June 2007
Volume 7, Issue 9
Free
Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting Abstract  |   June 2007
Visual motion area MT+ carries precise information about object position
Author Affiliations
  • Nicole Spotswood
    Center for Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
  • David Bressler
    Center for Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
  • David Whitney
    Center for Mind and Brain, Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis
Journal of Vision June 2007, Vol.7, 777. doi:https://doi.org/10.1167/7.9.777
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      Nicole Spotswood, David Bressler, David Whitney; Visual motion area MT+ carries precise information about object position. Journal of Vision 2007;7(9):777. https://doi.org/10.1167/7.9.777.

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      © ARVO (1962-2015); The Authors (2016-present)

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Abstract
 

Single unit primate and human neuroimaging studies have reported that visual motion area MT+ displays selectivity for motion direction and coherence, and has receptive fields that are spatially localized. Despite this, previous results indicate that MT+ is only coarsely retinotopic. In an fMRI experiment we tested the precision of position coding in human area MT+ using a novel technique. For each of seven subjects, we defined an MT+ region of interest (ROI) by contrasting moving visual stimuli with a fixation baseline in a general linear model. Within these ROIs we cross-correlated activity patterns produced by flickering Gabors (i.e. Gabors with no direction of motion) in five slightly different positions, within a two degree window. When the Gabors were closely positioned, the patterns of activation in the MT+ ROIs were highly correlated. As the distance between the Gabors increased, the patterns of MT+ responses were able to reliably detect shifts in Gabor position of less than two degrees, at ten degrees eccentricity. The results suggest that MT+ carries precise topographic information about object position and may therefore play an important role in coding the position of moving objects.

 
Spotswood, N. Bressler, D. Whitney, D. (2007). Visual motion area MT+ carries precise information about object position [Abstract]. Journal of Vision, 7(9):777, 777a, http://journalofvision.org/7/9/777/, doi:10.1167/7.9.777. [CrossRef]
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