Dorsal stream activation during retrieval of object size and shape

Abstract

We investigated dorsal visual stream involvement in the retrieval of a variety of visual attributes of common objects, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Seven subjects made binary decisions about the shape, color, and size of named objects during scanning. Bilateral parietal activity was significantly greater during retrieval of shape and size information than during retrieval of color information. Consistent with a domain-specific distributed model of semantic organization, the finding that dorsal stream activity is associated with size and shape retrieval, as compared with color retrieval, may indicate that both size and shape information are learned partly through dorsally mediated processes, such as visually guided grasping. These results demonstrate that both visual-processing streams (i.e., the ventral "what" pathway and the dorsal "where" pathway) are involved in the storage and/or retrieval of knowledge of object appearance but that, just as in vision, these two pathways may play different roles in conceptual processing.