TY - JOUR
T1 - Figure and ground in the visual cortex
T2 - V2 combines stereoscopic cues with Gestalt rules
AU - Qiu, Fangtu T.
AU - Von Der Heydt, Rüdiger
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Ofelia Garalde for technical assistance and Todd J. Macuda for his participation in some of the experiments. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health grants EY-02966 and NS-38034.
PY - 2005/7/7
Y1 - 2005/7/7
N2 - Figure-ground organization is a process by which the visual system identifies some image regions as foreground and others as background, inferring 3D layout from 2D displays. A recent study reported that edge responses of neurons in area V2 are selective for side-of-figure, suggesting that figure-ground organization is encoded in the contour signals (border ownership coding). Here, we show that area V2 combines two strategies of computation, one that exploits binocular stereoscopic information for the definition of local depth order, and another that exploits the global configuration of contours (Gestalt factors). These are combined in single neurons so that the "near" side of the preferred 3D edge generally coincides with the preferred side-of-figure in 2D displays. Thus, area V2 represents the borders of 2D figures as edges of surfaces, as if the figures were objects in 3D space. Even in 3D displays, Gestalt factors influence the responses and can enhance or null the stereoscopic depth information.
AB - Figure-ground organization is a process by which the visual system identifies some image regions as foreground and others as background, inferring 3D layout from 2D displays. A recent study reported that edge responses of neurons in area V2 are selective for side-of-figure, suggesting that figure-ground organization is encoded in the contour signals (border ownership coding). Here, we show that area V2 combines two strategies of computation, one that exploits binocular stereoscopic information for the definition of local depth order, and another that exploits the global configuration of contours (Gestalt factors). These are combined in single neurons so that the "near" side of the preferred 3D edge generally coincides with the preferred side-of-figure in 2D displays. Thus, area V2 represents the borders of 2D figures as edges of surfaces, as if the figures were objects in 3D space. Even in 3D displays, Gestalt factors influence the responses and can enhance or null the stereoscopic depth information.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=21544477246&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=21544477246&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuron.2005.05.028
DO - 10.1016/j.neuron.2005.05.028
M3 - Article
C2 - 15996555
AN - SCOPUS:21544477246
SN - 0896-6273
VL - 47
SP - 155
EP - 166
JO - Neuron
JF - Neuron
IS - 1
ER -