Decoding the yellow of a gray banana

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Visual Perception

Background:

• Object perception is influenced by "memory color," our knowledge of an object's typical hue.
• Neural basis of memory color influence on visual processing remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate if memory color can be decoded from visual cortex activity using fMRI.
• Determine the neural pathways involved in memory color processing.

Main Methods:

• Used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record brain activity.
• Trained linear classifiers to decode memory color from fMRI responses to grayscale images.
• Employed representational similarity analysis to compare neural patterns.

Main Results:

• Memory color was predictable from activity in the primary visual cortex (V1) for grayscale objects.
• Higher visual areas (V4, LOC) also predicted memory colors.
• V1 memory color representations correlated specifically with V4 patterns, not LOC.

Conclusions:

• Prior knowledge (memory color) influences early visual processing in V1.
• Suggests top-down feedback from higher visual areas to V1, aligning with predictive coding theories.