Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Neural representation of transparent overlay

Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 283–284 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Perceptual transparency is a surprising phenomenon in which a number of regions of different shades organize into overlaying transparent objects. We recorded single neuron responses from Macaca mulatta area V2 to a display of two bright and two dark squares that appeared as two overlaying bars. We found that neurons assign border ownership according to the transparent interpretation, representing the shapes of the bars rather than the squares.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Neural border ownership assignment in situations of transparent overlay.
Figure 2: The influence of transparency cues on neural border ownership signals in V2.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Metelli, F. Sci. Am. 230, 91–98 (1974).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Beck, J., Prazdny, K. & Ivry, R. Percept. Psychophys. 35, 407–422 (1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Adelson, E.H. The New Cognitive Neurosciences (ed. Gazzaniga, M.) 339–351 (MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Stoner, G.R. & Albright, T.D. Nature 358, 412–414 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Zhou, H., Friedman, H.S. & von der Heydt, R. J. Neurosci. 20, 6594–6611 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Qiu, F.T. & von der Heydt, R. Neuron 47, 155–166 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Nakayama, K., Shimojo, S. & Silverman, G.H. Perception 18, 55–68 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Nakayama, K., Shimojo, S. & Ramachandran, V.S. Perception 19, 497–513 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Adelson, E.H. & Anandan, P. Proceedings of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence Workshop on Qualitative Vision, Boston, MA, 1990, 77–81.

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank O. Garalde for technical assistance. This research was supported by US National Institutes of Health grant R01 EY02966.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Krieger Mind/Brain Institute and Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, 21218, Maryland, USA

    Fangtu T Qiu & Rüdiger von der Heydt

Authors
  1. Fangtu T Qiu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rüdiger von der Heydt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rüdiger von der Heydt.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Qiu, F., von der Heydt, R. Neural representation of transparent overlay. Nat Neurosci 10, 283–284 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1853

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1853

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing