Closely overlapping responses to tools and hands in left lateral occipitotemporal cortex

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Object-directed actions involve hands and tools.
• Previous research implicates the left fronto-parietal cortex in processing these actions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the shared function of hands and tools in object manipulation is reflected in visual cortex response patterns.
• To explore the neural basis of action-related object properties in visual processing.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in two experiments.
• Analysis included response pattern mapping and functional connectivity analysis in the visual cortex.

Main Results:

• Static images of hands and tools activated overlapping regions in the left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC).
• Multivoxel pattern analysis revealed high similarity between response patterns to hands and tools in LOTC.
• The LOTC hand/tool region showed selective functional connectivity with left intraparietal sulcus and premotor cortex.

Conclusions:

• Shared action-related properties of hands and tools are represented in the organization of high-order visual cortex.
• The functional organization of visual cortex may reflect connectivity with downstream networks like the fronto-parietal action network.