Curvature processing in human visual cortical areas

•A network of cortical patches with curvature response preferences was observed in the human ventral visual stream.•Each curvature-preferring patch was involved in processing different curvilinear information.•Principal component analysis indicated that curvilinear information was associated with specific retinotopic visual regions.•Broad areas of curvature preference were bound by central visual field representations.•Areas of rectilinear preference were situated in peripheral visual field representations.