准确检测环境中的运动信息对人和高等动物具有重要的生物学意义(如躲避敌害)。运动知觉容易受到视觉适应的扭曲，但其背后的神经机制并不清楚。视运动信息是由视皮层多脑区协同处理的，脑区间互扰(突触连接)导致难以清楚地分离出各级脑区的独立贡献。我们最近发现，通过利用初级视皮层V1和中高级皮层MT神经细胞感受特性差异而设计的刺激，可以实现V1独立激活(MT失活化)和MT独立激活(V1失活化)。本项目拟采用这种刺激诱导失活化的方法，通过同步记录清醒猕猴视运动适应行为与V1、MT区神经细胞电活动，对比考察在V1和MT分别单独作用时，(1)行为水平上，视运动是否出现适应现象及适应强弱；(2)细胞水平上，激活区神经适应的形式和大小(失活区抑制作为控制)；(3)行为适应与神经适应之间的关联性。这些研究将揭示视运动适应的神经基础，为理解神经系统可塑性及其在临床疾病(如运动盲视症)修复中的机理提供重要的参考价值。

Detection of motion information from the environment is of survival importance for humans and higher animals. Motion perception is often distorted thanks to visual adaptation, yet, the neural mechanisms underlying motion adaptation are unclear. One challenge is, visual motion is processed in a distributed brain areas with reciprocal synaptic connections, which makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact neuronal origin. Our preliminary work suggests that, by combining two sets of motion stimuli, we can overcome this challenge via psychophysically inactivating the primary visual cortex V1 and the middle temporal area MT, respectively. In this proposal, we attempt to make use of this inactivation technique, and investigate the independent roles V1 and MT play in visual motion adaptation. We will conduct simultaneous behavioral and neuronal recordings when awake monkeys are engaged in a motion adaptation task. We will quantity the behavioral adaptation effects and relate them to the neuronal adaptions in V1 and MT. The results will uncover the cortical underpinnings of visual motion adaptation, and will provide important implications on the neural plasticity and its applications in clinical settings such as cerebral akinetopsia.