Elsevier

Vision Research

Volume 51, Issue 7, 13 April 2011, Pages 782-799
Vision Research

Review
Uncovering the visual “alphabet”: Advances in our understanding of object perception

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2010.10.002Get rights and content
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Abstract

The ability to rapidly and accurately recognize visual stimuli represents a significant computational challenge. Yet, despite such complexity, the primate brain manages this task effortlessly. How it does so remains largely a mystery. The study of visual perception and object recognition was once limited to investigations of brain-damaged individuals or lesion experiments in animals. However, in the last 25 years, new methodologies, such as functional neuroimaging and advances in electrophysiological approaches, have provided scientists with the opportunity to examine this problem from new perspectives. This review highlights how some of these recent technological advances have contributed to the study of visual processing and where we now stand with respect to our understanding of neural mechanisms underlying object recognition.

Research highlights

► Over the last 25 years, our understanding of object recognition has been greatly increased thanks to a number of methodological and technological advances. ► Optical imaging and electrophysiological recording studies in monkeys illustrate how neurons in inferior temporal cortex are ideally suited for object recognition. ► Neuroimaging studies in both humans and monkeys have revealed regions within the temporal cortex selective for object categories. ► This review highlights how some of these recent technological advances have contributed to the study of visual processing and where we now stand with respect to our understanding of neural mechanisms underlying object recognition.

Keywords

Object recognition
Inferior temporal cortex
fMRI
Electrophysiology
Monkey
Vision

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