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Updated: May 8, 2026
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Stimulus-specific Cortical Visual Evoked Potential Morphological Patterns
Published on: May 12, 2019
A locus in human extrastriate cortex for visual shape analysis
N Kanwisher1, R P Woods, M Iacoboni
1Harvard University.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
|August 24, 2013
Summary
Researchers used positron emission tomography (PET) to identify a brain region involved in visual object recognition. This area in the extrastriate cortex activates when processing 3D object shapes, independent of memory.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Visual object recognition is a complex cognitive process.
- The human extrastriate cortex plays a crucial role in visual processing beyond the primary visual cortex.
- Understanding the neural basis of shape analysis is fundamental to cognitive neuroscience.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify specific brain regions in the human extrastriate cortex involved in visual object recognition.
- To investigate the neural correlates of processing 3-dimensional object shapes.
- To determine if this process is memory-independent.
Main Methods:
- Positron emission tomography (PET) was employed to measure regional cerebral blood flow.
- Subjects viewed line drawings of 3-dimensional objects and scrambled control stimuli.
- Brain activity was compared between the object viewing and control conditions.
Main Results:
- A bilateral extrastriate area, located on the inferolateral surface near the occipital-temporal border, showed increased blood flow.
- A smaller activation was observed in the right fusiform gyrus.
- These activations occurred for both novel and familiar objects.
Conclusions:
- The identified extrastriate region is implicated in a specific component process of visual object recognition.
- This area is involved in the bottom-up, memory-independent analysis of visual shape.
- Findings contribute to mapping the functional organization of the human visual cortex.
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