Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:52:37.632Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The anatomical and physiological properties of the visual cortex argue against cognitive penetration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2017

Moshe Gur
Moshe Gur*
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion, Haifa 32000, Israel. mogi@bm.technion.ac.il
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We are consciously aware of visual objects together with the minute details that characterize each object. Those details are perceived instantaneously and in parallel. V1 is the only visual area with spatial resolution and topographical exactitude matching perceptual abilities. For cognition to penetrate perception, it needs to affect V1 image representation. That is unlikely because of the detailed parallel V1 organization and the nature of top-down connections, which can influence only large parts of the visual field.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 39 , 2016 , e245
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Gilbert, C. D. & Wu, L. (2013) Top-down influences of visual processing. Nature Reviews of Neuroscience 14:350–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gur, M. (2015) Space reconstruction by primary visual cortex activity patterns: A parallel, non-computational mechanism of object representation. Trends in Neuroscience 38:207–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gur, M., Kagan, I. & Snodderly, M. (2005) Orientation and direction selectivity of single cells in V1 of alert monkeys: Functional relationships and laminar distributions. Cerebral Cortex 15:1207–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gur, M. & Snodderly, D. M. (2008) Physiological differences between neurons in layer 2 and layer 3 of primary visual cortex (V1) of alert macaque monkeys. Journal of Physiology (London) 586:2293–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ito, M., Tamura, H., Fujita, I. & Tanaka, K. (1995) Size and position invariance of neuronal responses in monkey inferotemporal cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology 73:218–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rockland, K. S. (1994) The organization of feedback connections from area V2 (18) to V1 (17). In: Primary visual cortex in primates, ed. Peters, A. & Rockland, K. S., pp. 261–99. Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar