Department of Physiology, The University of Tokyo School of Medicine, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Science. 2013 Jul 12;341(6142):191-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1236927.
In primates, neuronal representations of objects are processed hierarchically in occipitotemporal cortices. A "novel" feature of objects is thought to emerge and become prevalent at a cortical area because of processing in this area. We tested the possibility that a feature representation prevalent in a given area emerges in the microcircuit of a hierarchically prior area as a small number of prototypes and then becomes prevalent in the subsequent area. We recorded multiple single units in each of hierarchically sequential areas TE and 36 of macaque temporal cortex and found the predicted convergent microcircuit for object-object association in area TE. Associative codes were then built up over time in the microcircuit of area 36. These results suggest a computational principle underlying sequentially elaborated object representations.
在灵长类动物中，物体的神经元表示在枕颞皮质中是分层处理的。人们认为，由于该区域的处理，物体的“新”特征会出现在一个皮质区域并变得流行。我们测试了这样一种可能性，即给定区域中流行的特征表示作为少数原型出现在分层前区域的微电路中，然后在随后的区域中变得流行。我们在猕猴颞叶皮质的层次顺序区域 TE 和 36 中记录了每个区域中的多个单个单元，发现 TE 区域中的微电路存在与物体-物体关联的预测性会聚微电路。关联代码随后在 36 区的微电路中随时间建立起来。这些结果表明了一个顺序详细说明的物体表示的计算原理。
