Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

Association Areas of the Cortex

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:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...
Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex

The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at the...
Depth Perception and Spatial Vision01:15

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.
Lateralization01:28

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.
Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex.
Vision01:24

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Changing the narrative: stories reduce biases against anomalous faces.

BMC psychology·2026
Same author

Going Beyond Beauty: Characterizing the Complexity of Aesthetic Experiences.

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·2026
Same author

Randomized clinical trial of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy telehealth intervention ('REVITALIZE') to reduce fatigue interference in women with advanced ovarian cancer on PARP inhibitors: study protocol.

BMC cancer·2026
Same author

Who Do We Remember? Facial Anomalies, Race, and Sex in Social Categorization.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2026
Same author

Letrozole, abemaciclib and metformin in endometrial cancer: a non-randomized phase 2 trial.

Nature communications·2025
Same author

Fortifying the Workforce: A National Survey of Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program Leaders Regarding Training Fellows for Community-Based Careers.

JCO oncology practice·2025
Same journal

Sensorimotor Adaptation of Vocal Pitch Is Impaired in Cerebellar Ataxia.

Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Memory in the Palm of Your Hand: Smartphone-based Methods for Measuring Memory in the Wild.

Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Processing Asymmetry in Object-modifying Relative Clauses: Evidence from Functional Connectivity.

Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Extensive Experience Remodels Neural Task Circuitry to Escape the Frontal Bottleneck and Increase Automaticity of Categorization.

Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Investigating the Effects of Acute Stress on Neural Mechanisms of Self-controlled Decision-making.

Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2026
Same journal

Distilling the Neurophenomenological Signatures of Pure Awareness during Transcendental Meditation.

Journal of cognitive neuroscience·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain
05:55

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

The neural basis for spatial relations.

Prin X Amorapanth1, Page Widick, Anjan Chatterjee

  • 1The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|August 1, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

This study reveals distinct brain regions process spatial relationships between objects, differing from object identity processing. Neuroimaging and lesion studies pinpoint specific areas in the parietal and frontal cortices involved in these spatial judgments.

More Related Videos

Assessing Human Spatial Navigation in a Virtual Space and its Sensitivity to Exercise
06:17

Assessing Human Spatial Navigation in a Virtual Space and its Sensitivity to Exercise

Published on: January 26, 2024

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
05:15

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain
05:55

Modeling the Functional Network for Spatial Navigation in the Human Brain

Published on: October 13, 2023

Assessing Human Spatial Navigation in a Virtual Space and its Sensitivity to Exercise
06:17

Assessing Human Spatial Navigation in a Virtual Space and its Sensitivity to Exercise

Published on: January 26, 2024

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition
05:15

The (Spatial) Memory Game: Testing the Relationship Between Spatial Language, Object Knowledge, and Spatial Cognition

Published on: February 19, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuroimaging
  • Semantics

Background:

  • Traditional semantic studies focus on object knowledge, with less understanding of object relationships.
  • Categorical spatial relations (e.g., 'above') and coordinate spatial relations (e.g., '2 cm to the left') are crucial for understanding object interactions.
  • Hemispheric specialization in spatial processing is often debated, with potential biases towards categorical or coordinate information.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if neural processing of categorical spatial relations differs from object identity processing.
  • To identify brain regions involved in representing categorical spatial relations.
  • To examine hemispheric differences in processing categorical versus coordinate spatial relations using fMRI and lesion mapping.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe brain activity during tasks involving attending to spatial relations versus object identity.
  • Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) to correlate brain damage with behavioral deficits in spatial judgments.
  • Comparison of behavioral performance between patients with left and right hemisphere damage.

Main Results:

  • Attending to categorical spatial relations, compared to object identity, increased activity in the superior/inferior parietal and posterior middle frontal cortices.
  • Left hemisphere damage to the inferior frontal, supramarginal, and angular gyri impaired categorical spatial judgments more severely than right hemisphere damage.
  • Right hemisphere damage to the middle temporal gyrus more severely impaired coordinate spatial judgments than left hemisphere damage.
  • The left angular and inferior frontal gyri uniquely process coordinate spatial information, while the anterior superior temporal gyrus uniquely processes categorical spatial information.

Conclusions:

  • Neural processing of categorical spatial relations is distinct from object identity processing, engaging specific parietal and frontal regions.
  • Hemispheric specialization exists for spatial relation processing, with the left hemisphere showing a bias for categorical relations and the right for coordinate relations.
  • The functional neuroanatomy of spatial relation processing is complex, with some areas processing both types of information and others specializing in one, challenging a simple hemispheric dichotomy.