Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System
Visual perception and awareness have strict limitations. We suggest that one source of these limitations is the representational architecture of the visual system. Under this view, the extent to which items activate the same neural channels constrains the amount of information that can be processed...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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MIT Press
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98487 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1492-9286 |
| _version_ | 1826200240508633088 |
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| author | Nakayama, Ken Konkle, Talia A. Alvarez, George A. Cohen, Michael Stantic, Mirta |
| author2 | McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT |
| author_facet | McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT Nakayama, Ken Konkle, Talia A. Alvarez, George A. Cohen, Michael Stantic, Mirta |
| author_sort | Nakayama, Ken |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Visual perception and awareness have strict limitations. We suggest that one source of these limitations is the representational architecture of the visual system. Under this view, the extent to which items activate the same neural channels constrains the amount of information that can be processed by the visual system and ultimately reach awareness. Here, we measured how well stimuli from different categories (e.g., faces and cars) blocked one another from reaching awareness using two distinct paradigms that render stimuli invisible: visual masking and continuous flash suppression. Next, we used fMRI to measure the similarity of the neural responses elicited by these categories across the entire visual hierarchy. Overall, we found strong brain–behavior correlations within the ventral pathway, weaker correlations in the dorsal pathway, and no correlations in early visual cortex (V1–V3). These results suggest that the organization of higher level visual cortex constrains visual awareness and the overall processing capacity of visual cognition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:33:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/98487 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:33:22Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | MIT Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/984872022-09-27T20:17:12Z Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System Nakayama, Ken Konkle, Talia A. Alvarez, George A. Cohen, Michael Stantic, Mirta McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT Cohen, Michael Visual perception and awareness have strict limitations. We suggest that one source of these limitations is the representational architecture of the visual system. Under this view, the extent to which items activate the same neural channels constrains the amount of information that can be processed by the visual system and ultimately reach awareness. Here, we measured how well stimuli from different categories (e.g., faces and cars) blocked one another from reaching awareness using two distinct paradigms that render stimuli invisible: visual masking and continuous flash suppression. Next, we used fMRI to measure the similarity of the neural responses elicited by these categories across the entire visual hierarchy. Overall, we found strong brain–behavior correlations within the ventral pathway, weaker correlations in the dorsal pathway, and no correlations in early visual cortex (V1–V3). These results suggest that the organization of higher level visual cortex constrains visual awareness and the overall processing capacity of visual cognition. National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F32EY024483) 2015-09-14T18:39:38Z 2015-09-14T18:39:38Z 2015-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0898-929X 1530-8898 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98487 Cohen, Michael A., Ken Nakayama, Talia Konkle, Mirta Stantic, and George A. Alvarez. “Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (July 30, 2015): 1–12. © 2015 The MIT Press https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1492-9286 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00855 Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf MIT Press MIT Press |
| spellingShingle | Nakayama, Ken Konkle, Talia A. Alvarez, George A. Cohen, Michael Stantic, Mirta Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System |
| title | Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System |
| title_full | Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System |
| title_fullStr | Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System |
| title_short | Visual Awareness Is Limited by the Representational Architecture of the Visual System |
| title_sort | visual awareness is limited by the representational architecture of the visual system |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98487 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1492-9286 |
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