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Cited by 1,958Visual perception and processing mechanismsMotor Control and AdaptationMultisensory perception and integration

The analysis of visual motion: a comparison of neuronal and psychophysical performance

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Britten, KH, Shadlen, MN, Newsome, WT, Movshon, JA·1992·The Journal of Neuroscience
DOI 10.1523/jneurosci.12-12-04745.1992PMC PMC6575768
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Abstract

We compared the ability of psychophysical observers and single cortical neurons to discriminate weak motion signals in a stochastic visual display. All data were obtained from rhesus monkeys trained to perform a direction discrimination task near psychophysical threshold. The conditions for such a comparison were ideal in that both psychophysical and physiological data were obtained in the same animals, on the same sets of trials, and using the same visual display. In addition, the psychophysical task was tailored in each experiment to the physiological properties of the neuron under study; the visual display was matched to each neuron's preference for size, speed, and direction of motion. Under these conditions, the sensitivity of most MT neurons was very similar to the psychophysical sensitivity of the animal observers. In fact, the responses of single neurons typically provided a satisfactory account of both absolute psychophysical threshold and the shape of the psychometric function relating performance to the strength of the motion signal. Thus, psychophysical decisions in our task are likely to be based upon a relatively small number of neural signals. These signals could be carried by a small number of neurons if the responses of the pooled neurons are statistically independent. Alternatively, the signals may be carried by a much larger pool of neurons if their responses are partially intercorrelated.

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Crossref · 10.1523/jneurosci.12-12-04745.1992

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  • Variability in the direction signals and possibly in the accumulation process itself leads to variability in the amount of time it takes to reach a decision.

    “Variability in the direction signals (Britten et al., 1992(Britten et al., , 1993(Britten et al., , 1996;;Shadlen and Newsome, 1998) and possibly in the accumulation process itself (Carpenter and Williams, 1995;Ratcliff and Rouder, 1998;Ditterich et al., 2001) leads to variability in the amount of time it takes to reach a decision.”

    From Response of Neurons in the Lateral Intraparietal Area during a Combined Visual Discrimination Reaction Time Task (2002) · cites this paper as Britten et al., 1992

    The Discussion links trial-to-trial variability in MT neurons’ direction signals to variability in the monkeys’ decisions. The Results examine integration over a fixed viewing interval, not whether signal variability changes the time taken to decide. The separate suggestion about variability in the accumulation process is attributed to other cited works, not Britten et al. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Neurons in extrastriate cortex (areas MT and MST) carry critical sensory information about motion direction.

    “A combination of recording, lesion, and stimulation studies has established that neurons in extrastriate cortex (areas MT and MST) carry critical sensory information about motion direction (Newsome and Pare, 1988;Salzman et al., 1990;1992;Britten et al., 1992;Celebrini and Newsome, 1994;1995).”

    From Response of Neurons in the Lateral Intraparietal Area during a Combined Visual Discrimination Reaction Time Task (2002) · cites this paper as Britten et al., 1992

  • The area under the ROC curve quantifies the discriminability of two signals.

    “The area under this curve quantifies the discriminability of the two signals (Britten et al., 1992).”

    From Neuronal Representation of Social Information in the Medial Amygdala of Awake Behaving Mice (2017) · cites this paper as Britten et al., 1992

  • For stimulus durations of 2 s in the task, individual monkey MT neurons can perform as well as the monkey, provided the activity of the neuron is averaged over the full stimulus presentation period.

    “For stimulus durations of 2 s in our task, Britten et al. (1992) have shown that individual monkey MT neurons can perform as well as the monkey, provided that the activity of the neuron is averaged over the full stimulus presentation period.”

    From Bounded Integration in Parietal Cortex Underlies Decisions Even When Viewing Duration Is Dictated by the Environment (2008) · cites this paper as Britten et al., 1992

  • MT provides at least some of the motion information used to form the direction decision.

    “Thus, MT provides at least some of the motion information used to form the direction decision.”

    From Neural correlates of perceptual learning in a sensory-motor, but not a sensory, cortical area (2008) · cites this paper as [16]

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Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. of Neuroscience, December 1992, fZ(12) 4765 neurons and the perception of visual motion. In: Proceedings of the retina research foundation, Neural mechanisms of visual perception, ~012 (Lam DM-K, Gilbert CD, eds), pp 171-198. The Woodlands, TX: Portfolio.
  2. Press WH, Flannery BP, Teukolsky SA, Vetterling WT (1988) Nu- merical recipes in C, pp 22 l-223. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge UP.

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Related

Authors
Britten, K., Shadlen, M., Newsome, W., & Movshon, J.
Affiliations
Stanford Medicine (US)
ORCID
Movshon, JA
Venue
The Journal of Neuroscience
Publisher
Society for Neuroscience
Published
1992-12-01
Volume
12
Issue
12
Pages
4745-4765
ISSN
  • 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
  • 1529-2401
DOI
10.1523/jneurosci.12-12-04745.1992
PMC
PMC6575768
OpenAlex
W2150367061
Cited by
1,958
References
54
Citations by year
2026: 56 · 2025: 60 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 64 · 2022: 70 · 2021: 77 · 2020: 60 · 2019: 81 · 2018: 77 · 2017: 61 · 2016: 79 · 2015: 88 · 2014: 90 · 2013: 69 · 2012: 106
FWCI
9.04
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • McKnight Foundation
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Eye Institute (EY-2017, EY 5603, R01EY002017)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS 07158-11, T32NS007158)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
Keywords
visual motion perception, direction discrimination, direction selectivity, MT neurons, single neuron responses, psychophysical thresholds, psychometric functions, rhesus monkeys
MeSH terms
Animals, Discrimination, Psychological, Eye Movements, Female, Macaca mulatta, Male, Mathematics, Models, Neurological, Motion Perception, Neurons, Psychometrics, Visual Cortex

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