CORTICAL PROCESSING OF VISUAL MOTION

该实验室的长期研究目标是 了解纹外视皮层的神经元处理 有助于视觉感知和视觉引导行为。 的 拟议中的研究将主要集中在纹外通路上， 被认为与视觉运动的分析有关。 这条通路起源于纹状体皮质，继续通过 纹外区MT和MST，终止于视神经 顶叶区域 近期神经学观察结果 这表明，一个类似的途径，特别是有关视觉 运动信息存在于人体中。 这种相似性 这表明，拟议中的恒河猴研究可能会 对人类视觉知识的发展做出了直接贡献 及其疾病。 实验将在清醒的、行为正常的猴子身上进行 接受过相关知觉和视觉任务的训练。 行为实验提出，将确定 参与感知图案的皮质区， 相对运动线索 生理实验将研究 我们所研究的感知能力的神经元基础 精神上的 这项工作的一个重要组成部分是 识别通过以下方式编码的视觉信息中的变换： 单个神经元的运动水平逐渐升高 通路 特别是，我们将研究生理 变换，其允许从运动信号中提取运动信号。 掩盖视觉噪音，并允许可靠的速度判断 移动的物体。 在我们的视觉实验过程中，我们开发了一种新的 一种行为范式，它为获得洞察力提供了巨大的希望 视觉和眼动之间的感觉运动联系 系统. 要研究的关键问题是灵长类动物如何“选择” 眼球运动的视觉目标 视觉图像中存在的竞争刺激。 新 行为范式“选择”事件在时间上是分离的 从目标的开始和眼睛的执行 运动 因此，有可能寻找神经元 这种高阶“选择”事件的相关性， 严格的感觉和运动方面的任务。 等 实验将揭示生理机制， 哪些注意力现象介导了 感觉和运动系统。

The long-term objective of research in this laboratory is to understand how neuronal processing in extrastriate visual cortex contributes to visual perception and visually guided behavior. The proposed research will focus primarily on an extrastriate pathway that is thought to be involved in the analysis of visual motion. This pathway originates in striate cortex, continues through extrastriate areas MT and MST, and terminates in visuomotor regions of the parietal lobe. Recent neurological observations suggest that a similar pathway specifically related to visual motion information is present in humans. Such similarities indicate that the proposed studies of rhesus monkeys are likely to contribute directly to our developing knowledge of human vision and its diseases. Experiments will be carried out in awake, behaving monkeys trained to perform relevant perceptual and visuomotor tasks. Behavioral experiments are proposed that will identify the cortical areas involved in the perception of pattern on the basis of relative motion cues. Physiological experiments will investigate the neuronal basis of perceptual capabilities that we have studied psychophysically. An important component of this effort is to identify transformations in the visual information encoded by single neurons at progressively higher levels of the motion pathway. In particular, we will examine the physiological transformations that permit extraction of motion signals from a masking visual noise, and that permit reliable judgements of speed of moving objects. In the course of our visual experiments, we have developed a new behavioral paradigm that holds great promise for acquiring insight into the sensorimotor linkage between the visual and oculomotor systems. The key issue to be studied is how primates "select" visual targets for eye movements from among the many competing stimuli present in the visual image. In the new behavioral paradigm the "selection" event is separated in time from both the onset of the targets and execution of the eye movement. It is therefore possible to search for neuronal correlates of this higher order "selection" event in isolation from the strictly sensory and motor aspects of the task. Such experiments will shed light on the physiological mechanisms by which attentional phenomena mediate the interactions between sensory and motor systems.