Document Detail


Neural mechanisms for forming a perceptual decision.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  8146653     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Cognitive and behavioral responses to environmental stimuli depend on an evaluation of sensory signals within the cerebral cortex. The mechanism by which this occurs in a specific visual task was investigated with a combination of physiological and psychophysical techniques. Rhesus monkeys discriminated among eight possible directions of motion while directional signals were manipulated in visual area MT. One directional signal was generated by a visual stimulus and a second signal was introduced by electrically stimulating neurons that encoded a specific direction of motion. The decisions made by the monkeys in response to the two signals allowed a distinction to be made between two possible mechanisms for interpreting directional signals in MT. The monkeys tended to cast decisions in favor of one or the other signal, indicating that the signals exerted independent effects on performance and that an interactive mechanism such as vector averaging of the two signals was not operative. Thus, the data suggest a mechanism in which monkeys chose the direction encoded by the largest signal in the representation of motion direction, a "winner-take-all" decision process.
Authors:
C D Salzman; W T Newsome
Related Documents :
16154933 - Direction selectivity in the goldfish tectum revisited.
11448713 - Lines and dots: characteristics of the motion integration process.
22105993 - Bright near-infrared fluorophores based on squaraines by unexpected halogen effects.
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Science (New York, N.Y.)     Volume:  264     ISSN:  0036-8075     ISO Abbreviation:  Science     Publication Date:  1994 Apr 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1994-05-03     Completed Date:  1994-05-03     Revised Date:  2007-11-14    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0404511     Medline TA:  Science     Country:  UNITED STATES    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  231-7     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Likelihood Functions
Macaca mulatta
Models, Neurological
Models, Statistical
Motion Perception*
Neurons / physiology
Photic Stimulation
Visual Cortex / physiology*
Grant Support
ID/Acronym/Agency:
EY 5603/EY/NEI NIH HHS; NS 07158-14/NS/NINDS NIH HHS

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Elementary Scots. The discovery of Strontium.
Next Document:  Morphological bifurcations involving reaction-diffusion processes during microtubule formation.