Lesions in cat lateral suprasylvian cortex affect the perception of complex motion

We examined the effects of bilateral ibotenic acid lesions of cat lateral suprasylvian (LS) cortex on motion perception. Cats were tested on tasks requiring integration of local directional signals, precise judgements of direction and extraction of structure-from-motion. All animals showed permanent deficits in integrating local motion signals. These deficits were most pronounced in the presence of directional noise and at larger spatial displacements. In addition, LS lesions produced a 2-fold loss in the accuracy of direction discrimination and large deficits in the perception of structure-from-motion. All of these losses were most severe during the first few weeks of testing following the lesion. These findings demonstrate that LS cortex plays an important role in the processing of stimuli requiring integration of motion information and limits the spatial scale over which such integration can proceed. Partial improvements in performance with time and/or training may be indicative of post-operative plastic changes in neurons outside of LS cortex.