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A causal role for V5/MT neurons coding motion-disparity conjunctions in resolving perceptual ambiguity
Kristine Krug1, Nela Cicmil, Andrew J Parker
1Department of Physiology, Anatomy, and Genetics, Oxford University, Sherrington Building, Oxford OX1 3PT, UK. kristine.krug@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Current Biology : CB
|July 23, 2013
Summary
Researchers stimulated neurons in the V5/MT area of monkey brains to understand visual perception. This study causally links neural activity in V5/MT to the perception of ambiguous structure from motion (SFM) stimuli.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Perceptual judgments integrate multiple visual parameters like motion and depth.
- Ambiguous figures, such as structure from motion (SFM) stimuli, are crucial for understanding perceptual decision-making.
- Resolving SFM cylinder rotation direction depends on combined motion and binocular depth cues.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms in V5/MT responsible for judging the rotation direction of ambiguous SFM stimuli.
- To establish a causal link between V5/MT neural activity and the perception of SFM.
- To determine if V5/MT neurons decode the conjunction of motion and depth signals.
Main Methods:
- Electrical stimulation was applied to V5/MT neurons in macaque monkeys.
- Stimulation targeted sites with multiunit tuning to binocular depth and motion direction.
- Monkeys performed perceptual decisions on ambiguous and unambiguous SFM stimuli during stimulation.
Main Results:
- Electrical stimulation in V5/MT shifted perceived rotation direction of SFM stimuli.
- The shifts mimicked the addition of specific disparity and motion signals.
- This occurred for both ambiguous and unambiguous SFM figures.
Conclusions:
- V5/MT neuronal activity causally contributes to the perception of SFM stimuli.
- V5/MT neurons are involved in decoding the conjunction of disparity and motion cues.
- This provides direct evidence for V5/MT's role in complex visual perception.
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