Cite as:
Najian Y, Talehy Moineddin S, Sodagari F, 2007, "Does visual categorization really shape feature selectivity in the primate temporal cortex?" Perception 36 ECVP Abstract Supplement

Does visual categorization really shape feature selectivity in the primate temporal cortex?

Y Najian, Sh Talehy Moineddin, F Sodagari

Activity in the human temporal cortex is thought to be sensitive to the categorization level of the stimuli and to depend on the expertise of the observer. Sigala and Logothetis (2002 Nature 415 318 - 320) published an article with the aim of testing whether inferior temporal cortex neurons respond selectively to object features that constitute the relevant dimensions for visual object categorization. They defined parameterized line drawings of faces each consisting of an outline and four varying features as stimuli and trained two monkeys in a categorization task. They claimed that the categories were separable along two of the four dimensions of the stimuli. On examining their stimuli again, we found that the face categories were separable along the combination of one feature with each of the remaining features. Therefore, there was only one diagnostic dimension and the monkey could optionally select the second one for categorization. Assuming that the selectivity index for the real unitary diagnostic feature was much larger than for the other three features, we find the interpretation to be different.

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