The multisensory and multidimensional nature of object representation.

Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments revealed similar neural representations across different types of two-dimensional (2-D) visual stimuli; however, real three-dimensional (3-D) objects affording action differentially affect neural activation and behavioral results relative to 2-D objects. Recruitment of multiple sensory regions during unisensory (visual, haptic, and auditory) object shape tasks suggests that shape representation may be modality invariant. This mini-review explores the overlapping neural regions involved in object shape representation, across 2-D, 3-D, visual, and haptic experiments.