Novel objects with causal event schemas elicit selective responses in tool- and hand-selective lateral...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• The tool-selective lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC) shows preferential responses to images of tools.
• The underlying drivers of this selectivity, beyond visual features, remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether event schemas, specifically temporal relations, influence LOTC responses to objects.
• To determine if the LOTC's preference for tools is driven by the typical causal events associated with tool use.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity.
• Participants viewed novel objects embedded in learned event sequences (Causer vs. Reactor).
• Visual features and motor associations were controlled to isolate the effect of event schemas.

Main Results:

• The LOTC showed significantly greater responses to Causer objects compared to Reactor objects.
• Non-tool-selective parahippocampal cortex (PHC) did not differentiate between Causer and Reactor objects.
• Tool and hand selectivity in the inferior temporal cortex predicted preferential responses to Causer objects.

Conclusions:

• An event schema, characteristic of tool actions, is sufficient to drive responses in the tool-selective LOTC.
• Category-preferential responses in the temporal lobe may reflect the processing of relational event structures inherent to different object categories.