The parahippocampal place area encodes spatial layout

Correct: B — Pictures of scenes (landscapes, rooms, streets) relative to faces or isolated objects

Epstein and Kanwisher (1998) used fMRI to identify a region in the posterior parahippocampal cortex — the parahippocampal place area (PPA) — that responded roughly twice as strongly to scenes (rooms, landscapes, city streets) as to faces, isolated objects, or scrambled images. The selectivity held even when scenes were emptied of all small objects, suggesting the PPA encodes the geometric layout of local space rather than the contents within it. Damage to the PPA produces topographical disorientation — patients can recognize objects, faces, and even individual landmarks, yet they cannot use the spatial layout of those landmarks to navigate familiar environments.