title: Image familiarization sharpens response dynamics of neurons in inferotemporal cortex.
abstract: Repeated viewing of an image over days and weeks induces a marked reduction in the strength with which neurons in monkey inferotemporal cortex respond to it. The processing advantage that attaches to this reduction is unknown. One possibility is that truncation of the response to a familiar image leaves neurons in a state of readiness to respond to ensuing images and thereby enhances their ability to track rapidly changing displays. We explored this possibility by assessing neuronal responses to familiar and novel images in rapid serial visual displays. Inferotemporal neurons responded more strongly to familiar than to novel images in such displays. The effect was stronger among putative inhibitory neurons than among putative excitatory neurons. A comparable effect occurred at the level of the scalp potential in humans. We conclude that long-term familiarization sharpens the response dynamics of neurons in both monkey and human extrastriate visual cortex.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Travis
authors.identifier: 0000000346725368
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Thomas Detre Hall of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Thomas Detre Hall of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Raymond Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: 1] Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA. [2] Department of Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Carl R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Olson
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004569:Electroencephalography; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011601:Psychophysics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000166:cytology*