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The Journal of Neuroscience, November 7, 2007, 27(45):12321-12330; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3795-07.2007

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Flexible Coding for Categorical Decisions in the Human Brain

Sheng Li,¹ Dirk Ostwald,¹ Martin Giese,^2,3 and Zoe Kourtzi¹

¹School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom, ²School of Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2AS, United Kingdom, and ³Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany

Correspondence should be addressed to Zoe Kourtzi, University of Birmingham, School of Psychology, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Email: z.kourtzi{at}bham.ac.uk

Despite the importance of visual categorization for interpreting sensory experiences, little is known about the neural representations that mediate categorical decisions in the human brain. Here, we used psychophysics and pattern classification for the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data to predict the features critical for categorical decisions from brain activity when observers categorized the same stimuli using different rules. Although a large network of cortical and subcortical areas contain information about visual categories, we show that only a subset of these areas shape their selectivity to reflect the behaviorally relevant features rather than simply physical similarity between stimuli. Specifically, temporal and parietal areas show selectivity for the perceived form and motion similarity, respectively. In contrast, frontal areas and the striatum represent the conjunction of spatiotemporal features critical for complex and adaptive categorization tasks and potentially modulate selectivity in temporal and parietal areas. These findings provide novel evidence for flexible neural coding in the human brain that translates sensory experiences to categorical decisions by shaping neural representations across a network of areas with dissociable functional roles in visual categorization.

Key words: visual categorization; fMRI; multivoxel pattern classification; learning; motion; form

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Received Aug. 20, 2007; revised Sept. 24, 2007; accepted Oct. 1, 2007.

Correspondence should be addressed to Zoe Kourtzi, University of Birmingham, School of Psychology, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. Email: z.kourtzi{at}bham.ac.uk

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