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Integration of objects and space in perception and memory

Nature Neuroscience volume 20, pages 1493–1503 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Distinct processing of objects and space has been an organizing principle for studying higher-level vision and medial temporal lobe memory. Here, however, we discuss how object and spatial information are in fact closely integrated in vision and memory. The ventral, object-processing visual pathway carries precise spatial information, transformed from retinotopic coordinates into relative dimensions. At the final stages of the ventral pathway, including the dorsal anterior temporal lobe (TEd), object-sensitive neurons are intermixed with neurons that process large-scale environmental space. TEd projects primarily to perirhinal cortex (PRC), which in turn projects to lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC). PRC and LEC also combine object and spatial information. For example, PRC and LEC neurons exhibit place fields that are evoked by landmark objects or the remembered locations of objects. Thus, spatial information, on both local and global scales, is deeply integrated into the ventral (temporal) object-processing pathway in vision and memory.

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Figure 1: Transformation of retinotopic information into contour coding in area V4.
Figure 2: Transformation of retinotopic information into surface coding in TE.
Figure 3: Transformation of retinotopic information into medial axis coding in TE.
Figure 4: Neural coding of face structure in highly composite dimensions.
Figure 5: Large-scale environmental shape information in TE.
Figure 6: LEC responses to objects in freely moving rats.
Figure 7: Object–space responses in LEC and hippocampus.

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Acknowledgements

Work from the authors' laboratories was funded by Public Health Service grants EY024028 (C.E.C.), EY011797 (C.E.C.), NS039456 (J.J.K.) and MH094146 (J.J.K.).

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  1. Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Charles E Connor & James J Knierim

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Connor, C., Knierim, J. Integration of objects and space in perception and memory. Nat Neurosci 20, 1493–1503 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4657

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