Anisotropy of object nonrigidity: High-level perceptual consequences of cortical anisotropy.

ABSTRACT: We demonstrate an unexpected anisotropy in perceived object non-rigidity, a higher-level perceptual phenomenon, and explain it by the population distribution of low-level neuronal properties in primary visual cortex. We measured the visual interpretation of two rigidly connected rotating circular rings. In videos where observers predominantly perceived rigidly-connected horizontally rotating rings, they predominantly perceived non-rigid independently wobbling rings if the video was rotated by 90°. Additionally, vertically rotating rings appeared narrower and longer than horizontally rotating counterparts. We decoded these perceived shape changes from V1 outputs incorporating documented cortical anisotropies in orientation selectivity: more cells and narrower tuning for the horizontal orien

SUBMITTER: Maruya A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11429613 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature