Abstract
Human ventral temporal cortex (VTC) contains distinct category-selective regions that are selectively recruited during visual processing of faces and scenes. In prior work (Silson et al., 2019), we found distinct functional connectivity between these VTC regions and parts of medial parietal cortex (MPC) with corresponding differences in the magnitude of activation in MPC during visual recall of personally familiar people and places. In addition to face- and scene- selective regions, VTC also contains object-selective regions. To investigate if there is also a separate region in MPC engaged during recall of personally familiar objects we collected functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data while participants (N = 21) visually recalled from memory personally familiar people (e.g. mom), places (e.g. bedroom), or objects (e.g. laptop, cell phone, jacket). Stimuli were personalized to each participant, and they reported 12 names for each condition prior to the scan session. We specifically chose objects that were not strongly associated with a specific context (e.g. toothbrush) to avoid any contextual effects. Regions of interest (ROI) were defined across the MPC using independent resting-state data, based on functional connectivity with VTC. While the data replicated our previous finding of separate regions for memory recall of people and places, there was little activation in MPC during the recall of personally relevant objects and no distinct subdivision of the MPC that was more selective for the recall of objects then people or places. Thus, the functional organization of MPC is not a complete reflection of the visual category-selective organization of VTC.