Cortical feedback improves discrimination between figure and background by V1, V2 and V3 neurons

J. M. Hupé, A. C. James, B. R. Payne, S. G. Lomber, P. Girard and J. Bullier ()
Additional contact information
J. M. Hupé: Cerveau et Vision INSERM 371
A. C. James: Mammalian Neurobiology and Reproduction, RSBS ANU
B. R. Payne: Mammalian Neurobiology and Reproduction, RSBS ANU
S. G. Lomber: Mammalian Neurobiology and Reproduction, RSBS ANU
P. Girard: Cerveau et Vision INSERM 371
J. Bullier: Cerveau et Vision INSERM 371

Nature, 1998, vol. 394, issue 6695, 784-787

Abstract: Abstract A single visual stimulus activates neurons in many different cortical areas. A major challenge in cortical physiology is to understand how the neural activity in these numerous active zones leads to a unified percept of the visual scene. The anatomical basis for these interactions is the dense network of connections that link the visual areas. Within this network, feedforward connections transmit signals from lower-order areas such as V1 or V2 to higher-order areas. In addition, there is a dense web of feedback connections which, despite their anatomical prominence1,2,3,4, remain functionally mysterious5,6,7,8. Here we show, using reversible inactivation of a higher-order area (monkey area V5/MT), that feedback connections serve to amplify and focus activity of neurons in lower-order areas, and that they are important in the differentiation of figure from ground, particularly in the case of stimuli of low visibility. More specifically, we show that feedback connections facilitate responses to objects moving within the classical receptive field; enhance suppression evoked by background stimuli in the surrounding region; and have the strongest effects for stimuli of low salience.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/29537 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:394:y:1998:i:6695:d:10.1038_29537

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/29537

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().