diff --git a/src/rsatoolbox/vis/rdm_plot.py b/src/rsatoolbox/vis/rdm_plot.py
index 6bd4d5c2..daf241e0 100755
--- a/src/rsatoolbox/vis/rdm_plot.py
+++ b/src/rsatoolbox/vis/rdm_plot.py
@@ -240,6 +240,10 @@ def show_rdm_panel(
     gridlines: Optional[npt.ArrayLike] = None,
     vmin: Optional[float] = None,
     vmax: Optional[float] = None,
+    overlay: Optional[NDArray] = None,
+    overlay_color: str = '#00ff0050',
+    contour: Optional[NDArray] = None,
+    contour_color: str = 'red'
 ) -> AxesImage:
     """show_rdm_panel. Add RDM heatmap to the axis ax.
 
@@ -259,12 +263,21 @@ def show_rdm_panel(
             argument.
         vmax (float): Maximum intensity for colorbar mapping. matplotlib imshow
             argument.
+        overlay ((str, str) or NDArray): RDM descriptor name-value tuple, or vector (one value per pair)
+            which indicates whether to highlight the given cells
+        overlay_color (str): Color to use to highlight the pairs in the overlay argument.
+            Use RGBA to specify transparency. Default is 50% opaque green.
+        contour ((str, str) or NDArray): RDM descriptor name-value tuple, or vector (one value per pair)
+            which indicates whether to add a border to the given cells
+        contour_color (str): Color to use for a border around pairs in the contour argument.
+            Use RGBA to specify transparency. Default is red.
 
     Returns:
         matplotlib.image.AxesImage: Matplotlib handle.
     """
     conf = SingleRdmPlot.from_show_rdm_panel_args(rdms, cmap, nanmask,
-        rdm_descriptor, gridlines, vmin, vmax)
+        rdm_descriptor, gridlines, vmin, vmax, overlay, overlay_color, 
+        contour, contour_color)
     return _show_rdm_panel(conf, ax or plt.gca())
 
 
@@ -603,6 +616,10 @@ def for_single(self, index: int) -> SingleRdmPlot:
         conf.nanmask = self.nanmask
         conf.vmin = self.vmin
         conf.vmax = self.vmax
+        conf.overlay = self.overlay
+        conf.overlay_color = self.overlay_color
+        conf.contour = self.contour
+        conf.contour_color = self.contour_color
         if self.rdm_descriptor in conf.rdms.rdm_descriptors:
             conf.title = conf.rdms.rdm_descriptors[self.rdm_descriptor][0]
         else:
@@ -621,17 +638,25 @@ class SingleRdmPlot:
     vmin: Optional[float]
     vmax: Optional[float]
     title: str
+    overlay: NDArray
+    overlay_color: str
+    contour: NDArray
+    contour_color: str
 
     @classmethod
     def from_show_rdm_panel_args(
         cls,
         rdms: RDMs,
-        cmap: Union[str, Colormap] = 'bone',
-        nanmask: Optional[NDArray] = None,
-        rdm_descriptor: Optional[str] = None,
-        gridlines: Optional[npt.ArrayLike] = None,
-        vmin: Optional[float] = None,
-        vmax: Optional[float] = None,
+        cmap: Union[str, Colormap],
+        nanmask: Optional[NDArray],
+        rdm_descriptor: Optional[str],
+        gridlines: Optional[npt.ArrayLike],
+        vmin: Optional[float],
+        vmax: Optional[float],
+        overlay: Optional[NDArray],
+        overlay_color: str,
+        contour: Optional[NDArray],
+        contour_color: str
     ) -> SingleRdmPlot:
         """Create an object from the original arguments to show_rdm_panel()
         """
@@ -654,4 +679,19 @@ def from_show_rdm_panel_args(
             conf.title = rdm_descriptor or ''
         conf.vmin = vmin
         conf.vmax = vmax
+        conf.overlay = conf.interpret_rdm_arg(overlay, rdms)
+        conf.overlay_color = overlay_color
+        conf.contour = conf.interpret_rdm_arg(contour, rdms)
+        conf.contour_color = contour_color
         return conf
+    
+    def interpret_rdm_arg(self, val: Optional[ArrayOrRdmDescriptor], rdms: RDMs) -> NDArray:
+        """Resolve argument that can be an rdm descriptor key/value pair or a utv
+        """
+        if val is  None:
+            return np.zeros(rdms.n_cond)
+        else:
+            if isinstance(val, np.ndarray):
+                return val
+            else:
+                return rdms.subset(*val).dissimilarities[0, :]
diff --git a/tests/test_vis_rdm_plot_conf.py b/tests/test_vis_rdm_plot_conf.py
index 94d3bdaa..7fd921c1 100644
--- a/tests/test_vis_rdm_plot_conf.py
+++ b/tests/test_vis_rdm_plot_conf.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 class TestRdmPlot(TestCase):
 
-    def test_nrow_ncolumn(self):
+    def test_from_show_rdm_args__nrow_ncolumn(self):
         from rsatoolbox.vis.rdm_plot import MultiRdmPlot
         rdms = Mock()
         rdms.n_cond = 3
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ def test_nrow_ncolumn(self):
         self.assertEqual(conf.n_column, 4)
         self.assertEqual(conf.n_row, 3)
 
-    def test_contour_overlay(self):
+    def test_from_show_rdm_args__multi_contour_overlay(self):
         from rsatoolbox.vis.rdm_plot import MultiRdmPlot
         rdms = Mock()
         rdms.n_cond = 3
@@ -69,6 +69,31 @@ def test_contour_overlay(self):
             contour = ('name', 'foo'),
             contour_color = 'red'
         )
-        assert_array_equal(conf.overlay, numpy.array([0,0,0,1,1,1]))
+        assert_array_equal(conf.overlay, numpy.array([0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1]))
+        assert_array_equal(conf.contour, numpy.array([0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1]))
+
+    def test_single_from_show_rdm_panel_args(self):
+        from rsatoolbox.vis.rdm_plot import SingleRdmPlot
+        rdms = Mock()
+        rdms.n_cond = 3
+        rdms.n_rdm = 1
+        rdms.get_matrices.return_value = numpy.zeros([1, 3, 3])
+        rdms.rdm_descriptors = dict()
+        mask_rdm = Mock()
+        mask_rdm.dissimilarities = numpy.array([[0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1]])
+        rdms.dissimilarities = numpy.zeros([10, 6])
+        conf = SingleRdmPlot.from_show_rdm_panel_args(
+            rdms = rdms,
+            cmap = 'bone',
+            nanmask = None,
+            rdm_descriptor = None,
+            gridlines = None,
+            vmin = None,
+            vmax = None,
+            overlay = numpy.array([0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1]),
+            overlay_color='#00ff0050',
+            contour = numpy.array([0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1]),
+            contour_color = 'red'
+        )
+        assert_array_equal(conf.overlay, numpy.array([0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1]))
         assert_array_equal(conf.contour, numpy.array([0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1]))
-        
\ No newline at end of file