An encoding model of temporal processing in human visual cortex

ABSTRACTHow is temporal information processed in human visual cortex? Visual input is relayed to V1 through segregated transient and sustained channels in the retina and LGN. However, there is intense debate as to how transient and sustained channels contribute to visual processing beyond V1. Using a 2 temporal-channel encoding model we can predict fMRI responses to time-varying stimuli ranging from milliseconds to seconds. The transient channel dominates responses in the periphery of early visual cortex and lateral occipito-temporal regions. However, both sustained and transient channels drive responses in central early visual cortex and ventral occipito-temporal regions. Together these finding resolve an outstanding debate and lay the foundation for a complete temporal model of neural processing in visual cortex. Importantly, this encoding approach can be applied with fMRI to decipher neural computations in millisecond resolution in any part of the brain, which has vast implications for understanding neural processing.