The lateral occipital cortex (LO) has been shown to code the presence of both vertical and horizontal visual symmetry in dot patterns. However, the specific time window at which LO is causally involved in symmetry encoding has not been investigated. This was assessed using a chronometric transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) approach. Participants were presented with a series of dot configurations and instructed to judge whether they were symmetric along the vertical axis or not while receiving a double pulse of TMS over either the right LO (rLO) or the vertex (baseline) at different time windows (ranging from 50 ms to 290 ms from stimulus onset). We found that TMS delivered over the rLO significantly decreased participants’ accuracy in discriminating symmetric from non-symmetric patterns when TMS was applied between 130 ms and 250 ms from stimulus onset, suggesting that LO is causally involved in symmetry perception within this time window. These findings confirm and extend prior neuroimaging and ERP evidence by demonstrating not only that LO is causally involved in symmetry encoding but also that its contribution occurs in a relatively large temporal window, at least in tasks requiring fast discrimination of mirror symmetry in briefly (75 ms) presented patterns as in our study.

Cattaneo, Z., Bona, S., Ciricugno, A., Silvanto, J. (2022). The chronometry of symmetry detection in the lateral occipital (LO) cortex. NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA, 167(12 March 2022) [10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108160].

The chronometry of symmetry detection in the lateral occipital (LO) cortex

Cattaneo Z.;Bona S.;
2022

Abstract

The lateral occipital cortex (LO) has been shown to code the presence of both vertical and horizontal visual symmetry in dot patterns. However, the specific time window at which LO is causally involved in symmetry encoding has not been investigated. This was assessed using a chronometric transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) approach. Participants were presented with a series of dot configurations and instructed to judge whether they were symmetric along the vertical axis or not while receiving a double pulse of TMS over either the right LO (rLO) or the vertex (baseline) at different time windows (ranging from 50 ms to 290 ms from stimulus onset). We found that TMS delivered over the rLO significantly decreased participants’ accuracy in discriminating symmetric from non-symmetric patterns when TMS was applied between 130 ms and 250 ms from stimulus onset, suggesting that LO is causally involved in symmetry perception within this time window. These findings confirm and extend prior neuroimaging and ERP evidence by demonstrating not only that LO is causally involved in symmetry encoding but also that its contribution occurs in a relatively large temporal window, at least in tasks requiring fast discrimination of mirror symmetry in briefly (75 ms) presented patterns as in our study.
Articolo in rivista - Articolo scientifico
Chronometry; Lateral occipital cortex; TMS; Visual cortex; Visual symmetry;
English
14-gen-2022
2022
167
12 March 2022
108160
none
Cattaneo, Z., Bona, S., Ciricugno, A., Silvanto, J. (2022). The chronometry of symmetry detection in the lateral occipital (LO) cortex. NEUROPSYCHOLOGIA, 167(12 March 2022) [10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108160].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/347787
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