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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings
Published on: August 1, 2018
Selecting and perceiving multiple visual objects
1Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Room 780, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. yaodaxu@wjh.harvard.edu
Abstract:
To explain how multiple visual objects are attended and perceived, we propose that our visual system first selects a fixed number of about four objects from a crowded scene based on their spatial information (object individuation) and then encode their details (object identification). We describe the involvement of the inferior intra-parietal sulcus (IPS) in object individuation and the superior IPS and higher visual areas in object identification. Our neural object-file theory synthesizes and extends existing ideas in visual cognition and is supported by behavioral and neuroimaging results. It provides a better understanding of the role of the different parietal areas in encoding visual objects and can explain various forms of capacity-limited processing in visual cognition such as working memory.
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