The Role of Animacy and Size in the Neural Organization of Object Knowledge

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的目的是描述沿腹侧流的物体反应的大规模组织和出现。认知系统沿着有生命/无生命的行为区分分离，神经系统通过皮层表面有生命和无生命物体反应的大规模组织来反映这种区分。最近，现实世界中物体的大小也被证明是物体表征的一个基本方面，并且也导致了大脑皮层中大小物体信息的大规模组织。第一个目标将使用功能神经成像直接比较动物和大小组织，确定大小和动物组织如何相互作用，以及这两个维度在神经组织中的相对强度。接下来，假设这些大规模地形的出现是由不同的，但不是相互排斥的原因-网络连接和视觉体验。第二个目标[将探索视觉经验在形成大规模物体组织中的作用]通过测量从未接受过视觉经验的先天失明参与者的枕颞皮层；并将使用功能连接测量来比较各组之间的远程网络。这个项目更广泛的目标是发展高级神经成像分析的专业知识，了解大脑组织的基本原理，并描述正常和非典型经验对皮层发育的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this research is to characterize the large-scale organization and emergence of object responses along the ventral stream. Cognitive systems dissociate along the animate/inanimate distinction in behavior, and neural systems reflect this distinction with a large-scale organization of animate and inanimate object responses across the cortical surface. Recently, the real-world size of objects was also shown to be a fundamental aspect of object representation, and also gives rise to a large-scale organization of big and small object information across the cortex. The first aim will directly compare animacy and size organizations using functional neuroimaging, determining how the size and animacy organizations interact, and the relative strength of these two dimensions in neural organization. Next, the emergence of these large-scale topographies is hypothesized to arise from distinct, but non-mutually exclusive causes-network connectivity and visual experience. The second aim [will explore the role that visual experience plays in shaping large-scale object organization] by measuring occipital-temporal cortex that has never received visual experience, in congenitally blind participants; and will compare long-range networks between groups using functional connectivity measures. The broader objectives of this project are to develop an expertise in advanced neuroimaging analyses, to understand the basic principles of brain organization, and to characterize the impact of normal and atypical experience on cortical development.