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Neural representation of transparent overlay (2007)
| Venue: | Nat. Neurosci |
| Citations: | 5 - 0 self |
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{Qiu07neuralrepresentation,
author = {Fangtu T Qiu and Rüdiger Von Der Heydt},
title = {Neural representation of transparent overlay},
journal = {Nat. Neurosci},
year = {2007},
pages = {283--284}
}
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Abstract
Perceptual transparency is a surprising phenomenon in which a number of regions of different shades organize into overlaying transparent objects. We recorded single neuron responses from Macaca mulatta area V2 to a display of two bright and two dark squares that appeared as two overlaying bars. We found that neurons assign border ownership according to the transparent interpretation, representing the shapes of the bars rather than the squares. Perceptual transparency has been studied extensively1, 2, 3, but the underlying neural mechanisms have rarely been investigated4, presumably because of the uncertainty about how transparency is coded in the neural activity. A tool for studying transparency is provided by recent work on figure-ground coding in which neurons in the visual cortex were found to signal the assignment of borders to regions ('border ownership')5, 6. Perception of transparency is linked to border ownership assignment. For example, the border marked by an ellipse in Figure 1a is part of the contour of the small square. However, in Figure 1b it is perceived as the edge of a transparent vertical bar. The light and dark regions abutting within the ellipse are exactly the same, but their interpretation by the visual system has changed. When the corners of the light and dark squares are rounded off (Fig. 1c), transparency is no longer perceived, and the marked edge again appears as the contour of the small square. The assignment of the edge to one or the other side determines which shapes are perceived. Thus, resolving transparency and assigning border ownership are fundamental operations for the interpretation of images7, 8. Figure 1. Neural border ownership
Keyphrases
transparent overlay neural representation perceptual transparency small square border ownership dark square single neuron response transparent interpretation transparent object neural border ownership recent work marked edge surprising phenomenon neuron assign border ownership visual cortex underlying neural mechanism fundamental operation figure-ground coding dark region side determines transparent vertical bar macaca mulatta area v2 different shade ownership assignment neural activity visual system
