A neural mechanism for optic flow parsing in macaque visual cortex

For the brain to compute object motion in the world during self-motion, it must discount the global patterns of image motion (optic flow) caused by self-motion. Optic flow parsing is a proposed visual mechanism for computing object motion in the world, and studies in both humans and monkeys have demonstrated perceptual biases consistent with the operation of a flow-parsing mechanism. However, the neural basis of flow parsing remains unknown. We demonstrate, at both the individual unit and population levels, that neural activity in macaque middle temporal (MT) area is biased by peripheral optic flow in a manner that can at least partially account for perceptual biases induced by flow parsing. These effects cannot be explained by conventional surround suppression mechanisms or choice-related activity and have substantial neural latency. Together, our findings establish the first neural basis for the computation of scene-relative object motion based on flow parsing.