title: Lateral and Medial Ventral Occipitotemporal Regions Interact During the Recognition of Images Revealed from Noise.
abstract: Several studies suggest different functional roles for the medial and the lateral sections of the ventral visual cortex in object recognition. Texture and surface information is processed in medial sections, while shape information is processed in lateral sections. This begs the question whether and how these functionally specialized sections interact with each other and with early visual cortex to facilitate object recognition. In the current research, we set out to answer this question. In an fMRI study, 13 subjects viewed and recognized images of objects and animals that were gradually revealed from noise while their brains were being scanned. We applied dynamic causal modeling (DCM)-a method to characterize network interactions-to determine the modulatory effect of object recognition on a network comprising the primary visual cortex (V1), the lingual gyrus (LG) in medial ventral cortex and the lateral occipital cortex (LO). We found that object recognition modulated the bilateral connectivity between LG and LO. Moreover, the feed-forward connectivity from V1 to LG and LO was modulated, while there was no evidence for feedback from these regions to V1 during object recognition. In particular, the interaction between medial and lateral areas supports a framework in which visual recognition of objects is achieved by networked regions that integrate information on image statistics, scene content and shape-rather than by a single categorically specialized region-within the ventral visual cortex.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Experimental Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands; NeuroImaging Center, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nordhjem
authors.affiliation: NeuroImaging Center, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen Groningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Branislava
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ćurčić-Blake
authors.affiliation: NeuroImaging Center, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands; Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anne Marthe
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Meppelink
authors.affiliation: NeuroImaging Center, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen Groningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Remco J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Renken
authors.affiliation: NeuroImaging Center, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands; Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Bauke M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.affiliation: NeuroImaging Center, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands; Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Klaus L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Leenders
authors.affiliation: NeuroImaging Center, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands; Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Teus
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: van Laar
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Experimental Ophthalmology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands; NeuroImaging Center, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Groningen, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Frans W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Cornelissen
keywords: DCM; fMRI; object recognition; ventral visual cortex; visual perception