Area Prostriata in the Human Brain

Area prostriata is a cortical area at the fundus of the calcarine sulcus, described anatomically in humans [1-5] and other primates [6-9]. It is lightly myelinated and lacks the clearly defined six-layer structure evident throughout the cerebral cortex, with a thinner layer 4 and thicker layer 2 [10], characteristic of limbic cortex [11]. In the marmoset and rhesus monkey, area prostriata has cortical connections with MT+ [12], the cingulate motor cortex [8], the auditory cortex [13], the orbitofrontal cortex, and the frontal polar cortices [14]. Here we use functional magnetic resonance together with a wide-field projection system to study its functional properties in humans. With population receptive field mapping [15], we show that area prostriata has a complete representation of the visual field, clearly distinct from the adjacent area V1. As in the marmoset, the caudal-dorsal border of human prostriata-abutting V1-represents the far peripheral visual field, with eccentricities decreasing toward its rostral boundary. Area prostriata responds strongly to very fast motion, greater than 500 degrees/s. The functional properties of area prostriata suggest that it may serve to alert the brain quickly to fast visual events, particularly in the peripheral visual field.