Visual input statistics and behavioral relevance jointly constrain higher visual cortex organization.

Ritchie and colleagues propose that the functional organization of higher visual cortex is best understood through the lens of behavioral relevance, advocating for a shift away from theories that center around category selectivity. Building on this, I suggest the statistical structure of visual inputs acts as an additional critical constraint on visual cortex, and that a complete understanding of visual system organization must account for input statistics and how they interact with behavioral relevance. I discuss this using cortical food selectivity as a case study, and additionally describe how deep neural networks can provide new avenues for testing these theories.