The extrastriate body area (EBA): One structure, multiple functions?

Abstract Downing and Peelen argue that the extrastriate body area (EBA) creates an unelaborated visual repre- sentation of the human body, but is not implicated in any higher-order computational process. We believe that this reflects an outdated view of brain function, in which neural regions are informationally encapsulated modules with fixed computational properties. In contrast, there is mounting evidence that functional properties may not be fixed but may be dependent on the context in which the region is recruited. We will illustrate this by taking a closer look at a visual area of which the properties are potentially even simpler: the primary visual cortex.