Direct intracranial recording of body-selective responses in human extrastriate visual cortex

We recorded intracranial local field potentials (iLFPs) in right extrastriate visual cortex of a patient prior to surgery for epilepsy. Visual evoked potentials revealed a highly selective response to images of bodies, relative to faces, mammals, and tools, which was restricted to a focal region in the lateral occipitotemporal cortex that corresponds to the location of the extrastriate body area (EBA). Body-selective activity started around 190 ms and peaked 260 ms post-stimulus onset. These findings provide the first direct electrophysiological evidence for an early visual processing stage in human lateral occipitotemporal cortex that is specialized for processing human body shapes. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.