Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Perceptual decisions often depend on both lower-level visual features and higher-level object representations, yet natural images entangle these levels of abstraction. We used deep neural network features to dissociate lower- and higher-level visual similarity during a naturalistic image-similarity judgment task. Participants relied on both forms of evidence, with greater weighting of higher-level similarity. Across prefrontal cortex, visual evidence was systematically organized by representational level: lower- and higher-level similarity were expressed in distinct prefrontal regions during comparison and remained spatially differentiated as they were transformed into decision signals. This organization was behaviorally relevant, with prefrontal activation predicting which level of evidence guided choice when the two conflicted. Together, these findings identify representational level as an organizing principle of prefrontal cortex during visual decisions.
Institutions: University of California, Riverside, University of Miami, Chulabhorn Royal Academy, Thai Red Cross Society, Chulalongkorn University, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, University of Southern California, Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, Rotman Research Institute, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203978079