title: BOLD activity during mental rotation and viewpoint-dependent object recognition.
abstract: We measured brain activity during mental rotation and object recognition with objects rotated around three different axes. Activity in the superior parietal lobe (SPL) increased proportionally to viewpoint disparity during mental rotation, but not during object recognition. In contrast, the fusiform gyrus was preferentially recruited in a viewpoint-dependent manner in recognition as compared to mental rotation. In addition, independent of the effect of viewpoint, object recognition was associated with ventral areas and mental rotation with dorsal areas. These results indicate that the similar behavioral effects of viewpoint obtained in these two tasks are based on different neural substrates. Such findings call into question the hypothesis that mental rotation is used to compensate for changes in viewpoint during object recognition.
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt Vision Research Center, Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 502 Wilson Hall, Nashville, TN 37203, USA. isabel.gauthier@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gauthier
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Hayward
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Tarr
authors.forename: Adam W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Skudlarski
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gore
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*