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Updated: Jun 2, 2025

Investigating Object Representations in the Macaque Dorsal Visual Stream Using Single-unit Recordings
Published on: August 1, 2018
Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processing
Matthew A Bennett1,2, Lucy S Petro2,3, Clement Abbatecola2,3
1Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10/L3.05.01, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Cortical feedback in the visual cortex helps identify objects and scenes. Scene information projects to V1 retinotopically, while object information is foveally processed during demanding tasks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- Object and scene identification involves recurrent processing between visual areas.
- The spatial organization of feedback to early visual cortex (V1) remains unclear: retinotopic, object-centered, or both.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize object- and scene-related feedback information in V1.
- To investigate the spatial organization of feedback during object and scene processing.
Main Methods:
- fMRI and multivoxel pattern classification were used.
- Participants identified objects or scenes in images with occluded central/peripheral subsections.
- Feedback activity to foveal and peripheral V1 was isolated.
Main Results:
- Scene information projects to both foveal and peripheral V1.
- Demanding object tasks disrupt scene feedback in the fovea, allowing foveal object decoding.
- Feedback during scene perception provides a retinotopic sketch; during cognitive tasks, it supports foveal object processing.
Conclusions:
- Feedback architecture in V1 reflects internal models of the visual environment.
- Scene feedback is retinotopically organized, predicting occluded information.
- Task demands modulate feedback, shifting towards foveal object representation for cognitive tasks.
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