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The Role of the Dorsal Visual Processing Stream in Tool Identification

Jorge Almeida^1,2; Bradford Z. Mahon^3,4; Alfonso Caramazza^1,4

¹ Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory · ² Harvard University Vision Sciences Laboratory, Harvard University · ³ Department of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester · ⁴ Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC), University of Trento

The dorsal visual processing stream subserves object-directed action, whereas the ventral visual processing stream subserves visual object recognition. Little is known about how information computed by dorsal-stream structures influences object recognition. We used continuous flash suppression to functionally separate information computed by the dorsal stream from that computed by the ventral stream. We show that information originating from the dorsal stream influences not only decisions requiring the selection of superordinate category labels, but also decisions that entail the selection of a basic-level object. We further show that information computed by the dorsal stream does not carry specific functional information about objects. Our results indicate that the dorsal stream, in isolation from the ventral stream, is agnostic as to the identity of the objects that it processes. We suggest that structures within the dorsal visual processing stream compute motor-relevant information (e.g., graspability), which influences the identification of manipulable objects, and is not either about the function of the object or function-specific.

DOI

10.1177/0956797610371343

Volume

21 (6)

Pages

772-778

Language

en

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BibTeX

Sources

crossref