Processing multiple visual objects is limited by overlap in neural channels

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1317860111
• Publication Date: 2014-06-03T06:56:28Z
• Authors: Michael A. Cohen; Talia Konkle; Juliana Y. Rhee; Ken Nakayama; George A. Alvarez
• Keywords: 150; Models, Biological; working memory; representational similarity; visual cognition; Cognition; Humans; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Vision, Ocular; Visual Cortex; Cerebral Cortex; Neurons; Behavior; Brain Mapping; 05 social sciences; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Temporal Lobe; Memory, Short-Term; Pattern Recognition, Visual; Face; Visual Perception; capacity limitations; competition; Photic Stimulation

Significance Human cognition is inherently limited: only a finite amount of visual information can be processed at a given instant. What determines those limits? Here, we show that more objects can be processed when they are from different stimulus categories than when they are from the same category. This behavioral benefit maps directly onto the functional organization of the ventral visual pathway. These results suggest that our ability to process multiple items at once is limited by the extent to which those items compete with one another for neural representation. Broadly, these results provide strong evidence that the capacities and limitations of human behavior can be inferred from our functional neural architecture.