Moving and static faces, bodies, objects and scenes are differentially represented across the three visual pathways

Abstract

Models of human cortex propose the existence of neuroanatomical pathways specialised for different behavioural functions. These pathways include a ventral pathway for object recognition, a dorsal pathway for performing visually guided physical actions and a recently proposed third pathway for social perception. In the current study we tested the hypothesis that different categories of moving stimuli are differentially processed across the dorsal and third pathways according to their behavioural implications. Human participants (N=30) were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while viewing moving and static stimuli from five categories (faces, bodies, scenes, objects, and scrambled objects). Whole brain group analyses showed that moving bodies and moving objects increased neural responses in bilateral V5/MT+ and intraparietal sulcus (IPS), parts of the dorsal pathway. In addition, moving faces and moving bodies increased neural responses in bilateral V5/MT+ and the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (rpSTS), parts of the third pathway. This pattern of results was also supported by a separate region of interest (ROI) analysis showing that moving stimuli produced more robust neural responses for all visual object categories, particularly in lateral and dorsal brain areas. Our results suggest that dynamic naturalistic stimuli from different categories are routed along specific visual pathways that process their unique behavioural implications.