Large-scale functional overlap between dorsal and ventral object-responsive networks

Abstract

The processes of acting on and recognizing objects have traditionally been attributed to dorsal and ventral visual pathways, respectively. Although extensive evidence suggests that the two pathways interact, the extent and the strength of these interactions across whole-brain networks remain unclear. In two experiments, we characterized the whole-brain network connections of object-selective regions in each pathway using functional magnetic resonance imaging data acquired while participants viewed objects. Here, we show substantial spatial overlap in connectivity networks generated from the dorsal and the ventral seed region—with greater similarity between object networks within an individual than each network shows across individuals. This overlap persists across viewing of tools and non-tools and even after controlling for the shared variance between pathways. Together, these findings reveal that dorsal and ventral pathways form highly overlapping and distributed networks in the service of object perception.