The representational dynamics of task and object processing in humans
- National Institute of Mental Health, United States
- Wright State University, United States
- Free University of Berlin, Germany
Abstract
Despite the importance of an observer's goals in determining how a visual object is categorized, surprisingly little is known about how humans process the task context in which objects occur and how it may interact with the processing of objects. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate techniques, we studied the spatial and temporal dynamics of task and object processing. Our results reveal a sequence of separate but overlapping task-related processes spread across frontoparietal and occipitotemporal cortex. Task exhibited late effects on object processing by selectively enhancing task-relevant object features, with limited impact on the overall pattern of object representations. Combining MEG and fMRI data, we reveal a parallel rise in task-related signals throughout the cerebral cortex, with an increasing dominance of task over object representations from early to higher visual areas. Collectively, our results reveal the complex dynamics underlying task and object representations throughout human cortex.
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Author details
Funding
National Institutes of Health
- Martin N Hebart
- Brett B Bankson
- Chris I Baker
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Radoslaw M Cichy
Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Martin N Hebart
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: All participants gave written informed consent as part of the study protocol (93-M-0170, NCT00001360) prior to participation in the study. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the National Institutes of Health and was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki.
Copyright
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
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The representational dynamics of task and object processing in humans
eLife 7:e32816.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.32816
