Minority Predoctoral Fellowship Program

描述（由申请人提供）：哺乳动物视觉系统的一个基本特征是它将视觉图像分解成专门的信息流，一些专门处理运动，另一些专门处理物体的形状或颜色。虽然这些通道从视网膜的起源到视觉皮层的几个区域已经被明确定义，但对于它们最终如何重新整合以获得对视觉世界的准确解释，我们知之甚少。我们目前正在研究猕猴视觉皮层中两种不同的运动处理通路（直接V1-MT通路和间接V1-V2A/3-MT通路）如何结合信息以获得对物体运动的准确解释。我们通过使用可逆失活技术（局部冷却）来沉默清醒行为猕猴V2和V3区域的神经元活动。通过记录运动处理区域MT的神经元并记录眼部行为，我们将确定当上述外皮层区域不参与运动分析时出现的特定视觉缺陷。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A fundamental feature of the mammalian visual system is its decomposition of the visual image into specialized streams of information, some dedicated to processing motion, others to object shape or color. Although these channels have been well-defined from their origin in the retina to several regions of the visual cortex, less is known about how they are eventually re-integrated to obtain accurate interpretations of the visual world. We are currently investigating how two different motion-processing pathways in the visual cortex of the macaque (a direct V1-MT pathway and an indirect V1-V2A/3-MT pathway), combine information to obtain accurate interpretations of how objects move. We are doing this by using a reversible-inactivation technique (localized cooling) to silence neuronal activity of areas V2 and V3 in the awake behaving macaque. By recording from neurons in the motion-processing area MT and recording ocular behavior, we will identify the specific visual deficiencies that arise when the above extrastriate areas do not contribute to the analysis of motion.