scholarly journals Identification of the ventral occipital visual field maps in the human brain

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Winawer ◽  
Nathan Witthoft
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Polar Angle ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Retinotopic Mapping ◽  
Collateral Sulcus ◽  
Anatomical Images ◽  
Visual Field Maps ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri

The location and topography of the first three visual field maps in the human brain, V1-V3, are well agreed upon and routinely measured across most laboratories. The position of 4th visual field map, "hV4", is identified with less consistency in the neuroimaging literature. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, we describe landmarks to help identify the position and borders of hV4. The data consist of anatomical images, visualized as cortical meshes to highlight the sulcal and gyral patterns, and functional data obtained from retinotopic mapping experiments, visualized as eccentricity and angle maps on the cortical surface. Several features of the functional and anatomical data can be found across nearly all subjects and are helpful for identifying the location and extent of the hV4 map. The medial border of hV4 is shared with the posterior, ventral portion of V3, and is marked by a retinotopic representation of the upper vertical meridian. The anterior border of hV4 is shared with the VO-1 map, and falls on a retinotopic representation of the peripheral visual field, usually coincident with the posterior transverse collateral sulcus. The ventro-lateral edge of the map typically falls on the inferior occipital gyrus, where functional MRI artifacts often obscure the retinotopic data. Finally, we demonstrate the continuity of retinotopic parameters between hV4 and its neighbors; hV4 and V3v contain iso-eccentricity lines in register, whereas hV4 and VO-1 contain iso-polar angle lines in register. Together, the multiple constraints allow for a consistent identification of the hV4 map across most human subjects.

scholarly journals Identification of the ventral occipital visual field maps in the human brain

F1000Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Winawer ◽  
Nathan Witthoft
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Polar Angle ◽  
Imaging Data ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Retinotopic Mapping ◽  
Collateral Sulcus ◽  
Anatomical Images ◽  
Visual Field Maps

The location and topography of the first three visual field maps in the human brain, V1-V3, are well agreed upon and routinely measured across most laboratories. The position of 4th visual field map, ‘hV4’, is identified with less consistency in the neuroimaging literature.  Using magnetic resonance imaging data, we describe landmarks to help identify the position and borders of ‘hV4’. The data consist of anatomical images, visualized as cortical meshes to highlight the sulcal and gyral patterns, and functional data obtained from retinotopic mapping experiments, visualized as eccentricity and angle maps on the cortical surface. Several features of the functional and anatomical data can be found across nearly all subjects and are helpful for identifying the location and extent of the hV4 map. The medial border of hV4 is shared with the posterior, ventral portion of V3, and is marked by a retinotopic representation of the upper vertical meridian. The anterior border of hV4 is shared with the VO-1 map, and falls on a retinotopic representation of the peripheral visual field, usually coincident with the posterior transverse collateral sulcus. The ventro-lateral edge of the map typically falls on the inferior occipital gyrus, where functional MRI artifacts often obscure the retinotopic data. Finally, we demonstrate the continuity of retinotopic parameters between hV4 and its neighbors; hV4 and V3v contain iso-eccentricity lines in register, whereas hV4 and VO-1 contain iso-polar angle lines in register. Together, the multiple constraints allow for a consistent identification of the hV4 map across most human subjects.

scholarly journals Asymmetries in visual acuity around the visual field

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Barbot ◽  
Shutian Xue ◽  
Marisa Carrasco
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Psychometric Function ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Polar Angle ◽  
Angular Distance ◽  
Human Vision ◽  
Gradual Change ◽  
Vertical Meridian

Human vision is heterogeneous around the visual field. At a fixed eccentricity, performance is better along the horizontal than the vertical meridian, and along the lower than the upper vertical meridian. These asymmetric patterns, termed performance fields, have been found in numerous visual tasks, including those mediated by contrast sensitivity and spatial resolution. However, it is unknown whether spatial resolution asymmetries are confined to the cardinal meridians or whether, and how far, they extend into the upper and lower hemifields. Here, we measured visual acuity at isoeccentric peripheral locations (10 deg eccentricity), every 15º of polar angle. On each trial, observers judged the orientation (±45º) of one out of four equidistant, suprathreshold grating stimuli varying in spatial frequency (SF). On each block, we measured performance as a function of stimulus SF at 4 out of 24 isoeccentric locations. We estimated the 75%-correct SF threshold, SF cutoff point (i.e., chance-level) and slope of the psychometric function for each location. We found higher SF estimates –i.e., better acuity– for the horizontal than the vertical meridian, and for the lower than the upper vertical meridian. These asymmetries were most pronounced at the cardinal meridians and decreased gradually as the angular distance from the vertical meridian increased. This gradual change in acuity with polar angle reflected a shift of the psychometric function without changes in slope. The same pattern was found under binocular and monocular viewing conditions. These findings advance our understanding of visual processing around the visual field and help constrain models of visual perception.

scholarly journals Cortical Magnification in Human Visual Cortex Parallels Task Performance around the Visual Field

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah C Benson ◽  
Eline R Kupers ◽  
Antoine Babot ◽  
Marisa Carrasco ◽  
Jonathan Winawer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Polar Angle ◽  
Monozygotic Twin ◽  
Human Vision ◽  
Retinal Cell ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Cortical Magnification ◽  
Cell Densities ◽  
And Behavior

Human vision has striking radial asymmetries, with performance on many tasks varying sharply with stimulus polar angle. Performance is generally better on the horizontal than vertical meridian, and on the lower than upper vertical meridian, and these asymmetries decrease gradually with deviation from the vertical meridian. Here we report cortical magnification at a fine angular resolution around the visual field. This precision enables comparisons between cortical magnification and behavior, between cortical magnification and retinal cell densities, and between cortical magnification in twin pairs. We show that cortical magnification in human primary visual cortex, measured in 163 subjects, varies substantially around the visual field, with a pattern similar to behavior. These radial asymmetries in cortex are larger than those found in the retina, and they are correlated between monozygotic twin pairs. These findings indicate a tight link between cortical topography and behavior, and suggest that visual field asymmetries are partly heritable.

scholarly journals Visual Field Maps, Population Receptive Field Sizes, and Visual Field Coverage in the Human MT+ Complex

2009 ◽  
Vol 102 (5) ◽  
pp. 2704-2718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaoru Amano ◽  
Brian A. Wandell ◽  
Serge O. Dumoulin
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Progressive Increase ◽  
Human Motion ◽  
Complete Characterization ◽  
Lower Visual Field ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Visual Field Maps

Human neuroimaging experiments typically localize motion-selective cortex (MT+) by contrasting responses to stationary and moving stimuli. It has long been suspected that MT+, located on the lateral surface at the temporal–occipital (TO) boundary, contains several distinct visual field maps, although only one coarse map has been measured. Using a novel functional MRI model–based method we identified two maps—TO-1 and TO-2—and measured population receptive field (pRF) sizes within these maps. The angular representation of the first map, TO-1, has a lower vertical meridian on its posterior side at the boundary with the lateral–occipital cortex (i.e., the LO-2 portion). The angular representation continues through horizontal to the upper vertical meridian at the boundary with the second map, TO-2. The TO-2 angle map reverses from upper to lower visual field at increasingly anterior positions. The TO maps share a parallel eccentricity map in which center-to-periphery is represented in the ventral-to-dorsal direction; both maps have an expanded foveal representation. There is a progressive increase in the pRF size from V1/2/3 to LO-1/2 and TO-1/2, with the largest pRF sizes in TO-2. Further, within each map the pRF size increases as a function of eccentricity. The visual field coverage of both maps extends into the ipsilateral visual field, with larger sensitivity to peripheral ipsilateral stimuli in TO-2 than that in TO-1. The TO maps provide a functional segmentation of human motion-sensitive cortex that enables a more complete characterization of processing in human motion-selective cortex.

scholarly journals Cortical Magnification in Human Visual Cortex Parallels Task Performance around the Visual Field

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah C. Benson ◽  
Eline R. Kupers ◽  
Antoine Barbot ◽  
Marisa Carrasco ◽  
Jonathan Winawer
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Polar Angle ◽  
Monozygotic Twin ◽  
Human Vision ◽  
Retinal Cell ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Cortical Magnification ◽  
Cell Densities ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractHuman vision has striking radial asymmetries, with performance on many tasks varying sharply with stimulus polar angle. Performance is better on the horizontal than vertical meridian, and on the lower than upper vertical meridian, and these asymmetries decrease gradually with deviation from the vertical meridian. Here we report cortical magnification at a fine angular resolution around the visual field. This precision enables comparisons between cortical magnification and behavior, between cortical magnification and retinal cell densities, and between cortical magnification in twin pairs. We show that cortical magnification in human primary visual cortex, measured in 181 subjects, varies around the visual field, with a pattern similar to behavior. We find that these cortical asymmetries are larger than those found in the retina, and that they are correlated between monozygotic twin pairs. These novel findings indicate a tight link between cortical topography and behavior, and suggest that visual field asymmetries are, at least in part, heritable.

scholarly journals Retinotopic Organization of Scene Areas in Macaque Inferior Temporal Cortex

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Arcaro ◽  
Margaret S. Livingstone
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Polar Angle ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Inferior Temporal Cortex ◽  
Primate Species ◽  
Retinotopic Maps ◽  
Mirror Reversal ◽  
Visual Field Maps

ABSTRACTPrimates have specialized domains in inferior temporal (IT) cortex that are responsive to particular image categories. Though IT traditionally has been regarded as lacking retinotopy, several recent studies in monkeys have shown that retinotopic maps extend to face patches along the lower bank of the superior temporal sulcus (STS) in IT cortex. Here, we confirm the presence of visual field maps within and around the lower bank of the STS and extend these prior findings to scene-selective cortex in the ventral-most regions of IT. Within the occipito-temporal sulcus (OTS), we identified two retinotopic areas, OTS1 and OTS2. The polar angle representation of OTS2 was a mirror reversal of the OTS1 representation. These regions contained representations of the contralateral periphery and were selectively active for scene vs. face, body, or object images. The extent of this retinotopy parallels that in humans and shows that the organization of the scene network is preserved across primate species. In addition retinotopic maps were identified in dorsal extrastriate, posterior parietal, and frontal cortex as well as the thalamus, including both the LGN and pulvinar. Taken together, it appears that most, if not all, of the macaque visual system contains organized representations of visual space.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTPrimates have specialized domains in inferior temporal (IT) cortex that are responsive to particular image categories. Though retinotopic maps are considered a fundamental organizing principle of posterior visual cortex, IT traditionally has been regarded as lacking retinotopy. Recent imaging studies have demonstrated the presence of several visual field maps within lateral IT. Using neuroimaging, we found multiple representations of visual space within ventral IT cortex of macaques that included scene-selective IT cortex. The scene domains were biased towards the peripheral visual field. These data demonstrate the prevalence of visual field maps throughout the primate visual system, including late stages in the ventral visual hierarchy, and support the idea that domains representing different categories are biased towards different parts of the visual field.

Topographically specific functional connectivity between visual field maps in the human brain

NeuroImage ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 1426-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jakob Heinzle ◽  
Thorsten Kahnt ◽  
John-Dylan Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Visual Field Maps

scholarly journals Linking individual differences in human V1 to perception around the visual field

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Himmelberg ◽  
Jonathan Winawer ◽  
Marisa Carrasco
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Contrast Sensitivity ◽  
Polar Angle ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Ideal Model ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Perceptual Contrast ◽  
Cortical Magnification ◽  
Ideal Model System

Abstract A central question in neuroscience is how the organization of cortical maps relates to perception, for which human primary visual cortex (V1) is an ideal model system. V1 nonuniformly samples the retinal image, with greater cortical magnification (surface area per degree of visual field) at the fovea than periphery, and at the horizontal than vertical meridian. Moreover, the size and organization of V1 differs greatly across individuals. Here, we used fMRI and psychophysics in the same individuals to quantify individual differences in V1 cortical magnification and perceptual contrast sensitivity at the four polar angle meridians. Across individuals, the overall size of V1 and localized cortical magnification both positively correlated with contrast sensitivity. Moreover, increases in cortical magnification and contrast sensitivity at the horizontal compared to the vertical meridian were strongly correlated. These data reveal a tight link between cortical anatomy and visual perception at the level of individual observer and stimulus location.

Effect of temporal sparseness and dichoptic presentation on multifocal visual evoked potentials

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW C. JAMES ◽  
RASA RUSECKAITE ◽  
TED MADDESS
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Signal To Noise ◽  
Recording Time ◽  
Contrast Gain ◽  
Upper Visual Field ◽  
Multifocal Vep ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
Time Decomposition ◽  
Peak Value

Multifocal VEP (mfVEP) responses were obtained from 13 normal human subjects for nine test conditions, covering three viewing conditions (dichoptic and left and right monocular), and three different temporal stimulation forms (rapid contrast reversal, rapid pattern pulse presentation, and slow pattern pulse presentation). The rapid contrast reversal stimulus had pseudorandomized reversals of checkerboards in each visual field region at a mean rate of 25 reversals/s, similar to most mfVEP studies to date. The rapid pattern pulse presentation had pseudorandomized presentations of a checkerboard for one frame, interspersed with uniform grey frames, with a mean rate of 25 presentations/s per region per eye. The slow pattern pulse stimulus had six presentations/s per region per eye. Recording time was 5.3 min/condition. For dichoptic presentation slow pattern pulse responses were 4.6 times larger in amplitude than the contrast reversal responses. Binocular suppression was greatest for the contrast reversal stimulus. Consideration of the signal-to-noise ratios indicated that to achieve a given level of reliability, slow pattern pulse stimuli would require half the recording time of contrast reversal stimuli for monocular viewing, and 0.4 times the recording time for dichoptically presented stimuli. About half the responses to the slow pattern pulse stimuli had peak value exceeding five times their estimated standard error. Responses were about 20% smaller in the upper visual field locations. Space–time decomposition showed that responses to slow pattern pulse were more consistent across visual field locations. We conclude that the pattern pulse stimuli, which we term temporally sparse, maintain the visual system in a high contrast gain state. This more than compensates for the smaller number of presentations in the run, and provides signal-to-noise advantages that may be valuable in clinical application.

Foveal Attention Modulates Responses to Peripheral Stimuli

2000 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 2443-2452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simo Vanni ◽  
Kimmo Uutela
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Peripheral Vision ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Frontal Eye Field ◽  
L1 Norm ◽  
Luminance Stimulus ◽  
The Right

When attending to a visual object, peripheral stimuli must be monitored for appropriate redirection of attention and gaze. Earlier work has revealed precentral and posterior parietal activation when attention has been directed to peripheral vision. We wanted to find out whether similar cortical areas are active when stimuli are presented in nonattended regions of the visual field. The timing and distribution of neuromagnetic responses to a peripheral luminance stimulus were studied in human subjects with and without attention to fixation. Cortical current distribution was analyzed with a minimum L1-norm estimate. Attention enhanced responses 100–160 ms after the stimulus onset in the right precentral cortex, close to the known location of the right frontal eye field. In subjects whose right precentral region was not distinctly active before 160 ms, focused attention commonly enhanced right inferior parietal responses between 180 and 240 ms, whereas in the subjects with clear earlier precentral response no parietal enhancement was detected. In control studies both attended and nonattended stimuli in the peripheral visual field evoked the right precentral response, whereas during auditory attention the visual stimuli failed to evoke such response. These results show that during focused visual attention the right precentral cortex is sensitive to stimuli in all parts of the visual field. A rapid response suggests bypassing of elaborate analysis of stimulus features, possibly to encode target location for a saccade or redirection of attention. In addition, load for frontal and parietal nodi of the attentional network seem to vary between individuals.

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