Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

The surface area of human V1 predicts the subjective experience of object size

Abstract

The surface area of human primary visual cortex (V1) varies substantially between individuals for unknown reasons. We found that this variability was strongly and negatively correlated with the magnitude of two common visual illusions, where two physically identical objects appear different in size as a result of their context. Because such illusions dissociate conscious perception from physical stimulation, our findings indicate that the surface area of V1 predicts variability in conscious experience.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Size illusions and variability in V1 surface area.
Figure 2: Surface area of V1 predicts illusion strength.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dougherty, R.F. et al. J. Vis. 3, 586–598 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Frith, C., Perry, R. & Lumer, E. Trends Cogn. Sci. 3, 105–114 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Sereno, M.I. et al. Science 268, 889–893 (1995).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Gilbert, C.D. & Wiesel, T.N. J. Neurosci. 9, 2432–2442 (1989).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Bosking, W.H., Zhang, Y., Schofield, B. & Fitzpatrick, D. J. Neurosci. 17, 2112–2127 (1997).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Murray, S.O., Boyaci, H. & Kersten, D. Nat. Neurosci. 9, 429–434 (2006).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Fang, F., Boyaci, H., Kersten, D. & Murray, S.O. Curr. Biol. 18, 1707–1712 (2008).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Duncan, R.O. & Boynton, G.M. Neuron 38, 659–671 (2003).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Edden, R.A.E., Muthukumaraswamy, S.D., Freeman, T.C.A. & Singh, K.D. J. Neurosci. 29, 15721–15726 (2009).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Adams, D.L., Sincich, L.C. & Horton, J.C. J. Neurosci. 27, 10391–10403 (2007).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Dakin, S. & Frith, U. Neuron 48, 497–507 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. de Fockert, J., Davidoff, J., Fagot, J., Parron, C. & Goldstein, J. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 33, 738–742 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Massaro, D.W. & Anderson, N.H. J. Exp. Psychol. 89, 147–151 (1971).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Fisher, G.H. Nature 215, 553–554 (1967).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank F. Sengpiel for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

D.S.S. conducted the functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment and analyzed the data. C.S. conducted the behavioral experiment. D.S.S., C.S. and G.R. wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to D Samuel Schwarzkopf.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Text and Figures

Supplementary Figures 1–3, Table 1 and Results (PDF 741 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schwarzkopf, D., Song, C. & Rees, G. The surface area of human V1 predicts the subjective experience of object size. Nat Neurosci 14, 28–30 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2706

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2706

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing