RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Foreground-Background Segmentation Revealed during Natural Image Viewing
JF eneuro
JO eNeuro
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP ENEURO.0075-18.2018
DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0075-18.2018
VO 5
IS 3
A1 Paolo Papale
A1 Andrea Leo
A1 Luca Cecchetti
A1 Giacomo Handjaras
A1 Kendrick N. Kay
A1 Pietro Pietrini
A1 Emiliano Ricciardi
YR 2018
UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/5/3/ENEURO.0075-18.2018.abstract
AB One of the major challenges in visual neuroscience is represented by foreground-background segmentation. Data from nonhuman primates show that segmentation leads to two distinct, but associated processes: the enhancement of neural activity during figure processing (i.e., foreground enhancement) and the suppression of background-related activity (i.e., background suppression). To study foreground-background segmentation in ecological conditions, we introduce a novel method based on parametric modulation of low-level image properties followed by application of simple computational image-processing models. By correlating the outcome of this procedure with human fMRI activity, measured during passive viewing of 334 natural images, we produced easily interpretable “correlation images” from visual populations. Results show evidence of foreground enhancement in all tested regions, from V1 to lateral occipital complex (LOC), while background suppression occurs in V4 and LOC only. Correlation images derived from V4 and LOC revealed a preserved spatial resolution of foreground textures, indicating a richer representation of the salient part of natural images, rather than a simplistic model of object shape. Our results indicate that scene segmentation occurs during natural viewing, even when individuals are not required to perform any particular task.