Voxelwise encoding models of body stimuli reveal a representational gradient from low-level visual features to postural features in occipitotemporal cortex

Marrazzo, Giuseppe; Martino, Federico De; Lage‐Castellanos, Agustín; Vaessen, Maarten J.; Gelder, Béatrice de

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120240

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…In agreement with our findings, previous studies have suggested that the LOCi region may serve both as an entry of higher-level visual streams as well as a node for integrating the dorsal and ventral stream feedback (Grill-Spector & Malach, 2004;Larsson & Heeger, 2006;Sayres & Grill-Spector, 2008). Recent studies have also found involvement of the LOCi in body kinematics (Marrazzo et al, 2023) and motion feature processing (Robert et al, 2023). Thus, this node may be related to an early integration of the low-/mid-level visual information.…”

Section: Four Different Body Selective Network Nodessupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The actual contribution of these body selective areas is not well understood (de Gelder & Poyo Solanas, 2021;de Gelder et al, 2010;Vogels, 2022). A number of studies found that these body selective areas play a role in processing emotional expressions (de Gelder et al, 2004;Grèzes et al, 2007;Peelen et al, 2007;Pichon et al, 2008), biological movement (Jastorff & Orban, 2009), specific postural and kinematic features of the body (Marrazzo et al, 2023;Marrazzo et al, 2021;Poyo Solanas et al, 2020), action recognition (Goldberg et al, 2014;Shmuelof & Zohary, 2005), motor planning (Zimmermann et al, 2012), as well as social perception (Kret et al, 2011a;Moreau et al, 2023). Taken together, these findings suggest that body selectivity may be understood not simply as a matter of category selectivity but as resulting from the activity of a sparsely distributed ensemble of brain areas (de Gelder & Poyo Solanas, 2021;Weiner & Grill-Spector, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Connectivity and functional diversity of different temporo-occipital nodes for action perception

Li,

Poyo Solanas,

Marrazzo

et al. 2024

Preprint

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The temporo-occipital cortex (TOC) plays a key role in body and action perception, but current understanding of its functions is still limited. TOC body regions are heterogeneous and their role in action perception is poorly understood. This study adopted data-driven approaches to region selectivity and investigated the connectivity of TOC nodes and the functional network sensitivity for different whole body action videos. In two human 7T fMRI experiments using independent component analysis, four adjacent body selective nodes were detected within the TOC network with distinct connectivity profiles and functional roles. Action type independent connectivity was observed for the posterior-ventral node to the visual cortex, the posterior-dorsal node to the precuneus and the anterior nodes to the frontal cortex. Action specific connectivity modulations were found in middle frontal gyrus for the aggressive condition with increased connectivity to the anterior node and decreased connectivity to the posterior-dorsal node. But for the defensive condition, node-nonspecific enhancement was found for the TOC-cingulate connectivity. By addressing the issue of multiple nodes in the temporo-occipital network we show a functional dissociation of different body selective centres related to the action type and a potential hierarchy within the TOC body network.

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Section: Four Different Body Selective Network Nodessupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connectivity and functional diversity of different temporo-occipital nodes for action perception

Li,

Poyo Solanas,

Marrazzo

et al. 2024

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…FBA and EBA are two body selective regions identified by contrasting responses to simple body images with nonbody objects, suggesting their role in detecting the presence of a body and/or body parts. Recent studies further revealed posture encoding in the EBA with greater viewpoint tolerance arising anteriorly ( 8 ) as well as viewpoint-invariant decoding of body identity in the FBA ( 49 ). While these studies employed synthetic body stimuli with limited pose variations, our study develops body models that incorporate the geometric body structure over a wide range of poses while abstracting out other body-related properties, in particular retinotopic size and location.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Past studies using functional magnetic imaging (fMRI) in humans have discovered several cortical areas likely involved in the solutions to these problems ( 3 , 4 ). However, past studies have only measured responses to highly simplified stimuli in which the image of the body is easily segmented and over a very restricted range of poses ( 3 – 11 ). Our understanding of the neural basis of human pose perception has thus far been limited by the lack of natural image datasets representative of the enormous pose space of everyday visual experience but also by the lack of annotations that parameterize body poses.…”

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confidence: 99%

Natural scenes reveal diverse representations of 2D and 3D body pose in the human brain

Zhu,

Ge,

Bratch

et al. 2024

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Human pose, defined as the spatial relationships between body parts, carries instrumental information supporting the understanding of motion and action of a person. A substantial body of previous work has identified cortical areas responsive to images of bodies and different body parts. However, the neural basis underlying the visual perception of body part relationships has received less attention. To broaden our understanding of body perception, we analyzed high-resolution fMRI responses to a wide range of poses from over 4,000 complex natural scenes. Using ground-truth annotations and an application of three-dimensional (3D) pose reconstruction algorithms, we compared similarity patterns of cortical activity with similarity patterns built from human pose models with different levels of depth availability and viewpoint dependency. Targeting the challenge of explaining variance in complex natural image responses with interpretable models, we achieved statistically significant correlations between pose models and cortical activity patterns (though performance levels are substantially lower than the noise ceiling). We found that the 3D view-independent pose model, compared with two-dimensional models, better captures the activation from distinct cortical areas, including the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS). These areas, together with other pose-selective regions in the LOTC, form a broader, distributed cortical network with greater view-tolerance in more anterior patches. We interpret these findings in light of the computational complexity of natural body images, the wide range of visual tasks supported by pose structures, and possible shared principles for view-invariant processing between articulated objects and ordinary, rigid objects.

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“…It is known that the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) contains brain regions specialized for processing human body form, that is, the extrastriate (EBA) and fusiform (FBA) body areas identified in the early 2000s (Downing et al, 2001(Downing et al, , 2006Peelen & Downing, 2007) and confirmed ever since (Bracci et al, 2010;Downing & Peelen, 2016;Marrazzo et al, 2023;Orlov et al, 2010). Increased hemodynamic responses in EBA and FBA have been found in response to images depicting real bodies or body parts, as well as silhouettes, line drawings, and stick figures when compared with faces, animals, and objects.…”

Section: Perceiving the Static Body Formmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a neuroaesthetics of interactions: a perspective review

Orlandi,

Candidi

2023

Preprint

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The neuroaesthetics field has made significant progress in understanding behavioral and neural responses associated with appreciating both crafted and natural entities. While extensive research has explored the neurocognitive mechanisms underpinning the aesthetic appreciation of “single-body” forms and movements, only recently attention has turned to investigating the subjective appreciation of groups of individuals moving together. This review aims to introduce the emerging area of two-body appreciation, which we refer to as the neuroaesthetics of interactions, and explore how neural representations of observed and executed movements contribute to the evaluation of complex dyadic body postures and dance movements. By delving into the involvement of neural systems supporting social interaction processing in dance appreciation, we organized the existing literature on objective features of stimuli, individual dispositions, and their combined impact on the aesthetic experience derived from observing single and interactive dance performances. Additionally, we outlined the advantages of using dance as a research framework for neuroscientific studies, address challenges related to the perception of two-body interactions, and highlight future directions in the field.

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Voxelwise encoding models of body stimuli reveal a representational gradient from low-level visual features to postural features in occipitotemporal cortex

Cited by 5 publications

References 75 publications

Connectivity and functional diversity of different temporo-occipital nodes for action perception

Connectivity and functional diversity of different temporo-occipital nodes for action perception

Natural scenes reveal diverse representations of 2D and 3D body pose in the human brain

Towards a neuroaesthetics of interactions: a perspective review

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