Physiological and Psychophysical Studies of Spatial Vision

在大脑的视觉皮质中，已知V1和V2区域参与视觉空间方面的信号处理，包括纹理辨别和运动等特征。纹理分离是在视觉场景中区分对象的过程，不是通过对其形状和结构的局部分析(称为形状感知)，而是通过对其内部图案的更全局的分析。除了局部分析之外，位置和运动的空间方面也可以涉及这样的全局分析。这个项目利用生理和心理物理实验的组合，扩展了关于这种空间处理的性质以及它与我们对纹理和运动的感知的关系的工作。将相同的刺激用于生理学和知觉实验，允许对单个皮质神经细胞和意识知觉的可探测性和可识别性的测量进行关联和解释。一种产生可定量变化的图案化刺激的新方法允许将与整体刺激有关的特征与与精细结构有关的特征分开。结果将导致更好地理解视觉系统如何整合关于对象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。这项研究将不仅对视觉科学产生影响，还将对神经科学和计算工作产生影响，并将对人工视觉系统的工作产生兴趣。

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.