The Neural Correlates of Object Familiarity and Domain Specificity in the Human Visual Cortex: An fMRI Study.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	The Neural Correlates of Object Familiarity and Domain Specificity in the Human Visual Cortex: An fMRI Study.
Authors:	Zannino, Gian Daniele¹ (AUTHOR) g.zannino@hsantalucia.it, Barban, Francesco¹ (AUTHOR), Macaluso, Emiliano¹ (AUTHOR), Caltagirone, Carlo^1,2 (AUTHOR), Carlesimo, Giovanni A.^1,2 (AUTHOR)
Source:	Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Oct2011, Vol. 23 Issue 10, p2878-2891. 14p.
Subjects:	Object permanence (Psychology), Visual cortex, Domain specificity, Statistical correlation, Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, Visual perception, Three-dimensional display systems
Abstract:	Ventral occipito-temporal cortex is known to play a major role in visual object recognition. Still unknown is whether object familiarity and semantic domain are critical factors in its functional organization. Most models assume a functional locus where exemplars of familiar categories are represented: the structural description system. On the assumption that familiarity should modulate the effect of visual noise on form recognition, we attempted to individualize the structural description system by scanning healthy subjects while they looked at familiar (living and nonliving things) and novel 3-D objects, either with increasing or decreasing visual noise. Familiarity modulated the visual noise effect (particularly when familiar items were living things), revealing a substrate for the structural description system in right occipito-temporal cortex. These regions also responded preferentially to living as compared to nonliving items. Overall, these results suggest that living items are particularly reliant on the structural description system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database:	Engineering Source

Description
Abstract:	Ventral occipito-temporal cortex is known to play a major role in visual object recognition. Still unknown is whether object familiarity and semantic domain are critical factors in its functional organization. Most models assume a functional locus where exemplars of familiar categories are represented: the structural description system. On the assumption that familiarity should modulate the effect of visual noise on form recognition, we attempted to individualize the structural description system by scanning healthy subjects while they looked at familiar (living and nonliving things) and novel 3-D objects, either with increasing or decreasing visual noise. Familiarity modulated the visual noise effect (particularly when familiar items were living things), revealing a substrate for the structural description system in right occipito-temporal cortex. These regions also responded preferentially to living as compared to nonliving items. Overall, these results suggest that living items are particularly reliant on the structural description system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	0898929X
DOI:	10.1162/jocn.2011.21629