HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 93/6/3453    most recent 00934.2004v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (7) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Large, M.-E. Articles by Vilis, T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Large, M.-E. Articles by Vilis, T.

Perceptual Continuity and the Emergence of Perceptual Persistence in the Ventral Visual Pathway

¹Departments of Psychology and ²Physiology and Pharmacology, Canadian Institutes of Health Research Group for Action and Perception, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada

Submitted 7 September 2004; accepted in final form 11 January 2005

Perceptual continuity is an important aspect of our experience of the visual world. In this study, we focus on an example of perceptual continuity involving the maintenance of figure—ground segregation despite the removal of binding cues that initiated the segregation. Fragmented line drawings of objects were superimposed on a background of randomly oriented lines. Global forms could be discriminated from the background based on differences in motion or differences in color/brightness. Furthermore, perception of a global form persisted after the binding cue had been removed. A comparison between the persistence of forms constructed from motion or color demonstrated that both forms produced persistence after the object defining cues were removed. Functional imaging showed a gradual increase in the persistence of brain activity in the lower visual areas (V1, V2, VP), which reached significance in V4v and peaked in the lateral occipital area. There was no difference in the location of persistence for color- or motion-defined forms. These results suggest that the retention of a global percept is an emerging property of the ventral visual processing stream and the maintenance of grouped visual elements is independent of cue type. We postulated that perceptual persistence depends on a system of perceptual memory reflecting the state of perceptual organization.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. G. Philiastides and P. Sajda EEG-Informed fMRI Reveals Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Perceptual Decision Making J. Neurosci., November 28, 2007; 27(48): 13082 - 13091. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Kroliczak, C. Cavina-Pratesi, D. A. Goodman, and J. C. Culham What Does the Brain Do When You Fake It? An fMRI Study of Pantomimed and Real Grasping J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2007; 97(3): 2410 - 2422. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. G. Appelbaum, A. R. Wade, V. Y. Vildavski, M. W. Pettet, and A. M. Norcia Cue-invariant networks for figure and background processing in human visual cortex. J. Neurosci., November 8, 2006; 26(45): 11695 - 11708. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]