Mice and primates use distinct strategies for visual segmentation.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Visual Perception
• Comparative Cognition

Background:

• The rodent visual system is a model for studying visual processing.
• Figure-ground segmentation is crucial for visual representation in primates.
• Mechanisms of visual representation in mice remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if mice exhibit behavioral and neural signatures of figure-ground segmentation.
• To compare mouse and primate visual segmentation abilities.
• To understand the neural basis of visual segmentation in mice.

Main Methods:

• Mice were trained on a figure-ground segmentation task using gratings and textures with opponent motion.
• Behavioral responses were analyzed for segmentation accuracy and strategy.
• Neural responses were recorded in mouse visual areas (V1, RL, LM).
• Computational modeling was used to explain observed behaviors and neural activity.

Main Results:

• Mice showed limited ability to segment figures from backgrounds using opponent motion.
• Mouse segmentation performance was highly dependent on the carrier pattern of the stimuli.
• Mice employed texture memorization strategies when forced to localize naturalistic patterns.
• Neural responses in mice did not support texture-invariant segmentation via opponent motion.
• Primates (humans, macaques, mouse lemurs) demonstrated robust segmentation independent of carrier pattern.

Conclusions:

• Mice possess fundamental limitations in figure-ground segmentation compared to primates.
• Mouse visual segmentation relies on texture-specific processing, unlike the more general motion-based segmentation in primates.
• Feedforward neural network models without explicit segmentation capabilities can explain mouse visual processing limitations.