On the usefulness of ‘what’ and ‘where’ pathways in vision

The primate visual brain is classically portrayed as a large number of separate ‘maps’, each dedicated to the processing of specific visual cues, such as colour, motion or faces and their many features. In order to understand this fractionated architecture, the concept of cortical ‘pathways’ or ‘str...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Trends in cognitive sciences 2011-10, Vol.15 (10), p.460-466
Main Authors: de Haan, Edward H.F, Cowey, Alan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Memory
Models, Neurological
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurology
Perception
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Recognition (Psychology)
Vision
Vision, Ocular - physiology
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Summary:The primate visual brain is classically portrayed as a large number of separate ‘maps’, each dedicated to the processing of specific visual cues, such as colour, motion or faces and their many features. In order to understand this fractionated architecture, the concept of cortical ‘pathways’ or ‘streams’ was introduced. In the currently prevailing view, the different maps are organised hierarchically into two major pathways, one involved in recognition and memory (the ventral stream or ‘what’ pathway) and the other in the programming of action (the dorsal stream or ‘where’ pathway). In this review, we question this heuristically influential but potentially misleading linear hierarchical pathway model and argue instead for a ‘patchwork’ or network model.
ISSN:1364-6613
1879-307X
DOI:10.1016/j.tics.2011.08.005