TY - JOUR
T1 - Roles of category, shape, and spatial frequency in shaping animal and tool selectivity in the occipitotemporal cortex
AU - He, Chenxi
AU - Hung, Shao Chin
AU - Cheung, Olivia S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Received Dec. 28, 2019; revised May 29, 2020; accepted June 2, 2020. Author contributions: C.H. and O.S.C. designed research; C.H. and S.-C.H. performed research; C.H. analyzed data; C.H. and O.S.C. wrote the paper. This work was funded by a New York University Abu Dhabi faculty grant (AD174) to O.S.C. We thank Emma Wei Chen and Moritz Wurm for helpful discussions, and Haidee Paterson for assistance with data collection. We also thank the Brain Imaging Core Technology Platforms at New York University Abu Dhabi and the Center for Brain Imaging at New York University for resource support. The authors declare no competing financial interests. Correspondence should be addressed to Olivia S. Cheung at olivia.cheung@nyu.edu. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3064-19.2020 Copyright © 2020 He et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Society for Neuroscience. All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/7/15
Y1 - 2020/7/15
N2 - Does the nature of representation in the category-selective regions in the occipitotemporal cortex reflect visual or conceptual properties? Previous research showed that natural variability in visual features across categories, quantified by image gist statistics, is highly correlated with the different neural responses observed in the occipitotemporal cortex. Using fMRI, we examined whether category selectivity for animals and tools would remain, when image gist statistics were comparable across categories. Critically, we investigated how category, shape, and spatial frequency may contribute to the category selectivity in the animal- and tool-selective regions. Female and male human observers viewed low- or high-passed images of round or elongated animals and tools that shared comparable gist statistics in the main experiment, and animal and tool images of naturally varied gist statistics in a separate localizer. Univariate analysis revealed robust category-selective responses for images with comparable gist statistics across categories. Successful classification for category (animals/tools), shape (round/elongated), and spatial frequency (low/high) was also observed, with highest classification accuracy for category. Representational similarity analyses further revealed that the activation patterns in the animal-selective regions were most correlated with a model that represents only animal information, whereas the activation patterns in the tool-selective regions were most correlated with a model that represents only tool information, suggesting that these regions selectively represent information of only animals or tools. Together, in addition to visual features, the distinction between animal and tool representations in the occipitotemporal cortex is likely shaped by higher-level conceptual influences such as categorization or interpretation of visual inputs.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Since different categories often vary systematically in both visual and conceptual features, it remains unclear what kinds of information determine category-selective responses in the occipitotemporal cortex. To minimize the influences of low- and mid-level visual features, here we used a diverse image set of animals and tools that shared comparable gist statistics. We manipulated category (animals/tools), shape (round/elongated), and spatial frequency (low/high), and found that the representational content of the animal- and tool-selective regions is primarily determined by their preferred categories only, regardless of shape or spatial frequency. Our results show that category-selective responses in the occipitotemporal cortex are influenced by higher-level processing such as categorization or interpretation of visual inputs, and highlight the specificity in these category-selective regions.
AB - Does the nature of representation in the category-selective regions in the occipitotemporal cortex reflect visual or conceptual properties? Previous research showed that natural variability in visual features across categories, quantified by image gist statistics, is highly correlated with the different neural responses observed in the occipitotemporal cortex. Using fMRI, we examined whether category selectivity for animals and tools would remain, when image gist statistics were comparable across categories. Critically, we investigated how category, shape, and spatial frequency may contribute to the category selectivity in the animal- and tool-selective regions. Female and male human observers viewed low- or high-passed images of round or elongated animals and tools that shared comparable gist statistics in the main experiment, and animal and tool images of naturally varied gist statistics in a separate localizer. Univariate analysis revealed robust category-selective responses for images with comparable gist statistics across categories. Successful classification for category (animals/tools), shape (round/elongated), and spatial frequency (low/high) was also observed, with highest classification accuracy for category. Representational similarity analyses further revealed that the activation patterns in the animal-selective regions were most correlated with a model that represents only animal information, whereas the activation patterns in the tool-selective regions were most correlated with a model that represents only tool information, suggesting that these regions selectively represent information of only animals or tools. Together, in addition to visual features, the distinction between animal and tool representations in the occipitotemporal cortex is likely shaped by higher-level conceptual influences such as categorization or interpretation of visual inputs.
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Since different categories often vary systematically in both visual and conceptual features, it remains unclear what kinds of information determine category-selective responses in the occipitotemporal cortex. To minimize the influences of low- and mid-level visual features, here we used a diverse image set of animals and tools that shared comparable gist statistics. We manipulated category (animals/tools), shape (round/elongated), and spatial frequency (low/high), and found that the representational content of the animal- and tool-selective regions is primarily determined by their preferred categories only, regardless of shape or spatial frequency. Our results show that category-selective responses in the occipitotemporal cortex are influenced by higher-level processing such as categorization or interpretation of visual inputs, and highlight the specificity in these category-selective regions.
KW - Animacy
KW - Category
KW - Fmri
KW - Gist Statistics
KW - Multivoxel Pattern Analysis
KW - Ventral Visual Pathway
KW - Data Interpretation, Statistical
KW - Humans
KW - Occipital Lobe/physiology
KW - Male
KW - Temporal Lobe/physiology
KW - Young Adult
KW - Magnetic Resonance Imaging
KW - Brain Mapping
KW - Adult
KW - Female
KW - Pattern Recognition, Visual/physiology
KW - Photic Stimulation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088268779&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85088268779&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3064-19.2020
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3064-19.2020
M3 - Article
C2 - 32527983
AN - SCOPUS:85088268779
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 40
SP - 5644
EP - 5657
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 29
ER -