O'Herron Philip, von der Heydt Rüdiger
Krieger Mind/Brain Institute and Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
J Vis. 2011 Feb 22;11(2):12. doi: 10.1167/11.2.12.
An amazing feature of our visual system is the ability to detect and track objects in the stream of continually changing retinal images. Theories have proposed that the system creates temporary internal representations that persist across changing images, providing continuity. However, how such representations are formed in the brain is not known. Here we examined the time course of the responses of border-ownership-selective neurons in the visual cortex to displays that portray object continuity. We found that the neurons signal border ownership immediately when new objects appear, but when a border that has been assigned to one object is reassigned to another object while the first remains in the display, the initial responses persist. The neurons continue to signal the initial assignment despite the presence of contradicting figure--ground cues. We propose that border ownership selectivity reflects mechanisms that create object continuity.
我们视觉系统的一个惊人特性是能够在不断变化的视网膜图像流中检测和追踪物体。理论提出，该系统会创建跨越变化图像而持续存在的临时内部表征，从而提供连续性。然而，这种表征在大脑中是如何形成的尚不清楚。在这里，我们研究了视觉皮层中边界所有权选择性神经元对描绘物体连续性的显示的反应时间进程。我们发现，当新物体出现时，神经元会立即发出边界所有权信号，但当分配给一个物体的边界在第一个物体仍在显示时被重新分配给另一个物体时，最初的反应会持续。尽管存在相互矛盾的图形 - 背景线索，神经元仍继续发出最初分配的信号。我们提出，边界所有权选择性反映了创建物体连续性的机制。
