A neural basis for visual search in inferior temporal cortex
Abstract
We often search for a face in a crowd or for a particular object in a cluttered environment. In this type of visual search, memory interacts with attention: the mediating neural mechanisms should include a stored representation of the object and a means for selecting that object from among others in the scene. Here we test whether neurons in inferior temporal cortex, an area known to be important for high-level visual processing, might provide these components. Monkeys were presented with a complex picture (the cue) to hold in memory during a delay period. The cue initiated activity that persisted through the delay among the neurons that were tuned to its features. The monkeys were then given 2-5 choice pictures and were required to make an eye movement to the one (the target) that matched the cue. About 90-120 milliseconds before the onset of the eye movement to the target, responses to non-targets were suppressed and the neuronal response was dominated by the target. The results suggest that inferior temporal cortex is involved in selecting the objects to which we attend and foveate.
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They enact the sorts of mechanisms implicated in biased competition models of spatial and object-based attention mediating visual search.
“Furthermore, they enact the sorts of mechanisms implicated in biased competition models of spatial and object-based attention mediating visual search [60],[61].”
From Hierarchical Models in the Brain (2008) · cites this paper as [60]
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- Authors
- Chelazzi, L., Miller, E. K., Duncan, J., & Desimone, R.
- Affiliations
- National Institute of Mental Health (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 1993-05
- Volume
- 363
- Issue
- 6427
- Pages
- 345-347
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2012521891
- Cited by
- 1,114
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 48 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 38
- FWCI
- 17.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Visual Attention and Saliency Detection
- Keywords
- visual search, inferior temporal cortex, object recognition, memory-guided attention, eye movements, foveation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Attention, Eye Movements, Macaca mulatta, Memory, Neurons, Temporal Lobe, Visual Perception
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