Inferotemportal cortex

From Psy3241

Location

The Inferotemporal cortex is located below the middle temporal groove on the temporal lobe

Importance

The Inferotemporal cortex (IT) is important for high-level visual processing and is essential for recognizing and perceiving objects. It is part of the ventral stream of the primary visual cortex or V1. The primary visual cortex transmits information to two pathways in the brain; the dorsal stream and the ventral stream. The ventral stream begins with V1, goes through V2 and V4, and from there information goes to the inferior temporal cortex.

Damage to the Inferior Temporal Cortex

The Inferior Temporal Cortex recognizes complex objects such as faces and shapes with particular color and texture combinations. Action potentials (also known as nerve impulse) are fired selectively in response to these complex objects and removal or impairment of the IT causes our recognition and memory of objects to suffer. Evidence of this impairment has been documented and suggests that IT plays a critical role in our ability to recognize, categorize and remember large amounts of complex images. Anomia, impaired recall of words with no impairment of comprehension or the capacity to repeat the words is associated with damage to the inferior temporal cortex. Research suggests that pure anomia (inability to access word forms) may follow damage to posterior inferior temporal cortex while semantic anomia (degradation of semantic knowledge) is associated with damage to anterior temporal lobe regions.