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The Emergence of Topography and Hemispheric Lateralization in High-Level Vision
Marlene Behrmann1,2, Nicholas M Blauch2,3, David Plaut2
1University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (2006)
|October 29, 2025
Summary
Brain regions for faces and words show development-driven, asymmetric organization in the ventral temporal cortex (VTC). This topographic organization is shaped by biological constraints and visual representations.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- The human brain exhibits reproducible topographic organization across individuals and cultures.
- Ventral temporal cortex (VTC) is crucial for processing faces and words, with distinct regional specializations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental emergence of topographic organization in the human brain, specifically in the VTC.
- To understand the constraints, including biological connectivity and visual representations, that shape this organization.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing research on brain topography, development, and plasticity.
- Analysis of VTC responses to faces and words across both hemispheres.
- Development and testing of a computational model to simulate topographic organization.
- Examination of neuroimaging and behavioral data from typical and impaired individuals.
Main Results:
- Faces and words activate VTC regions in both hemispheres, with a right-hemisphere bias for faces and a left-hemisphere bias for words.
- A computational model successfully predicted the emergence of this weighted asymmetric topography through development.
- Findings were supported by evidence from normal and impaired behavior and neuroimaging studies.
Conclusions:
- Topographic organization in VTC emerges through an optimization process influenced by development, biological connectivity, and visual representation characteristics.
- Both local and long-range constraints contribute to the development of topographic organization within and between brain hemispheres.
Keywords:
RRID:SCR_023356cortical resectiondevelopmentepilepsy surgeryface recognitionfunctional connectivityhemispherectomyhigher visual areaslobectomylongitudinal fMRInetworkplasticityreorganizationvisual cortexwhole brainword recognitionMore Related Videos
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