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Visual synchrony affects binding and segmentation in perception

Visual synchrony affects binding and segmentation in perception The visual system analyses information by decomposing complex objects into simple components (visual features) that are widely distributed across the cortex 1 , 2 . When several objects are present simultaneously in the visual field, a mechanism is required to group (bind) together visual features that belong to each object and to separate (segment) them from features of other objects. An attractive scheme for binding visual features into a coherent percept consists of synchronizing the activity of their neural representations 3,4,5,6 . If synchrony is important in binding, one would expect that binding and segmentation are facilitated by visual displays that are temporally manipulated to induce stimulus-dependent synchrony. Here we show that visual grouping is indeed facilitated when elements of one percept are presented at the same time as each other and are temporally separated (on a scale below the integration time of the visual system 7 ) from elements of another percept or from background elements. Our results indicate that binding is due to a global mechanism of grouping caused by synchronous neural activation, and not to a local mechanism of motion computation. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nature Springer Journals

Visual synchrony affects binding and segmentation in perception

Usher, Marius; Donnelly, Nick
Nature , Volume 394 (6689) – Dec 30, 1998
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References (31)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 by Macmillan Magazines Ltd.
Subject
Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary; Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, multidisciplinary; Science, multidisciplinary
ISSN
0028-0836
eISSN
1476-4687
DOI
10.1038/28166
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The visual system analyses information by decomposing complex objects into simple components (visual features) that are widely distributed across the cortex 1 , 2 . When several objects are present simultaneously in the visual field, a mechanism is required to group (bind) together visual features that belong to each object and to separate (segment) them from features of other objects. An attractive scheme for binding visual features into a coherent percept consists of synchronizing the activity of their neural representations 3,4,5,6 . If synchrony is important in binding, one would expect that binding and segmentation are facilitated by visual displays that are temporally manipulated to induce stimulus-dependent synchrony. Here we show that visual grouping is indeed facilitated when elements of one percept are presented at the same time as each other and are temporally separated (on a scale below the integration time of the visual system 7 ) from elements of another percept or from background elements. Our results indicate that binding is due to a global mechanism of grouping caused by synchronous neural activation, and not to a local mechanism of motion computation.

Journal

Nature – Springer Journals

Published: Dec 30, 1998

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