[Paper Review] Rethinking category-selectivity in human visual cortex

J. Brendan Ritchie, Susan G. Wardle+3 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Nov 12, 2024

Visual perception and processing mechanisms7 citations

TL;DR

This paper argues that understanding visual cortex function requires focusing on the behavioral relevance of visual properties in real-world environments rather than mapping strictly by stimulus categories, and discusses theoretical and empirical implications.

ABSTRACT

A wealth of studies report evidence that occipitotemporal cortex tessellates into "category-selective" brain regions that are apparently specialized for representing ecologically important visual stimuli like faces, bodies, scenes, and tools. Here, we argue that while valuable insights have been gained through the lens of category-selectivity, a more complete view of visual function in occipitotemporal cortex requires centering the behavioral relevance of visual properties in real-world environments rather than stimulus category. Focusing on behavioral relevance challenges a simple mapping between stimulus and visual function in occipitotemporal cortex because the environmental properties relevant to a behavior are visually diverse and how a given property is represented is modulated by our goals. Grounding our thinking in behavioral relevance rather than category-selectivity raises a host of theoretical and empirical issues that we discuss while providing proposals for how existing tools can be harnessed in this light to better understand visual function in occipitotemporal cortex.

Motivation & Objective

• Motivate a shift from category-based to behaviorally relevant frameworks for visual cortex function.
• Critically examine how environmental properties relevant to behavior are visually diverse and modulated by goals.
• Identify theoretical and empirical implications of grounding visual representations in behavioral relevance.
• Propose how existing tools can be repurposed to study visual function from a behavioral relevance perspective.

Proposed method

• The paper provides a conceptual argument and synthesis of findings rather than presenting new experimental data.
• It analyzes how environmental properties related to behavior differ across contexts and how goal states modulate representations.
• It discusses methodological approaches and potential adaptations of existing neuroimaging and behavioral tools to test a behavioral relevance framework.
• The authors outline proposals for leveraging current techniques to study visual function with behavioral relevance in mind.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How does grounding visual cortex function in behavioral relevance alter interpretations of category-selectivity?
• RQ2 What are the theoretical and empirical consequences of moving from stimulus-category mappings to behavior-driven representations in occipitotemporal cortex?
• RQ3 Which existing tools can be repurposed to study visual representations through the lens of behavioral relevance?
• RQ4 How do environmental properties and goals shape the representation of visual information in real-world contexts?

Key findings

• The authors argue that a purely category-driven view is insufficient to capture visual function in occipitotemporal cortex.
• Behavioral relevance encompasses diverse environmental properties and is modulated by goals, complicating simple stimulus-to-function mappings.
• Grounding the analysis in behavioral relevance reveals new theoretical and empirical questions for understanding visual representations.
• The paper provides proposals for how current tools could be leveraged to study visual cortex function from a behavioral relevance perspective.