scholarly journals Feature-continuous motion judgements: Assessing different random dot motion displays

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 668
Author(s):  
Riccardo Barbieri ◽  
Felix Töpfer ◽  
Joram Soch ◽  
Carsten Bogler ◽  
John-Dylan Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Motion ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Random Dot Motion

scholarly journals The basis of area and dot number effects in random dot motion perception

1982 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1253-1259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Curtis L. Baker ◽  
Oliver J. Braddick
Keyword(s):  
Motion Perception ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Random Dot Motion

scholarly journals Sensitivity of Neurons in the Middle Temporal Area of Marmoset Monkeys to Random Dot Motion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tristan A. Chaplin ◽  
Benjamin J. Allitt ◽  
Maureen A. Hagan ◽  
Nicholas S. Price ◽  
Ramesh Rajan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primate Species ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Mt Neurons ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Middle Temporal Area ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Marmoset Monkeys ◽  
Random Dot Motion

AbstractNeurons in the Middle Temporal area (MT) of the primate cerebral cortex respond to moving visual stimuli. The sensitivity of MT neurons to motion signals can be characterized by using random-dot stimuli, in which the strength of the motion signal is manipulated by adding different levels of noise (elements that move in random directions). In macaques, this has allowed the calculation of “neurometric” thresholds. We characterized the responses of MT neurons in sufentanil/nitrous oxide anesthetized marmoset monkeys, a species which has attracted considerable recent interest as an animal model for vision research. We found that MT neurons show a wide range of neurometric thresholds, and that the responses of the most sensitive neurons could account for the behavioral performance of macaques and humans. We also investigated factors that contributed to the wide range of observed thresholds. The difference in firing rate between responses to motion in the preferred and null directions was the most effective predictor of neurometric threshold, whereas the direction tuning bandwidth had no correlation with the threshold. We also showed that it is possible to obtain reliable estimates of neurometric thresholds using stimuli that were not highly optimized for each neuron, as is often necessary when recording from large populations of neurons with different receptive field concurrently, as was the case in this study. These results demonstrate that marmoset MT shows an essential physiological similarity to macaque MT, and suggest that its neurons are capable of representing motion signals that allow for comparable motion-in-noise judgments.New and NoteworthyWe report the activity of neurons in marmoset MT in response to random-dot motion stimuli of varying coherence. The information carried by individual MT neurons was comparable to that of the macaque, and that the maximum firing rates were a strong predictor of sensitivity. Our study provides key information regarding the neural basis of motion perception in the marmoset, a small primate species that is becoming increasingly popular as an experimental model.

scholarly journals Perceptual insensitivity to higher-order statistical moments of coherent random dot motion

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Waskom ◽  
Janeen Asfour ◽  
Roozbeh Kiani
Keyword(s):  
Higher Order ◽  
Statistical Moments ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Random Dot Motion

scholarly journals Neuronal correlations in MT and MST impair population decoding of opposite directions of random dot motion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tristan A. Chaplin ◽  
Maureen A. Hagan ◽  
Benjamin J. Allitt ◽  
Leo L. Lui
Keyword(s):  
Population Coding ◽  
Correlation Structure ◽  
Single Neurons ◽  
Electrode Arrays ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Random Dot Patterns ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Random Dot Motion ◽  
Spiking Activity

AbstractThe study of neuronal responses to random-dot motion patterns has provided some of the most valuable insights into how the activity of neurons is related to perception. In the opposite directions of motion paradigm, the motion signal strength is decreased by manipulating the coherence of random dot patterns to examine how well the activity of single neurons represents the direction of motion. To extend this paradigm to populations of neurons, studies have used modelling based on data from pairs of neurons, but several important questions require further investigation with larger neuronal datasets. We recorded neuronal populations in the middle temporal (MT) and medial superior temporal (MST) areas of anaesthetized marmosets with electrode arrays, while varying the coherence of random dot patterns in two opposite directions of motion (left and right). Using the spike rates of simultaneously recorded neurons, we decoded the direction of motion at each level of coherence with linear classifiers. We found that the presence of correlations had a detrimental effect to decoding performance, but that learning the correlation structure produced better decoding performance compared to decoders that ignored the correlation structure. We also found that reducing motion coherence increased neuronal correlations, but decoders did not need to be optimized for each coherence level. Finally, we showed that decoder weights depend of left-right selectivity at 100% coherence, rather than the preferred direction. These results have implications for understanding how the information encoded by populations of neurons is affected by correlations in spiking activity.Significance StatementMany studies have examined how the spiking activity of single neurons can encode stimulus features, such the direction of motion of visual stimuli. However, majority of such studies to date have only recorded from a small number of neurons at the same time, meaning that one cannot adequately account for the trial-to-trial correlations in spiking activity between neurons. Using multi-channel recordings, we were able to measure the neuronal correlations, and their effects on population coding of stimulus features. Our results have implications on the way which neural populations must be readout in order to maximize information.

scholarly journals Dynamic expressions of confidence within an evidence accumulation framework

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kobe Desender ◽  
Tobias H. Donner ◽  
Tom Verguts
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Temporal Evolution ◽  
Human Behaviour ◽  
Evidence Accumulation ◽  
Decision Confidence ◽  
Confidence Judgments ◽  
Evidence Strength ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Random Dot Motion

AbstractHuman observers can reliably report their confidence in the choices they make. An influential framework conceptualizes decision confidence as the probability of a decision being correct, given the choice made and the evidence on which it was based. This framework accounts for three diagnostic signatures of human confidence reports, including an opposite dependence of confidence on evidence strength for correct and error trials. However, the framework does not account for the temporal evolution of these signatures, because it only describes the transformation of a static representation of evidence into choice and the associated confidence. Here, we combine this framework with another influential framework: dynamic accumulation of evidence over time, and build on the notion that confidence reflects the probability of being correct, given the choice and accumulated evidence up until that point. Critically, we show that such a dynamic model predicts that the diagnostic signatures of confidence depend on time; most critically, it predicts a stronger opposite dependence of confidence on evidence strength and choice correctness as a function of time. We tested, and confirmed, these predictions in human behaviour during random dot motion discrimination, in which confidence judgments were queried at different points in time. We conclude that human confidence reports reflect the dynamics of the probability of being correct given the accumulated evidence and choice.

scholarly journals The Mechanism for Processing Random-Dot Motion at Various Speeds in Early Visual Cortices

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. e93115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu An ◽  
Hongliang Gong ◽  
Niall McLoughlin ◽  
Yupeng Yang ◽  
Wei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortices ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Random Dot Motion

scholarly journals Sensitivity of neurons in the middle temporal area of marmoset monkeys to random dot motion

2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 1567-1580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tristan A. Chaplin ◽  
Benjamin J. Allitt ◽  
Maureen A. Hagan ◽  
Nicholas S. C. Price ◽  
Ramesh Rajan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primate Species ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Temporal Area ◽  
Middle Temporal ◽  
Mt Neurons ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Middle Temporal Area ◽  
Dot Motion ◽  
Marmoset Monkeys ◽  
Random Dot Motion

Neurons in the middle temporal area (MT) of the primate cerebral cortex respond to moving visual stimuli. The sensitivity of MT neurons to motion signals can be characterized by using random-dot stimuli, in which the strength of the motion signal is manipulated by adding different levels of noise (elements that move in random directions). In macaques, this has allowed the calculation of “neurometric” thresholds. We characterized the responses of MT neurons in sufentanil/nitrous oxide-anesthetized marmoset monkeys, a species that has attracted considerable recent interest as an animal model for vision research. We found that MT neurons show a wide range of neurometric thresholds and that the responses of the most sensitive neurons could account for the behavioral performance of macaques and humans. We also investigated factors that contributed to the wide range of observed thresholds. The difference in firing rate between responses to motion in the preferred and null directions was the most effective predictor of neurometric threshold, whereas the direction tuning bandwidth had no correlation with the threshold. We also showed that it is possible to obtain reliable estimates of neurometric thresholds using stimuli that were not highly optimized for each neuron, as is often necessary when recording from large populations of neurons with different receptive field concurrently, as was the case in this study. These results demonstrate that marmoset MT shows an essential physiological similarity to macaque MT and suggest that its neurons are capable of representing motion signals that allow for comparable motion-in-noise judgments. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We report the activity of neurons in marmoset MT in response to random-dot motion stimuli of varying coherence. The information carried by individual MT neurons was comparable to that of the macaque, and the maximum firing rates were a strong predictor of sensitivity. Our study provides key information regarding the neural basis of motion perception in the marmoset, a small primate species that is becoming increasingly popular as an experimental model.

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