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Preserved local but disrupted contextual figure-ground influences in an individual with abnormal function of intermediate visual areas

Brooks, Joseph L, Gilaie-Dotan, Sharon, Rees, Geraint, Bentin, Shlomo, Driver, Jon (2012) Preserved local but disrupted contextual figure-ground influences in an individual with abnormal function of intermediate visual areas. Neuropsychologia, 50 (7). pp. 1393-1407. ISSN 0028-3932. (doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.02.024) (KAR id:35325)

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012....

Abstract

Visual perception depends not only on local stimulus features but also on their relationship to the surrounding stimulus context, as evident in both local and contextual influences on figure-ground segmentation. Intermediate visual areas may play a role in such contextual influences, as we tested here by examining LG, a rare case of developmental visual agnosia. LG has no evident abnormality of brain structure and functional neuroimaging showed relatively normal V1 function, but his intermediate visual areas (V2/V3) function abnormally. We found that contextual influences on figure-ground organization were selectively disrupted in LG, while local sources of figure-ground influences were preserved. Effects of object knowledge and familiarity on figure-ground organization were also significantly diminished. Our results suggest that the mechanisms mediating contextual and familiarity influences on figure-ground organization are dissociable from those mediating local influences on figure-ground assignment. The disruption of contextual processing in intermediate visual areas may play a role in the substantial object recognition difficulties experienced by LG.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.02.024
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Funders: Wellcome Trust (https://ror.org/029chgv08)
British Academy (https://ror.org/0302b4677)
Depositing User: Joe Brooks
Date Deposited: 26 Sep 2013 11:40 UTC
Last Modified: 12 Jul 2022 10:40 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/35325 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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