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Updated: Aug 24, 2025

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings
Published on: August 1, 2018
Does the brain's ventral visual pathway compute object shape?
Vladislav Ayzenberg1, Marlene Behrmann2
1Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Psychology Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Abstract:
A rich behavioral literature has shown that human object recognition is supported by a representation of shape that is tolerant to variations in an object's appearance. Such 'global' shape representations are achieved by describing objects via the spatial arrangement of their local features, or structure, rather than by the appearance of the features themselves. However, accumulating evidence suggests that the ventral visual pathway - the primary substrate underlying object recognition - may not represent global shape. Instead, ventral representations may be better described as a basis set of local image features. We suggest that this evidence forces a reevaluation of the role of the ventral pathway in object perception and posits a broader network for shape perception that encompasses contributions from the dorsal pathway.
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