Function of center-surround antagonism for motion in visual area MT/V5: a modeling study

• Published in: Vision research (Oxford) 2001-12, Vol.41 (28), p.3917-3930
• Main Authors: Gautama, Temujin, Van Hulle, Marc M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Animals; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Center-surround antagonism; Electrophysiology; Form Perception - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Macaca fascicularis; Middle temporal area; Models, Neurological; Motion Perception - physiology; Motion segmentation; Normal Distribution; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Shape-from-motion; Visual Cortex - physiology
• ISSN: 0042-6989; 1878-5646
• DOI: 10.1016/S0042-6989(01)00246-2

Neurons in cortical area MT or V5 of primates have a large, modulatory region surrounding the classical receptive field. This ‘surround’ has been suggested to be involved in motion segmentation, as well as in shape-from-motion processing. Our hypothesis is that it plays a functional role in both. We verify this by modeling the electrophysiological data obtained by Orban and co-workers in the macaque, and by developing a novel stimulus paradigm. Our results indicate an almost perfect dichotomy between both functionalities: our model neurons code for the object's edge if present, and for the first-order shape otherwise. We further show that small populations of model neurons can code linearly for the orientation-in-depth of translating planes.