Lehky Sidney R, Peng Xinmiao, McAdams Carrie J, Sereno Anne B
Computational Neuroscience Laboratory, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
PLoS One. 2008;3(10):e3492. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003492. Epub 2008 Oct 23.
A key aspect of representations for object recognition and scene analysis in the ventral visual stream is the spatial frame of reference, be it a viewer-centered, object-centered, or scene-based coordinate system. Coordinate transforms from retinocentric space to other reference frames involve combining neural visual responses with extraretinal postural information.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined whether such spatial information is available to anterior inferotemporal (AIT) neurons in the macaque monkey by measuring the effect of eye position on responses to a set of simple 2D shapes. We report, for the first time, a significant eye position effect in over 40% of recorded neurons with small gaze angle shifts from central fixation. Although eye position modulates responses, it does not change shape selectivity.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: These data demonstrate that spatial information is available in AIT for the representation of objects and scenes within a non-retinocentric frame of reference. More generally, the availability of spatial information in AIT calls into questions the classic dichotomy in visual processing that associates object shape processing with ventral structures such as AIT but places spatial processing in a separate anatomical stream projecting to dorsal structures.
腹侧视觉通路中用于物体识别和场景分析的表征的一个关键方面是空间参照系，无论是以观察者为中心、以物体为中心还是基于场景的坐标系。从视网膜中心空间到其他参照系的坐标变换涉及将神经视觉反应与视网膜外姿势信息相结合。
方法/主要发现：我们通过测量眼位对一组简单二维形状反应的影响，研究了猕猴前颞下叶（AIT）神经元是否可获得此类空间信息。我们首次报告，在超过40%的记录神经元中，当注视角度从中央注视点有小幅度偏移时，存在显著的眼位效应。尽管眼位调节反应，但它不会改变形状选择性。
结论/意义：这些数据表明，在AIT中可获得空间信息，用于在非视网膜中心参照系中表征物体和场景。更一般地说，AIT中空间信息的可获得性对视觉处理中的经典二分法提出了质疑，该二分法将物体形状处理与AIT等腹侧结构联系起来，但将空间处理置于投射到背侧结构的单独解剖通路中。
