Dataset Information

Repetition suppression in occipitotemporal cortex despite negligible visual similarity: evidence for postperceptual processing?

ABSTRACT: The reduced neural response in certain brain regions when a task-relevant stimulus is repeated ("repetition suppression", RS) is often attributed to facilitation of the cognitive processes performed in those regions. Repetition of visual objects is associated with RS in the ventral and lateral occipital/temporal regions, and is typically attributed to facilitation of visual processes, ranging from the extraction of shape to the perceptual identification of objects. In two fMRI experiments using a semantic classification task, we found RS in a left lateral occipital/inferior temporal region to a picture of an object when the name of that object had previously been presented in a separate session. In other words, we found RS despite negligible visual similarity between the initial and repeated occurrences of an object identity. There was no evidence that this RS was driven by the learning of task-specific responses to an object identity ("S-R learning"). We consider several explanations of this occipitotemporal RS, such as phonological retrieval, semantic retrieval, and visual imagery. Although no explanation if fully satisfactory, it is proposed that such effects most plausibly relate to the extraction of task-relevant information relating to object size, either through the extraction of sensory-specific semantic information or through visual imagery processes. Our findings serve to emphasize the potential complexity of processing within traditionally visual regions, at least as measured by fMRI.

SUBMITTER: Horner AJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6870074 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Repetition suppression in occipitotemporal cortex despite negligible visual similarity: evidence for postperceptual processing?

Horner Aidan J AJ Henson Richard N RN

Human brain mapping 20100902 10

The reduced neural response in certain brain regions when a task-relevant stimulus is repeated ("repetition suppression", RS) is often attributed to facilitation of the cognitive processes performed in those regions. Repetition of visual objects is associated with RS in the ventral and lateral occipital/temporal regions, and is typically attributed to facilitation of visual processes, ranging from the extraction of shape to the perceptual identification of objects. In two fMRI experiments using ...[more]

PMID: 20814963

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Project description:Similar to primates, visual cortex in rodents appears to be organized in two distinct hierarchical streams. However, there is still little known about how visual information is processed along those streams in rodents. In this study, we examined how repetition suppression and position and clutter tolerance of the neuronal representations evolve along the putative ventral visual stream in rats. To address this question, we recorded multiunit spiking activity in primary visual cortex (V1) and the more downstream visual laterointermediate (LI) area of head-restrained Long-Evans rats. We employed a paradigm reminiscent of the continuous carry-over design used in human neuroimaging. In both areas, stimulus repetition attenuated the early phase of the neuronal response to the repeated stimulus, with this response suppression being greater in area LI. Furthermore, stimulus preferences were more similar across positions (position tolerance) in area LI than in V1, even though the absolute responses in both areas were very sensitive to changes in position. In contrast, the neuronal representations in both areas were equally good at tolerating the presence of limited visual clutter, as modeled by the presentation of a single flank stimulus. When probing tolerance of the neuronal representations with stimulus-specific adaptation, we detected no position tolerance in either examined brain area, whereas, on the contrary, we revealed clutter tolerance in both areas. Overall, our data demonstrate similarities and discrepancies in processing of visual information along the ventral visual stream of rodents and primates. Moreover, our results stress caution in using neuronal adaptation to probe tolerance of the neuronal representations. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Rodents are emerging as a popular animal model that complement primates for studying higher level visual functions. Similar to findings in primates, we demonstrate a greater repetition suppression and position tolerance of the neuronal representations in the downstream laterointermediate area of Long-Evans rats compared with primary visual cortex. However, we report no difference in the degree of clutter tolerance between the areas. These findings provide additional evidence for hierarchical processing of visual stimuli in rodents.

Dataset Information

Repetition suppression in occipitotemporal cortex despite negligible visual similarity: evidence for postperceptual processing?

Publications

Repetition suppression in occipitotemporal cortex despite negligible visual similarity: evidence for postperceptual processing?

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