The goal of our research is to uncover the neuronal mechanisms that limit the development of visual performance in primates. Recent advances in visual psychophysics and theory have made it possible to formulate questions about visual development in the same terms used to analyze adult vision, and we propose experiments to explore the neurobiology of development in these functional terms. We plan two main groups of experiments. First, we will study the development of the mechanisms supporting spatial vision, using modem methods to assess the components of visual efficiency using noise masking techniques. We win apply these methods to behavioral studies, and to electrophysiological studies of neurons in the LGN and striate cortex. In combination with a direct analysis of retinal structure in the same experimental animals, these methods should allow us to separate and evaluate the peripheral and central factors that limit the development of spatial vision. Second, we will use a combination of behavioral, electrophysiological and neuroanatomical methods to explore the development of the extrastriate cortical mechanisms that support the processing of visual motion. We will again use signal-in-noise techniques to measure the development of behavioral sensitivity to motion, and use the same techniques to study neurons in the striate cortex and in MT, an extrastriate area believed to be critically involved in motion processing. We will also explore the development of a form of motion signalling known to depend on intrinsic computations within MT, and the development of smooth pursuit eye movements, known in adults to depend on signals in MT. These functional studies will be complemented by neuroanatomical experiments designed to. explore the development of the functional connections and architecture of the extrastriate pathways leading to MT, and of the architecture of MT itself Taken together, the experiments will provide unified accounts of the biological and behavioral processes whose development determines these two important components of adult visual function. Future work will build on these results to provide accounts of the alterations of development that lead to amblyopia, and to explore the development of other functions dependent on cortico-cortical interactions.
| Wang, Helena X; Movshon, J Anthony (2016) Properties of pattern and component direction-selective cells in area MT of the macaque. J Neurophysiol 115:2705-20 |
| Kumbhani, Romesh D; El-Shamayleh, Yasmine; Movshon, J Anthony (2015) Temporal and spatial limits of pattern motion sensitivity in macaque MT neurons. J Neurophysiol 113:1977-88 |
| Kiorpes, Lynne (2015) Visual development in primates: Neural mechanisms and critical periods. Dev Neurobiol 75:1080-90 |
| El-Shamayleh, Yasmine; Kumbhani, Romesh D; Dhruv, Neel T et al. (2013) Visual response properties of V1 neurons projecting to V2 in macaque. J Neurosci 33:16594-605 |
| Jazayeri, Mehrdad; Wallisch, Pascal; Movshon, J Anthony (2012) Dynamics of macaque MT cell responses to grating triplets. J Neurosci 32:8242-53 |
| Kiorpes, Lynne; Price, Tracy; Hall-Haro, Cynthia et al. (2012) Development of sensitivity to global form and motion in macaque monkeys (Macaca nemestrina). Vision Res 63:34-42 |
| El-Shamayleh, Yasmine; Movshon, J Anthony (2011) Neuronal responses to texture-defined form in macaque visual area V2. J Neurosci 31:8543-55 |
| Hedges, James H; Gartshteyn, Yevgeniya; Kohn, Adam et al. (2011) Dissociation of neuronal and psychophysical responses to local and global motion. Curr Biol 21:2023-8 |
| Levi, Dennis M; McKee, Suzanne P; Movshon, J Anthony (2011) Visual deficits in anisometropia. Vision Res 51:48-57 |
| Graf, Arnulf B A; Kohn, Adam; Jazayeri, Mehrdad et al. (2011) Decoding the activity of neuronal populations in macaque primary visual cortex. Nat Neurosci 14:239-45 |
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