Visual featural topography in the human ventral visual pathway

Abstract

Visual object recognition in humans and nonhuman primates is achieved by the ventral visual pathway (ventral occipital-temporal cortex, VOTC), which shows a well-documented object domain structure. An on-going question has been what type of information is processed in higher-order VOTC that underlies such observations, with recent evidence suggesting effects of certain visual features. Combining computational vision models, fMRI experiment using a parametric-modulation approach, and natural image statistics of common objects, we depicted the neural distribution of a comprehensive set of visual features in VOTC, identifying voxel sensitivities to specific feature sets across geometry/shape, Fourier power, and color. The visual feature combination pattern in VOTC is significantly explained by their relationships to different types of response-action computation (Fight-or-Flight, Navigation, and Manipulation), as derived from behavioral ratings and natural image statistics. These results offer the first comprehensive visual featural map in VOTC and a plausible theoretical explanation as a mapping onto different types of downstream response-action systems.