This project is part of Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP): 'Dynamic tuning in visual motion and depth processing').
The direction of self-motion or heading can be recovered from the pattern of visual motions on the retina, which depend on the observer's own motion and on the structure of the scene. Many theoretical models for this process have been developed, including one recent one from Van den Berg. This model posits a specific form of interaction between heading-sensitive motion "templates" and eye movements. Psychophysical and functional imaging experiments in the laboratories of Van den Berg and Menon will test these proposals. Single cell electrophysiological experiments in the laboratory of Britten will compare the nature of the coordinate transformation mechanisms in two cortical areas which have been linked to the perception of heading: the medial superior temporal (MST) and ventral intraparietal (VIP) areas, and will test the use of these structures in perception by perturbing their activity in the context of a heading task. |
