Orofacial somatomotor responses in the macaque monkey homologue of Broca's area

In the ventrolateral frontal lobe of the human brain there is a distinct entity, cytoarchitectonic area 44 (Broca's area), which is crucial in speech production. There has been controversy over whether monkeys possess an area comparable to human area 44. We have addressed this question in the macaque monkey by combining quantitative architectonic analysis of the cortical areas within the ventrolateral frontal region with electrophysiological recording of neuron activity and electrical intracortical microstimulation. Here we show that, immediately in front of the ventral part of the agranular premotor cortical area 6, there is a distinct cortical area that is architectonically comparable to human area 44 and that this monkey area 44 is involved with the orofacial musculature. We suggest that area 44 might have evolved originally as an area exercising high-level control over orofacial actions, including those related to communicative acts, and that, in the human brain, area 44 eventually also came to control certain aspects of the speech act.     

Segregation of pathways leading from area V2 to areas V4 and V5 of macaque monkey visual cortex

V5 and V4 are areas of macaque monkey prestriate visual cortex that are specialized for involvement in different aspects of visual perception, namely motion for V5 (refs 1-4) and colour vision, with other possible functions, for V4 (refs 2, 5-9). Thus, it is unlikely that they should be fed the same information for further processing, yet both receive a strong input from patches of the upper layers of V2 (refs 10, 11), the area immediately adjoining the primary visual cortex, V1. V2, however, seems to comprise functionally distinct subregions, which can be revealed by staining the tissue for the mitochondrial enzyme cytochrome oxidase. Here we report that V4 and V5 are connected with separate cytochrome oxidase-defined subregions of V2, suggesting that cortical pathways dealing with motion and colour perception are segregated in their passage through V2, and reinforcing evidence for functional specialization in the visual cortex.     

A neural representation of depth from motion parallax in macaque visual cortex

Perception of depth is a fundamental challenge for the visual system, particularly for observers moving through their environment. The brain makes use of multiple visual cues to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of a scene. One potent cue, motion parallax, frequently arises during translation of the observer because the images of objects at different distances move across the retina with different velocities. Human psychophysical studies have demonstrated that motion parallax can be a powerful depth cue, and motion parallax seems to be heavily exploited by animal species that lack highly developed binocular vision. However, little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie this capacity. Here we show, by using a virtual-reality system to translate macaque monkeys (Macaca mulatta) while they viewed motion parallax displays that simulated objects at different depths, that many neurons in the middle temporal area (area MT) signal the sign of depth (near versus far) from motion parallax in the absence of other depth cues. To achieve this, neurons must combine visual motion with extra-retinal (non-visual) signals related to the animal's movement. Our findings suggest a new neural substrate for depth perception and demonstrate a robust interaction of visual and non-visual cues in area MT. Combined with previous studies that implicate area MT in depth perception based on binocular disparities, our results suggest that area MT contains a more general representation of three-dimensional space that makes use of multiple cues.     

USB摄像头平行双目视觉系统在面积测量中的应用

基于平行双目视觉系统的测量原理,构建了一种运用普通的USB摄像头进行面积测量的系统.首先对双目系统进行标定,然后对图像的径向畸变进行校正,最后用小波变换和形态学的处理方法对待测物体进行边缘检测和面积测量,该系统易搭建、成本低、实时性好,为实现面积测量提供了一种新的方法.     

Functional specialisation in the visual cortex of the rhesus monkey.

Anatomical and functional studies of the visual cortex of the rhesus monkey have shown that it is made up of a multiplicity of distinct areas. These seem to be functionally specialised to analyse different features of the visual environment.     

Feature-based attention influences motion processing gain in macaque visual cortex.

Changes in neural responses based on spatial attention have been demonstrated in many areas of visual cortex, indicating that the neural correlate of attention is an enhanced response to stimuli at an attended location and reduced responses to stimuli elsewhere. Here we demonstrate non-spatial, feature-based attentional modulation of visual motion processing, and show that attention increases the gain of direction-selective neurons in visual cortical area MT without narrowing the direction-tuning curves. These findings place important constraints on the neural mechanisms of attention and we propose to unify the effects of spatial location, direction of motion and other features of the attended stimuli in a 'feature similarity gain model' of attention.     

Columns for visual features of objects in monkey inferotemporal cortex.

At early stages of the mammalian visual cortex, neurons with similar stimulus selectivities are vertically arrayed through the thickness of the cortical sheet and clustered in patches or bands across the surface. This organization, referred to as a 'column', has been found with respect to one-dimensional stimulus parameters such as orientation of stimulus contours, eye dominance of visual inputs, and direction of stimulus motion. It is unclear, however, whether information with extremely high dimensions, such as visual shape, is organized in a similar columnar fashion or in a different manner in the brain. Here we report that the anterior inferotemporal area of the monkey cortex, the final station of the visual cortical stream crucial for object recognition, consists of columns, each containing cells responsive to similar visual features of objects.     

一种新的双目立体视觉伺服控制模型及实验研究

针对目前手眼视觉伺服系统模型中普遍存在深度信息估计的问题,提出了一种用于双目视觉伺服控制的模型,该模型避免了深度值的测量与估计,提高了系统的控制性能,从而解决了未知物点的深度信息估计的问题。本文应用此模型,单独考虑机器人的运动学特性,设计了机器人末端执行器进行定位控制的控制器,仿真结果验证了该模型与控制算法的有效性;进一步提出了模型使用的改进算法,使该模型更具有宽泛的实用性;并且,进行了基于MOTOMAN UP6型机器人的双目视觉伺服控制实验,实验结果验证了该模型在实际控制工程中的有效性、可行性。     

双目立体视觉空间火灾定位方法的改进

针对室内空间火灾早期自动定位的需要,基于机器视觉技术对传统空间定位方法进行改进。设计简单实用的平面标定板进行摄像机标定,利用HALCON解决快速自动提取标定板上特征点像素坐标的问题。针对传统标定算法只校正径向畸变的不足,建立了更全面的摄像机畸变模型。通过迭代法利用成像模型和畸变模型求解并优化摄像机的单应性矩阵和畸变系数并通过三维重建实现空间定位。将此方法应用于消防炮工程项目,结果表明该改进方法具有有效性、快速性和准确性。     

Numerical representation for action in the parietal cortex of the monkey

The anterior part of the parietal association area in the cerebral cortex of primates has been implicated in the integration of somatosensory signals, which generate neural images of body parts and apposed objects and provide signals for sensorial guidance of movements. Here we show that this area is active in primates performing numerically based behavioural tasks. We required monkeys to select and perform movement A five times, switch to movement B for five repetitions, and return to movement A, in a cyclical fashion. Cellular activity in the superior parietal lobule reflected the number of self-movement executions. For the most part, the number-selective activity was also specific for the type of movement. This type of numerical representation of self-action was seen less often in the inferior parietal lobule, and rarely in the primary somatosensory cortex. Such activity in the superior parietal lobule is useful for processing numerical information, which is necessary to provide a foundation for the forthcoming motor selection.     

基于双目视觉的部分遮挡行人检测算法

针对行人被障碍物部分遮挡导致的检测准确率降低问题,本文提出了基于多特征融合的树形路径半全局立体匹配的部分遮挡行人检测算法。本方法使用SLIC算法进行超像素分割,提升行人的轮廓信息,并使用多特征融合的树形路径半全局立体匹配算法生成深度图;对行人信息和背景信息及障碍物信息使用自适应分割算法进行分离,获取感兴趣区域;将感兴趣区域放置在行人特征明显且稳定的头肩部,进行感兴趣区域的约束;使用降维HOG进行特征提取并生成样本集,训练SVM分类器,最终实现部分遮挡的行人检测。实验表明,本文算法与其它行人检测算法相比,在行人部分遮挡场景下,有着更高的行人检测准确率,证明本文算法的有效性。