17 Temporal Lobes

What is neuroanatomical substrate for auditory object specification?

superior temporal gyrus

What is the neuroanatomical substrate for visual object specification?

inferior temporal gyrus

How does the dorsal auditory pathway pathway run in the temporal lobe, what is its function?

The dorsal auditory pathway runs from the superior temporal gyrus to the parietal lobe, playing a crucial role in processing the location and movement of sounds.

Where in the temporal lobe is there a polymodal area, and from where in the temporal lobe does information flow there?

the polymodal area is in the superior temporal gyrus. It gets info from both auditory and visual pathways. It integrates information from multiple sensory modalities like sight, sound, and touch to create a unified perception

The perforant pathway runs from the entorhinal cortex to the hippocampus, what appears to be its
function?

It is important for memory formation because it forms the main projection to the hippocampus.

How does the temporal cortex connect with the frontal lobes?

The temporal cortex connects with the frontal lobes primarily through the uncinate fasciculus.

What evidence goes against the progressive ‘coming in focus’ from the occipital lobe to the temporal pole?

Studies reveal significant parallel processing across brain regions, early visual perception involving the temporal pole, a non-linear "what" pathway, and insights from lesion patients highlighting complex interactions between visual processing streams.

How does the ‘theory of object perceptions” in the slides match up (very generally) with the functions in the various parts of the primary, secondary visual cortex, what may be happening in the (ventral) visual stream? (V1 to hippocampus)?

The primary visual cortex (V1) extracts basic features like edges and contrast, while the ventral stream builds on this to identify objects by shape, color, and other attributes, culminating in perception and memory consolidation in the hippocampus.

What (generally) is the difference between the sparse coding and population coding vies of object perception?

"Sparse coding" involves a few neurons while the other involves lors of neurons with collective activity levels, without any single neuron solely identifying the object.

What types of evidence are there for object-specific (grandmother) cells?

single-unit recordings identifying neurons in the medial temporal lobe that selectively respond to specific objects or people (e.g., "Jennifer Aniston neurons")

fMRI studies showing category-specific regions like the fusiform face area (FFA)

animal research indicating that neurons in the inferior temporal cortex respond to specific stimuli like faces.

What are some of the problems with hypothesizing object-specific neurons in shape perception

• impractical number of neurons required to represent all objects

• limited ability to adapt to new stimuli

• context-dependent neuronal responses

• vulnerability of relying on single neurons

• strong evidence for distributed coding, where recognition arises from activity patterns across many neurons.

What is the difference between view-dependent and view-invariant shape perception? What is the evidence for these types of shape perception?

recognition process depends on seeing object in a particular viewpoint while with the other recognize happens regardless of viewpoint. An example of this is only being able to recognize a hand when it has fingers and being able to identify a bike from any angle by seeing handles, a seat, ect.

What is the evidence for these types of shape perception? (view dependent and view-invariant)

agnosia

failure to “know”

individual loses the ability to recognize or interpret sensory information, despite having intact sensory functions.

Apperceptive visual agnosia

is characterized by a patient's inability to perceive the basic visual features of an object, leading to difficulty recognizing it

lesions in the occipital cortex

associative visual agnosia

occurs when a patient can perceive the object but cannot connect that perception to their stored knowledge of what the object is, meaning they can't identify it despite seeing it clearly

damage is in the occipito-temporal junction

What is biological motion perception and what parts of the temporal lobe seems to be involved in this?

• the ability to recognize and interpret the movement patterns of living beings, like humans or animals, based on minimal visual cues

• he temporal lobe primarily associated with this function is the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS)

What is the role of biological motion perception in social cognition?

• allowing individuals to interpret social cues like emotions, intentions, and actions from a person's body movements

• damage results in impaired recognition and recall of faces and impaired perception of social cues