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Merigan"
Motion Perception following
Lesions of the Superior Temporal Departments of "Neurobiology and Anatomy, and
2
Sulcus in the Monkey Ophthalmology, and 'Center for Visual Science,
University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14642
We examined the effect of bilateral ibotenic acid lesions, Physiological properties of neurons in cortical areas
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aimed at areas MT/MST in three macaques, on their MT and MST of the macaque monkey suggest an im-
perception of motion. The medial boundary of the le- portant role of these areas in the processing of visual
sions in the three monkeys was near the dorsal end of motion signals. Neurons in area MT have large re-
the STS, but the lesions extended different lengths ven- ceptive fields, many are directionally selective, and
tralry along the STS. The lesions extended the shortest some respond to an integrated direction of motion
distance ventrally in monkeys 1 and 2, covering most when stimulated with the motion of multiple, ori-
of MST but possibly sparing a portion of lateral MT. ented moving patterns (Zeki, 1974; Maunsell and Van
That in monkey 3 damaged all of MT and MST bilaterally Essen, 1983; Albright, 1984; Movshon et al., 1985;
and extended through most of FST. All three lesions Rodman and Albright, 1989). In addition, recent phys-
caused a temporary disruption, followed by at least iological evidence (Newsome et al., 1989; Britten et
partial recovery, of most motion thresholds. Permanent al., 1992) indicates that the sensitivity of MT neurons
effects of the lesions on visual sensitivity were graded to visual motion is similar to that of the psychophys-
with lesion extent Contrast sensitivity for detecting ically tested monkey. Additional evidence that MT
low-spatial-frequency (1 cycle/degree) drifting gratings may be important for motion perception is the dem-
over a wide range of drift rates, as well as for identifying onstration that microstimulation of small numbers of
their direction of motion, was slightly affected only in MT neurons can alter the visual choices of a monkey
monkey 3. Only monkeys 2 and 3 showed a deficit in toward the direction to which the stimulated neurons
discriminating stimulus speed, and the size of the loss are most sensitive (Salzman et al., 1992). Similarly,
was two- to fourfold. Discrimination of opposite direc- recordings from the adjacent area, MST, also suggest
tions of dot pattern motion, which required integration a role in motion processing, specifically in the analysis
of local motion signals, was mildly affected in monkeys of object motion and optic flow (Duffy and Wurtz,
2 and 3, and not affected in monkey 1. However, ad- 1991; Tanaka et al., 1993) and in pursuit eye move-
dition of directional noise to this discrimination caused ments (Komatsu and Wurtz, 1988).
the performance of all monkeys to be permanently dis- Lesions of MT and MST affect motion perception
rupted, especially that of monkeys 2 and 3. Finally, in a way that suggests a central role for these areas.
direction difference thresholds were elevated by a factor Lesions of areas MT (Newsome et al., 1985) and MST
of 2-4 after the lesions in all three monkeys. Many of (Dursteller and Wurtz, 1988) resulted in deficits in
these deficits were more pronounced during the first 2 smooth pursuit eye movements that suggested im-
months of testing following the lesion. paired perception of the velocity of motion, although
Thus, our results demonstrate that areas within dor- these effects were transient and recovered within a
sal STS make an important contribution to the perfor- week (Yamasaki and Wurtz, 1991). Newsome and Pare
mance of various motion perception tasks including the (1988) used dynamic random dots to examine the
discrimination of smaD differences in direction and speed, discrimination of motion direction. They reported def-
and the perception of global motion in the presence of icits in thresholds for discriminating opposite direc-
directional noise. The residual motion perception, even tions of motion that were severe on the day of the
in the monkey with virtually complete removal of areas lesion, but largely recovered after a week. When the
MT/MST, may suggest either that these tasks are nor- lesion was larger, and included both MT and a large
mally mediated in part by cortical areas outside of areas portion of MST, there was a twofold threshold ele-
MT and MST, or that the disrupted functions were par- vation, which appeared to be permanent.
tially assumed by other cortical areas after lesions. While the above work suggests some role for MT/
MST in motion perception, the limited and largely
transient deficits following lesions of these areas
question how essential they are. The basis for this
rapid recovery of function is an important and as yet
unresolved question. Related questions that formed
the basis of the present study are the possibilities (1)
that other motion-related capacities might be sub-
stantially and permanently affected by MT lesions and
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available in the home cage, and their body weights
were monitored daily. The three monkeys (with orig- sented with two gratings of the same spatial frequency
inal numbers in parentheses) were labeled 1 (047), moving in the same direction at two different rates.
2 (854), and 3 (9103) in order of the completeness They were rewarded for choosing the target that moved
of their MT/MST lesions to facilitate clarity of de- faster.
scription of their behavioral deficits. Initially the monkeys were trained to detect and
to discriminate the direction of motion of a high-
Stimuli and Behavioral Procedures contrast, 1 cycle/degree grating, drifting at 2.24 Hz.
After they acquired both tasks (criterion: three con-
Grating Stimuli secutive 200 trial sessions >90% correct, or four con-
Stimuli. Stimuli and behavioral procedures were sim- secutive sessions >80% correct), they were trained
ilar to those described in Pasternak and Leinen (1986). to discriminate differences in speed. Thresholds were
The stimuli were sinusoidal, moving or stationary ver- measured with a staircase procedure in which three
tical gratings that were generated with an Innisfree consecutive correct responses resulted in a decrease
stimulus generator on a Hewlett-Packard 1332a os- of contrast (or for speed thresholds, a decrease in the
cilloscope screen (P-31 phosphor). The gratings ap- speed of the comparison stimulus), while each in-
peared behind two 6° diameter circular openings in correct response resulted in an increase of contrast
a white surround of the same mean luminance (75 or the difference in speed between the two compar-
cd/m 2 ). All gratings had a slow, smoothed onset (200 ison stimuli. A psychometric function was constructed
msec raised cosine), and they remained on until the from the results of all trials, and contrast and speed
first response after 2 sec. Contrast sensitivity functions thresholds were calculated by interpolation at the
for detecting gratings and discriminating their direc- stimulus value consistent with 75% correct. Contrast
tion of motion were measured for 1 cycle/degree grat- thresholds were converted into contrast sensitivity by:
ings at temporal frequencies from 2.24 Hz to 19 Hz. I/contrast threshold x 100, while speed thresholds
Difference thresholds for speed were measured over were converted into Weber fractions: increment in
a range of stimulus contrasts, with grating contrast speed/base speed (AV/V). Each testing session con-
defined as ( £ m - £„,„)/(£„„ + Z ^ ) , where L^ and sisted of 200 trials, and the monkeys were tested in
Zmta are the maximum and minimum luminance in the two consecutive sessions. Thus, contrast sensitivities
grating. The mean contrast values were 1.5%, 3%, 6%, for detection and direction discrimination for a given
12%, 24%, and 48%. To eliminate cues due to differ- stimulus were usually measured on the same day.
ences in apparent contrast between the standard and Spatial frequency discrimination. This function
comparison gratings, contrast was randomly varied was measured using stimuli identical to those used
±15% around the mean for each trial, except at the in other discriminations to see if the effects of MT/
highest contrast level (48%), where a single contrast MST lesions were specific to motion tasks. This could
value was used. Finally, spatial frequency difference be determined by comparing the smallest discrimin-
thresholds were measured with the same stimuli. All able difference in spatial frequency measured here to
measurements were performed at a distance of 35 cm. the smallest discriminable difference in speed mea-
The grating stimuli usually remained on until the sured in the motion tasks. In this task the monkey
response was made. discriminated between two stationary gratings of
Contrast sensitivity and speed discrimination. The identical contrast, that differed only in spatial fre-
monkeys were trained to perform three different tasks: quency. A base spatial frequency of 1 cycle/degree
to detect the presence of a moving grating, to dis- was always compared with a higher spatial frequency,
criminate its direction of motion, and to discriminate and the monkey was rewarded for responding to the
small differences in the speed of moving gratings. The higher frequency. Temporal onset of the gratings fol-
behavioral procedure was identical for all three tasks. lowed a cosine envelope of 200 msec rise time. A
The monkeys viewed the comparison stimuli binoc- staircase procedure, identical to that described above
ularly, and were rewarded for pushing one of two for speed discrimination, was used and threshold was
buttons that was located on the same side as the cor- taken at a value corresponding to 75% correct per-
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bution of directions was 360°, there was only local the permanent effects of lesions, rather than transient
random motion of individual dots, and no coherent deficits that occur immediately after the lesions (e.g.,
motion could be seen. However, when the distribu- Newsome and Pare, 1988), postoperative testing be-
tion was less than about 320-340°, the dots appeared gan between 3 and 7 d after the lesions and continued
to flow coherently in the direction of the mean of the over a period of 6 months. Nonetheless, in all three
distribution. The saliency of the stimulus was manip- animals we were able to assess the extent of early
ulated by varying the range of the direction distri- deficits on some of the tasks. The sequence of testing
bution (direction range) and/or the proportion of the following the lesions was as follows. In monkey 1,
dots moving in nonrandom directions (% motion sig- single threshold determinations were performed for
nal). all tasks during the first 2 weeks of the postoperative
The dot stimuli were displayed for 2 sec on two behavioral testing. After that, systematic measure-
adjacent regions of the screen of a Tektronix 606 os- ments of each visual function resumed. In all mon-
cilloscope (P-31 phosphor), placed at a distance of keys, we made at least three to five measurements of
35 cm from the observer, behind two immediately speed, contrast, direction, and range thresholds. In
adjacent 7° diameter circular openings in a white sur- cases when animals were unable to perform discrim-
round. Each stimulus contained 50 dots, the dot den- inations, attempts to measure thresholds were re-
sity in all experiments was 0.94 dots/degree 2 , and the peated several times. When there was any sign of im-
mean luminance of the display was 0.1 cd/m 2 . Each provement, the monkeys received additional testing
dot was 0.08° in diameter and its luminance was set to determine at what level performance would sta-
3.5 log units above detection threshold for human bilize. In monkey 2, range thresholds were measured
observers. Under these conditions there was no in- first, followed by contrast sensitivity testing at a single
dication of streaks produced by moving dots. temporal frequency (9 Hz), followed by direction dif-
ference threshold testing and speed discriminations.
Tasks. The monkeys were trained on two tasks in-
After these initial measurements, the monkey re-
volving random dots: discrimination of opposite di-
ceived extensive systematic testing on all tasks. In
rections, and discrimination of small differences in
monkey 3, contrast thresholds for detecting and dis-
direction. Thefirsttask was identical to that used with
criminating direction over a range of temporal fre-
gratings. The monkeys viewed two stimuli consisting
quencies were measured first. This was followed by
of rightward and leftward moving dots, and were re-
measurements of speed discriminations, and finally
warded for choosing the rightward motion. The
by range and direction thresholds for random dots.
broadest range of directions in the stimulus that al-
The performance on all tasks stabilized after the first
lowed the animals to perform the discrimination at
2 months of testing. Thresholds for all tasks were
75% correct was determined at several levels of mo-
rechecked during the last month of the experiment,
tion signal: 100%, 50%, 25%, 12%, and 6%. In addition,
6 months after the lesion.
a threshold for the limit of motion signal was mea-
sured with direction range held at 0°. In the second
task, one stimulus moved to the right and the other Ibotenic Acid Lesions
downward but less than 90° from rightward, the mon- Lesions were made by injecting ibotenic acid (10 /ig/
keys were rewarded for choosing rightward motion, lil) at multiple sites along the superior temporal sul-
and the minimal discriminable difference in direction cus (STS) in both hemispheres. Injections began near
was measured. Direction difference thresholds were the dorsal end of the STS and continued along the
measured for the following direction ranges: 0°, 90°, STS for about 8 mm. Individual injections were made
180°, and 270°. Other procedural details were iden- with about 2.5 mm separation anterior and posterior
tical to those described above for gratings. to the lumen of the STS along its dorsalmost 8 mm.
Injections were made with a Hamilton syringe and
Preoperative Testing their location based on direct visualization of the STS.
Preoperative testing was performed over a period of In monkey 1, 106 and 118 injections of 1.5 MI (total,
3-6 months for different monkeys. Since during the 3360 ng) were placed in the left and right hemi-
initial data collection improvement in thresholds with spheres, respectively. In monkey 2, 73 and 74 injec-
tions of 1.5 Ml (total, 2205 Mg) were made in the left sition to normal-appearing neuropil at the lesion edg-
and right hemispheres, and in monkey 3, 96 and 112 es as shown in Figure 1. This lesion was complete
injections of 1.5 MI (total, 3120 tig). Due to the length along both anterior and posterior banks of the STS,
of the injection procedure, the lesions in each hemi- except for a small region in which deeper layers of
sphere were made in separate surgeries a week apart, cortex survived. In instances when the lesion termi-
during which time visual thresholds were measured nated with a sulcus, we often found a small region of
for monkeys 1 and 3 to determine the effect of the damage to only superficial layers bordering the full
surgery itself (plus the unilateral lesion) on thresh- thickness lesion.
olds. The location and extent of complete and partial
lesions are illustrated on flattened 2-D maps of the
Histology cortical surface in Figure 2. Lesions were reconstruct-
At the conclusion of behavioral testing, each animal ed primarily from the cytochrome oxidase (CO) sec-
was killed with an overdose of barbiturate and per- tions, which clearly showed the extent of neuron loss.
fused with a phosphate buffer rinse followed by 4% Comparison with cresyl violet and myelin stains
paraformaldehyde fixative. A second rinse was used showed thinning of the cortical surface at lesion sites,
to removed excess fixative. The brain was removed, with substantial gliosis but no apparent damage to
blocked, and sectioned at a thickness of 32 or 40 pm. fibers. The lesions are shown, as in previous studies
Triplets of adjacent sections at intervals of 0.25 or 0.50 (e.g., Newsome and Pare, 1988), in relation to the
mm were stained for cytochrome oxidase (Wong-Rlley, borders and fundus of the STS. Also shown is the
1979), with cresyl violet, and for myelinated fibers secondary fundus of the STS, which is a reliable in-
(Gallyas, 1979). dicator of the location of lateral (central) MT (Van
Essen et al., 1981). Small regions along the lateral
Results border of the lesions in monkeys 1 and 2 showed the
myeloarchitecture that is characteristic of area MT in
Lesion Reconstruction unlesioned monkeys (Van Essen et al., 1981; Unger-
A representative histological section through one le- leider and Desimone, 1986), and these areas are shown
sion is shown in Figure 1. Lesions usually produced by solid lines in Figure 2.
a very uniform loss of neurons with an abrupt tran- Lesions in all three monkeys began near the medial
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monkey, as well as part of ventral MST. This monkey
also had small lesions in the left hemisphere near the
anectant gyrus and in the interparietal sulcus. In mon-
key 3, the lesions in both hemispheres appear to cover
all of MT and MST, as well as a substantial part of FST.
There are also small lesions near the anectant gyrus
and in ventral cortex in the inferior occipital sulcus.
Thus, all three lesions involved large and slightly dif-
ferent portions of MT and MST.
100 100
30 ^ 'early 30
10 *»" 10 .^early
3 3
Monkey 1 •*•
Monkey 1
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300 . lesion 300 lesion
•—"?
C/3 100 • intact 100
^ ^
early >j
a 30 30 A early
00
.4—>
10 • 10
8C 3 3
Monkey 2 Monkey 2
O
u
300
300
100 100
30 30
10 • 10
-early /'
3 3
Monkey 3 Monkey 3
10 20 10 20
crimination of temporal frequency using a counter- sults in Figure 6 show that the lesion had no reliable
phase flickering grating of the same spatial and tem- effect on spatial frequency discrimination at either of
poral frequency. These results are shown in Figure 5. the tested contrasts. Thresholds before and after the
Both before and after the lesion this monkey was less lesion were on the order of 6% irrespective of grating
accurate in discriminating differences in flicker rate contrast. Thus, although this monkey showed a three-
than differences in speed. Thus, it is unlikely that the fold loss in accuracy in the discrimination of small
speed discrimination was performed on the basis of differences in direction (see below), it showed no
apparent flicker rate. deficit in the discrimination of spatial frequency dif-
ferences.
Spatial Frequency Discrimination
Thresholds for discriminating differences in spatial Dynamic Random Dots: Discrimination of
frequency were examined with stationary gratings in Opposite Directions
monkey 1 to determine if deficits resulting from MT/ Preoperative and postoperative range thresholds, that
MST lesions were limited to motion thresholds. Re- is, the broadest range of directions in a dot display
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> U.8
counterphase at 2 24 H L Prenperatrve performance [ m a . open symbols) a shown
on the left while postoperative performance {lesion, solid symbols) is shown on the
<
right Both before and after the taston the monkey was less accurate m discnmnating
II 0.6
leskm
tempers! frequency differences than in discriminating differences m speed.
0.4
discriminate motion direction in the presence of sub-
Q stantial stimulus noise. However, in the absence of
0.2 noise (larger motion signal), the residual perfor-
"8 Monkey 2
mance on the direction task was only slightly below
normal, suggesting that the ability to integrate local
CO
motion signals was largely preserved after the lesion.
0.6 r
2 0.04
for which opposite directions of global motion could
s:
be discriminated, are shown in Figure 7. When all the 0)
dots in the distribution were directionally biased c
(100% signal), range thresholds reached 330-340°. 0.02
The thresholds decreased with percentage of signal
a
.0
and the monkeys were unable to perform the task
when the motion signal dropped below about 5%
(i.e., over 95% of dots moved in random directions).
The postoperative performance of all monkeys was
affected by the lesion, and the effect was greatest at
Grating Contrast (%)
low motion signal. While this effect was most pro- 6. The effect of MT/MST lesions on spatial frequency (fiscrrminatjon. Pre-
nounced in monkeys 2 and 3, there was a small deficit operative [light tars, BUsct) and postoperative (flEsDr bffs, lesion) difference thresholds
are shown for the spatial frequency of a stationary grating. Base spatial frequency
even in monkey 1, which may have had partial sparing was 1 cycle/degree. Each 4 M point represents at least three threshold detaminaiions.
of the central representation of MT. Thus, lesions of Error bars are ± 1 SEM. The thresholds were measured at two contrail revets. 5 1 %
areas MT and MST permanently affected the ability to and 1256-
270
V
intactyj^
180 00
• early u
2-
90 / Aesion .
o Monkey 1 s>e 15 deg/sec
0 d I L 90
Monkey 1
10
360
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270 Monkey 2 Monkey 2
intact
180
90 10
0
Monkey 2 Monkey 3 Monkey 3
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of at least partial prelesion sensitivity. were measured at 5 degrees/sec, whrii was kept constam by adjusting the temporal
nterval. The largest step sue on each graph is the maximal spatial displacement
Contrast Sensitivity ( 0 _ ) , when was determined by varying the step see (and temporal interval) end
In all three animals, measurements of sensitivity for asking the monkeys to discnrraraie between nghtward and downward moving stimuli
detection and direction discrimination revealed some |90° difference m direction) The earr> postoperative data were collected 14 d after
the bilateral festoa Direction range, &. 100% signal.
transient depression of sensitivity. The most complete
data were obtained from monkey 1, for whom we were
able to measure complete functions for detection and
discrimination during the first 6 d after the lesions by less than 100°. The deficit in monkey 1 was less pro-
making determinations of detection and direction nounced, with range thresholds reduced to about 270°.
thresholds each day. Loss was more pronounced for With lower-percentage signal, early losses were even
direction discrimination than detection, suggesting more pronounced, and all monkeys were unable to
that these early transient effects were specific either perform the task with less than 20% motion signal.
to motion mechanisms or to the greater demands of With repeated testing (or the passage of time), per-
discrimination than detection tests. Interestingly, the formance at high levels of motion signal (50% and
pronounced effects at lower temporal frequencies de- 100% signal) improved nearly to preoperative levels,
creased within 3 d, with an eventual return to normal although performance with low motion signal re-
preoperative levels. A pronounced early loss in di- mained poor.
rection contrast sensitivity was also seen in monkey Data obtained in the interval between the first and
3, and again the deficit was most marked for slowly second lesions in monkeys 1 and 3 (Fig. 7, open tri-
moving gratings. The loss for monkey 3 at 7 d was angles) indicate that even unilateral lesions substan-
greater than that in monkey 1 at 6 d, and this differ- tially affected these thresholds. In both monkeys the
ence was consistent with the final thresholds, which effect of the unilateral lesion was comparable to the
showed loss only for monkey 3. transient effect of the complete lesions. Since the uni-
This early sensitivity loss was unlikely to be a sim- lateral lesion caused little or no effect on contrast
ple consequence of surgical trauma, since for two sensitivity for detection and direction discrimination
monkeys (monkeys 1 and 3) we tested sensitivity dur- in these same animals (open triangles in Fig. 3), these
ing the week between placement of the two unilateral deficits in global motion thresholds could reflect ei-
lesions, and found little, if any, loss in contrast thresh- ther a greater sensitivity of these measures to simple
olds (see open triangles in Fig. 3). Thus, even though surgical trauma or a dependence of these thresholds
the animals had received a unilateral MT/MST lesion, on a contribution from both visual fields.
there was little effect.
Discussion
Dynamic Random Dot Tests Our results show that large lesions of areas MT and
Transient losses on tests involving discrimination of MST produce permanent deficits in some tasks in-
opposite directions usually exceeded permanent def- volving motion discriminations. These effects includ-
icits by about a factor of 2, with the most consistent ed a reduction in the accuracy of speed and direction
early effects across monkeys seen on range thresholds. discrimination, and reduced ability to integrate local
Monkeys 2 and 3 were unable to discriminate direc- directional signals in the presence of directional noise.
tion above chance levels even 4-6 d after the lesions. However, the most striking feature of the present re-
Early data, collected during the first few weeks fol- sults was not the observed deficits, but rather the sub-
lowing the lesion, show a dramatic drop in range stantial preservation of motion discrimination. It was
thresholds in all monkeys even when all the dots in particularly impressive that the lesioned monkeys dis-
the display were directionally biased (100% signal). criminated direction of grating motion at essentially
Before the lesion both monkeys could discriminate contrast threshold, and when stimuli contained no
direction when the breadth of the direction distri- directional noise, they showed near-normal perfor-
bution was about 330°. However, after the lesions, mance on discriminations that require the integration
range thresholds in monkeys 2 and 3 decreased to of local motion vectors.
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not superficial layers of a portion of central MT in tion perception, which have a widespread loss of cor-
monkeys 1 and 2. On the other hand, the lesion in tical directionality (Pasternak et al., 1985; Pasternak
monkey 3 appeared complete, and the pattern of re- and Leinen, 1986), than in cats with LS lesions or
sults was qualitatively similar in all three monkeys. monkeys with lesions of MT and MST. One implica-
This similarity suggests that the regions of central MT tion of this analysis is that the human patient of Hess
in which there was sparing of only deep layers in et al. (1989) probably has a more widespread lesion
monkeys 1 and 2 may not have been functional. Al- than either the cats with LS lesions or the monkeys
ternatively, these regions of central MT may not have with MT/MST lesions.
been sufficient to prevent permanent loss of some
motion sensitivity. In any case, it does not appear Speed Discrimination
possible that the substantial survival of motion per- Two of the monkeys showed consistent and perma-
ception seen in this study was due to undamaged nent two- to fourfold losses in the accuracy of speed
regions of MT or MST. discrimination over a wide range of contrasts. How-
ever, postoperative performance remained indepen-
Detection and Direction Contrast Sensitivity dent of stimulus contrast, suggesting that, at least in
Intact sensitivity for detecting stationary and drifting some respects, mechanisms underlying the perfor-
gratings has previously been reported for monkeys mance retained their preoperative properties.
after MT lesions (Newsome and Pare, 1988), and hu- Since differences in grating speed are accompa-
mans with damage to parieto-occipital cortex (Hess nied by differences in temporal frequency, it was con-
et al., 1989; Plant et al., 1990). A similar preservation ceivable that the residual performance on speed dis-
of contrast sensitivity for detection has also been ob- crimination was based on flicker cues, rather than on
served in cats with lesions of the lateral suprasylvian speed per se. If this were the case, we would expect
cortex (Pasternak et al., 1989), an area often compared that the discrimination of flicker differences would
to area MT in the monkey (Payne, 1993). In these be at least as accurate as the discrimination of speeds.
studies, observers detected gratings at contrast levels However, previous reports (McKee et al., 1986; Pas-
close to, or only slightly above, normal thresholds. In ternak, 1987), and the data from one of the monkeys
the present study, monkeys 1 and 2 showed no per- in the present study, show that discrimination thresh-
manent loss of sensitivity, while monkey 3 showed a olds for temporal frequency are about a factor of 2-3
small but persistent decrease in sensitivity for both higher then speed thresholds. Moreover, it has been
thresholds. The small depression in sensitivity in demonstrated that the discrimination of flicker rates
monkey 3 may have been due to the larger extent of cannot be performed in the absence of directionally
its lesion, which appeared to include all of MT and selective velocity mechanisms (Pasternak, 1987). Thus,
MST as well as a portion of area FST. This decreased the residual performance of the monkeys appears to
sensitivity for drifting gratings was accompanied by a be based on differences in target speed.
parallel decrease in sensitivity for counterphase-mod- Although the lesions produced some loss in the
ulated gratings flickered in counterphase, such that accuracy of speed discrimination, the monkeys re-
the nearly twofold greater sensitivity for drifting grat- tained substantial ability to judge speed differences.
ings was maintained after the lesion. Superior sensi- Preservation of these speed discrimination abilities
tivity for drifting gratings suggests, as does other ev- after destruction of areas MT/MST, suggests that neu-
idence discussed below, that grating detection at rons outside the STS can perform some analysis of
contrast threshold was mediated by directionally se- stimulus speed, and that MT neurons do not make a
lective mechanisms (Watson et al., 1980; Pasternak, unique contribution to the analysis of speed.
1986).
Our results on speed discrimination address the
The largely preserved sensitivity for the direction issue of a special role for MT in the perception of
of image motion is similar to that found by Plant et velocity. The first evidence that MT might be involved
al. (1990) in a human patient with extrastriate lesions, in the processing of target velocity came from the
who was otherwise severely deficient in discriminat- study of Newsome et al. (1985), who showed that
ing speed differences. It is also consistent with the ibotenic acid lesions of MT produced transient defi-
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in lesion size and location in the different studies. creased direction thresholds (Wilson and Gelb, 1984).
Comparison of speed difference effects in the present These considerations would be consistent with either
macaque and previous human studies is even more an alteration in these properties in neurons mediating
difficult given the uncertain extent to the lesions in direction thresholds, or assumption of these functions
studies of humans, and the unclear relationship of by other neurons with less optimal directional tuning
macaque MT to human occipitoparietal cortex. and variability.
Preoperative values of D m measured in this study
Global Motion (0.7-0.8° for a target moving at 5 degrees/sec) are
To assess the role of MT in the integration of local close to the upper limit for dot displacement in di-
motion signals, we used dynamic random dots. MT rectionally selective neurons in area MT (Mikami et
neurons have several properties that make them par- al., 1986). Likewise, psychophysical measures of D^
ticularly well suited for integrating dot motion, in- as a function of eccentricity closely match the maxi-
cluding their large, directionally selective receptive mal spatial displacement for MT neurons at different
fields and the directionally integrative response of eccentricities (Baker and Braddick, 1985). These par-
many of its neurons to multiple directions of motion allels between the properties of MT neurons and the
(Movshon et al., 1985). Like Newsome and Pare psychophysical performance of humans have sug-
(1988), we found that the integration of local direc- gested that receptive fields of MT neurons could be
tional signals (the range threshold for dot motion) the substrate of the maximal spatial displacement for
was transiently disrupted by lesions. A similar inabil- direction discrimination. In this study, postoperative-
ity to perform motion tasks in the presence of noise ly reduced accuracy of directional judgments was less
has been reported for a "motion blind" patient by pronounced at larger spatial displacements, and there
Baker et al. (1991). Permanent range threshold def- was no detectable deficit at all at the largest step sizes.
icits at low levels of motion signal suggest either that In fact, the maximal spatial displacement (£>„„) for
these areas play a particularly important role in some direction discrimination was somewhat larger after
processing that enhances signal-to-noise ratios (e.g., the lesion. This increase in £>„„ suggests a postop-
summation) or simply that lesions may exacerbate erative increase in the spatial scale of mechanisms
noise levels in motion-sensitive areas. The possibility mediating the perception of direction (Baker and
that MT neurons may play some role in extracting Braddick, 1985).
motion signals from noise is supported by studies of
Britten and Newsome (Newsome et al., 1989; Britten Specificity of the Motion Deficit
et al., 1992), who have recently shown that cells in All three monkeys showed initial and often perma-
MT respond to the direction of motion in noisy targets nent deficits on a variety of discriminations of the
at signal-to-noise levels near psychophysical thresh- speed and direction of moving targets. On the other
old. Moreover, recent microstimulation experiments hand, we found almost no deficits on the detection
(Salzman et al., 1992) have shown that it is possible task, which did not require the use of motion cues.
to influence the monkey's ability to extract correlated It is possible that this difference simply reflects a
motion by stimulating individual neurons in MT. greater vulnerability of discrimination than detection
In addition to deficits in the discrimination of op- tasks, although this explanation is not supported by
posite directions for dots and gratings, deficits in the the intact ability of monkey 1 on a nonmotion dis-
discrimination of small direction differences were crimination: the spatial frequency of stationary grat-
found in all three monkeys. Since such discrimina- ings. Thus, it seems likely that the effects of MT/MST
tions are likely based on a comparison of the response lesions were probably limited to the domain of image
of local motion detectors, involving a pooling of re- motion. On the other hand, the effect of the MT/MST
sponse differences across directions (Wilson and Gelb, lesion on the spatial frequency discrimination was
1984; Watamaniuk et al., 1989), the direction deficit examined in only a single monkey. Since the lesion
could result from disruption of the response of local in monkey 1 was less extensive and the accompanying
directional detectors or the pooling of directional out- deficit in motion thresholds was less pronounced than
puts. It is unlikely that the MT/MST lesion affected that in the other two monkeys, the question of the
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This work was supported by grants from the National Eye and flicker rate depends on directionally selective mech-
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