Visual cortex allows prediction of perceptual states during ambiguous structure-from-motion.

Full Abstract

We investigated the role of retinotopic visual cortex and motion-sensitive areas in representing the content of visual awareness during ambiguous structure-from-motion (SFM), using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate statistics (support vector machines). Our results indicate that prediction of perceptual states can be very accurate for data taken from dorsal visual areas V3A, V4D, V7, and MT+ and for parietal areas responsive to SFM, but to a lesser extent for other visual areas. Generalization of prediction was possible, because prediction accuracy was significantly better than chance for both an unambiguous stimulus and a different experimental design. Detailed analysis of eye movements revealed that strategic and even encouraged beneficial eye movements were not the cause of the prediction accuracy based on cortical activation. We conclude that during perceptual rivalry, neural correlates of visual awareness can be found in retinotopic visual cortex, MT+, and parietal cortex. We argue that the organization of specific motion-sensitive neurons creates detectable biases in the preferred direction selectivity of voxels, allowing prediction of perceptual states. During perceptual rivalry, retinotopic visual cortex, in particular higher-tier dorsal areas like V3A and V7, actively represents the content the visual awareness.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Brouwer, Gijs Joost (GJ); van Ee, Raymond (R);

Affiliation: Helmholtz Institute, University of Utrecht, 3584 CC Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience (J Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Jan; vol 27 (issue 5) : pp 1015-23

Dates: Created 2007/02/01; Completed 2007/03/16;

PMID: 17267555, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Brain Mapping - methods
Eye Movements - physiology
Humans
Motion Perception - physiology
Photic Stimulation - methods

Photic Stimulation - methods
Predictive Value of Tests
Psychomotor Performance - physiology
Visual Cortex - physiology
Visual Fields - physiology

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.