Feedback of pVisual Object Information to Foveal Retinotopic Cortex

The mammalian visual system contains an extensive web of feedback connections projecting from “higher” cortical areas to “lower” areas including primary visual cortex. Although multiple theories have been proposed, the role of these connections in perceptual processing is not understood. Here we report a surprising new phenomenon not predicted by prior theories of feedback: the pattern of fMRI response in human foveal retinotopic cortex contains information about objects presented in the periphery, far away from the fovea. This information is position invariant, correlated with perceptual discrimination accuracy, and found only in foveal, not peripheral, retinotopic cortex. Our data cannot be explained by differential eye movements, activation from the fixation cross, or spillover activation from peripheral retinotopic cortex or from LOC. Instead, our findings indicate that position-invariant object information from higher cortical areas is fed back to foveal retinotopic cortex, enhancing task performance.