Abstract
Current views of the visual system assume that the primate brain analyses form and motion along largely independent pathways1; they provide no insight into why form is sometimes interpreted as motion. In a series of psychophysical and electrophysiological experiments in humans and macaques, here we show that some form information is processed in the prototypical motion areas of the superior temporal sulcus (STS). First, we show that STS cells respond to dynamic Glass patterns2, which contain no coherent motion but suggest a path of motion3. Second, we show that when motion signals conflict with form signals suggesting a different path of motion, both humans and monkeys perceive motion in a compromised direction. This compromise also has a correlate in the responses of STS cells, which alter their direction preferences in the presence of conflicting implied motion information. We conclude that cells in the prototypical motion areas in the dorsal visual cortex process form that implies motion. Estimating motion by combining motion cues with form cues may be a strategy to deal with the complexities of motion perception in our natural environment.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. Constanza, D. Diep, L. Abavare and M. Bronzel for technical assistance, C. Distler for the surgeries, and G. Stoner and T. Albright for comments and discussions. The Human Frontiers Science Program and the Australian Research Council supported this work financially.
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Krekelberg, B., Dannenberg, S., Hoffmann, KP. et al. Neural correlates of implied motion. Nature 424, 674–677 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01852
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01852
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