RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The influence of object-colour knowledge on emerging object representations in the brain
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 533513
DO 10.1101/533513
A1 Lina Teichmann
A1 Genevieve L. Quek
A1 Amanda K. Robinson
A1 Tijl Grootswagers
A1 Thomas A. Carlson
A1 Anina N. Rich
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/07/16/533513.abstract
AB The ability to rapidly and accurately recognise complex objects is a crucial function of the human visual system. To recognise an object, we need to bind incoming visual features such as colour and form together into cohesive neural representations and integrate these with our pre-existing knowledge about the world. For some objects, typical colour is a central feature for recognition; for example, a banana is typically yellow. Here, we applied multivariate pattern analysis on time-resolved neuroimaging (magnetoencephalography) data to examine how object-colour knowledge affects emerging object representations over time. Our results from 20 participants (11 female) show that the typicality of object-colour combinations influences object representations, although not at the initial stages of object and colour processing. We find evidence that colour decoding peaks later for atypical object-colour combinations in comparison to typical object-colour combinations, illustrating the interplay between processing incoming object features and stored object-knowledge. Taken together, these results provide new insights into the integration of incoming visual information with existing conceptual object knowledge.Significance Statement To recognise objects, we have to be able to bind object features such as colour and shape into one coherent representation and compare it to stored object knowledge. The magnetoencephalography data presented here provide novel insights about the integration of incoming visual information with our knowledge about the world. Using colour as a model to understand the interaction between seeing and knowing, we show that there is a unique pattern of brain activity for congruently coloured objects (e.g., a yellow banana) relative to incongruently coloured objects (e.g., a red banana). This effect of object-colour knowledge only occurs after single object features are processed, demonstrating that conceptual knowledge is accessed relatively late in the visual processing hierarchy.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.