The Lateral Occipital Cortex Is Selective for Object Shape, Not Texture/Color, at Six Months

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Human visual system development is key to understanding visual representations.
• Prior fMRI studies focused on later visual development (4-5 years) and high-level visual areas (faces, scenes).
• Limited research exists on mid-level visual regions in early infancy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically investigate the functional development of the lateral occipital cortex (LOC), a mid-level visual region, in 6-month-old infants.
• To extend the understanding of visual development into earlier infancy.
• To compare infant LOC functional specialization with that of adults.

Main Methods:

• Utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) for neuroimaging in a very young population.
• Employed rigorous MR coregistration for precise neuroanatomical localization of fNIRS data.
• Investigated LOC's tracking of shape information versus other object identity cues (e.g., texture/material).

Main Results:

• Found evidence of functional specialization in the infant LOC at 6 months, highly similar to adults.
• Demonstrated shape selectivity in the infant LOC.
• Showed a lack of object selectivity in the infant LOC, suggesting a focus on shape processing.

Conclusions:

• The lateral occipital cortex (LOC) exhibits functional specialization in infancy, earlier than previously observed for high-level visual regions.
• Infant visual development reveals adult-like shape selectivity in the LOC by 6 months of age.
• This study provides critical insights into the early developmental trajectories of visual processing in the human brain.