CORTICAL PROCESSING OF VISUAL MOTION

这个实验室研究的长期目标是 了解纹外区视皮层的神经元处理 有助于视觉感知和视觉引导行为。这个 拟议的研究将主要集中在纹状体外通路上。 这被认为与视觉运动的分析有关。 这条通路起源于纹状皮质，继续穿过 纹外区MT和MST，终止于视觉运动 顶叶的区域。最近的神经学观察 提示有一条类似的通路与视觉有关 运动信息存在于人类体内。这些相似之处 表明拟议中的恒河猴研究可能会 对我们不断发展的人类视觉知识有直接贡献 以及它的疾病。 实验将在清醒、行为正常的猴子身上进行 受过执行相关知觉和视觉运动任务的培训。 建议进行行为实验，以确定 大脑皮层区域参与图形知觉的基础 相对运动提示。生理学实验将研究 我们研究过的知觉能力的神经元基础 心理上的。这一努力的一个重要组成部分是 标识编码的可视信息中的变换 运动水平逐渐升高的单个神经元 路径。特别是，我们将检查生理上的 允许从运动信号提取的变换 屏蔽视觉噪音，并允许可靠地判断速度 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 行为范式为获得洞察力带来了巨大的希望 视觉运动和动眼运动之间的感觉运动联系 系统。需要研究的关键问题是灵长类如何“选择” 眼球运动的视觉目标 视觉图像中存在的相互竞争的刺激。在新的 行为范式“选择”事件在时间上是分开的 从目标的开始和眼睛的执行 有动静。因此，搜索神经元是可能的 这一更高级别的“选择”事件与 严格意义上的感觉和运动方面的任务。是这样的 实验将通过以下方式阐明其生理机制 哪种注意现象调节了 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.