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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access originally published online on June 8, 2005
Cerebral Cortex 2006 16(3):437-445; doi:10.1093/cercor/bhi123
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org

Two Distinct Neural Mechanisms for Category-selective Responses

Uta Noppeney, Cathy J. Price, Will D. Penny and Karl J. Friston

Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1 N3BG, UK

Address correspondence to U. Noppeney, Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, University College London, 12 Queen Square, London WC1 N3BG, UK. Email: u.noppeney{at}fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk.

The cognitive and neural mechanisms mediating category-selective responses in the human brain remain controversial. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and effective connectivity analyses (Dynamic Causal Modelling), we investigated animal- and tool-selective responses by manipulating stimulus modality (pictures versus words) and task (implicit versus explicit semantic). We dissociated two distinct mechanisms that engender category selectivity: in the ventral occipito-temporal cortex, tool-selective responses were observed irrespective of task, greater for pictures and mediated by bottom-up effects. In a left temporo-parietal action system, tool-selective responses were observed irrespective of modality, greater for explicit semantic tasks and mediated by top-down modulation from the left prefrontal cortex. These distinct activation and connectivity patterns suggest that the two systems support different cognitive operations, with the ventral occipito-temporal regions engaged in structural processing and the dorsal visuo-motor system in strategic semantic processing. Consistent with current semantic theories, explicit semantic processing of tools might thus rely on reactivating their associated action representations via top-down modulation. In terms of neuronal mechanisms, the category selectivity may be mediated by distinct top-down (task-dependent) and bottom-up (stimulus-dependent) mechanisms.

Key Words: category selectivity • dynamic causal modelling • effective connectivity • functional imaging • semantic memory


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