Biology subjects

Finzi, D.

Publications and source records attributed to Finzi, D..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Holistic face recognition is an emergent phenomenon of spatial integration in face-selective regions

Spatial processing by receptive fields is a core property of the visual system. However, it is unknown how spatial coding in high-level regions contributes to recognition behavior. As face inversion is thought to disrupt typical holistic processing of information in faces, we mapped population receptive fields (pRFs) with upright and inverted faces in the human visual system. In face-selective regions, but not primary visual cortex, pRFs and overall visual field coverage were smaller and shifted downward in response to face inversion. From these measurements, we successfully predicted the relative behavioral detriment of face inversion at different positions in the visual field. This correspondence between neural measurements and behavior demonstrates how spatial integration in face-selective regions enables holistic processing. These results not only show that spatial processing in high-level visual regions is dynamically used towards recognition, but also suggest a powerful approach for bridging neural computations by receptive fields to behavior.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Cortical recycling in high-level visual cortex during childhood development

Human ventral temporal cortex (VTC) contains category-selective regions that respond preferentially to ecologically-relevant categories such as faces, bodies, places, and words, which are causally involved in the perception of these categories. How do these regions develop during childhood? We used functional MRI to measure longitudinal development of category-selectivity in school-age children over 1 to 5 years. We discovered that from young childhood to the teens, face- and word-selective regions in VTC expand and become more category-selective, but limb-selective regions shrink and lose their preference for limbs. Critically, as a child develops, increases in face- and word-selectivity are directly linked to decreases in limb-selectivity, revealing that during childhood limb-selectivity in VTC is repurposed into word- and face-selectivity. These data provide evidence for cortical recycling during childhood development. This has important implications for understanding typical as well as atypical brain development and necessitates a rethinking of how cortical function develops during childhood.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Differential spatial processing in ventral and lateral face-selective regions is scaffolded by structural connections

Face-processing occurs across ventral and lateral visual streams, which are involved in static and dynamic face perception, respectively. However, the nature of spatial computations across streams is unknown. Using functional MRI and novel population receptive field (pRF) mapping, we measured pRFs in face-selective regions. Results reveal that spatial computations by pRFs in ventral face-selective regions are concentrated around the center of gaze (fovea), but spatial computations in lateral face-selective regions extend peripherally. Diffusion MRI reveals that these differences are mirrored by a preponderance of white matter connections between ventral face-selective regions and foveal early visual cortex (EVC), while connections with lateral regions are distributed more uniformly across EVC eccentricities. These findings suggest a rethinking of spatial computations in face-selective regions, showing that they vary across ventral and lateral streams, and further propose that spatial computations in high-level regions are scaffolded by the fine-grain pattern of white matter connections from EVC.

neuroscience↗