A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity
Human neuroimaging studies have revealed a dedicated cortical system for visual scene processing. But what is a “scene”? Here, we use a stimulus-driven approach to identify a stimulus feature that selectively drives cortical scene processing. Specifically, using fMRI data from BOLD5000, we examined...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-04-01
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| Series: | NeuroImage |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923000824 |
| _version_ | 1828014578828574720 |
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| author | Annie Cheng Zirui Chen Daniel D. Dilks |
| author_facet | Annie Cheng Zirui Chen Daniel D. Dilks |
| author_sort | Annie Cheng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Human neuroimaging studies have revealed a dedicated cortical system for visual scene processing. But what is a “scene”? Here, we use a stimulus-driven approach to identify a stimulus feature that selectively drives cortical scene processing. Specifically, using fMRI data from BOLD5000, we examined the images that elicited the greatest response in the cortical scene processing system, and found that there is a common “vertical luminance gradient” (VLG), with the top half of a scene image brighter than the bottom half; moreover, across the entire set of images, VLG systematically increases with the neural response in the scene-selective regions (Study 1). Thus, we hypothesized that VLG is a stimulus feature that selectively engages cortical scene processing, and directly tested the role of VLG in driving cortical scene selectivity using tightly controlled VLG stimuli (Study 2). Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that the scene-selective cortical regions—but not an object-selective region or early visual cortex—responded significantly more to images of VLG over control stimuli with minimal VLG. Interestingly, such selectivity was also found for images with an “inverted” VLG, resembling the luminance gradient in night scenes. Finally, we also tested the behavioral relevance of VLG for visual scene recognition (Study 3); we found that participants even categorized tightly controlled stimuli of both upright and inverted VLG to be a place more than an object, indicating that VLG is also used for behavioral scene recognition. Taken together, these results reveal that VLG is a stimulus feature that selectively engages cortical scene processing, and provide evidence for a recent proposal that visual scenes can be characterized by a set of common and unique visual features. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T10:03:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6d8ee12a4fe64a248e914ea3398095b6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1095-9572 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T10:03:41Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | NeuroImage |
| spelling | doaj.art-6d8ee12a4fe64a248e914ea3398095b62023-02-16T04:17:57ZengElsevierNeuroImage1095-95722023-04-01269119935A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivityAnnie Cheng0Zirui Chen1Daniel D. Dilks2Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USADepartment of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USACorresponding author.; Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USAHuman neuroimaging studies have revealed a dedicated cortical system for visual scene processing. But what is a “scene”? Here, we use a stimulus-driven approach to identify a stimulus feature that selectively drives cortical scene processing. Specifically, using fMRI data from BOLD5000, we examined the images that elicited the greatest response in the cortical scene processing system, and found that there is a common “vertical luminance gradient” (VLG), with the top half of a scene image brighter than the bottom half; moreover, across the entire set of images, VLG systematically increases with the neural response in the scene-selective regions (Study 1). Thus, we hypothesized that VLG is a stimulus feature that selectively engages cortical scene processing, and directly tested the role of VLG in driving cortical scene selectivity using tightly controlled VLG stimuli (Study 2). Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that the scene-selective cortical regions—but not an object-selective region or early visual cortex—responded significantly more to images of VLG over control stimuli with minimal VLG. Interestingly, such selectivity was also found for images with an “inverted” VLG, resembling the luminance gradient in night scenes. Finally, we also tested the behavioral relevance of VLG for visual scene recognition (Study 3); we found that participants even categorized tightly controlled stimuli of both upright and inverted VLG to be a place more than an object, indicating that VLG is also used for behavioral scene recognition. Taken together, these results reveal that VLG is a stimulus feature that selectively engages cortical scene processing, and provide evidence for a recent proposal that visual scenes can be characterized by a set of common and unique visual features.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923000824Parahippocampal place areaOccipital place areaScene perceptionScene selectivityHigh-level visionLateral occipital complex |
| spellingShingle | Annie Cheng Zirui Chen Daniel D. Dilks A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity NeuroImage Parahippocampal place area Occipital place area Scene perception Scene selectivity High-level vision Lateral occipital complex |
| title | A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity |
| title_full | A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity |
| title_fullStr | A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity |
| title_full_unstemmed | A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity |
| title_short | A stimulus-driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity |
| title_sort | stimulus driven approach reveals vertical luminance gradient as a stimulus feature that drives human cortical scene selectivity |
| topic | Parahippocampal place area Occipital place area Scene perception Scene selectivity High-level vision Lateral occipital complex |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923000824 |
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