scholarly journals Comparison of the Spatial Limits on Direction Selectivity in Visual Areas MT and V1

2005 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 1235-1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark M. Churchland ◽  
Nicholas J. Priebe ◽  
Stephen G. Lisberger
Keyword(s):  
Apparent Motion ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Spatial Separation ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Temporal Separation ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
The Difference

We recorded responses to apparent motion from directionally selective neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) of anesthetized monkeys and middle temporal area (MT) of awake monkeys. Apparent motion consisted of multiple stationary stimulus flashes presented in sequence, characterized by their temporal separation (Δ t) and spatial separation (Δ x). Stimuli were 8° square patterns of 100% correlated random dots that moved at apparent speeds of 16 or 32°/s. For both V1 and MT, the difference between the response to the preferred and null directions declined with increasing flash separation. For each neuron, we estimated the maximum flash separation for which directionally selective responses were observed. For the range of speeds we used, Δ x provided a better description of the limitation on directional responses than did Δ t. When comparing MT and V1 neurons of similar preferred speed, there was no difference in the maximum Δ x between our samples from the two areas. In both V1 and MT, the great majority of neurons had maximal values of Δ x in the 0.25–1° range. Mean values were almost identical between the two areas. For most neurons, larger flash separations led to both weaker responses to the preferred direction and increased responses to the opposite direction. The former mechanism was slightly more dominant in MT and the latter slightly more dominant in V1. We conclude that V1 and MT neurons lose direction selectivity for similar values of Δ x, supporting the hypothesis that basic direction selectivity in MT is inherited from V1, at least over the range of stimulus speeds represented by both areas.

scholarly journals Weighting neurons by selectivity produces near-optimal population codes

2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 1924-1937
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Zavitz ◽  
Nicholas S. C. Price
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Maximum Level ◽  
Optimization Methods ◽  
Neuronal Population ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Linear Discriminant ◽  
Preferred Direction

Perception is produced by “reading out” the representation of a sensory stimulus contained in the activity of a population of neurons. To examine experimentally how populations code information, a common approach is to decode a linearly weighted sum of the neurons’ spike counts. This approach is popular because of the biological plausibility of weighted, nonlinear integration. For neurons recorded in vivo, weights are highly variable when derived through optimization methods, but it is unclear how the variability affects decoding performance in practice. To address this, we recorded from neurons in the middle temporal area (MT) of anesthetized marmosets ( Callithrix jacchus) viewing stimuli comprising a sheet of dots that moved coherently in 1 of 12 different directions. We found that high peak response and direction selectivity both predicted that a neuron would be weighted more highly in an optimized decoding model. Although learned weights differed markedly from weights chosen according to a priori rules based on a neuron’s tuning profile, decoding performance was only marginally better for the learned weights. In the models with a priori rules, selectivity is the best predictor of weighting, and defining weights according to a neuron’s preferred direction and selectivity improves decoding performance to very near the maximum level possible, as defined by the learned weights. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We examined which aspects of a neuron’s tuning account for its contribution to sensory coding. Strongly direction-selective neurons are weighted most highly by optimal decoders trained to discriminate motion direction. Models with predefined decoding weights demonstrate that this weighting scheme causally improved direction representation by a neuronal population. Optimizing decoders (using a generalized linear model or Fisher’s linear discriminant) led to only marginally better performance than decoders based purely on a neuron’s preferred direction and selectivity.

Neural responses to visual texture patterns in middle temporal area of the macaque monkey

1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 164-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. Olavarria ◽  
E. A. DeYoe ◽  
J. J. Knierim ◽  
J. M. Fox ◽  
D. C. van Essen
Keyword(s):  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Orientation Contrast ◽  
Background Texture ◽  
Moving Texture

1. We studied how neurons in the middle temporal visual area (MT) of anesthetized macaque monkeys responded to textured and nontextured visual stimuli. Stimuli contained a central rectangular ,figure- that was either uniform in luminance or consisted of an array of oriented line segments. The figure moved at constant velocity in one of four orthogonal directions. The region surrounding the figure was either uniform in luminance or contained a texture array (whose elements were identical or orthogonal in orientation to those of the figure), and it either was stationary or moved along with the figure. 2. A textured figure moving across a stationary textured background (,texture bar- stimulus) often elicited vigorous neural responses, but, on average, the responses to texture bars were significantly smaller than to solid (uniform luminance) bars. 3. Many cells showed direction selectivity that was similar for both texture bars and solid bars. However, on average, the direction selectivity measured when texture bars were used was significantly smaller than that for solid bars, and many cells lost significant direction selectivity altogether. The reduction in direction selectivity for texture bars generally reflected a combination of decreased responsiveness in the preferred direction and increased responsiveness in the null (opposite to preferred) direction. 4. Responses to a texture bar in the absence of a texture background (,texture bar alone-) were very similar to the responses to solid bars both in the magnitude of response and in the degree of direction selectivity. Conversely, adding a static texture surround to a moving solid bar reduced direction selectivity on average without a reduction in response magnitude. These results indicate that the static surround is largely responsible for the differences in direction selectivity for texture bars versus solid bars. 5. In the majority of MT cells studied, responses to a moving texture bar were largely independent of whether the elements in the bar were of the same orientation as the background elements or of the orthogonal orientation. Thus, for the class of stimuli we used, orientation contrast does not markedly affect the responses of MT neurons to moving texture patterns. 6. The optimum figure length and the shapes of the length tuning curves determined with the use of solid bars and texture bars differed significantly in most of the cells examined. Thus neurons in MT are not simply selective for a particular figure shape independent of whatever cues are used to delineate the figure.

Motion selectivity in macaque visual cortex. III. Psychophysics and physiology of apparent motion

1986 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 1340-1351 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. T. Newsome ◽  
A. Mikami ◽  
R. H. Wurtz
Keyword(s):  
Apparent Motion ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Preceding Paper ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Physiological Data ◽  
Area Mt ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Psychophysical Data ◽  
Spatial Interval

We have conducted physiological and psychophysical experiments to identify possible neural substrates of the perception of apparent motion. We used identical sequences of flashed stimuli in both sets of experiments to better compare the responses of cortical neurons and psychophysical observers. Physiological data were obtained from two cortical visual areas, striate cortex (V1) and the middle temporal area (MT). In the previous paper we presented evidence that neuronal thresholds for direction selectivity in extrastriate area MT were similar to psychophysical thresholds for motion perception at the largest effective interflash interval, and thus speed, for a given eccentricity. We now examine physiological and psychophysical thresholds for a broad range of speeds to determine whether such a correspondence exists for speeds below the upper threshold considered in the previous paper. Stimuli were presented in stroboscopic motion of constant apparent speed while the spatial and temporal interflash intervals were systematically varied. For each neuron we measured the largest spatial interval that elicited directionally selective responses at each of several apparent speeds. We calculated the composite performance of neurons in both MT and V1 by averaging the spatial interval necessary for direction selectivity at each apparent speed. We employed the same apparent-motion stimuli for psychophysical experiments with human subjects in which we measured the spatial interval necessary for the perception of motion over a similar range of apparent speeds. We obtained a composite profile of psychophysical performance by averaging thresholds across subjects at each apparent speed. For high apparent speeds, physiological data from MT, but not V1, corresponded closely to the psychophysical data as suggested in the preceding paper. For low apparent speeds, however, physiological data from MT and V1 were similar to each other and to the psychophysical data. It would appear, therefore, that neurons in either V1 or MT could mediate the perceptual effect at low speeds, whereas MT is a stronger candidate for this role at high speeds. We suggest that the neuronal substrate for apparent motion may be distributed over multiple cortical areas, depending upon the speed and spatial interval of the stimulus.

Direction and orientation selectivity of neurons in visual area MT of the macaque

1984 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 1106-1130 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. Albright
Keyword(s):  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Orientation Selectivity ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
Area Mt ◽  
Mt Neurons ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
Moving Stimuli ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Visual Area Mt ◽  
Direction Tuning

We recorded from single neurons in the middle temporal visual area (MT) of the macaque monkey and studied their direction and orientation selectivity. We also recorded from single striate cortex (V1) neurons in order to make direct comparisons with our observations in area MT. All animals were immobilized and anesthetized with nitrous oxide. Direction selectivity of 110 MT neurons was studied with three types of moving stimuli: slits, single spots, and random-dot fields. All of the MT neurons were found to be directionally selective using one or more of these stimuli. MT neurons exhibited a broad range of direction-tuning bandwidths to all stimuli (minimum = 32 degrees, maximum = 186 degrees, mean = 95 degrees). On average, responses were strongly unidirectional and of similar magnitude for all three stimulus types. Orientation selectivity of 89 MT neurons was studied with stationary flashed slits. Eighty-three percent were found to be orientation selective. Overall, orientation-tuning bandwidths were significantly narrower (mean = 64 degrees) than direction-tuning bandwidths for moving stimuli. Moreover, responses to stationary-oriented stimuli were generally smaller than those to moving stimuli. Direction selectivity of 55 V1 neurons was studied with moving slits; orientation selectivity of 52 V1 neurons was studied with stationary flashed slits. In V1, compared with MT, direction-tuning bandwidths were narrower (mean = 68 degrees). Moreover, V1 responses to moving stimuli were weaker, and bidirectional tuning was more common. The mean orientation-tuning bandwidth in V1 was also significantly narrower than that in MT (mean = 52 degrees), but the responses to stationary-oriented stimuli were of similar magnitude in the two areas. We examined the relationship between optimal direction and optimal orientation for MT neurons and found that 61% had an orientation preference nearly perpendicular to the preferred direction of motion, as is the case for all V1 neurons. However, another 29% of MT neurons had an orientation preference roughly parallel to the preferred direction. These observations, when considered together with recent reports claiming sensitivity of some MT neurons to moving visual patterns (39), suggest specific neural mechanisms underlying pattern-motion sensitivity in area MT. These results support the notion that area MT represents a further specialization over area V1 for stimulus motion processing. Furthermore, the marked similarities between direction and orientation tuning in area MT in macaque and owl monkey support the suggestion that these areas are homologues.

scholarly journals The Most Informative Neural Code Accounts For Population Heterogeneity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Zavitz ◽  
Nicholas SC Price
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Maximum Level ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Population Heterogeneity ◽  
Motion Direction ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
Preferred Direction

AbstractPerception is produced by ‘reading out’ the representation of a sensory stimulus contained in the firing rates of a population of neurons. To examine experimentally how populations code information, a common approach is to decode a linearly-weighted sum of the neurons’ firing rates. This approach is popular because of its biological validity: weights in a computational decoder are analogous to synaptic strengths. For neurons recorded in vivo, weights are highly variable when derived through machine learning methods, but it is unclear what neuronal properties explain this variability, and how the variability affects decoding performance. To address this, we recorded from neurons in the middle temporal area (MT) of anesthetized marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) viewing stimuli comprising a sheet of dots that moved coherently in one of twelve different directions. We found that high gain and direction selectivity both predicted that a neuron would be weighted more highly in an optimised decoding model. Although learned weights differed markedly from weights chosen according to a priori rules based on a neuron’s tuning profile, decoding performance was only marginally better for the learned weights. In the models with a priori rules, selectivity is the best predictor of weighting, and defining weights according to a neuron’s preferred direction and selectivity improves decoding performance to very near the maximum level possible, as defined by the learned weights.New & NoteworthyWe examined which aspects of a neuron’s tuning account for its contribution to sensory coding. Strongly direction-selective neurons were weighted most highly by machine learning algorithms trained to discriminate motion direction. Models with a priori defined decoding weights demonstrate that the learned weighting scheme causally improved direction representation by a neuronal population. Optimising decoders (using machine learning) lead to only marginally better performance than decoders based purely on a neuron’s preferred direction and selectivity.

MST Neurons Respond to Optic Flow and Translational Movement

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 1816-1827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles J. Duffy
Keyword(s):  
Optic Flow ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Movement Detection ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Medial Superior Temporal ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Translational Movement ◽  
Mst Neurons ◽  
Best Responses ◽  
Stimulus Direction

Duffy, Charles J. MST neurons respond to optic flow and translational movement . J. Neurophysiol. 80: 1816–1827, 1998. We recorded the responses of 189 medial superior temporal area (MST) neurons by using optic flow, real translational movement, and combined stimuli in which matching directions of optic flow and real translational movement were presented together. One-half of the neurons (48%) showed strong responses to optic flow simulating self-movement in the horizontal plane, and 24% showed strong responses to translational movement. Combining optic flow stimuli with matching directions of translational movement caused substantial changes in both the amplitude of the best responses (44% of neurons) and the strength of direction selectivity (71% of neurons), with little effect on which stimulus direction was preferred. However, combining optic flow and translational movement such that opposite directions were presented together changed the preferred direction in 45% of the neurons with substantial changes in the strength of direction selectivity. These studies suggest that MST neurons combine visual and vestibular signals to enhance self-movement detection and disambiguate optic flow that results from either self-movement or the movement of large objects near the observer.

Motion selectivity in macaque visual cortex. II. Spatiotemporal range of directional interactions in MT and V1

1986 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 1328-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mikami ◽  
W. T. Newsome ◽  
R. H. Wurtz
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Apparent Motion ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Mt Neurons ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
Spatial Interval ◽  
Temporal Intervals

We measured the spatial and temporal limits of directional interactions for 105 directionally selective middle temporal (MT) neurons and 26 directionally selective striate (V1) neurons. Directional interactions were measured using sequentially flashed stimuli in which the spatial and temporal intervals between stimuli were systematically varied over a broad range. A direction index was employed to determine the strength of directional interactions for each combination of spatial and temporal intervals tested. The maximum spatial interval for which directional interactions occurred in a particular neuron was positively correlated with receptive-field size and with retinal eccentricity in both MT and V1. The maximum spatial interval was, on average, three times as large in MT as in V1. The maximum temporal interval for which we obtained directional interactions was similar in MT and V1 and did not vary with receptive-field size or eccentricity. The maximum spatial interval for directional interactions as measured with flashed stimuli was positively correlated with the maximum speed of smooth motion that yielded directional responses. MT neurons were directionally selective for higher speeds than were V1 neurons. These observations indicate that the large receptive fields found in MT permit directional interactions over longer distances than do the more limited receptive fields of V1 neurons. A functional advantage is thereby conferred on MT neurons because they detect directional differences for higher speeds than do V1 neurons. Recent psychophysical studies have measured the spatial and temporal limits for the perception of apparent motion in sequentially flashed visual displays. A comparison of the psychophysical results with our physiological data indicates that the spatiotemporal limits for perception are similar to the limits for direction selectivity in MT neurons but differ markedly from those for V1 neurons. These observations suggest a correspondence between neuronal responses in MT and the short-range process of apparent motion.

Seasonal trends in the stable isotopic composition of snow and meltwater runoff in a subarctic catchment at Okstindan, Norway

2004 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.D. Gurney ◽  
D.S.L. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Isotopic Composition ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Stable Isotopic Composition ◽  
Meltwater Runoff ◽  
Stable Isotopic ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Δ18o And Δd

Seasonal variations in the stable isotopic composition of snow and meltwater were investigated in a sub-arctic, mountainous, but non-glacial, catchment at Okstindan in northern Norway based on analyses of δ18O and δD. Samples were collected during four field periods (August 1998; April 1999; June 1999 and August 1999) at three sites lying on an altitudinal transect (740–970 m a.s.l.). Snowpack data display an increase in the mean values of δ18O (increasing from a mean value of −13.51 to −11.49‰ between April and August), as well as a decrease in variability through the melt period. Comparison with a regional meteoric water line indicates that the slope of the δ18O–δD line for the snowpacks decreases over the same period, dropping from 7.49 to approximately 6.2.This change points to the role of evaporation in snowpack ablation and is confirmed by the vertical profile of deuterium excess. Snowpack seepage data, although limited, also suggest reduced values of δD, as might be associated with local evaporation during meltwater generation. In general, meltwaters were depleted in δ18O relative to the source snowpack at the peak of the melt (June), but later in the year (August) the difference between the two was not statistically significant. The diurnal pattern of isotopic composition indicates that the most depleted meltwaters coincide with the peak in temperature and, hence, meltwater production.

scholarly journals On the uncertainty of height anomaly differences predicted by least-squares collocation

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
E. Mysen
Keyword(s):  
Least Squares ◽  
Spatial Separation ◽  
Height Anomaly ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Least Squares Collocation ◽  
Normal Heights ◽  
Gravimetric Quasigeoid ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Grid Interpolation ◽  
Gps Observations

AbstractA network of pointwise available height anomalies, derived from levelling and GPS observations, can be densified by adjusting a gravimetric quasigeoid using least-squares collocation. The resulting type of Corrector Surface Model (CSM) is applied by Norwegian surveyors to convert ellipsoidal heights to normal heights expressed in the official height system NN2000. In this work, the uncertainty related to the use of a CSM to predict differences in height anomaly was sought. As previously, the application of variograms to determine the local statistical properties of the adopted collocation model led to predictions that were consistent with their computed uncertainties. For the purpose of predicting height anomaly differences, the effect of collocation was seen to be moderate in general for the small spatial separations considered (< 10 km). However, the relative impact of collocation could be appreciable, and increasing with distance, near the network. At last, it was argued that conservative uncertainties of height anomaly differences may be obtained by rescaling output of a grid interpolation by \sqrt \Delta, where Δ is the spatial separation of the two locations for which the difference is sought.

DIE AUSSCHEIDUNG VON TESTOSTERON UND EPITESTOSTERON BEI FRAUEN AM ENDE DER SCHWANGERSCHAFT

1969 ◽  
Vol 60 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-585
Author(s):  
K. Schollberg ◽  
E. Seiler ◽  
J. Holtorff
Keyword(s):  
Urinary Excretion ◽  
Late Pregnancy ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Pregnant Females ◽  
Female Foetus ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Normal Women ◽  
In Pregnancy

ABSTRACT The urinary excretion of testosterone and epitestosterone by women in late pregnancy has been studied. The mean values of 22 normal women in pregnancy mens X are 12.9 ± 9.2 μg/24 h in the case of testosterone and 16.1 ± 16.2 μg/24 h in the case of epitestosterone. Both values do not differ significantly from those of non-pregnant females. The excretion values of mothers bearing a male foetus (17.3 ± 8.9 μg/24 h) are higher than those of mothers with a female foetus (6.4 ± 4.8 μg/24 h). The difference is statistically significant with P = 0.01.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document