Tool representations in human visual cortex

Tools such as pens, forks, and scissors play an important role in many daily-life activities, an importance underscored by the presence in visual cortex of a set of tool-selective brain regions. This review synthesizes decades of neuroimaging research that investigated the representational spaces in the visual ventral stream for objects, such as tools, that are specifically characterised by action-related properties. Overall, results reveal a dissociation between representational spaces in ventral and lateral occipitotemporal cortex (OTC). While lateral OTC encodes both visual (shape) and action-related properties of objects, distinguishing between objects acting as end-effectors (e.g., tools, hands) versus similar non-effector manipulable objects (e.g., a glass), ventral OTC primarily represents objects’ visual features such as their surface properties (e.g., material and texture). These areas act in concert with regions outside of OTC to support object interaction and tool use. The parallel investigation of the dimensions underlying object representations in artificial neural networks reveals both the possibilities and the difficulties in capturing the action-related dimensions that distinguish tools from other objects. While artificial neural networks offer promise as models of visual cortex computations, challenges persist in replicating the action-related dimensions that go beyond mere visual features. Taken together, we propose that regions in occipitotemporal cortex support the representation of tools based on a behaviorally relevant action code and suggest future paths to generate a computational model of this object space.