fMRI Evidence for Multi-level Adaptation of Stereoscopic Curvature Aftereffect

Abstract

Purposes In this study, a functional resonance imaging adaptation (fMRIa) experiment was conducted to examine the multi-level adaptation mechanism in 16 ROIs of the human brain cortex. Methods Random dot stereograms were defined by horizontal binocular disparity as visual stimuli. And six different adaptation conditions were designed to separate different adaptation sources. Adaptation strengthes were measured as changes in the BOLD signal between adaptation and test periods. Findings ANOVA results show that both the dorsal and ventral pathways exhibit advanced adaptation effects to shape attributes. Additionally, adaptations to average disparity information in the V7 and IPS regions along the dorsal visual pathway exist, indicating that low-level disparity computations in these regions are used to precisely encode the depth structure of 3D shapes, while the ventral pathway is used for shape classification. Conclusions These evidences validate the multi-evel adaptation for stereo-curvature aftereffects. The findings can provide guidance for optimizing the construction of stereoscopic scenes in virtual reality.

Keywords

• 3d shape
• stereo-curvature aftereffect
• multi-level adaptation
• fmri adaptation
• virtual reality