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Global versus local: double dissociation between MT+ and V3A in motion processing revealed using continuous theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation

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Abstract

The functional properties of motion selective areas in human visual cortex, including V3A, MT+, and intraparietal sulcus (IPS) are not fully understood. To examine the functional specialization of these areas for global and local motion processing, we used off-line, neuronavigated, continuous theta burst (cTBS) transcranial magnetic stimulation to temporarily alter neural activity within unilateral V3A, MT+, and IPS. A within-subjects design was employed and stimulation sessions were separated by at least 24 h. In each session, subjects were asked to discriminate the global motion directions of successively presented random dot kinematograms (RDKs) before and after cTBS. RDKs were presented at either 100 or 40 % coherence in either the left or right visual field. We found that V3A stimulation selectively impaired discrimination of 100 % coherent motion, while MT+ stimulation selectively impaired discrimination of 40 % coherent motion. IPS stimulation impaired discrimination of both motion stimuli. All cTBS effects were specific to stimuli presented contralaterally to the stimulation site and vertex stimulation had no effect. The double dissociation between the cTBS effects on MT+ and V3A indicates distinct roles for these two regions in motion processing. Judging the direction of 100 % coherent motion can rely on local motion processing because every dot moves in the same direction. However, judging the global direction of 40 % coherent motion requires global processing. Thus, our results suggest separate, parallel processing of local and global motion in V3A and MT+, respectively, with the outputs of these two areas being combined within the IPS.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2013T60011), the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2011CBA00400 and 2013CB531304), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project 31230029, 31421003, 91132302 and 90820307).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Cai, Nihong Chen & Fang Fang

  2. Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Cai, Nihong Chen & Fang Fang

  3. PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People’s Republic of China

    Peng Cai, Nihong Chen & Fang Fang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People’s Republic of China

    Tiangang Zhou

  5. School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Benjamin Thompson

  6. Department of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Benjamin Thompson

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  1. Peng Cai
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Correspondence to Fang Fang.

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Peng Cai and Nihong Chen have contributed equally to this work.

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Cai, P., Chen, N., Zhou, T. et al. Global versus local: double dissociation between MT+ and V3A in motion processing revealed using continuous theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation. Exp Brain Res 232, 4035–4041 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-4084-9

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