Paired neuron recordings in the prefrontal and inferotemporal cortices reveal that spatial selection precedes object identification during visual search

We addressed the question of how we locate and identify objects in complex natural environments by simultaneously recording single neurons from two brain regions that play different roles in this familiar activity—the frontal eye field (FEF), an area in the prefrontal cortex that is involved in visu...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 107; no. 29; pp. 13105 - 13110
Main Authors Monosov, Ilya E., Sheinberg, David L., Thompson, Kirk G., Albright, Thomas D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 20.07.2010
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Animals
Behavioral neuroscience
Biological Sciences
Brain
Contour lines
Correlation analysis
Cues
Electrophysiological Phenomena
Eyes
Haplorhini
Identity
Legal objections
Male
Mental objects
Monkeys & apes
Neurons
Neurons - physiology
Neurosciences
Object recognition
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Saccades
Social Sciences
Space Perception - physiology
Task Performance and Analysis
Time Factors
Visual Fields - physiology
Visual Perception - physiology
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Summary:We addressed the question of how we locate and identify objects in complex natural environments by simultaneously recording single neurons from two brain regions that play different roles in this familiar activity—the frontal eye field (FEF), an area in the prefrontal cortex that is involved in visual spatial selection, and the inferotemporal cortex (IT), which is involved in object recognition—in monkeys performing a covert visual search task. Although the monkeys reported object identity, not location, neural activity specifying target location was evident in FEF before neural activity specifying target identity in IT. These two distinct processes were temporally correlated implying a functional linkage between the end stages of "where" and "what" visual processing and indicating that spatial selection is necessary for the formation of complex object representations associated with visual perception.
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Author contributions: I.E.M. designed and performed research; and I.E.M., D.L.S., and K.G.T. analyzed data and wrote the paper.
Edited* by Thomas D. Albright, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, and approved June 7, 2010 (received for review March 5, 2010)
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.1002870107