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Shape-coding in IT cells generalizes over contrast and mirror reversal, but not figure-ground reversal
1University of Plymouth, Plymouth Institute of Neuroscience, 12 Kirkby Place, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, UK. gordon@pion.ac.uk
Abstract:
We assessed how the visual shape preferences of neurons in the inferior temporal cortex of awake, behaving monkeys generalized across three different stimulus transformations. Stimulus-preferences of particular cells among different polygon displays were correlated across reversed contrast polarity or mirror reversal, but not across figure-ground reversal. This corresponds with psychological findings on human shape judgments. Our results imply that neurons in inferior temporal cortex respond to components of visual shape derived only after figure-ground assignment of contours, not to the contours themselves.
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