The Effect of Object Type on Building Scene Imagery—an MEG Study
Previous studies have reported that some objects evoke a sense of local three-dimensional space (space-defining; SD), while others do not (space-ambiguous; SA), despite being imagined or viewed in isolation devoid of a background context. Moreover, people show a strong preference for SD objects when...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2020.592175/full |
| _version_ | 1828837711431073792 |
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| author | Anna M. Monk Gareth R. Barnes Eleanor A. Maguire |
| author_facet | Anna M. Monk Gareth R. Barnes Eleanor A. Maguire |
| author_sort | Anna M. Monk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Previous studies have reported that some objects evoke a sense of local three-dimensional space (space-defining; SD), while others do not (space-ambiguous; SA), despite being imagined or viewed in isolation devoid of a background context. Moreover, people show a strong preference for SD objects when given a choice of objects with which to mentally construct scene imagery. When deconstructing scenes, people retain significantly more SD objects than SA objects. It, therefore, seems that SD objects might enjoy a privileged role in scene construction. In the current study, we leveraged the high temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG) to compare the neural responses to SD and SA objects while they were being used to build imagined scene representations, as this has not been examined before using neuroimaging. On each trial, participants gradually built a scene image from three successive auditorily-presented object descriptions and an imagined 3D space. We then examined the neural dynamics associated with the points during scene construction when either SD or SA objects were being imagined. We found that SD objects elicited theta changes relative to SA objects in two brain regions, the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the right superior temporal gyrus (STG). Furthermore, using dynamic causal modeling, we observed that the vmPFC drove STG activity. These findings may indicate that SD objects serve to activate schematic and conceptual knowledge in vmPFC and STG upon which scene representations are then built. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T18:47:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-de4e8122c35141cfbabd94e0faa0186b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1662-5161 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T18:47:58Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Human Neuroscience |
| spelling | doaj.art-de4e8122c35141cfbabd94e0faa0186b2022-12-22T00:15:29ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Human Neuroscience1662-51612020-11-011410.3389/fnhum.2020.592175592175The Effect of Object Type on Building Scene Imagery—an MEG StudyAnna M. MonkGareth R. BarnesEleanor A. MaguirePrevious studies have reported that some objects evoke a sense of local three-dimensional space (space-defining; SD), while others do not (space-ambiguous; SA), despite being imagined or viewed in isolation devoid of a background context. Moreover, people show a strong preference for SD objects when given a choice of objects with which to mentally construct scene imagery. When deconstructing scenes, people retain significantly more SD objects than SA objects. It, therefore, seems that SD objects might enjoy a privileged role in scene construction. In the current study, we leveraged the high temporal resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG) to compare the neural responses to SD and SA objects while they were being used to build imagined scene representations, as this has not been examined before using neuroimaging. On each trial, participants gradually built a scene image from three successive auditorily-presented object descriptions and an imagined 3D space. We then examined the neural dynamics associated with the points during scene construction when either SD or SA objects were being imagined. We found that SD objects elicited theta changes relative to SA objects in two brain regions, the right ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the right superior temporal gyrus (STG). Furthermore, using dynamic causal modeling, we observed that the vmPFC drove STG activity. These findings may indicate that SD objects serve to activate schematic and conceptual knowledge in vmPFC and STG upon which scene representations are then built.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2020.592175/fullscenesobjectsmagnetoencephalography (MEG)hippocampusthetavmPFC |
| spellingShingle | Anna M. Monk Gareth R. Barnes Eleanor A. Maguire The Effect of Object Type on Building Scene Imagery—an MEG Study Frontiers in Human Neuroscience scenes objects magnetoencephalography (MEG) hippocampus theta vmPFC |
| title | The Effect of Object Type on Building Scene Imagery—an MEG Study |
| title_full | The Effect of Object Type on Building Scene Imagery—an MEG Study |
| title_fullStr | The Effect of Object Type on Building Scene Imagery—an MEG Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effect of Object Type on Building Scene Imagery—an MEG Study |
| title_short | The Effect of Object Type on Building Scene Imagery—an MEG Study |
| title_sort | effect of object type on building scene imagery an meg study |
| topic | scenes objects magnetoencephalography (MEG) hippocampus theta vmPFC |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2020.592175/full |
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