title: Only some spatial patterns of fMRI response are read out in task performance.
abstract: Classification methods show that the spatial pattern of a functional magnetic resonance imaging response across the cortex contains category information, but whether such patterns are used, or 'read out', in behavioral performance remains untested. We show that although the spatial pattern in both the retinotopic and lateral occipital cortex (LOC) in humans contains category information, only in the LOC is the pattern stronger for correct than for incorrect trials. Thus, some, but not all, spatial patterns are read out during task performance.
authors.affiliation: McGovern Institute for Brain Research, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA. markaw@mit.edu
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Sabin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dang
authors.forename: Nancy G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Kanwisher
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011932:Reading; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis