title: Reference frames for spatial cognition: different brain areas are involved in viewer-, object-, and landmark-centered judgments about object location.
abstract: Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to compare the neural correlates of three different types of spatial coding, which are implicated in crucial cognitive functions of our everyday life, such as visuomotor coordination and orientation in topographical space. By manipulating the requested spatial reference during a task of relative distance estimation, we directly compared viewer-centered, object-centered, and landmark-centered spatial coding of the same realistic 3-D information. Common activation was found in bilateral parietal, occipital, and right frontal premotor regions. The retrosplenial and ventromedial occipital-temporal cortex (and parts of the parietal and occipital cortex) were significantly more activated during the landmark-centered condition. The ventrolateral occipital-temporal cortex was particularly involved in object-centered coding. Results strongly demonstrate that viewer-centered (egocentric) coding is restricted to the dorsal stream and connected frontal regions, whereas a coding centered on external references requires both dorsal and ventral regions, depending on the reference being a movable object or a landmark.
authors.affiliation: SHFJ/CEA, Orsay, France. giorgia.committeri@unifoma1.it
authors.forename: Giorgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Committeri
authors.forename: Gaspare
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galati
authors.forename: Anne-Lise
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Paradis
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pizzamiglio
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berthoz
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: LeBihan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012016:Reference Values; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe; D014584:User-Computer Interface