TY - JOUR
T1 - Selective tuning for contrast in macaque area V4
AU - Sani, Ilaria
AU - Santandrea, Elisa
AU - Golzar, Ashkan
AU - Morrone, Maria Concetta
AU - Chelazzi, Leonardo
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Visually responsive neurons typically exhibit a monotonic-saturating increase of firing with luminance contrast of the stimulus and are able to adapt to the current spatiotemporal context by shifting their selectivity, therefore being perfectly suited for optimal contrast encoding and discrimination. Here we report the first evidence of the existence of neurons showing selective tuning for contrast in area V4d of the behaving macaque (Macaca mulatta), i.e., narrow bandpass filter neurons with peak activity encompassing the whole range of visible contrasts and pronounced attenuation at contrasts higher than the peak. Crucially, we found that contrast tuning emerges after a considerable delay from stimulus onset, likely reflecting the contribution of inhibitory mechanisms. Selective tuning for luminance contrast might support multiple functions, including contrast identification and the attentive selection of low contrast stimuli.
AB - Visually responsive neurons typically exhibit a monotonic-saturating increase of firing with luminance contrast of the stimulus and are able to adapt to the current spatiotemporal context by shifting their selectivity, therefore being perfectly suited for optimal contrast encoding and discrimination. Here we report the first evidence of the existence of neurons showing selective tuning for contrast in area V4d of the behaving macaque (Macaca mulatta), i.e., narrow bandpass filter neurons with peak activity encompassing the whole range of visible contrasts and pronounced attenuation at contrasts higher than the peak. Crucially, we found that contrast tuning emerges after a considerable delay from stimulus onset, likely reflecting the contribution of inhibitory mechanisms. Selective tuning for luminance contrast might support multiple functions, including contrast identification and the attentive selection of low contrast stimuli.
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U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3465-13.2013
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3465-13.2013
M3 - Article
C2 - 24259580
AN - SCOPUS:84887842171
VL - 33
SP - 18583
EP - 18596
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
SN - 0270-6474
IS - 47
ER -