Dataset Information

Neural associations of the early retinotopic cortex with the lateral occipital complex during visual perception.

ABSTRACT: Previous studies have demonstrated that the early retinotopic cortex (ERC, i.e., V1/V2/V3) is highly associated with the lateral occipital complex (LOC) during visual perception. However, it remains largely unclear how to evaluate their associations in quantitative way. The present study tried to apply a multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to quantify the neural activity in ERC and its association with that of the LOC when participants saw visual images. To this end, we assessed whether low-level visual features (Gabor features) could predict the neural activity in the ERC and LOC according to a voxel-based encoding model (VBEM), and then quantified the association of the neural activity between these regions by using an analogical VBEM. We found that the Gabor features remarkably predicted the activity of the ERC (e.g., the predicted accuracy was 52.5% for a participant) instead of that of the LOC (4.2%). Moreover, the MVPA approach can also be used to establish corresponding relationships between the activity patterns in the LOC and those in the ERC (64.2%). In particular, we found that the integration of the Gabor features and LOC visual information could dramatically improve the 'prediction' of ERC activity (88.3%). Overall, the present study provides new evidences for the possibility of quantifying the association of the neural activity between the regions of ERC and LOC. This approach will help to provide further insights into the neural substrates of the visual processing.

SUBMITTER: Zhang D

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4177215 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Neural associations of the early retinotopic cortex with the lateral occipital complex during visual perception.

Zhang Delong D Wen Xue X Liang Bishan B Liu Bo B Liu Ming M Huang Ruiwang R

PloS one 20140924 9

Previous studies have demonstrated that the early retinotopic cortex (ERC, i.e., V1/V2/V3) is highly associated with the lateral occipital complex (LOC) during visual perception. However, it remains largely unclear how to evaluate their associations in quantitative way. The present study tried to apply a multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to quantify the neural activity in ERC and its association with that of the LOC when participants saw visual images. To this end, we assessed whether low-lev ...[more]

PMID: 25251083

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Project description:IntroductionThere is mounting evidence that visual perception abnormalities in schizophrenia are partly explained by a dysfunction of the lateral occipital complex (LO). We previously demonstrated that schizophrenia patients had broader topography and reduced magnitude of activity of LO. However, the functional connectivity of LO with other brain regions during visual perception has not been directly investigated in schizophrenia.Materials and methodsEighteen patients with schizophrenia and eighteen matched controls performed a backward masking task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Stimulus onset asynchronies were manipulated to change the level of target visibility. To examine connectivity with LO function we conducted psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analyses using: 1) a region of interest (ROI) approach and 2) a whole brain analysis. ROIs were defined based on a contrast of trials on which a target was presented versus null trials in which no stimuli were presented.ResultsEleven ROIs were identified. Both groups showed similar strength of coupling between LO and the 11 ROIs when visibility was not taken into account. Healthy controls showed clear changes in coupling between LO and prefrontal and parietal regions as a function of target visibility (higher coupling with more visible targets). In comparison, patients showed reduced dynamic coupling with LO in the right superior frontal gyrus (significant after correcting for multiple comparisons) and a trend for reduced coupling in the left precuneus and left inferior frontal regions. Whole brain analysis identified additional regions that showed dynamic coupling with LO in healthy controls, but not in patients.DiscussionThe increased coupling between LO and higher-level parietal and prefrontal regions during visual awareness in healthy controls likely reflects visual reentrant processing. The lack of modulation of coupling between LO and key prefrontal and parietal regions found in schizophrenia may partly reflect abnormalities in LO tuning. The altered LO coupling may contribute to visual perception abnormalities in schizophrenia.

Dataset Information

Neural associations of the early retinotopic cortex with the lateral occipital complex during visual perception.

Publications

Neural associations of the early retinotopic cortex with the lateral occipital complex during visual perception.

Similar Datasets

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