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The Journal of Neuroscience, July 1, 2001, 21(13):4809-4821
Perceptually Bistable Three-Dimensional Figures Evoke High
Choice Probabilities in Cortical Area MT
Jonathan V.
Dodd,
Kristine
Krug,
Bruce G.
Cumming, and
Andrew J.
Parker
University Laboratory of Physiology, Oxford OX1 3PT, United Kingdom
The role of the primate middle temporal area (MT) in depth
perception was examined by considering the trial-to-trial correlations between neuronal activity and reported depth sensations. A set of
moving random dots portrayed a cylinder rotating about its principal
axis. In this structure-from-motion stimulus, the direction of rotation
is ambiguous and the resulting percept undergoes spontaneous fluctuations. The stimulus can be rendered unambiguous by the addition
of binocular disparities. We trained monkeys to report the direction of
rotation in a set of these stimuli, one of which had zero disparity.
Many disparity-selective neurons in area MT are selective for the
direction of rotation defined by disparity. Across repeated
presentations of the ambiguous (zero-disparity) stimulus, there was a
correlation between neuronal firing and the reported direction of
rotation, as found by Bradley et al. (1998).
Quantification of this effect using choice probabilities (Britten et al., 1996) allowed us to demonstrate that
the correlation cannot be explained by eye movements, behavioral
biases, or attention to spatial location. MT neurons therefore appear
to be involved in the perceptual decision process. The mean choice
probability (0.67) was substantially larger than that reported for MT
neurons in a direction discrimination task (Britten et al.,
1996). This implies that MT neurons make a different
contribution to the two tasks. For the depth task, either the pool of
neurons used is smaller or the correlation between neurons in the pool
is larger.
Key words:
depth perception; kinetic depth effect; choice
probability; cortical area MT; awake macaque; electrophysiology; stereopsis
Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/01/21134809-13$05.00/0
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