title: Rapid contour integration in macaque monkeys.
abstract: Integration of oriented elements into a contour has been investigated extensively in human psychophysics whereas electrophysiological experiments exploring the neuronal mechanism of contour integration were most often done with macaque monkeys. To bridge the gap between human psychophysics and physiology we estimated spatial and temporal constraints of contour integration in two macaque monkeys. Our results show that contour integration in monkeys depends in a similar way on element distance and alignment between contour path and contour elements as in human subjects. The grouping process was surprisingly fast: In a backward masking experiment we show that a stimulus duration of 30-60 ms is sufficient to perceive a contour and to identify its shape.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Brain Research, Center for Advanced Imaging, University of Bremen, FB2, Hochschulring 16A, P.O. Box 330440, D-28334 Bremen, Germany. mandon@brain.uni-bremen.de
authors.forename: Sunita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mandon
authors.forename: Andreas K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Kreiter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011601:Psychophysics; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology