Topic
Glob (visual system)
About: Glob (visual system) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2 publications have been published within this topic receiving 244 citations.
Papers
TL;DR: Though nothing is known, these signals presumably interface with motor programs and emotional centers of the brain to mediate the widely acknowledged emotional salience of color.
Abstract: Color processing begins with the absorption of light by cone photoreceptors, and progresses through a series of hierarchical stages: Retinal signals carrying color information are transmitted through the lateral geniculate nucleus of the thalamus (LGN) up to the primary visual cortex (V1). From V1, the signals are processed by the second visual area (V2); then by cells located in subcompartments ("globs") within the posterior inferior temporal (PIT) cortex, a brain region that encompasses area V4 and brain regions immediately anterior to V4. Color signals are then processed by regions deep within the inferior temporal (IT) cortex including area TE. As a heuristic, one can consider each of these stages to be involved in constructing a distinct aspect of the color percept. The three cone types are the basis for trichromacy; retinal ganglion cells that respond in an opponent fashion to activation of different cone classes are the basis for color opponency (these "cone-opponent" cells increase their firing rate above baseline to activation of one cone class and decrease their firing rate below baseline to activation of a different cone class); double-opponent neurons in the V1 generate local color contrast and are the building blocks for color constancy; glob cells elaborate the perception of hue; and IT integrates color perception in the context of behavior. Finally, though nothing is known, these signals presumably interface with motor programs and emotional centers of the brain to mediate the widely acknowledged emotional salience of color.
230 citations
TL;DR: Results show that color-tuned neurons in PIT are organized by color preference on a finer scale than the scale of single globs, suggesting that the color columns are arranged according to a chromotopic map reflecting perceptual color space.
Abstract: Large islands of extrastriate cortex that are enriched for color-tuned neurons have recently been described in alert macaque using a combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and single-unit recording. These millimeter-sized islands, dubbed “globs,” are scattered throughout the posterior inferior temporal cortex (PIT), a swath of brain anterior to area V3, including areas V4, PITd, and posterior TEO. We investigated the micro-organization of neurons within the globs. We used fMRI to identify the globs and then used MRI-guided microelectrodes to test the color properties of single glob cells. We used color stimuli that sample the CIELUV perceptual color space at regular intervals to test the color tuning of single units, and make two observations. First, color-tuned neurons of various color preferences were found within single globs. Second, adjacent glob cells tended to have the same color tuning, demonstrating that glob cells are clustered by color preference and suggesting that they are arranged in color columns. Neurons separated by 50 μm, measured parallel to the cortical sheet, had more similar color tuning than neurons separated by 100 μm, suggesting that the scale of the color columns is <100 μm. These results show that color-tuned neurons in PIT are organized by color preference on a finer scale than the scale of single globs. Moreover, the color preferences of neurons recorded sequentially along a given electrode penetration shifted gradually in many penetrations, suggesting that the color columns are arranged according to a chromotopic map reflecting perceptual color space.
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 2 |