Brascamp, Jan W, Kanai, Ryota, Walsh, Vincent and van Ee, Raymond (2010) Human middle temporal cortex, perceptual bias, and perceptual memory for ambiguous three-dimensional motion. Journal of Neuroscience, 30 (2). pp. 760-766. ISSN 0270-6474

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Abstract

When faced with inconclusive or conflicting visual input human observers experience one of multiple possible perceptions. One factor that determines perception of such an ambiguous stimulus is how the same stimulus was perceived on previous occasions, a phenomenon called perceptual memory. We examined perceptual memory of an ambiguous motion stimulus while applying transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the motion-sensitive areas of the middle temporal cortex (hMT+). TMS increased the predominance of whichever perceptual interpretation was most commonly reported by a given observer at baseline, with reduced perception of the less favored interpretation. This increased incidence of the preferred percept indicates impaired long-term buildup of perceptual memory traces that normally act against individual percept biases. We observed no effect on short-term memory traces acting from one presentation to the next. Our results indicate that hMT+ is important for the long-term buildup of perceptual memory for ambiguous motion stimuli.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Psychology > Psychology
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Depositing User:	Ryota Kanai
Date Deposited:	11 Mar 2013 09:25
Last Modified:	14 Mar 2017 01:46
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/43973

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