Rethinking category-selectivity in human visual cortex

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ritchie, J. Brendan, Wardle, Susan G., Vaziri-Pashkam, Maryam, Kravitz, Dwight J., Baker, Chris I.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916478654087168
author Ritchie, J. Brendan
Wardle, Susan G.
Vaziri-Pashkam, Maryam
Kravitz, Dwight J.
Baker, Chris I.
author_facet Ritchie, J. Brendan
Wardle, Susan G.
Vaziri-Pashkam, Maryam
Kravitz, Dwight J.
Baker, Chris I.
contents A wealth of studies report evidence that occipitotemporal cortex tessellates into "category-selective" brain regions that are apparently specialized for representing ecologically important visual stimuli like faces, bodies, scenes, and tools. Here, we argue that while valuable insights have been gained through the lens of category-selectivity, a more complete view of visual function in occipitotemporal cortex requires centering the behavioral relevance of visual properties in real-world environments rather than stimulus category. Focusing on behavioral relevance challenges a simple mapping between stimulus and visual function in occipitotemporal cortex because the environmental properties relevant to a behavior are visually diverse and how a given property is represented is modulated by our goals. Grounding our thinking in behavioral relevance rather than category-selectivity raises a host of theoretical and empirical issues that we discuss while providing proposals for how existing tools can be harnessed in this light to better understand visual function in occipitotemporal cortex.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_08251
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Rethinking category-selectivity in human visual cortex
Ritchie, J. Brendan
Wardle, Susan G.
Vaziri-Pashkam, Maryam
Kravitz, Dwight J.
Baker, Chris I.
Neurons and Cognition
A wealth of studies report evidence that occipitotemporal cortex tessellates into "category-selective" brain regions that are apparently specialized for representing ecologically important visual stimuli like faces, bodies, scenes, and tools. Here, we argue that while valuable insights have been gained through the lens of category-selectivity, a more complete view of visual function in occipitotemporal cortex requires centering the behavioral relevance of visual properties in real-world environments rather than stimulus category. Focusing on behavioral relevance challenges a simple mapping between stimulus and visual function in occipitotemporal cortex because the environmental properties relevant to a behavior are visually diverse and how a given property is represented is modulated by our goals. Grounding our thinking in behavioral relevance rather than category-selectivity raises a host of theoretical and empirical issues that we discuss while providing proposals for how existing tools can be harnessed in this light to better understand visual function in occipitotemporal cortex.
title Rethinking category-selectivity in human visual cortex
topic Neurons and Cognition
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.08251