The goal of the proposed research is to study the normal development of category selective domains in inferotemporal cortex in infant macaques. In adult humans and monkeys, discrete regions of the temporal lobe are specialized for processing particular object categories, such as faces, text, bodies, or places. It is unknown whether this specialization is innate or arises as a consequence of extensive early experience, and it is not known what the functional significance is of having such specialized domains. To find out whether these characteristic domains are innate or develop over time, infant monkeys will be scanned, starting at birth, then repeatedly during development, using functional MRI. Our laboratory has developed techniques for scanning alert infant monkeys that are entirely non-invasive, and not harmful to the monkeys. It will be of fundamental importance to know to what degree something as important as face recognition is innate and what aspects of the circuitry require experience for their development. Furthermore by defining the normal developmental stages of the functional segregation of category-specific domains in inferotemporal cortex, we will see whether the acquisition of particular object recognition skills correlates with particular anatomical developmental stages, possibly illuminating the functional consequences of having specialized domains. In addition, we will examine the relationship between category-selectivity and retinotopy. Our working hypothesis is that a retinotopic organization in IT precedes category-selectivity and biases the processing of particular objects (e.g. faces in foveal representations of IT and places in peripheral representations of IT). We propose that this initial retinotopic proto-organization eventually gives way to a spatially invariant, non-retinotopic category- selective organization.

Public Health Relevance

In humans and in monkeys inferotemporal cortex, the object recognition part of the visual pathway, is divided up into domains specialized for processing specific object categories, such as faces, text, places, and body parts. It is not known whether this parcellation is innate or emerges as a consequence of extensive early experience with these objects. To find out we propose to do fMRI on newborn and normally developing macaques.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
1F32EY024187-01A1
Application #
8780057
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Agarwal, Neeraj
Project Start
2014-08-01
Project End
2017-07-31
Budget Start
2014-08-01
Budget End
2015-07-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Harvard Medical School
Department
Biology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Livingstone, Margaret S; Vincent, Justin L; Arcaro, Michael J et al. (2017) Development of the macaque face-patch system. Nat Commun 8:14897
Arcaro, Michael J; Livingstone, Margaret S (2017) Retinotopic Organization of Scene Areas in Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex. J Neurosci 37:7373-7389
Arcaro, Michael J; Livingstone, Margaret S (2017) A hierarchical, retinotopic proto-organization of the primate visual system at birth. Elife 6:
Srihasam, Krishna; Vincent, Justin L; Livingstone, Margaret S (2014) Novel domain formation reveals proto-architecture in inferotemporal cortex. Nat Neurosci 17:1776-83