Inverse Relationship Between Object and Scene Processing: Consecutive TMS-fMRI C Mullin1, J Steeves2 |
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1Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, 1. York University, 2. KU Leuven, Belgium |
| Investigations into the neural organization of scene processing have demonstrated that there are several brain regions associated with the representation of a scene, such as regions specialized for object processing (lateral occipital area- LO) and spatial layout (parahippocampal place area- PPA). While behavioural studies have demonstrated that these categories exert an influence on each other, such that scene context can facilitate the identification of objects, or that contextual categorization of scenes can be impaired by the presence of a salient object, little is known about the apparent cortical interactions taking place in order to build the conscious representation of a complete scene. Behavioural research into this question using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has demonstrated that disrupting object categorization by applying TMS to the left LO can facilitate scene categorization. Here we show that this effect is also reflected in changes to the BOLD signal, such that TMS to the left LO decreased BOLD signal at the site of stimulation while viewing objects and increases BOLD signal in the left PPA when viewing scenes. These findings suggest that these regions, while not on a strict hierarchy, share functional communication perhaps in the form of inhibitory connections. |
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