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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 14, 2026

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues
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Smooth versus Textured Surfaces: Feature-Based Category Selectivity in Human Visual Cortex.

Cesar Echavarria1, Shahin Nasr2, Roger Tootell2

  • 1Athinioula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital , Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129.

Eneuro
|October 5, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Brain regions lateral occipital (LO) cortex and fusiform face area (FFA) show a preference for smooth over textured visual stimuli. This suggests a feature-based processing stream in object and face recognition.

Keywords:
FFALOfMRIfunctional connectivitytexture

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • The human lateral occipital (LO) cortex is believed to selectively respond to object images versus non-objects.
  • It is not fully understood if all objects activate LO equally or which visual features drive stronger activation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate which image features elicit stronger activation in the LO cortex.
  • To determine if smooth surfaces are preferred over textured surfaces in visual stimuli presented to LO and FFA.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized an unbiased parametric texture model to predict preferred stimuli for LO.
  • Employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to confirm predictions in LO and the fusiform face area (FFA).
  • Conducted psychophysical observations to validate stimulus preferences.

Main Results:

  • Smooth (non-textured) surfaces were identified as preferred stimuli in both LO and FFA, for both objects and non-objects.
  • fMRI confirmed stronger responses in LO and FFA to smooth stimuli compared to textured ones.
  • Freckled (textured) faces elicited weaker responses than non-freckled (smooth) faces in FFA.

Conclusions:

  • The LO cortex and FFA demonstrate a preference for smooth visual features over textured ones.
  • These brain areas may form a processing stream characterized by feature-based category selectivity (smooth > textured).
  • Functional connectivity between LO and FFA supports their role in a shared visual processing pathway.