Selective mechanisms for complex visual patterns revealed by adaptation

A great deal is known about the initial steps of visual processing. We know that humans have neural mechanisms selectively tuned to simple patterns of particular spatial frequencies and orientations. We also know that much later in the visual pathway, in inferotemporal cortex, cells respond to extre...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience 2006-01, Vol.141 (1), p.15-18
Main Authors: Peirce, J.W., Taylor, L.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acclimatization - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
compound adaptation
conjunctions
Fourier
Functional Laterality - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Orientation - physiology
Pattern Recognition, Visual - physiology
Photic Stimulation - methods
plaid
Psychometrics - methods
second-order
Time Factors
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Visual Pathways - physiology
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Summary:A great deal is known about the initial steps of visual processing. We know that humans have neural mechanisms selectively tuned to simple patterns of particular spatial frequencies and orientations. We also know that much later in the visual pathway, in inferotemporal cortex, cells respond to extremely complex visual patterns such as images of faces. Very little is known about intermediate levels of visual processing, where early visual signals are presumably combined to represent increasingly complex visual features. Here we show the existence of visual mechanisms in humans, tuned and selective to particular combinations of simple sinusoidal patterns, using a novel method of compound adaptation.
ISSN:0306-4522
1873-7544
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.04.039