Cortical representation of persistent visual stimuli

Edden M. Gerber, Tal Golan, Robert T. Knight, Leon Y. Deouell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

Research into visual neural activity has focused almost exclusively on onset- or change-driven responses and little is known about how information is encoded in the brain during sustained periods of visual perception. We used intracranial recordings in humans to determine the degree to which the presence of a visual stimulus is persistently encoded by neural activity. The correspondence between stimulus duration and neural response duration was strongest in early visual cortex and gradually diminished along the visual hierarchy, such that is was weakest in inferior-temporal category-selective regions. A similar posterior-anterior gradient was found within inferior temporal face-selective regions, with posterior but not anterior sites showing persistent face-selective activity. The results suggest that regions that appear uniform in terms of their category selectivity are dissociated by how they temporally represent a stimulus in support of ongoing visual perception, and delineate a large-scale organizing principle of the ventral visual stream.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)67-79
Number of pages13
JournalNeuroImage
Volume161
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Early visual cortex
  • Electrocorticography
  • Fusiform face area
  • High-frequency activity
  • Inferior temporal cortex
  • Sustained perception
  • Visual cortex

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Cortical representation of persistent visual stimuli'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this