Localizing the cortical region mediating visual awareness of object identity.

Abstract

Presentations of pictures that are too brief to be recognized, or even guessed above chance on a forced-choice test, nonetheless can facilitate the recognition of the same pictures many trials later. This subliminal visual priming was compared for images translated 4. 8 degrees either Within or Between quadrants of the visual field. Priming was evident only for images that remained within the same quadrant in priming and test trials. Consequently, subliminal visual priming is likely mediated by cortical areas in which cells have receptive fields large enough to respond to both presentations of a stimulus translated almost 5 degrees, yet where the receptive fields are confined to a single quadrant, namely, the human homologue of macaque V4 or TEO (the posterior part of the inferior temporal cortex). Awareness of object identity might therefore be associated exclusively with activity at or beyond the anterior part of the inferior temporal cortex, namely, area TE.