Functional correspondences in the human and marmoset visual cortex during movie watching: Insights from correlation, redundancy, and synergy

The world of beauty is deeply connected to the visual cortex, as perception often begins with vision in both humans and marmosets. Quantifying functional correspondences in the visual cortex across species can help us understand how information is processed in the primate visual cortex, while also providing deeper insights into human visual cortex functions through the study of marmosets. In this study, to investigate their functional correspondences, we used 13 healthy human volunteers (9 males and 4 females, aged 22-56 years) and 8 common marmosets (6 males and 2 females, aged 20-42 months). We then measured pairwise and beyond-pairwise correlations, redundancy, and synergy in movie-driven fMRI data across species. First, we consistently observed a high degree of functional similarity in visual processing within and between species, suggesting that integrative processing mechanisms are preserved in both humans and marmosets, despite potential differences in their specific activity patterns. Second, we found that the strongest functional correspondences during movie watching occurred between the human peri-entorhinal and entorhinal cortex (PeEc) and the occipitotemporal high-level visual regions in the marmoset, reflecting a synergistic functional relationship. This suggests that these regions share complementary and integrated patterns of information processing across species. Third, redundancy measures maintained stable high-order hubs, indicating a steady core of shared information processing, while synergy measures revealed a dynamic shift from low- to high-level visual regions as interaction increased, reflecting adaptive integration. This highlights distinct patterns of information processing across the visual hierarchy. Ultimately, our results reveal the marmoset as a compelling model for investigating visual perception, distinguished by its remarkable functional parallels to the human visual cortex.