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.     

Segregation of global and local motion processing in primate middle temporal visual area.

The early stages of primate visual processing appear to be divided up into several component parts so that, for example, colour, form and motion are analysed by anatomically distinct streams. We have found that further subspecialization occurs within the motion processing stream. Neurons representing two different kinds of information about visual motion are segregated in columnar fashion within the middle temporal area of the owl monkey. These columns can be distinguished by labelling with 2-deoxyglucose in response to large-field random-dot patterns. Neurons in lightly labelled interbands have receptive fields with antagonistic surrounds: the response to a centrally placed moving stimulus is suppressed by motion in the surround. Neurons in more densely labelled bands have surrounds that reinforce the centre response so that they integrate motion cues over large areas of the visual field. Interband cells carry information about local motion contrast that may be used to detect motion boundaries or to indicate retinal slip during visual tracking. Band cells encode information about global motion that might be useful for orienting the animal in its environment.     

Hearing visual motion in depth

Auditory spatial perception is strongly affected by visual cues. For example, if auditory and visual stimuli are presented synchronously but from different positions, the auditory event is mislocated towards the locus of the visual stimulus-the ventriloquism effect. This 'visual capture' also occurs in motion perception in which a static auditory stimulus appears to move with the visual moving object. We investigated how the human perceptual system coordinates complementary inputs from auditory and visual senses. Here we show that an auditory aftereffect occurs from adaptation to visual motion in depth. After a few minutes of viewing a square moving in depth, a steady sound was perceived as changing loudness in the opposite direction. Adaptation to a combination of auditory and visual stimuli changing in a compatible direction increased the aftereffect and the effect of visual adaptation almost disappeared when the directions were opposite. On the other hand, listening to a sound changing in intensity did not affect the visual changing-size aftereffect. The results provide psychophysical evidence that, for processing of motion in depth, the auditory system responds to both auditory changing intensity and visual motion in depth.     

视知觉训练与初级视皮层神经元信息及其表征容量

通过分析猕猴初级视皮层（V1）神经元的群体活动在轮廓线检测训练过程中的变化发现：知觉训练可以降低V1神经元响应在不同试次之间的变异性,促使V1神经元对相同刺激的响应更加稳定;训练还可降低V1神经元群体中神经元活动之间的相关性,使V1神经元之间的活动更加独立;增加了神经活动的维度,提高了神经元表征信息的容量,减少了冗余的神经活动,进而提升了感知能力.     

Neural mechanisms of unconscious visual motion priming

The neural correlates of the motion priming were examined in normal young subjects using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Visual motion perception can be uncon-sciously biased in favor of a particular direction by a pre-ceding motion in that direction. Motion priming first in-volved an enhancement of ERP amplitude about 100 ms fol-lowing the onset of motion. The amplitudes of ERP compo-nents after 350 ms were also increased. The fMRI results suggest that the early-latency effect reflects modulation of neural responses in extrastriate cortex. Higher-level visual processing areas, including cortical regions MT/MST and the intraparietal cortices were also activated. The findings provide direct evidence that unconscious priming of motion perception is the result of interaction of direction-selective neural responses to motion stimuli. The results cannot be accounted for by refractoriness of neural responses, but in-stead support a theory of motion priming based on motion opponency, as proposed in computational models.     

Insect motion detectors matched to visual ecology

To detect motion, primates, birds and insects all use local detectors to correlate signals sampled at one location in the image with those sampled after a delay at adjacent locations. These detectors can adapt to high image velocities by shortening the delay. To investigate whether they use long delays for detecting low velocities, we compared motion-sensitive neurons in ten species of fast-flying insects, some of which encounter low velocities while hovering. Neurons of bee-flies and hawkmoths, which hover, are tuned to lower temporal frequencies than those of butterflies and bumblebees, which do not. Tuning to low frequencies indicates longer delays and extends sensitivity to lower velocities. Hoverflies retain fast temporal tuning but use their high spatial acuity for sensing low-velocity motion. Thus an unexpectedly wide range of spatio-temporal tuning matches motion detection to visual ecology.     

Parallel processing of motion and colour information

When the two eyes are confronted with sufficiently different versions of the visual environment, one or the other eye dominates perception in alternation. A similar situation may be created in the laboratory by presenting images to the left and right eyes which differ in orientation or colour. Although perception is dominated by one eye during rivalry, there are a number of instances in which visual processes nevertheless continue to integrate information from the suppressed eye. For example the interocular transfer of the motion after-effect is undiminished when induced during binocular rivalry. Thus motion information processing may occur in parallel with the rivalry process. Here we describe a novel example in which the visual system simultaneously exhibits binocular rivalry and vision that integrates signals from both eyes. This apparent contradiction is resolved by postulating parallel visual processes devoted to the analyses of colour and motion information. Counterphased gratings are viewed dichoptically such that for one eye the grating is composed of alternating yellow and black stripes (luminance) while for the other it is composed of alternating red and green stripes (chrominance). When the gratings are fused, a moving grating is perceived. A consistent direction of motion can only be achieved if left and right monocular signals are integrated by the nervous system. Yet the apparent colour of the binocular percept alternates between red-green and yellow-black. These observations demonstrate the segregation of processing by the early motion system from that affording the perception of colour. Although, in this stimulus, colour information in itself can play no part in the cyclopean perception of motion direction, colour is carried along perceptually (filled in) by the moving pattern which is integrated from both eyes.     

运动视觉中时间知觉信息源的研究

概述了运动视觉中的时间知觉线索及视觉“ｔａｕ”的概念．从理论角度探讨了ＴＴＣ知觉中ｔａｕｍａｒｇｉｎ的数学来源，以及沿视轴和偏离视轴不同条件下ｔａｕｍａｒｇｉｎ的确定方法．对时间知觉信息源研究结果的分析，表明了ｔａｕ型视觉变量在ＴＴＣ知觉中起着重要作用，视觉流域中的数学模型可以有效地解释观察者和运动物体的交互作用及ＴＴＣ知觉的过程．     

航海模拟器中的太阳视运动轨迹的算法

在传统天文学的天体视运动轨迹计算方法的基础上,给出一种在航海模拟器中应用的太阳视运动轨迹的计算方法,并且针对太阳在视运动当中高度变化的特点,提出了一种新的坐标变换方法,以逼真模拟太阳的视运动.     

Serial and parallel processing of visual feature conjunctions

Treisman and others have reported that the visual search for a target distinguished along a single stimulus dimension (for example, colour or shape) is conducted in parallel, whereas the search for an item defined by the conjunction of two stimulus dimensions is conducted serially. For a single dimension the target 'pops out' and the search time is independent of the number of irrelevant items in the set. For conjunctions, the search time increases as the set becomes larger. Thus, it seems that the visual system is incapable of conducting a parallel search over two stimulus dimensions simultaneously. Here we extend this conclusion for the conjunction of motion and colour, showing that it requires a serial search. We also report two exceptions: if one of the dimensions in a conjunctive search is stereoscopic disparity, a second dimension of either colour or motion can be searched in parallel.     

A computational theory for the perception of coherent visual motion

When we see motion, our perception of how one image feature moves depends on the behaviour of other features nearby. In particular, the Gestaltists proposed the law of shared common fate, in which features tend to be perceived as moving together, that is, coherently. Recent psychophysical findings, such as the cooperativity of the motion system and motion capture, support this law. Computationally, coherence is a sensible assumption, because if two features are close then they probably belong to the same object and thus tend to move together. Moreover, the measurement of local motion may be inaccurate and so the integration of motion information over large areas may help to improve the performance. Present theories of visual motion, however, do not account fully for these coherent motion percepts. We propose here a theory that does account for these phenomena and also provides a solution to the aperture problem, where the local information in the image flow is insufficient to specify the motion uniquely.     

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.     

初级视觉信息处理机理与多分辨分析

详细阐述了初级视觉信息处理的生理过程,并将其信息处理机制与多分辨分析方法对应起来,提出了基于小波的计算机初级视觉信息处理机制.     

Influence of the thalamus on spatial visual processing in frontal cortex

Each of our movements activates our own sensory receptors, and therefore keeping track of self-movement is a necessary part of analysing sensory input. One way in which the brain keeps track of self-movement is by monitoring an internal copy, or corollary discharge, of motor commands. This concept could explain why we perceive a stable visual world despite our frequent quick, or saccadic, eye movements: corollary discharge about each saccade would permit the visual system to ignore saccade-induced visual changes. The critical missing link has been the connection between corollary discharge and visual processing. Here we show that such a link is formed by a corollary discharge from the thalamus that targets the frontal cortex. In the thalamus, neurons in the mediodorsal nucleus relay a corollary discharge of saccades from the midbrain superior colliculus to the cortical frontal eye field. In the frontal eye field, neurons use corollary discharge to shift their visual receptive fields spatially before saccades. We tested the hypothesis that these two components-a pathway for corollary discharge and neurons with shifting receptive fields-form a circuit in which the corollary discharge drives the shift. First we showed that the known spatial and temporal properties of the corollary discharge predict the dynamic changes in spatial visual processing of cortical neurons when saccades are made. Then we moved from this correlation to causation by isolating single cortical neurons and showing that their spatial visual processing is impaired when corollary discharge from the thalamus is interrupted. Thus the visual processing of frontal neurons is spatiotemporally matched with, and functionally dependent on, corollary discharge input from the thalamus. These experiments establish the first link between corollary discharge and visual processing, delineate a brain circuit that is well suited for mediating visual stability, and provide a framework for studying corollary discharge in other sensory systems.     

Neuronal properties underlying processing of visual information in the barnacle.

Generation of a transient, amplified response to the dimming of light in the visual system of the barnacle involves two synaptic stages. It is accomplished primarily by decrementally conducting neurones that are similar to bipolar cells of the vertebrate retina.     

稳态运动视觉诱发电位的诱发及在脑机接口中的应用进展

基于稳态运动视觉诱发电位(SSMVEP)的脑机接口(BCI)能够减少使用者的视觉疲劳,但其信号强度和系统性能仍不能代替基于稳态视觉诱发电位(SSVEP)的BCI.本文对提高SSMVEP信噪比的两种思路以及SSMVEP在BCI中的应用进行了综述.首先归纳和总结了影响SSMVEP诱导和性能的3个主要因素,即运动视觉刺激方式...     

基于运动估值的视频帧处理方案

提出一种视频帧处理方案，通过这种处理可以有效降低视频传输比特率和改善视觉效果。对快速运动的图像序列，为了改善视觉效果，可以根据运动估值的大小，自适应地插入若干中间过渡帧。过渡帧用插值算法得到。