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Related Concept Videos

Association Areas of the Cortex

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Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings

Published on: August 1, 2018

Subregions of human parietal cortex selectively encoding object orientation.

Toshihiko Aso¹, Takashi Hanakawa, Kayako Matsuo

¹Human Brain Research Center, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. aso@bpp2.kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Neuroscience Letters

|February 8, 2007

Summary

Researchers identified specific human brain regions in the parietal lobe that process object orientation. This finding advances our understanding of visual perception and brain function.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Visual Perception

Background:

The neural basis for processing object orientation remains unclear.
Identifying brain areas selective for orientation is crucial for understanding visual cognition.
Optimal experimental paradigms for isolating orientation processing are not well-established.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate brain activation in the parietal cortex related to object orientation.
To identify brain areas exclusively coding orientation information.
To establish an effective experimental paradigm for probing functional segregation in the parietal lobe.

Main Methods:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed.
Stimuli consisted of Arabic digits with manipulated spatial attributes.
The study controlled for confounds like general spatial attention, mental manipulation, and working memory.

Main Results:

Specific parietal areas were found to be exclusively sensitive to object orientation.
These areas did not show activation related to general spatial attention.
The experimental design successfully isolated orientation-specific neural processing.

Conclusions:

Functional segregation within the parietal lobe can be effectively probed.
The findings reveal distinct neural mechanisms for processing object orientation.
This research contributes to mapping the human visual processing pathways.