DOI: 10.17586/1023-5086-2018-85-08-87-94

Cerebral iconics: how are visual stimuli represented centrally in the human brain?

Publication in Journal of Optical Technology

For Russian citation (Opticheskii Zhurnal):

Danilova M.V., J. D. Mollon Cerebral iconics: how are visual stimuli represented centrally in the human brain? (Кортикальная иконика: механизмы сенсорных сравнений в мозге человека) [на англ. яз.] // Оптический журнал. 2018. Т. 85. № 8. С. 87–94. http://doi.org/10.17586/1023-5086-2018-85-08-87-94

Danilova M.V., J. D. Mollon Cerebral iconics: how are visual stimuli represented centrally in the human brain? (Кортикальная иконика: механизмы сенсорных сравнений в мозге человека) [in English] // Opticheskii Zhurnal. 2018. V. 85. № 8. P. 87–94. http://doi.org/10.17586/1023-5086-2018-85-08-87-94

For citation (Journal of Optical Technology):

M. V. Danilova and J. D. Mollon, "Cerebral iconics: how are visual stimuli represented centrally in the human brain?," Journal of Optical Technology. 85(8), 515-520 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1364/JOT.85.000515

Abstract:

In the case of some sensory attributes (e.g. luminance), differential thresholds increase with the spatial separation between the stimuli to be compared, but in other cases (e.g. spatial frequency, hue) thresholds vary little whether the stimuli are close together or separated by 10 degrees of arc. To this latter class of sensory attributes, we here add two dimensions: Speed of motion and Chromatic purity. Stimuli were presented too briefly for an eye movement and could fall at any positions on an imaginary circle centred on the fixation point. What neural mechanisms underlie discrimination in such tasks? We doubt discrimination depends on a large array of dedicated ‘comparator neurons’, one for each possible pair of positions in the visual field and for each sensory attribute. Instead we suggest that information about local sensory properties is carried to the cortical site of comparison by neural connections that resemble the man-made Internet in so far as the same physical substrate from moment to moment carries different information in a symbolic code.

Keywords:

sensory comparison, differential threshold, motion perception, speed discrimination, colour vision, chromatic purity, saturation

Acknowledgements:

This study was supported by the Program of Fundamental Scientific Research of State Academies for 2013–2020 (GP-14, section 63).

OCIS codes: 330.4270, 330.5000, 330.5510

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