Neural transformation from image realism to perceived realness

Perceived realness is represented in intraparietal sulcus (IPS) via a transformation from image-realism-related feature codes, with IPS patterns predicting realness beyond image features.

• Why it matters: The ventral-stream expectation for realness is unclear, so the study tests where and how the brain converts visual features into a sense of what could exist in the real world.
• What they did: Using fMRI and source-localized MEG, they tracked representational changes from early visual and early dorsal areas to IPS, and compared realness coding against image features and decision difficulty.
• The result: IPS realness coding emerged later than early feature coding and predicted perceived realness beyond image features, suggesting a dorsal-stream mechanism for guiding real-world actions.

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