Physiological and Psychophysical Studies of Spatial Vision

在大脑的视觉皮层中，V1和V2区域参与处理视觉空间方面的信号，包括纹理识别和运动等特征。纹理分离是在视觉场景中区分物体的过程，不是通过对其形状和结构的局部分析（称为形式感知），而是通过对其内部图案的更全面的分析。除了局部分析外，位置和运动的空间方面也可以涉及这种全局分析。这个项目扩展了这种空间处理的本质，以及它与我们对纹理和运动的感知的关系，使用了生理和心理物理实验的结合。在生理学和知觉实验中使用相同的刺激，可以对个体皮质神经细胞和意识知觉的可探测性和可辨别性的测量进行关联和解释。一种产生可量化可变图案刺激的新方法允许将与整体刺激相关的特征与与精细结构相关的特征分离。研究结果将有助于更好地理解视觉系统如何整合关于物体是什么以及它在环境中的位置的信息的组合规则，这是视觉引导行为的两个基本任务。这项研究不仅会对视觉科学产生影响，还会对神经科学和计算工作产生影响，并将对人工视觉系统的研究产生兴趣。

In the visual cortex of the brain, areas V1 and V2 are known to be involved in the processing of signals for spatial aspects of vision, including such features as texture discrimination and motion. Texture segregation is the process of distinguishing an object in the visual scene not by a local analysis of its shape and structure (called form perception), but by a more global analysis of its internal patterning. The spatial aspects of position and motion also can involve such global analysis in addition to local analysis. This project extends work on the nature of such spatial processing, and its relation to our perception of texture and movement, using a combination of physiological and psychophysical experiments. The use of identical stimuli for the physiology and the perception experiments allows correlation and interpretation of measures of detectability and discriminability for the individual cortical nerve cells and for conscious perception. A novel method of producing quantifiably variable patterned stimuli allows a separation of features related to the overall stimulus from features related to fine structure. Results will lead to a better understanding of the combinatorial rules for how the visual system integrates information about what an object is and where it is in the environment, which are two fundamental tasks for visually guided behavior. This study will have an impact beyond just visual science, to neuroscience and computational work, and will be of interest for work on artificial visual systems.