downing@bangor.ac.uk
Jiang
Y
Y
Shuman
M
M
Kanwisher
N
N
D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005145:Face; D005556:Form Perception; D018594:Human Body; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology