Image by Chealion via Flickr

According to a study published Nov. 14 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, a brain area that plays an important role i vision is divided into compartments that respond separately to different colors" and come with preference for different orientations, such as horizontal or vertical.

Working with monkeys, Vanderbilt University researcher discovered not only that the V4 area of the brain plays a role in visual object recognition, but also that there is significant segregation of color/brightness and the shape processing regions.

Anna Roe, professor of psychology and co-author of the new research, said "Our study showed that in V4, which is a brain area that plays a role in visual object recognition, there is significant segregation of colour/brightness and shape processing regions".

Posted in: Nature Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University