PSYC 363 Lecture 16: Views and approaches of object recognition
Document Summary
Two views of the processing of objects: modular coding: specific parts of the it and occipital cortex along the ventral visual pathway are specialized for representing objects of specific categories. Evidence: fmri; viewing certain categories of objects can strongly activate specific brain regions: distributed coding: regardless of category, objects are represented by the pattern of activity across relatively wide expanses of cortex along the ventral pathway. Parahippocampal place area (ppa): activated by buildings and outdoor scenes. Extrastriate body area (eba): activated by human and animal bodies and body parts, not faces. Prosopagnosia: inability to recognize faces, with a nearly intact ability to recognize other types of objects. Topographic agnosia: inability to recognize buildings and the spacial layouts of streets and other spaces. Suggest that brain uses a combination of modular and distributed coding. Modules for specific categories of objects, such as faces, may not necessarily be clustered together but may be distributed over relatively large areas of the brain.