Differential destinations, dynamics, and functions of high- and low-order features in the feedback signal during object processing

Brain is a hierarchical information processing system, in which the feedback signals from high-level to low-level regions are critical. The feedback signals may convey complex high-order features (e.g., category, identity) and simple low-order features (e.g., orientation, spatial frequency) to sensory cortex to interact with the feedforward information, but how these types of feedback information are represented and how they differ in facilitating visual processing is unclear. The current study used the peripheral object discrimination task, 7T fMRI, and MEG to isolate feedback from feedforward signals in human early visual cortex. The results showed that feedback signals conveyed both low-order features natively encoded in early visual cortex and high-order features generated in high-level regions, but with different spatial and temporal properties. The high-order feedback information targeted both superficial and deep layers, whereas the low-order feedback information reached only deep layers in V1. In addition, MEG results revealed that the feedback information from occipito-temporal to early visual cortex emerged around 200 ms after stimulus onset, and only the representational strength of high-order feedback information was significantly correlated with behavioral performance. These results indicate that the complex and simple components of feedback information play different roles in predictive processing mechanisms to facilitate sensory processing.