The representation of erroneously perceived stimuli in the primary visual cortex.
In order to attain a correct interpretation of an ambiguous visual stimulus, the brain may have to elaborate on the sensory evidence. Are the neurons that carry the sensory evidence also involved in generating an interpretation? To address this question, we studied the activity of neurons in the primary visual cortex of macaque monkeys involved in a task in which they have to trace a curve mentally, without moving their eyes. On a percentage of trials, the monkeys made errors and traced the wrong curve. Here, we show that these errors are predicted by activity in area V1. Thus, neurons in the primary visual cortex do not only represent sensory events, but also the way in which they are interpreted by the monkey.
Roelfsema
P R
PR
Department of Visual System Analysis, Academic Medical Center, Graduate School of Neurosciences Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 12011, 1100 AA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. p.roelfsema@ioi.knaw.nl
Spekreijse
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D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D007088:Illusions / Q000502:physiology*; D008251:Macaca / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology