A Probabilistic Functional Atlas of Human Occipito-Temporal Visual Cortex.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• The human visual cortex has specialized regions for processing visual information.
• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have greatly advanced our understanding of visual processing.
• Accurate localization of these visual regions is crucial for research, often requiring individual functional localizer scans.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a functional region of interest (ROI) atlas for early visual and category-selective regions in the human occipito-temporal cortex.
• To provide a reliable tool for identifying visual processing areas when functional localizers are not possible.

Main Methods:

• Development of a functional ROI atlas for early visual and category-selective regions.
• Application of cortex-based alignment for reducing between-subject variability.
• Validation using independent datasets and cross-validation techniques.

Main Results:

• Cortex-based alignment demonstrated lower between-subject variability for functionally defined ROIs compared to nonlinear volumetric alignment.
• The atlas accurately predicted the location of independent ventral temporal cortex ROIs and other specialized visual areas (place, motion, retinotopy).
• Cross-validation confirmed that the majority of voxels in the atlas responded to the labeled category in a left-out subject.

Conclusions:

• The developed functional atlas effectively maps visual processing regions in the human brain.
• This atlas serves as a valuable tool for researchers, particularly in populations where functional localizers are challenging to obtain (e.g., infants, individuals with visual impairments).
• The atlas is publicly available to facilitate broader use in visual neuroscience research.