Imagery and Perception Share Cortical Representations of Content and Location

TLDR

Visual imagery enables vivid scene construction without visual input, and its similarity to perception implies that they may rely on shared neural mechanisms. The study directly tested whether perception and visual imagery share cortical representations. Functional MRI combined with multivariate pattern classification was used to compare how imagery and perception encode object category and spatial location. fMRI patterns for imagined object categories predicted those for seen objects, and both imagery and perception shared representations of location in low‑ and high‑level ventral visual cortex, supporting the hypothesis of common neural representations.

Abstract

Visual imagery allows us to vividly imagine scenes in the absence of visual stimulation. The likeness of visual imagery to visual perception suggests that they might share neural mechanisms in the brain. Here, we directly investigated whether perception and visual imagery share cortical representations. Specifically, we used a combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate pattern classification to assess whether imagery and perception encode the "category" of objects and their "location" in a similar fashion. Our results indicate that the fMRI response patterns for different categories of imagined objects can be used to predict the fMRI response patters for seen objects. Similarly, we found a shared representation of location in low-level and high-level ventral visual cortex. Thus, our results support the view that imagery and perception are based on similar neural representations.