A Cortical Area Selective for Visual Processing of the Human Body

Downing, Paul E.; Jiang, Yuhong; Shuman, Miles; Kanwisher, Nancy

doi:10.1126/science.1063414

Cited by 1,842 publications

(1,552 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

127

Mentioning

1,404

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…4; Table I). LOTC clusters probably intersected the human motion complex (V5/hMT+) and/or extrastriate body area [EBA; Downing et al, 2001; particularly its hand representation; Orlov et al, 2010]. This is in line with previous results, showing LOTC to carry information about observed manual actions [Oosterhof et al, 2012b] and extends them to motor imagery.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

“…This analysis confirmed that imagined hand actions could be decoded from activity patterns in left M1 and PMC, as well as right SPL (with one significant cluster in the left precentral gyrus, two in the left SMA, and one in right SPL). In addition, the searchlight analysis revealed significant clusters in right motor cortices (two stretching across pre‐ and postcentral gyrus, one in the SMA) and bilateral early visual cortex (EVC; two in the right hemisphere and one large cluster stretching from left EVC to left SPL), as well as bilateral human motion complex (V5/hMT+) and/or the extrastriate body area (EBA; left and right cluster stretching into fusiform gyrus and IPL, respectively; left peak coordinates being very close to EBA coordinates reported by Downing et al [2001]). See Figure 4 and Table 1 for a summary and peak coordinates of all clusters.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 77%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Motor imagery of hand actions: Decoding the content of motor imagery from brain activity in frontal and parietal motor areas

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How motor maps are organized while imagining actions is an intensely debated issue. It is particularly unclear whether motor imagery relies on action‐specific representations in premotor and posterior parietal cortices. This study tackled this issue by attempting to decode the content of motor imagery from spatial patterns of Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signals recorded in the frontoparietal motor imagery network. During fMRI‐scanning, 20 right‐handed volunteers worked on three experimental conditions and one baseline condition. In the experimental conditions, they had to imagine three different types of right‐hand actions: an aiming movement, an extension–flexion movement, and a squeezing movement. The identity of imagined actions was decoded from the spatial patterns of BOLD signals they evoked in premotor and posterior parietal cortices using multivoxel pattern analysis. Results showed that the content of motor imagery (i.e., the action type) could be decoded significantly above chance level from the spatial patterns of BOLD signals in both frontal (PMC, M1) and parietal areas (SPL, IPL, IPS). An exploratory searchlight analysis revealed significant clusters motor‐ and motor‐associated cortices, as well as in visual cortices. Hence, the data provide evidence that patterns of activity within premotor and posterior parietal cortex vary systematically with the specific type of hand action being imagined. Hum Brain Mapp 37:81–93, 2016. © 2015 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 77%

Motor imagery of hand actions: Decoding the content of motor imagery from brain activity in frontal and parietal motor areas

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In particular, extrastriate body area (EBA) located at the posterior inferior temporal sulcus/middle temporal gyrus (Downing et al, 2001) and the fusiform body area located at the ventro-medial temporal cortex (Peelen & Downing, 2007) display a highly selective activity for visual presentations of human bodies. These areas respond selectively to photorealistic depictions of whole human bodies or body parts, still images of human bodies or body parts extending to 'stick figures' and silhouettes, in preference to human faces, images of object parts and scenes (Downing et al, 2004;2006;Peelen & Downing, 2007;Urgesi, Berlucchi & Aglioti, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender differences in the neural underpinning of perceiving and appreciating the beauty of the body

Cazzato

Mele

Urgesi

2014

Behavioural Brain Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Although previous studies have suggested a certain degree of right hemisphere dominance for the response of extrastriate body area (EBA) during body perception, recent evidence suggests that this functional lateralization may differ between men and women. It is unknown, however, whether and how gender differences in body perception affect appreciating the beauty of the body conspecifics. Here, we applied five 10-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) pulses over left and right EBA and over the vertex to investigate the contribution of visual body representations in the two hemispheres on esthetic body perception. Female and male healthy volunteers were requested to judge how much they liked opposite-and same-gender virtual model bodies or to judge their weight, thus allowing us to compare the effects of right-and left-EBA rTMS on esthetic (liking) and perceptual (weight) judgments of human bodies. The analysis of the esthetic judgments provided by women revealed that right-EBA rTMS increased the liking judgments of opposite-vs. same-gender models, as compared to both vertex and left EBA stimulation.Conversely, in men the liking judgments of opposite-gender models decreased after virtual disruption of both right and left EBA as compared to vertex stimulation. Crucially, no significant effect was found for the perceptual task, showing that left-and right-EBA rTMS did not affect weight perception. Our results provide evidence of gender difference in the hemispheric asymmetry of EBA in the esthetic processing of human bodies, with women showing stronger right hemisphere dominance in comparison with men.

show abstract

“…This hypothesis was based both on neuroimaging studies of reading and on anatomo-clinical correlations in patients with pure alexia, an acquired deficit of reading that follows left occipitotemporal lesions (McCandliss et al, 2003). The VWFA hypothesis was framed in the broader context of recent studies of functional specialization within the human ventral visual stream, in which have been identified several areas specialized for other classes of visual stimuli such as faces, places, or body parts (Downing et al, 2001;Hasson et al, 2003;Haxby et al, 2001;Kanwisher et al, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area

2004

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Is there specialization for visual word recognition within the visual ventral stream of literate human adults? We review the evidence for a specialized ''visual word form area'' and critically examine some of the arguments recently placed against this hypothesis. Three distinct forms of specialization must be distinguished: functional specialization, reproducible localization, and regional selectivity. Examination of the literature with this theoretical division in mind indicates that reading activates a precise subpart of the left ventral occipitotemporal sulcus, and that patients with pure alexia consistently exhibit lesions of this region (reproducible localization). Second, this region implements processes adequate for reading in a specific script, such as invariance across upper-and lower-case letters, and its lesion results in the selective loss of reading-specific processes (functional specialization). Third, the issue of regional selectivity, namely, the existence of putative cortical patches dedicated to letter and word recognition, cannot be resolved by positron emission tomography or lesion data, but requires high-resolution neuroimaging techniques. The available evidence from single-subject fMRI and intracranial recordings suggests that some cortical sites respond preferentially to letter strings than to other categories of visual stimuli such as faces or objects, though the preference is often relative rather than absolute. We conclude that learning to read results in the progressive development of an inferotemporal region increasingly responsive to visual words, which is aptly named the visual word form area (VWFA).

show abstract

A Cortical Area Selective for Visual Processing of the Human Body

Cited by 1,842 publications

References 21 publications

Motor imagery of hand actions: Decoding the content of motor imagery from brain activity in frontal and parietal motor areas

Motor imagery of hand actions: Decoding the content of motor imagery from brain activity in frontal and parietal motor areas

Gender differences in the neural underpinning of perceiving and appreciating the beauty of the body

Specialization within the ventral stream: the case for the visual word form area

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About