Abstract
Many letters do not exhibit mirror invariance to the same degree as objects. In the case of "reversible" letters (e.g., 'b' and 'd'), mirror reflection is the sole differentiating factor. A negative priming study by Borst et al. (2014) showed that visual recognition of reversible letters interferes with subsequent object recognition. Findings from other behavioral and neuroimaging studies raise the possibility that this conflict is due to language-related visual processing in left ventral occipitotemporal cortex. We tested this possibility by adapting the method of Borst et al. to a divided visual field paradigm, which allowed us to test whether or not negative priming of mirrored letters on mirrored objects is lateralized or not. Observers performed a letter discrimination task, immediately followed by an object discrimination task performed in either the right or the left visual hemifield. In agreement with Borst et al., we found that suppression of mirror invariance during letter recognition interfered with its recovery during the subsequent object recognition task, but only for mirrored objects viewed in the right visual hemifield. Our results show a direct relationship between mirror invariant object recognition, its suppression, and language-related visual processing in the left hemisphere.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2018