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Updated: Jul 26, 2025

Cross-Modal Multivariate Pattern Analysis
Published on: November 9, 2011
Voxelwise encoding models of body stimuli reveal a representational gradient from low-level visual features to
Giuseppe Marrazzo1, Federico De Martino2, Agustin Lage-Castellanos3
1Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Limburg 6200 MD, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Abstract:
Previous research on body representation in the brain has focused on category-specific representation, using fMRI to investigate the response pattern to body stimuli in occipitotemporal cortex. But the central question of the specific computations involved in body selective regions has not been addressed so far. This study used ultra-high field fMRI and banded ridge regression to investigate the computational mechanisms of coding body images, by comparing the performance of three encoding models in predicting brain activity in occipitotemporal cortex and specifically in the extrastriate body area (EBA). Our results indicate that bodies are encoded in occipitotemporal cortex and in the EBA according to a combination of low-level visual features and postural features.
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