Chapter 7

The Dorsal Visual System for Spatial Cognition

The perception of spatial relations depends heavily on the parietal lobe, which is part of
the dorsal, or “where,” visual system.

The dorsal stream incorporates three different substreams, including a path connecting
to prefrontal cortex for purposes of spatial working memory, a path connecting to
premotor cortex supporting visually guided actions, and a path connecting to medial
temporal lobe supporting spatial navigation.

Single-cell recordings indicate that cells in the parietal region are sensitive to a
combination of eye and head position and are sensitive to motion in the range of speeds
at which animals locomote – all of which make them well suited for processing spatial
relations and constructing a map of external space.

Coding for the Three Dimensions of Space

Damage to the parietal cortex can result in the inability to distinguish the left and right
orientations of objects.

Depth can be coded by binocular disparity (comparing inputs from the two eyes) or by
motion parallax (comparing how objects move across the retina as the animal moves
through space). Cells in the dorsal stream are sensitive to both binocular disparity and
motion parallax, indicating an integrated coding for depth.

Spatial Frames of Reference

Spatial positions can be coded with respect to some aspect of the self, known as an
egocentric reference frame; or with respect to external references, known as an
allocentric reference frame.

Evidence from monkeys suggests that cells within the parietal cortex can code for spatial
location in multiple reference frames, including head-centered, eye-centered, and
object-centered.

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Evidence from brain-damaged patients indicates that different kinds of egocentric and
allocentric coding can be independently disrupted, indicating that they rely on separable
brain processes.

The left hemisphere is specialized for determining categorical spatial relations, in which
the relationship of two points is described according to categories of locations (above
versus below, to the left versus to the right), whereas the right hemisphere is specialized
for computing coordinate (metric) spatial relationships that specify the distance
between two points.

• Spatial frames of reference

o Egocentric
§ Eye-centric
§ Head-centric
o Allocentric
§ Any external references

Formation of reference frames

• Egocentric reference frames
o Relies on retinotopic reference frame
o Head-centric reference frame computed by comparing retina position
relative head’s midline.
• Allocentric reference frames are thought to be formed by using the retinotopic
reference frames.
o From that information, the allocentric reference frame can be constructed
regardless of where the eyes have moved.
§ Not currently known how this conversion is performed, or what
processes are used for it

Motion Perception
Studies of brain-damaged patients and neuroimaging studies indicate that a specific
region, area MT (V5), at the juncture of the parietal and temporal lobes, is critically
important for perceiving motion. A neighboring region, MST, is also involved in coding
for more complex motion, such as optic flow.

To accurately understand whether external objects are moving or stationary, the person
must take into account the body’s own motion. Parietal lobe regions receive input from
the vestibular system and from areas controlling and sensing eye movements, so that
the movement of external objects can be calculated in reference to the self.

Space and Action

Difficulties in spatial construction, such as drawing and building with blocks, can be seen
in patients with damage to the dorsal stream.

Optic ataxia is a disorder of visually guided reaching that illustrates the importance of
the parietal lobe in integrating perception and action.

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Cells in the parietal region are essential for translating a perceptual understanding of
space into actions toward specific spatial locations. Different subregions of the parietal
cortex are involved in coding for intended eye movements and arm movements toward
targets.

Lateraliztion of Spatial relations

• Categorical – left parietal
o Specifies position of one object in relation to another object in categorical
terms
§ Above, below, front, back, etc.
§ More subjective
• Coordinate/Metric – right parietal
Specifies distance between two objects by a unit of measurement

Space and Number

Representations of numerosity (how many) are found in the dorsal stream, particularly
in the intraparietal sulcus, in both humans and monkeys.

Current models propose that advanced mathematical capabilities in humans are built
upon an evolutionarily older “number sense” that is localized in parietal cortex.

Spatial Navigation
Navigating through large-scale space can rely upon either route-based or map-based
representations.

Three key regions involved in spatial navigation are the parahippocampal place area,
which responds to landmarks; the retrosplenial cortex, which represents location; and
the hippocampus and related medial temporal regions that contain map-like knowledge
of a familiar environment.

• Ego-centric Route-Based
o Step-based navigation
§ Ex. Google Maps-styled directions
o Does not require general knowledge of the area
o Easier
• Allocentric cognitive map based
o Requires understanding of the general area.
o Can still utilize route-based directions, but less likely to get lost.
• Heading disorientation syndrome
o Associated with damage to retrosplenial cortex
o Able to recognize landmarks and distances in space, but unable to
determine
o their own heading, even in familar environments

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 o Very rare condition
o No test for specific syndrome exists.

Issues with Spatial Navigation/What Can Go Wrong?

• Egocentric disorientation
o Damage to PPL (bilateral/unilateral to the right)
• Landmark agnosia
o Landmark (Object) recognition.
o PHG/Ventral visual stream
• Anterograde disorientation
o Loss of ability to create new representations of environments
o PHG/MTL
• Heading disorientation syndrome

TLDPA;
- Spatial cognition is complex
- Pathways from the PPC for spatial working memory, spatial navigation and
visually guided attention
- The PPC integrates multimodal sensory information –> spatial action
- Damage to the PL –> variety of deficits disorders
- Navigational reference frames: Allocentric (viewpoint-independent) and
egocentric (viewpoint-dependent)
- Cognitive Map theory
- Spatial navigation (MTL + RSC + PPA)

Agnosia and apraxia after damage to the parietal lobes

• Object agnosia
• Hemispatial neglect
• Representational neglect
o Unable to describe the left side
o Realtime and imagined neglect
o Memory of external space is perceived in relation to the vantage point of
the observer.
• Constructional apraxia

Hippocampus
Comparing structural changes in aspiring London taxi drivers after four years of training.
Comparing GM volume between London taxi and bus drivers (constrained routes)
- Navigational-related structural changes in the successful aspiring cabbies
- Years of navigation experience correlated with HPC GM volume only in taxi
drivers

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 - posterior GM volume increasing and anterior GM volume decreasing with more
navigation experience
- Bus drivers were better at aquiring new visuo-spatial information

Retrosplenial cortex
- Combining viewpoint-dependent information with stored scene representations
- Learning landmarks
- Consolidation and retrieval of stored spatial schemas

The Dorsal Stream