The interplay of foveal diet, semantic salience, and functional changes in high-level visual cortex during school onset

• Applicant: Dr. Marcel Linka
• Subject Area: Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience ; General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 556645169

The human visual cortex is organized into neighbouring areas dedicated to processing distinct categories of stimuli, such as faces, text, and limbs. Recent studies show that regions that prefer words and faces become more specialized over the course of development and with the onset of reading, while areas that prefer limbs become less specialized. Interestingly, this reduction in limb preference is directly linked to the increased preference for words and faces, which can be interpreted as evidence of cortical recycling. What might cause these developmental shifts? Our own behavioral studies comparing preschoolers to adults have shown a decrease in gaze behavior towards text and faces, and a corresponding increase in gaze towards hands and touched objects in children when freely viewing a set of natural scenes that become adult like in a protracted manner. These independent, but converging lines of evidence suggest a possible link between the development of cortical tuning and visual experience. The proposed project aims to test this hypothesis. First, it seeks to examine whether developmental differences in gaze biases towards semantic object categories (here referred to as semantic salience biases) are linked to changes in everyday gaze behavior (here referred to as foveal diet) and literacy over the onset of schooling. Second, it aims to investigate the relationship between shifts in semantic salience and corresponding changes in the high-level visual cortex (ventral temporal cortex), and whether this relationship is linked to changes in foveal diet. To test this, I propose to conduct longitudinal studies around school entry, measuring changes in foveal diet in natural settings by using an experience sampling approach, as well as assessing reading ability. Additionally, I will use repeated functional neuroimaging to probe changes in cortical activity. The findings will provide key insights into how formal education and literacy acquisition influence neural and attentional development, and may inform theories on cortical plasticity and the role of experience in shaping neural pathways.

• DFG Programme: WBP Fellowship
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professorin Dr. Kalanit Grill-Spector