Neural Basis of Categorical Representations of Animal Body Silhouettes

Neurology Medicine Psychiatry Medical Imaging Life Sciences
body silhouette categorization repression suppression EEG MEG

Neural Mechanism | Neural Basis of Animal Body Silhouette Classification

This article, written by Yue Pu and Shihui Han, published in “neurosci. bull.” in 2024, explores the neural processes of rapid classification and cognition of animal body silhouettes in humans. The study aims to reveal how humans identify and categorize individuals of different species through body silhouettes in the absence of facial information. The research primarily focuses on multimodal neuroimaging of silhouettes of different animals (such as chimpanzees, dogs, and birds) to understand the related neural mechanisms.

Research Background

Humans exhibit significant differences in their responses to human and non-human animals in daily life. For instance, even without facial information, humans can quickly distinguish between humans and other animals based solely on body silhouettes. Previous studies have revealed neural circuits and neurons associated with selective responses to body and non-body stimuli in the brain. However, it remains unclear how the brain encodes the similarity of body silhouettes of different individuals within the same species to support their categorical representation.

Research Source

This article was written by Yue Pu and Shihui Han from the School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research at Peking University. The paper was received in January 2024 and accepted in April.

Research Process

This study investigated the temporal and spatial characteristics of repetition suppression (RS) effects on body silhouettes of different animals (chimpanzees, dogs, and birds) through multimodal neuroimaging, including electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). The research consisted of three experiments:

Experiment 1: Neural Responses to Upright Animal Body Silhouettes

Procedure:

  1. Participants: 30 university students participated in Experiments 1 and 2, with one participant excluded in each experiment due to poor data quality, resulting in 29 participants in the final analysis.

  2. Stimuli and Procedure: 16 body silhouettes for each animal and human were used, showing different postures in black silhouettes. During EEG recording, animal and human body silhouettes were randomly presented in alternating (alt-cond) and repeating (rep-cond) conditions in each experiment.

  3. Data Collection: EEG data was recorded using a 64-electrode cap, primarily analyzing ERPs for non-target animal and human body silhouettes.

Results:

  • EEG (ERP) Results: ERP analysis showed significantly reduced P2 and P270 amplitudes for animal body silhouettes in the repeating condition compared to the alternating condition.

Experiment 2: Neural Responses to Inverted Animal Body Silhouettes

Procedure:

  1. Participants: Same as Experiment 1, with 30 participants and data from 29 analyzed.

  2. Stimuli and Procedure: Experiment 2 used the same stimuli and procedure as Experiment 1, but with all images presented inverted.

Results:

  • EEG (ERP) Results: P2 and P270 amplitudes for inverted animal silhouettes were significantly reduced in the repeating condition, but the effect was smaller than for upright silhouettes. For human silhouettes, the N170 amplitude also showed significant repetition suppression effects in the inverted condition.

Experiment 3: MEG Source Localization of Animal Body Silhouettes

Procedure:

  1. Participants: 28 university students participated, including 13 females.

  2. Data Collection: Brain activity was recorded using a whole-brain MEG system, employing the same experimental design to identify neural networks for animal silhouette categorization.

Results:

  • MEG Results: MEG results showed significant repetition suppression effects in the left parietal and left frontal cortex (203-276 ms and 352-440 ms).

Conclusion

This study reveals two stages of neural processing for animal body silhouette classification:

  1. Early Stage (180-220 ms, P2): The P2 amplitude repetition suppression effect on frontocentral electrodes indicates that animal silhouette classification takes effect in early neural processing stages.

  2. Late Stage (220-320 ms, P270): The P270 amplitude repetition suppression effect on occipitoparietal electrodes suggests subsequent neural processing stages after early classification.

Significance and Value

This research elucidates the neural classification process of animal body silhouettes through the combination of ERP and MEG, which is significant for understanding the neurocognitive basis of human-animal interactions. By identifying neural processes and brain regions involved in animal silhouette classification, this study provides crucial information for further exploration of body silhouette perception and cognition.

Research Highlights

  1. Application of Multimodal Neuroimaging: Combining EEG and MEG techniques provides high temporal resolution data on neural processes.

  2. Distinction between Configural and Local Information: Identifies the different roles of configural and local information in the classification process of animal body silhouettes.

  3. Brain Region Localization: Through MEG source localization, determines the role of left parietal and left frontal cortex in animal silhouette classification.

This study guides further research on human and animal silhouette classification and raises scientific questions for future exploration, including the specific mechanisms of local features and configural properties in body silhouette classification.