QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (26) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Kayaert, G. Articles by Vogels, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kayaert, G. Articles by Vogels, R.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

The Journal of Neuroscience, April 1, 2003, 23(7):3016

Shape Tuning in Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex

Greet Kayaert¹, Irving Biederman², and Rufin Vogels¹

¹ Laboratory Neuro-en Psychofysiologie, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Medical School, B3000 Leuven, Belgium, and ² Department of Psychology and Neuroscience Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90098-2520

Neurons in the inferior temporal cortex (IT) of the macaque fire more strongly to some shapes than others, but little is known about how to characterize this shape tuning more generally, because most previous studies have used somewhat arbitrary variations in the stimuli with unspecified magnitudes of the changes. The present investigation studied the modulation of IT cells to nonaccidental property (NAP, i.e., invariant to orientations in depth) and metric property (MP, i.e., depth dependent) variations of dimensions of generalized cones (a general formalism for characterizing shapes hypothesized to mediate object recognition). Changes in an NAP resulted in greater neuronal modulation than equally large pixel-wise changes in an MP (including those consisting of a rotation in depth). There was also precise and highly systematic neuronal tuning to the quantitative variations of MPs along specific dimensions to which a neuron was sensitive. The NAP advantage was independent of whether the object was composed of only a single part or had two parts. These findings indicate that qualitative shape changes such as NAPs help explain the surplus amount of IT shape sensitivity that cannot be accounted for on the basis of metric or pixel-based changes alone. This NAP advantage may provide the neural basis for the greater detectability of NAP compared with MP changes in human psychophysics.

Key words: macaque; inferior temporal; visual cortex; object recognition; shape; extrastriate

---

Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/03/2373016-12$05.00/0

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. Liu, S. O. Murray, and B. Jagadeesh Time Course and Stimulus Dependence of Repetition-Induced Response Suppression in Inferotemporal Cortex J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2009; 101(1): 418 - 436. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. P. Op de Beeck, K. Torfs, and J. Wagemans Perceived Shape Similarity among Unfamiliar Objects and the Organization of the Human Object Vision Pathway J. Neurosci., October 1, 2008; 28(40): 10111 - 10123. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. De Baene, B. Ons, J. Wagemans, and R. Vogels Effects of category learning on the stimulus selectivity of macaque inferior temporal neurons Learn. Mem., August 26, 2008; 15(9): 717 - 727. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Haushofer, C. I. Baker, M. S. Livingstone, and N. Kanwisher Privileged Coding of Convex Shapes in Human Object-Selective Cortex J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2008; 100(2): 753 - 762. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. P. Op de Beeck, J. A. Deutsch, W. Vanduffel, N. G. Kanwisher, and J. J. DiCarlo A Stable Topography of Selectivity for Unfamiliar Shape Classes in Monkey Inferior Temporal Cortex Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2008; 18(7): 1676 - 1694. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Schultz, L. Chuang, and Q. C. Vuong A Dynamic Object-Processing Network: Metric Shape Discrimination of Dynamic Objects by Activation of Occipitotemporal, Parietal, and Frontal Cortices Cereb Cortex, June 1, 2008; 18(6): 1302 - 1313. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. A. Orban Higher Order Visual Processing in Macaque Extrastriate Cortex Physiol Rev, January 1, 2008; 88(1): 59 - 89. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Allred, Y. Liu, and B. Jagadeesh Selectivity of Inferior Temporal Neurons for Realistic Pictures Predicted by Algorithms for Image Database Navigation J Neurophysiol, December 1, 2005; 94(6): 4068 - 4081. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Kayaert, I. Biederman, and R. Vogels Representation of Regular and Irregular Shapes in Macaque Inferotemporal Cortex Cereb Cortex, September 1, 2005; 15(9): 1308 - 1321. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. C. Anderson and R. M. Siegel Three-dimensional Structure-from-motion Selectivity in the Anterior Superior Temporal Polysensory Area, STPa, of the Behaving Monkey Cereb Cortex, September 1, 2005; 15(9): 1299 - 1307. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. B. Averbeck and L. M. Romanski Principal and Independent Components of Macaque Vocalizations: Constructing Stimuli to Probe High-Level Sensory Processing J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2004; 91(6): 2897 - 2909. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help