The Extraction of Depth Structure from Shading and Texture in the Macaque Brain

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 4; no. 12; p. e8306
• Main Authors: Nelissen, Koen, Joly, Olivier, Durand, Jean-Baptiste, Todd, James T., Vanduffel, Wim, Orban, Guy A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 14.12.2009; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Animals; Brain; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Cognitive science; Cortex; Cues; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Intraparietal sulcus; Macaca; Macaca - physiology; Magnetic resonance; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical research; Medical schools; Monkeys & apes; Neuroimaging; Neurons; Neuroscience; Neuroscience/Cognitive Neuroscience; Neuroscience/Sensory Systems; Photic Stimulation; Shading; Studies; Texture; Trends; Visual observation; Visual Perception - physiology; Belgium; United States > US; Massachusetts
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008306

We used contrast-agent enhanced functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the alert monkey to map the cortical regions involved in the extraction of 3D shape from the monocular static cues, texture and shading. As in the parallel human imaging study, we contrasted the 3D condition to several 2D control conditions. The extraction of 3D shape from texture (3D SfT) involves both ventral and parietal regions, in addition to early visual areas. Strongest activation was observed in CIP, with decreasing strength towards the anterior part of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS). In the ventral stream 3D SfT sensitivity was observed in a ventral portion of TEO. The extraction of 3D shape from shading (3D SfS) involved predominantly ventral regions, such as V4 and a dorsal potion of TEO. These results are similar to those obtained earlier in human subjects and indicate that the extraction of 3D shape from texture is performed in both ventral and dorsal regions for both species, as are the motion and disparity cues, whereas shading is mainly processed in the ventral stream.