Leyla Isik, a post-doctoral researcher at MIT, studies how the human brain recognizes objects and social interactions, using MEG, fMRI, and computational modeling. Dr. Isik first describes her work on decoding the information in MEG signals measured in humans viewing images of visual scenes and objects, showing the temporal evolution of object representations in the brain. She then presents work that reveals a region of the posterior Superior Temporal Sulcus (pSTS) that codes information about the presence and nature of social interactions, derived from visual input, which is well matched by a feedforward computational model.

Video:

• The neural basis of perceiving human visual social perception (37:39)

Additional Resources:

• Leyla Isik’s website
• Isik, L., Koldewyn, K., Beeler, D. & Kanwisher, N. (2017) Perceiving social interactions in the posterior superior temporal sulcus, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114(43).
• Isik, L., Meyers, E., Leibo, J. Z. & Poggio, T. (2014) The dynamics of invariant object recognition in the human visual system, Journal of Neurophysiology 111(1):91-102.