Task-dependent fMRI decoder with the power to extend Gabor patch results to Natural images

Scientists are often asked to what extent a simple finding in a laboratory can be generalized to complicated phenomena in our daily lives. The same is equally true of vision science; numerous critical discoveries about our visual system have been made using very simple visual images, such as Gabor patches, but to what extent can these findings be applied to more natural images? Here, we used the fMRI decoding technique and directly tested whether the findings obtained with primitive visual stimuli (Gabor patches) were applicable to natural images. In the fMRI experiments, participants performed depth and resolution tasks with both Gabor patches and natural images. We created a fMRI decoder made from the results of the Gabor patch experiments that classified a brain activity pattern into the depth or resolution task, and then examined how successful the task-dependent decoder could sort a brain activity pattern in the natural image experiment into the depth or resolution task. As a result, we found that the task-dependent decoder constructed from Gabor patch experiments could predict which task (depth or resolution task) a participant was engaged in the natural image experiments, especially in the V3 and middle temporal (MT+) areas of the brain. This is consistent with previous researches on the cortical activation relating to depth perception rather than perceptual processing of display resolution. These results provide firm evidence that fMRI decoding technique possesses the power to evaluate the application of Gabor patch results (laboratory findings) to the natural images (everyday affairs), representing a new approach for studying the mechanism of visual perception.