Organization of high-level visual cortex in human infants

Ben Deen (), Hilary Richardson, Daniel D. Dilks, Atsushi Takahashi, Boris Keil, Lawrence L. Wald, Nancy Kanwisher and Rebecca Saxe
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Ben Deen: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hilary Richardson: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Daniel D. Dilks: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Atsushi Takahashi: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Boris Keil: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Lawrence L. Wald: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Nancy Kanwisher: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rebecca Saxe: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract How much of the structure of the human mind and brain is already specified at birth, and how much arises from experience? In this article, we consider the test case of extrastriate visual cortex, where a highly systematic functional organization is present in virtually every normal adult, including regions preferring behaviourally significant stimulus categories, such as faces, bodies, and scenes. Novel methods were developed to scan awake infants with fMRI, while they viewed multiple categories of visual stimuli. Here we report that the visual cortex of 4–6-month-old infants contains regions that respond preferentially to abstract categories (faces and scenes), with a spatial organization similar to adults. However, precise response profiles and patterns of activity across multiple visual categories differ between infants and adults. These results demonstrate that the large-scale organization of category preferences in visual cortex is adult-like within a few months after birth, but is subsequently refined through development.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13995

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