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Related Concept Videos

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The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at...
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The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...
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Controlled processes in human consciousness represent high-alert mental states where individuals deliberately focus their attention on achieving specific goals. Controlled processes can be seen in situations like mastering new technology, where a person might become so absorbed that they ignore surrounding distractions. Such processes involve selective attention, requiring one to concentrate on particular elements of experience while disregarding others. These are governed by executive...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 22, 2025

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings
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Effective connectivity within the neural system for object-directed action representation during aware and unaware

Marta Ghio1, Francesca Conca2, Christian Bellebaum3

  • 1CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Italy.

Cortex; a Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System and Behavior
|May 21, 2022
PubMed
Summary

The brain processes manipulable objects through connected left hemisphere regions, even without conscious awareness. This connectivity supports understanding object action and function, regardless of perception threshold.

Keywords:
Action representationConsciousnessContinuous flash suppressionFunctional integrationTools

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Last Updated: Sep 22, 2025

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Brain Imaging

Background:

  • Previous research indicates left premotor, parietal, and temporal cortices are involved in processing manipulable objects, both consciously and unconsciously.
  • These areas are hypothesized to form streams for object-directed action and function.
  • The causal connectivity within these streams under varying awareness conditions remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the directional spread of activation and causal inter-regional connectivity within the premotor-parieto-temporal network.
  • To examine how effective connectivity is influenced by object manipulability and perceptual awareness (supraliminal and subliminal).

Main Methods:

  • Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) was employed to estimate effective connectivity.
  • The study analyzed factorial contrasts for object manipulability and perceptual awareness.
  • Connections were modeled originating from visual area V4 and spreading through the left premotor-parieto-temporal network.

Main Results:

  • Manipulable object processing, both aware and unaware, increased reciprocal effective connectivity within the left premotor-parieto-temporal regions.
  • Aware and unaware processing showed distinct top-down activation patterns: premotor-parieto-temporal regions influenced V4 in aware processing, while premotor regions influenced temporal regions in unaware processing.
  • Enhanced effective connectivity in the action representation system may aid visual contour segregation in V4 only during aware processing.

Conclusions:

  • Object-action and object-function information can be encoded via causal interactions in the left premotor, parietal, and temporal cortices, even without conscious perception.
  • The findings highlight the role of effective connectivity in object processing streams, irrespective of awareness.
  • While conscious perception may enhance visual processing, the underlying network interactions for object information occur even subliminally.