Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-08-20DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2543890
J Brendan Ritchie, Susan G Wardle, Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam, Dwight J Kravitz, Chris I Baker
{"title":"Rethinking category-selectivity in human visual cortex.","authors":"J Brendan Ritchie, Susan G Wardle, Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam, Dwight J Kravitz, Chris I Baker","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2543890","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2543890","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A wealth of studies report evidence that occipitotemporal cortex tessellates into 'category-selective' brain regions that are apparently specialized for representing ecologically important visual stimuli like faces, bodies, scenes, and tools. Here, we argue that while valuable insights have been gained through the lens of category-selectivity, a more complete view of visual function in occipitotemporal cortex requires centering the behavioral relevance of visual properties in real-world environments rather than stimulus category. Focusing on behavioral relevance challenges a simple mapping between stimulus and visual function in occipitotemporal cortex because the environmental properties relevant to a behavior are visually diverse and how a given property is represented is modulated by our goals. Grounding our thinking in behavioral relevance rather than category-selectivity raises a host of theoretical and empirical issues that we discuss while providing proposals for how existing tools can be harnessed in this light to better understand visual function in occipitotemporal cortex.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"49-76"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12458057/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144945350","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-11-28DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2591272
Aina Puce
{"title":"Finally putting the horse before the cart?","authors":"Aina Puce","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2591272","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2591272","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The provocative review by Richie et al. (this issue) provides a platform for reflection on developing new experimental designs and data analysis methods. Here I offer support for their ideas, and add some additional considerations related to: (1) environmental image statistics, (2) multisensory experimentation, (3) embracing non-linearities in brain-body function and tackling data with non-linear analysis approaches; (4) perturbing mature cortical networks with Focused Ultrasound (FUS) or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) guided by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation; and (5) considering spatial scales and aberrant scaffolding in human development.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"101-102"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145630637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-11-19DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2590658
Rufin Vogels
{"title":"Rethinking category selectivity: insights from the macaque inferior temporal cortex.","authors":"Rufin Vogels","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2590658","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2590658","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ritchie et al. argue that the traditional framework of category selectivity has limited value for understanding the organization of the ventral visual stream and propose shifting focus toward behavioral relevance and examining vision under naturalistic task conditions. While I agree with many of their points, I expand on their discussion of category selectivity, as well as the drivers of ventral stream organization, from a nonhuman primate perspective.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"106-108"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145548463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-11-18DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2590665
Liuba Papeo, Violette Munin, Céline Spriet
{"title":"Relational properties as a source of variation for object representation in OTC.","authors":"Liuba Papeo, Violette Munin, Céline Spriet","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2590665","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2590665","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The category selectivity model has shaped our understanding of the organization of object-related information in the occipitotemporal visual cortex (OTC). Ritchie <i>et al</i>. propose that OTC represents objects depending on the properties that are behaviorally relevant in a specific task/context, rather than by encoding the invariant visual properties to determine category membership. We consider this proposal in the context of recent developments that have extended the function of vision (and OTC) beyond object recognition, to include a representation of how objects relate to each other, a key piece of information for planning and acting toward behavioral goals.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"98-100"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145548448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-11-18DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2591321
Michelle R Greene
{"title":"Look to the behavior-but first, define it: toward a behavioral taxonomy of vision.","authors":"Michelle R Greene","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2591321","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2591321","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ritchie et al. (this issue) urge a shift from stimulus categories to behavioral relevance as the organizing principle of occipitotemporal cortex. I argue that realizing this vision requires a formal taxonomy of natural behavior: an ontology that maps how humans actually act in real environments. Only then can we discover which behaviors consistently recruit categorization as a subroutine of adaptive visual processing. Naturalistic datasets that annotate tasks, gaze, and movement provide the empirical backbone for this taxonomy, transforming category-selectivity from a starting assumption into a data-driven outcome of ethological neuroscience.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"82-83"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145548514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-11-18DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2590661
Haojie Wen, Yanchao Bi
{"title":"Visual cortex through the lens of language.","authors":"Haojie Wen, Yanchao Bi","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2590661","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2590661","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>How is the visual cortex organized? Ritchie et al. (this issue) argue for moving beyond category-selective accounts toward an emphasis on complex, behaviorally relevant functions-a perspective we fully endorse. Extending this view, we emphasize that human behaviors are diverse and differentially prioritized. Among these, language emerges as a uniquely critical domain. Converging evidence from developmental and cognitive neuroscience demonstrates that language exerts a powerful influence on visual processing. These findings underscore the need to incorporate language-alongside other high-priority behaviors-into frameworks seeking to elucidate the organizational principles of the human visual cortex.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"77-79"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145548506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-11-23DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2591254
Margaret M Henderson
{"title":"Visual input statistics and behavioral relevance jointly constrain higher visual cortex organization.","authors":"Margaret M Henderson","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2591254","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2591254","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ritchie and colleagues propose that the functional organization of higher visual cortex is best understood through the lens of behavioral relevance, advocating for a shift away from theories that center around category selectivity. Building on this, I suggest the statistical structure of visual inputs acts as an additional critical constraint on visual cortex, and that a complete understanding of visual system organization must account for input statistics and how they interact with behavioral relevance. I discuss this using cortical food selectivity as a case study, and additionally describe how deep neural networks can provide new avenues for testing these theories.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"84-87"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145585930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-11-16DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2590662
Antônio Mello, Brad Duchaine
{"title":"Facial distortions as a critical test for models of the organization of visual function.","authors":"Antônio Mello, Brad Duchaine","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2590662","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2590662","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ritchie et al. propose a novel framework for understanding the organization of visual function in the occipitotemporal cortex (OTC). We argue that neuropsychological evidence from individuals with prosopometamorphopsia (PMO), a condition in which faces appear distorted, offers a unique opportunity to test models of OTC. Drawing on findings from a large-scale experiment that used naturalistic stimuli with five individuals with PMO, we show that distortions in two cases appear to be face-specific. These results highlight the value of integrating neuropsychological, computational, and behavioral approaches to constrain and refine models of the organization of visual function.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"92-94"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145530351","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2026-02-24DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2026.2632644
J Brendan Ritchie, Susan G Wardle, Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam, Dwight J Kravitz, Chris I Baker
{"title":"What behavioral relevance is (not).","authors":"J Brendan Ritchie, Susan G Wardle, Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam, Dwight J Kravitz, Chris I Baker","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2026.2632644","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2026.2632644","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We are thankful for the thoughtful commentaries of our colleagues. In our discussion article, we argued for a course correction to how the field approaches the organization of visual function in occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) - one that moves us away from the dominant framework of category-selectivity towards a more ethological one centered on behavioral relevance. Some of the commentaries raised important issues regarding how our proposed framework does (or does not) contrast with category-selectivity. Other commentaries made helpful suggestions for how behavioral relevance can be studied. As a whole, the commentaries show that much work remains to be done, both theoretically and empirically, in developing a framework centered on behavioral relevance.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"109-114"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147282602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognitive NeurosciencePub Date : 2026-04-01Epub Date: 2025-11-24DOI: 10.1080/17588928.2025.2593389
Kelly J Hiersche, Zeynep M Saygin
{"title":"Leveraging ventral temporal cortex's primary role in object recognition.","authors":"Kelly J Hiersche, Zeynep M Saygin","doi":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2593389","DOIUrl":"10.1080/17588928.2025.2593389","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Decades of work demonstrate that the ventral temporal cortex (VTC) comprises category selective regions. Ritchie et al. urge a shift in perspective: new research should be grounded in behavioral relevance, not category selectivity. Here, we outline how leveraging, not shifting away from category selectivity, expands our understanding of brain function, complex cognition, and development. Further, while we agree that naturalistic paradigms will accelerate progress in this field, given category selectivity is central to VTC's information processing, we suggest future work to examine information transfer from VTC initial object recognition computation to other cortices for facilitating complex human behavior.</p>","PeriodicalId":10413,"journal":{"name":"Cognitive Neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":"88-91"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145596066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}