Abstract
Purpose: We live in a world amidst complex, moving, articulated objects (such as bodies and machines). While a number of neuroimaging studies have clearly identified object selective brain responses in ventral temporal cortex (e.g. Grill-Spector, 2001), it remains unclear how dynamic objects are represented in these brain areas. These experiments investigate the neural representation of complex, articulating objects, both in motion and while stationary. Method: Two rapid event-related fMRI adaptation experiments compared neural responses to moving and static novel, articulating objects (‘Creatures’; Pyles et al. 2005). Observers viewed 2 sec animations of novel locomoting objects with articulating parts; static stimuli were generated from still frames taken from the same animations. Trials consisted of paired movies or images, respectively, in the two experiments. The pairs were either: 1) identical, 2) different exemplars of the same object (i.e. in a different position and view), or 3) different objects. In each experiment, trials of a given condition were averaged together to compare the peak BOLD responses in object selective brain areas. Results: Replicating a number of previous reports, viewing repeated, identical static objects results in maximal fMR-adaptation in a number of object selective brain areas, including regions of the LOC. Viewing repeated, identical animations also yields maximal fMR-adaptation in those same brain regions. Additionally, some brain areas reveal fMR-adaptation for the ‘different exemplar’ condition (both moving and static), however this finding is variable across brain areas. Regions displaying fMR-adaptation are intermixed among others lacking adaptation, suggesting a patchy organization. Conclusions: Adaptation effects for static and animated objects in ventral temporal cortex is evidence for insensitivity to the configural changes of articulating objects over time.