The relationship between cortical object and scene areas in object and scene processing

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Mounting evidence from behavioural measures, neuroimaging and clinical data has shown that objects and scenes are processed independently and that, counterintuitively, a scene can be categorized without the need to recognize any of its constituent objects. This is akin to "seeing the forest without seeing the trees". The objective of this research program is to examine the relationship between object and scene processing and, in particular, an unexpected inhibitory contribution of object-selective cortical areas to scene processing. Our laboratory has recently demonstrated that inhibition of object-selective cortex (using transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS) can enhance our ability to identify a scene, indicating release of an inhibitory mechanism. This is akin to "seeing the forest better without seeing the trees". This observation suggests for the first time that object and scene processing may not be as independent as previously thought but might instead involve inhibitory mechanisms. In the proposed research program we will assess the significance of this hitherto unsuspected inhibitory role of object-selective cortex on scene perception and whether or not there is a mutual inhibitory role of scene-selective cortex on object processing at both the behavioural and neural level.