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Volume 16, Number 19,
Issue of October 1, 1996
pp. 6265-6285
Copyright ©1996 Society for Neuroscience
Optic Flow Processing in Monkey STS: A Theoretical and
Experimental Approach
Received Feb. 5, 1996; revised May 31, 1996; accepted July 11, 1996.
Markus Lappe,
Frank Bremmer,
Martin Pekel,
Alexander Thiele, and
Klaus-Peter Hoffmann
Department of Zoology and Neurobiology, Ruhr University Bochum,
D-44780 Bochum, Germany
How does the brain process visual information about self-motion? In
monkey cortex, the analysis of visual motion is performed by successive
areas specialized in different aspects of motion processing. Whereas
neurons in the middle temporal (MT) area are direction-selective for
local motion, neurons in the medial superior temporal (MST) area
respond to motion patterns. A neural network model attempts to link
these properties to the psychophysics of human heading detection from
optic flow. It proposes that populations of neurons represent specific
directions of heading. We quantitatively compared single-unit
recordings in area MST with single-neuron simulations in this model.
Predictions were derived from simulations and subsequently tested in
recorded neurons. Neuronal activities depended on the position of the
singular point in the optic flow. Best responses to opposing motions
occurred for opposite locations of the singular point in the visual
field. Excitation by one type of motion is paired with inhibition by
the opposite motion. Activity maxima often occur for peripheral
singular points. The averaged recorded shape of the response
modulations is sigmoidal, which is in agreement with model predictions.
We also tested whether the activity of the neuronal population in MST
can represent the directions of heading in our stimuli. A simple
least-mean-square minimization could retrieve the direction of heading
from the neuronal activities with a precision of 4.3°. Our results
show good agreement between the proposed model and the neuronal
responses in area MST and further support the hypothesis that area MST
is involved in visual navigation.
Key words:
visual motion;
self-motion;
heading;
monkey;
visual
cortex;
modeling
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