Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processing

Identifying the objects embedded in natural scenes relies on recurrent processing between lower and higher visual areas. How is cortical feedback information related to objects and scenes organised in lower visual areas? The spatial organisation of cortical feedback converging in early visual cortex...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Matthew A. Bennett, Lucy S. Petro, Clement Abbatecola, Lars F. Muckli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Current Research in Neurobiology
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665945X24000202
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849691740170092544
author Matthew A. Bennett
Lucy S. Petro
Clement Abbatecola
Lars F. Muckli
author_facet Matthew A. Bennett
Lucy S. Petro
Clement Abbatecola
Lars F. Muckli
author_sort Matthew A. Bennett
collection DOAJ
description Identifying the objects embedded in natural scenes relies on recurrent processing between lower and higher visual areas. How is cortical feedback information related to objects and scenes organised in lower visual areas? The spatial organisation of cortical feedback converging in early visual cortex during object and scene processing could be retinotopically specific as it is coded in V1, or object centred as coded in higher areas, or both. Here, we characterise object and scene-related feedback information to V1. Participants identified foreground objects or background scenes in images with occluded central and peripheral subsections, allowing us to isolate feedback activity to foveal and peripheral regions of V1. Using fMRI and multivoxel pattern classification, we found that background scene information is projected to both foveal and peripheral V1 but can be disrupted in the fovea by a sufficiently demanding object discrimination task, during which we found evidence of foveal object decoding when using naturalistic stimuli. We suggest that the feedback connections during scene perception project back to earlier visual areas an automatic sketch of occluded information to the predicted retinotopic location. In the case of a cognitive task however, feedback pathways project content to foveal retinotopic space, potentially for introspection, functioning as a cognitive active blackboard and not necessarily predicting the object's location. This feedback architecture could reflect the internal mapping in V1 of the brain's endogenous models of the visual environment that are used to predict perceptual inputs.
format Article
id doaj-art-9c2995039abb466bad93da115d5d4e7b
institution DOAJ
issn 2665-945X
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series Current Research in Neurobiology
spelling doaj-art-9c2995039abb466bad93da115d5d4e7b2025-08-20T03:20:56ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Neurobiology2665-945X2025-06-01810014310.1016/j.crneur.2024.100143Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processingMatthew A. Bennett0Lucy S. Petro1Clement Abbatecola2Lars F. Muckli3Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Place Cardinal Mercier 10/L3.05.01, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, United KingdomCentre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, United Kingdom; Imaging Centre of Excellence, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, United KingdomCentre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, United Kingdom; Imaging Centre of Excellence, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, United KingdomCentre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, United Kingdom; Imaging Centre of Excellence, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow and Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, United Kingdom; Corresponding author. Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow, G12 8QB, United Kingdom.Identifying the objects embedded in natural scenes relies on recurrent processing between lower and higher visual areas. How is cortical feedback information related to objects and scenes organised in lower visual areas? The spatial organisation of cortical feedback converging in early visual cortex during object and scene processing could be retinotopically specific as it is coded in V1, or object centred as coded in higher areas, or both. Here, we characterise object and scene-related feedback information to V1. Participants identified foreground objects or background scenes in images with occluded central and peripheral subsections, allowing us to isolate feedback activity to foveal and peripheral regions of V1. Using fMRI and multivoxel pattern classification, we found that background scene information is projected to both foveal and peripheral V1 but can be disrupted in the fovea by a sufficiently demanding object discrimination task, during which we found evidence of foveal object decoding when using naturalistic stimuli. We suggest that the feedback connections during scene perception project back to earlier visual areas an automatic sketch of occluded information to the predicted retinotopic location. In the case of a cognitive task however, feedback pathways project content to foveal retinotopic space, potentially for introspection, functioning as a cognitive active blackboard and not necessarily predicting the object's location. This feedback architecture could reflect the internal mapping in V1 of the brain's endogenous models of the visual environment that are used to predict perceptual inputs.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665945X24000202
spellingShingle Matthew A. Bennett
Lucy S. Petro
Clement Abbatecola
Lars F. Muckli
Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processing
Current Research in Neurobiology
title Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processing
title_full Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processing
title_fullStr Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processing
title_full_unstemmed Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processing
title_short Retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to V1 for object and scene processing
title_sort retinotopic biases in contextual feedback signals to v1 for object and scene processing
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665945X24000202
work_keys_str_mv AT matthewabennett retinotopicbiasesincontextualfeedbacksignalstov1forobjectandsceneprocessing
AT lucyspetro retinotopicbiasesincontextualfeedbacksignalstov1forobjectandsceneprocessing
AT clementabbatecola retinotopicbiasesincontextualfeedbacksignalstov1forobjectandsceneprocessing
AT larsfmuckli retinotopicbiasesincontextualfeedbacksignalstov1forobjectandsceneprocessing