FUNCTIONAL SPECIALIZATION IN EXTRASTRIATE CORTEX

更好地理解我们的视觉系统 develops发展，adapts适应，and integrates集成with our other sensory感官systems系统. 目的视觉科学的中心问题之一是 建立了众多领域如何共同形成我们看似统一的 视觉体验 在我的工作中，我试图破译 以及两个特定的 恒河猴（M. mulatta）。 这些 两个区域（MT和MST）形成串行处理的完美示例， 我们已经知道了很多关于它们是如何组织的， 它们代表什么样的信息。 两者都是专门为 视觉运动的分析，但MST（后期处理阶段） 似乎代表了图像运动的更复杂的方面， 旋转，膨胀和收缩 结合使用 行为和生理的方法，我们都在探索 MT中较简单的表示被转换的机制 在MST中更复杂的一个，并测试假设， MST中更复杂的表示方式独特地涉及更多 复杂的视觉任务 为了做到这一点，我们训练猴子完成要求很高的任务， 视觉运动的分析，并精确测量信号， 这些皮质区与单细胞记录技术，或 或者，我们使用非常小的 电流，并测量对动物行为的影响。 结果我们一直在探索一种特定的复杂运动任务， 从图像运动中恢复自运动，并且最近 显示了MT和MT区域的微刺激的大的效果， MST在这项任务中。 这表明，大脑皮层的较高区域 参与这项任务。 未来的实验将是 探索这种参与的机制。

Significance Better understanding of how our visual system develops, adapts, and integrateswith our other sensory systems. Objectives One of the central problems of visual science is to establish how the numerous areas together form our seemingly unified visual experience. In my work, I attempt to decipher the mechanisms and consequences of the hierarchical connection between two specific areas in the visual cortex of the rhesus macaque (M. mulatta). These two areas (MT and MST) form a perfect example of serial processing, and we already know a great deal about how they are orgainized and what kind of information they represent. Both are specialized for the analysis of visual motion, but MST (the later stage of processing) appears to represent much more complex aspects of image motion, such as rotation, expansion, and contraction. Using a combination of behavioral and physiological approaches, we are both exploring the mechanisms by which the simpler representation in MT is transformed into the more complex one in MST, and testing the hypothesis that the more complex representation in MST is uniquely involved in more complex visual tasks. To do this, we train monkeys on tasks demanding the analysis of visual motion, and precisely measure the signals in these cortical areas with single cell recording techniques, or alternatively, we perturb the signals in these areas using very small electrical currents, and measure the effects on the animals behavior. Results We have been exploring a specific complex motion task, recovering self-motion from image motion, and have recently demonstrated large effects of microstimulation of both areas MT and MST on this task. This shows that higher areas in cortex are directly involved in this task. Future Directions Future experiments will be probing the mechanisms of this involvement.