Automatic object identification: an fMRI study

Boucart and Humphreys reported an automatic access to object identity when observers attend to a physical property of the form of an object (e.g. the orientation) but not to its colour. We sought evidence for automatic identi fication in a brain imaging study using fMRI. In an orientation decision ta sk participants decided whether a picture was vertical or horizontal. In th e colour decision task participants decided if a picture was blue or green. Activation of areas 18-19 was found for both color and orientation. Activa tion of the temporal area 37 occurred more frequently in the orientation th an in the colour decision task. This result suggests that automatic identif ication activates the same brain area as overt processing of semantic infor mation. NeuroReport 11:2379-2383 (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.