Neurology, Vol 48, Issue 5 1416-1420, Copyright © 1997 by American Academy of Neurology

ARTICLES

Object shape processing in the visual system evaluated using functional MRI

M Kraut, J Hart Jr, BJ Soher and B Gordon
Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287-2182, USA.

We used functional MRI (fMRI) to determine the cortical regions activated during processing of visual object shape in humans in six men and three women, using a paradigm with a baseline condition of simple shape detection and an activated condition of object/nonobject shape discrimination. Eight of the nine subjects studied showed significant signal changes. Seven of eight showed changes in the occipital lobes (five bilateral, two right only, one left only). All eight subjects with signal changes exhibited changes in the parietal lobes bilaterally. In the occipitotemporal gyri, there were signal changes bilaterally in seven subjects and unilaterally, on the right, in one. Activation-related fMRI signal increases were also present in the posterior superior and middle temporal gyri in seven of the subjects, with four showing bilateral signal changes, two showing signal changes on the left only, and one only on the right. The data strongly suggest that processing of object shape information in humans activates both the ventral and dorsal visual processing pathways ("what" and "where" pathways), described previously both in humans and in nonhuman primates.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Sawamura, S. Georgieva, R. Vogels, W. Vanduffel, and G. A. Orban Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Assess Adaptation and Size Invariance of Shape Processing by Humans and Monkeys J. Neurosci., April 27, 2005; 25(17): 4294 - 4306. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. G. Claeys, P. Dupont, L. Cornette, S. Sunaert, P. Van Hecke, E. De Schutter, and G. A. Orban Color Discrimination Involves Ventral and Dorsal Stream Visual Areas Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2004; 14(7): 803 - 822. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Denys, W. Vanduffel, D. Fize, K. Nelissen, H. Peuskens, D. Van Essen, and G. A. Orban The Processing of Visual Shape in the Cerebral Cortex of Human and Nonhuman Primates: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study J. Neurosci., March 10, 2004; 24(10): 2551 - 2565. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Ferber, G. K. Humphrey, and T. Vilis The Lateral Occipital Complex Subserves the Perceptual Persistence of Motion-defined Groupings Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2003; 13(7): 716 - 721. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. R. Moo, K. J. Murphy, P. Gailloud, M. Tesoro, and J. Hart Tailored Cognitive Testing with Provocative Amobarbital Injection Preceding AVM Embolization AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol., March 1, 2002; 23(3): 416 - 421. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. A. Kraut, S. Kremen, J. B. Segal, V. Calhoun, L. R. Moo, and J. Hart Jr. Object Activation from Features in the Semantic System J. Cogn. Neurosci., January 1, 2002; 14(1): 24 - 36. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. A. Kraut, S. Kremen, L. R. Moo, J. B. Segal, V. Calhoun, and J. Hart Jr. Object Activation in Semantic Memory from Visual Multimodal Feature Input J. Cogn. Neurosci., January 1, 2002; 14(1): 37 - 47. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Le, D. Cardebat, K. Boulanouar, M.-A. Henaff, F. Michel, D. Milner, C. Dijkerman, M. Puel, and J.-F. Demonet Seeing, since childhood, without ventral stream: a behavioural study Brain, January 1, 2002; 125(1): 58 - 74. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. J. Aizenstein, A. W. MacDonald, V. A. Stenger, R. D. Nebes, J. K. Larson, S. Ursu, and C. S. Carter Complementary Category Learning Systems Identified Using Event-Related Functional MRI J. Cogn. Neurosci., November 1, 2000; 12(6): 977 - 987. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				Z. Kourtzi and N. Kanwisher Cortical Regions Involved in Perceiving Object Shape J. Neurosci., May 1, 2000; 20(9): 3310 - 3318. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Cabeza and L. Nyberg Imaging Cognition II: An Empirical Review of 275 PET and fMRI Studies J. Cogn. Neurosci., January 1, 2000; 12(1): 1 - 47. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				C. D. Smith, A. H. Andersen, R. J. Kryscio, F. A. Schmitt, M. S. Kindy, L. X. Blonder, and M. J. Avison Altered brain activation in cognitively intact individuals at high risk for Alzheimer's disease Neurology, October 22, 1999; 53(7): 1391 - 1391. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. M. Yousem, J. A. Maldjian, T. Hummel, D. C. Alsop, R. J. Geckle, M. A. Kraut, and R. L. Doty The Effect of Age on Odor-Stimulated Functional MR Imaging AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol., April 1, 1999; 20(4): 600 - 608. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				J. Hart Jr., N. E. Crone, R. P. Lesser, J. Sieracki, D. L. Miglioretti, C. Hall, D. Sherman, and B. Gordon Temporal dynamics of verbal object comprehension PNAS, May 26, 1998; 95(11): 6498 - 6503. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]