Journal Article

The contribution of dynamics to macaque body and face patch responses

Li, B., Vogels, R., Raman, R., Giese, M., De Gelder, B., Bognár, A., Zafirova, Y., Taubert, N.

2023

Overview

•We mapped patches in visual temporal cortex that are activated by dynamic bodies.•The body patch network is more extensive for dynamic than static bodies.•Response to dynamic bodies in upper and lower bank of the superior temporal sulcus.•Stronger effect of dynamics in body patches than in neighboring face patches. Previous functional imaging studies demonstrated body-selective patches in the primate visual temporal cortex, comparing activations to static bodies and static images of other categories. However, the use of static instead of dynamic displays of moving bodies may have underestimated the extent of the body patch network. Indeed, body dynamics provide information about action and emotion and may be processed in patches not activated by static images. Thus, to map with fMRI the full extent of the macaque body patch system in the visual temporal cortex, we employed dynamic displays of natural-acting monkey bodies, dynamic monkey faces, objects, and scrambled versions of these videos, all presented during fixation. We found nine body patches in the visual temporal cortex, starting posteriorly in the superior temporal sulcus (STS) and ending anteriorly in the temporal pole. Unlike for static images, body patches were present consistently in both the lower and upper banks of the STS. Overall, body patches showed a higher activation by dynamic displays than by matched static images, which, for identical stimulus displays, was less the case for the neighboring face patches. These data provide the groundwork for future single-unit recording studies to reveal the spatiotemporal features the neurons of these body patches encode. These fMRI findings suggest that dynamics have a stronger contribution to population responses in body than face patches.

• Publisher: Elsevier Inc,Elsevier Limited,Academic Press,Elsevier
• Subject: Action / Animals / Bodies / Brain Mapping / Experiments / Face / Faces / Functional magnetic resonance imaging / Inferior temporal cortex / Macaca mulatta / Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods / Monkey fMRI / Motion pictures / Neuroimaging / Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology / Photic Stimulation - methods / Superior temporal sulcus / Temporal cortex / Temporal Lobe - physiology