Central visual field representation in striate-peristriate cortex as the functional unit of pattern discrimination in...

Bushbabies were trained on a battery of visual discrimination and localization tests and retested after serial lesions of the occipital and temporal lobes. The results of these experiments indicated that visual deficits following occipital lobectomy depend on the extent of damage to the central vision representation in both striate and peristriate cortices. If lesions involved both cortical representations of central vision, form and stripes discrimination capacities were lost. When the peristriate representation was spared, form vision was lost but vision for striped patterns was retained. The subsequent addition of middle or ventral temporal area lesions did not alter discrimination performance. Results are discussed in terms of a transcytoarchitectonic subdivision in striate and peristriate cortices as the functional unit of organization for pattern vision.