Research

Marius Peelen and I explored the literature on multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPA) to reach a better understanding of how this family of methods can be applied to testing cognitive theories (the "algorithmic level" in Marr's terms). We examine a broad range of noteworthy examples across many cognitive domains, and focus in on some of the features of MVPA that make it well-suited to answering questions about the how of cognition. From Peelen, M. V., & Downing, P. E. (2023). Testing cognitive theories with multivariate pattern analysis of neuroimaging data. Nature human behaviour, 7(9), 1430-1441.

Perceptual expectations about an upcoming visual event (e.g. person or scene) are expressed in the activity of relevant extrastriate areas (e.g. EBA or OPA). Online TMS over these regions during a verbal cue selectively removes the behavioural effects of such cues in a discrimination task. From Gandolfo M, Downing PE (2019). Causal evidence for expression of perceptual expectations in category-selective extrastriate regions. Current Biology, 29, 2496-2500. See also commentary by Press and Yon. 

A chain of regions along the occipito-temporal and medial-temporal cortex is strongly engaged in fMRI by viewing the faces and bodies of other people. One proposal is that these progress from discrete, part-based representations to more holistic and integrated ones as we move from posterior to anterior regions. From Harry, B. B., Umla-Runge, K., Lawrence, A. D., Graham, K. S., & Downing, P. E. (2016). Evidence for integrated visual face and body representations in the anterior temporal lobes. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 28(8), 1178-1193. 

In a recent review, Lingnau and I draw together many lines of evidence to show how the lateral occipito-temporal cortex plays an under-appreciated role in perceiving and understanding the actions of other people. From Lingnau, A., & Downing, P. E. (2015). The lateral occipitotemporal cortex in action. Trends in cognitive sciences, 19(5), 268-277.