Visual cognition: a new look at the two-visual systems model

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Visual Perception
• Philosophy of Mind

Background:

• Visual representations are fundamental to cognition, but their comparison requires specific properties.
• Existing models often overlook the nuanced interplay between conceptual content, direction of fit, and causation in visual processing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish criteria for valid comparisons between visual representations.
• To elucidate the roles of direction of fit, direction of causation, and conceptual content in visual cognition.
• To re-evaluate the functional segregation within the dorsal and ventral visual pathways.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of visual representation properties.
• Examination of semantic and pragmatic processing in visual input.
• Re-interpretation of neuroanatomical data on the parietal lobe and visual pathways.

Main Results:

• Valid comparison of visual representations necessitates considering direction of fit, causation, and conceptual content.
• Conceptual content is contingent on processing level, linking early visual input to minimal content and higher-order cognition to rich content.
• Semantic processing exhibits mind-to-world fit and world-to-mind causation, while pragmatic processing (intentions) shows world-to-mind fit and mind-to-world causation.
• The dorsal pathway, particularly the parietal lobe, is functionally heterogeneous, with distinct roles for superior and inferior lobules in visuomotor processing, spatial perception, and goal-directed action.

Conclusions:

• The properties of direction of fit and causation critically distinguish representations for perception from those for action.
• A revised understanding of the dorsal stream, including the parietal lobe's subdivisions, is necessary.
• The findings offer a framework for understanding how visual information is processed for both understanding the world and interacting with it.