RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Relationship between Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Identified Regions and Neuronal Category Selectivity
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 12229
OP 12240
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5865-10.2011
VO 31
IS 34
A1 Andrew H. Bell
A1 Nicholas J. Malecek
A1 Elyse L. Morin
A1 Fadila Hadj-Bouziane
A1 Roger B. H. Tootell
A1 Leslie G. Ungerleider
YR 2011
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/34/12229.abstract
AB Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used extensively to identify regions in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex that are selective for categories of visual stimuli. However, comparatively little is known about the neuronal responses relative to these fMRI-defined regions. Here, we compared in nonhuman primates the distribution and response properties of IT neurons recorded within versus outside fMRI regions selective for four different visual categories: faces, body parts, objects, and places. Although individual neurons that preferred each of the four categories were found throughout the sampled regions, they were most concentrated within the corresponding fMRI region, decreasing significantly within 1–4 mm from the edge of these regions. Furthermore, the correspondence between fMRI and neuronal distributions was specific to neurons that increased their firing rates in response to the visual stimuli but not to neurons suppressed by visual stimuli, suggesting that the processes associated with inhibiting neuronal activity did not contribute strongly to the fMRI signal in this experiment.