Visual object processing in the inferotemporal cortex

颞下皮层的视觉对象处理

• 批准号: 7404431
• 负责人: James J DiCarlo
• 金额: $ 29.9万
• 依托单位: MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-04-01 至 2009-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7404431
• 关键词: Animals; Anterior; Area; Behavior; Behavioral; Brain; Class; Classification; Clutterings; Data; Discrimination; Dorsal; Foundations; Future; Goals; Human; Image; Knowledge; Learning; Lighting; Link; Maps; Measures; Memory; Motion; Neurons; Performance; Positioning Attribute; Primates; Property; Range; Recording of previous events; Relative (related person); Reporting; Retinal; Role; Shapes; Specificity; Stream; Testing; Thinking; Training; Variant; Vision; Visual; Visual Perception; Visual system structure; behavioral tolerance; experience; falls; inferotemporal cortex; object recognition; response; size; visual control; visual object processing

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Visual object recognition is central to our behavior, and knowledge of the underlying brain mechanisms is critical to understanding human visual perception and memory. The key problem is creation of selectivity for object identity that tolerates changes in an object's retinal image, such as changes in position and size. The primate brain appears to construct this selectivity in the ventral visual stream because neuronal responses in the highest area of that stream--the anterior inferotemporal cortex (AIT)--show shape selectivity that can tolerate position and size changes. Yet, we do not understand these key neuronal properties--reports of AIT tolerance are limited and inconsistent, and recent studies show that it can be very restricted. Thus, the goals of this proposal are an understanding of key factors likely to determine AIT position and size tolerance, and to determine if AIT tolerance can explain behavioral tolerance. Our first aim is to systematically determine the position and size tolerance of AIT neuronal shape selectivity for a range of object sets and object training histories. We will establish the relationship of selectivity and AIT position and size tolerance, the interaction of AIT position and size tolerance, and the effect of object-specific training on these relationships. These data will establish neuronal tolerance at the highest level of the primate visual system and provide a much-needed foundation for further study. The mechanisms that might underlie position and size tolerance fall into two broad classes: (1) automatic generalization; and (2) tolerance learned by experiencing objects across changes in position and size. Our second aim is to determine if position- or size-specific object experience have substantial effects on the position or size tolerance of AIT shape selectivity. Because this has not been examined, any result would be extremely informative in constraining mechanisms and guiding future studies. Although it is thought that AIT tolerance underlies behavioral tolerance, this has not been systematically examined. Our third aim is to determine if the position and size tolerance of object identification can be explained by the tolerance of AIT neuronal shape selectivity. This is a vital to understanding the link between high-level, ventral stream neuronal responses and visual object identification.

描述（由申请人提供）：视觉对象识别是我们行为的核心，了解潜在的大脑机制对于理解人类视觉感知和记忆至关重要。关键问题是创建对象身份的选择性，以容忍对象视网膜图像的变化，例如位置和大小的变化。灵长类动物的大脑似乎在腹侧视觉流中构建了这种选择性，因为该流最高区域——前颞下皮层（AIT）——的神经元反应表现出可以容忍位置和大小变化的形状选择性。然而，我们并不了解这些关键的神经元特性——AIT 耐受性的报告有限且不一致，最近的研究表明它可能受到很大限制。因此，该提案的目标是了解可能决定 AIT 位置和大小容忍度的关键因素，并确定 AIT 容忍度是否可以解释行为容忍度。 我们的首要目标是系统地确定 AIT 神经元形状选择性对于一系列对象集和对象训练历史的位置和尺寸容差。我们将建立选择性与 AIT 位置和尺寸公差的关系、AIT 位置和尺寸公差的相互作用，以及特定对象训练对这些关系的影响。这些数据将建立灵长类动物视觉系统最高水平的神经元耐受性，并为进一步研究提供急需的基础。 位置和尺寸公差的潜在机制可分为两大类：（1）自动泛化； （2）通过体验物体位置和大小的变化而获得的耐受性。我们的第二个目标是确定位置或尺寸特定的物体体验是否对 AIT 形状选择性的位置或尺寸公差有重大影响。由于尚未对此进行检验，因此任何结果对于约束机制和指导未来的研究都将提供非常丰富的信息。 尽管人们认为 AIT 耐受性是行为耐受性的基础，但这一点尚未得到系统研究。我们的第三个目标是确定物体识别的位置和大小容差是否可以通过 AIT 神经元形状选择性的容差来解释。这对于理解高级腹侧流神经元反应和视觉物体识别之间的联系至关重要。