Neural Mechanisms of three dimensional shape perception in visual cortex

三维（3D）物体的感知是强大和稳定的，尽管零碎和不连续的感觉信息。这对于仅基于2D图像的视觉尤其如此。视觉系统从双眼视差和其他单眼深度线索（诸如运动视差、透视、阴影和遮挡）推断对象的深度。这些线索没有一个是经常可用的，而且大多数都是模棱两可的。虽然皮层神经元的视差选择性已被充分证明，但灵长类视皮层对单眼深度线索的加工以及线索组合的机制却知之甚少。知觉的稳定性表明存在线索不变的皮层深度表征。本研究的目的是确定（a）基本的3D特征是如何在视觉皮层中表示的，（B）不同的单眼和双眼线索如何有助于这种表示，以及（c）来自不同线索的信息如何组合，特别是在模糊和冲突的情况下。所提出的方法是研究，对于相同的3D对象和显示条件，（1）深度知觉在人类和猴子的主题，和（2）在皮层区V1，V2和V4的神经元活动，清醒的，固定的猴子。

Perception of three-dimensional (3D) objects is robust and stable, despite fragmentary and discontinuous sensory information. This is especially true for vision which is based only on 2D images. The visual system infers the depth of objects form binocular disparity and other, monocular, depth cues, such as motion parallax, perspective, shading, and occlusion. None of these cues is constantly available, and most of them are ambiguous. While disparity selectivity of cortical neurons is well documented, little is known about the processing in primate visual cortex of the monocular depth cues and the mechanisms of cue combination. The stability of perception suggests the existence of cortical depth representations that are cue invariant. The aim of this research is to determine (a) how elementary 3D features are represented in the visual cortex, (b) how different monocular and binocular cues contribute to this representation, and (c) how information from different cues is combined, especially in situations of ambiguity and conflict. The proposed approach is to study, for the same 3D objects and display conditions, (1) depth perception in human and monkey subjects, and (2) the neuronal activity in cortical areas V1, V2, and V4, of the awake, fixating monkey.