High-level visual function in non-human primates

这项拨款的目的是寻求资金，允许对非人类灵长类动物的人脸识别研究。我们最近发现，由动态线索定义的面孔被人类观察者识别出来。这是令人惊讶的，因为虽然从运动的形式是一个众所周知的视觉现象，真实的脸歧视是意想不到的，因为它是一个非常高层次的过程，这一发现具有重要意义的方式，这两个主要的视觉流-背侧和腹侧路径相互作用。根据我们目前的理解，由动态线索定义的面部刺激必须出现在背流结构中。然而，人们普遍认为，导致识别的人脸处理是一个腹侧流函数。我们的研究结果意味着，一个显着程度的信息中继必须发生在两个流之间的最高水平，以允许人脸识别与动态cues.The的具体目标，拟议中的研究是评估在非人类灵长类动物的视觉功能，使用类似的显示协议，我们对人类的研究。我们希望在旧大陆和新大陆物种（分别为长尾猴和绒猴）中进行这项研究。人脸识别性能在这两个物种中都没有很好的记录，因此计划中的实验将在这一领域开辟新天地。此外，发现长尾猴和绒猴能够识别由动态线索定义的面孔，这意味着这两个流之间的相互作用在灵长类动物中普遍存在，并为这些物种的高级视觉功能的更详细的解剖学和生理学探索铺平了道路。

The objective of this grant proposal is to seek funding to permit face recognition studies on non-human primates. We have recently found that faces that are defined by dynamic cues are recognized above chance by human observers. This was surprising because although form-from-motion is a well-known visual phenomenon, veridical face discrimination is unexpected because it is known to be a very high-level process.This finding has significant implications for the way that the two dominant visual streams-dorsal and ventral pathways-interact with each other. A face stimulus defined by dynamic cues must, according to our current understanding, arise in dorsal stream structures. However, face processing leading to recognition is widely accepted to be a ventral stream function. Our results imply that a significant degree of information relay must occur at the highest levels between the two streams to permit face recognition with dynamic cues.The specific goal of the proposed study is to assess visual function in non-human primates using similar display protocols as with our study on humans. We wish to undertake this study in both an Old World and a New World species (vervet and marmoset monkeys, respectively). Face recognition performance has not been well documented in either species and therefore the planned experiments will break new ground in this area. Furthermore, a finding that vervets and marmosets are capable of recognizing faces defined by dynamic cues would imply that the interaction between the two streams generalizes across primates and pave the way for more detailed anatomical and physiological explorations of high-level visual function in these species.