Ohio State researchers see how brain processes 3D images with fMRI

Researchers from Ohio State University used fMRI to show how different parts of the brain represent an objects location in depth compared to its 2D location.

Volunteers brains were scanned as they used 3D glasses to look at the three dimensional images. Results showed that when the images first entered their visual cortex, the brain codes the 2D location. However, as the brain continues its processing, the brain shifts to decoding the depth information.

“As we move to later and later visual areas, the representations care more and more about depth in addition to 2D location. It’s as if the representations are being gradually inflated from flat to 3D,” said Julie Golomb, senior author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State, in a statement.

Many scientists have studied where and how the brain decodes 2D information, or how the brain perceives depth. This study is the first to do both as they compared 2D and depth information simultaneously to see how 3D representations emerge and interact in the brain. 

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