Motion parallax links visual motion areas and scene regions

When we move, the retinal velocities of objects in our surrounding differ according to their relative distances and give rise to a powerful three-dimensional visual cue referred to as motion parallax. Motion parallax allows us to infer our surrounding's 3D structure as well as self-motion based on 2D retinal information. However, the neural substrates mediating the link between visual motion and scene processing are largely unexplored. We used fMRI in human observers to study motion parallax by means of an ecologically relevant yet highly controlled stimulus that mimicked the observer's lateral motion past a depth-layered scene. We found parallax selective responses in parietal regions IPS3 and IPS4, and in a region lateral to scene selective occipital place area (OPA). The traditionally defined scene responsive regions OPA, the para-hippocampal place area (PPA) and the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) did not respond to parallax. During parallax processing, the occipital parallax selective region entertained highly specific functional connectivity with IPS3 and with scene selective PPA. These results establish a network linking dorsal motion and ventral scene processing regions specifically during parallax processing, which may underlie the brain's ability to derive 3D scene information from motion parallax.