Wen Puti, Thompson Lowell W, Rosenberg Ari, Landy Michael S, Rokers Bas
Psychology, New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104.
J Neurosci. 2025 May 28;45(22):e0044252025. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0044-25.2025.
How does the brain process 3D motion? We focused on the human motion complex (hMT+), extending insights from monkey studies. Using 3D-motion stimuli containing perspective and/or stereoscopic cues, we investigated the hierarchy within the motion complex in humans of both sexes to understand the neural mechanisms underlying motion perception. On each trial we decoded 3D motion direction (toward/away) based on the BOLD response in primary visual cortex (V1), and regions within hMT+ including the middle temporal (MT) and medial superior temporal (MST) areas, and the fundus of the superior temporal sulcus (FST). We found that 3D-motion direction could be reliably decoded from all four areas but accuracy depended on cue content. MT and FST showed greatest decoding accuracy with perspective and stereoscopic cues, respectively. Decoding of motion direction in V1 and MST could be explained by retinotopic biases in the BOLD response to motion stimuli. MT and FST were less impacted by such biases. We also identified significant behavioral differences between participants: some were proficient at using stereoscopic cues and others performed near chance. Good behavioral performance with stereoscopic cues was accompanied by better decoding performance in FST but not MT. A control experiment that eliminated 3D motion percepts for stereoscopic stimuli, but not perspective stimuli, revealed that unlike MT, decoding accuracy in FST was influenced by perceptual components of 3D motion. Our findings support that MT and FST play distinct roles in the analysis of visual motion and are key in the transformation of retinal input into perceptual report.
大脑如何处理三维运动？我们聚焦于人类运动复合体（hMT+），拓展了来自猴子研究的见解。使用包含透视和/或立体线索的三维运动刺激，我们研究了两性人类运动复合体内的层级结构，以了解运动感知背后的神经机制。在每次试验中，我们基于初级视觉皮层（V1）以及hMT+内包括颞中（MT）和颞上内侧（MST）区域以及颞上沟底部（FST）的区域的血氧水平依赖（BOLD）反应来解码三维运动方向（朝向/远离）。我们发现可以从所有这四个区域可靠地解码三维运动方向，但准确性取决于线索内容。MT和FST分别在透视和立体线索下表现出最高的解码准确性。V1和MST中运动方向的解码可以通过对运动刺激的BOLD反应中的视网膜拓扑偏差来解释。MT和FST受此类偏差的影响较小。我们还发现参与者之间存在显著的行为差异：一些人擅长使用立体线索，而另一些人的表现接近随机水平。在立体线索下良好的行为表现伴随着FST而非MT中更好的解码表现。一项消除了立体刺激而非透视刺激的三维运动感知的对照实验表明，与MT不同，FST中的解码准确性受三维运动的感知成分影响。我们的研究结果支持MT和FST在视觉运动分析中发挥不同作用，并且是将视网膜输入转化为感知报告的关键。
