Figure-ground modulation in awake primate thalamus.

ABSTRACT: Figure-ground discrimination refers to the perception of an object, the figure, against a nondescript background. Neural mechanisms of figure-ground detection have been associated with feedback interactions between higher centers and primary visual cortex and have been held to index the effect of global analysis on local feature encoding. Here, in recordings from visual thalamus of alert primates, we demonstrate a robust enhancement of neuronal firing when the figure, as opposed to the ground, component of a motion-defined figure-ground stimulus is located over the receptive field. In this paradigm, visual stimulation of the receptive field and its near environs is identical across both conditions, suggesting the response enhancement reflects higher integrative mechanisms. It thus appears

SUBMITTER: Jones HE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4460497 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature