Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
Neuroimage. 2013 Jan 1;64:685-92. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.08.070. Epub 2012 Aug 30.
Impossible objects are defined as 2D drawings that represent objects that could not exist in real 3D space. Previous studies have proposed that such objects are represented differently in long-term memory due to their invalid spatial structure. Nevertheless, it is not clear whether these discrepancies reflect early perceptual processes or late, post-recognition, processes. Here, we address this issue by using fMRI adaptation. Interestingly, equivalent adaptation levels were obtained for repeated compared to non-repeated possible and impossible objects in object selective regions within the human high-level visual cortex. Yet, a significant correlation between fMRI adaptation and behavioral facilitation was found for possible but not for impossible objects, thus exhibiting some dissociation in the representation of the two object categories. Overall, our findings suggest that the initial perception of possible and impossible objects is mediated by shared neural mechanisms whereas the observed differences between the two types of objects may reflect higher post-recognition processes.
不可能物体被定义为 2D 图纸，代表了在真实 3D 空间中不可能存在的物体。先前的研究表明，由于其无效的空间结构，这些物体在长期记忆中的表示方式不同。然而，目前尚不清楚这些差异是否反映了早期的感知过程还是后期的识别后过程。在这里，我们通过使用 fMRI 适应来解决这个问题。有趣的是，在人类高级视觉皮层的物体选择区域中，对于重复的和非重复的可能的和不可能的物体，获得了等效的适应水平。然而，对于可能的物体，而不是不可能的物体，fMRI 适应与行为促进之间存在显著的相关性，因此，这两种物体类别的表示存在一些分离。总的来说，我们的发现表明，可能的和不可能的物体的初始感知是由共享的神经机制介导的，而这两种类型的物体之间的观察到的差异可能反映了更高的识别后过程。
