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Adaptation disrupts motion integration in the primate dorsal stream
Carlyn A Patterson1, Stephanie C Wissig1, Adam Kohn2
1Dominick Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY 10461, USA.
Neuron
|February 11, 2014
Summary
Sensory adaptation alters early visual processing, impairing motion integration in area MT neurons and reducing plaid motion perception. These adaptation effects cascade through the visual system, disrupting downstream computations.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
- Visual System Research
Background:
- Sensory systems dynamically adapt to environmental stimuli.
- Adaptation effects are traditionally studied in localized neural networks.
- The impact of adaptation on interconnected neural circuits remains largely unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how adaptation in early visual processing affects downstream motion integration.
- To determine if adaptation cascades through the visual hierarchy.
- To understand the consequences of adaptation for representing complex visual stimuli like plaid motion.
Main Methods:
- Utilized prolonged adaptation with drifting gratings.
- Recorded neural activity in area MT neurons.
- Conducted perceptual experiments measuring plaid coherence discrimination.
- Developed a computational model to simulate adaptation effects.
Main Results:
- Prolonged adaptation altered early visual system responses.
- Area MT neurons showed impaired integration of motion signals in plaid stimuli.
- Perceptual performance revealed a significant loss of plaid coherence perception.
- Computational modeling supported the cascading effect of adaptation.
Conclusions:
- Sensory adaptation effects propagate through the visual system.
- Adaptation in early visual areas can disrupt motion integration in downstream areas like MT.
- These cascading effects can derail the accurate representation of visual attributes.
