Abstract
Several published single case studies reveal a double dissociation between the effects of brain damage in separate extra-striate cortical visual areas on the perception of global visual motion defined by a difference in luminance (first-order motion) versus motion defined by a difference in contrast (second-order motion). In particular, the medial extrastriate cortical region V2/V3 seems to be crucial for the perception of first-order motion, but not for second-order, whereas a lateral and more anterior portion of the cortex close to the temporo–parieto–occipital junction (in the territory of the human motion area hV5/MT+) seems to be essential only for the perception of second-order motion. In order to test the hypothesis of a functional specialization of different visual areas for different types of motion, we applied repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) unilaterally over areas V2/V3, V5/MT, or posterior parietal cortex (PPC) while subjects performed a 2AFC task with first- or second-order global motion displays in the contralateral visual field. Results showed a comparable disruption of the two types of motion, with both rTMS over V2/V3 or over MT/V5, and little or no effect with rTMS over PPC. The results suggest that either the previous psychophysical results with neurological patients are incorrect (highly unlikely) or that the lateral and medial regions are directly connected (as they are in macaque monkeys) such that stimulating one automatically affects the other, in this instance disruptively
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Albright TD (1992) Form-cue invariant motion processing in primate visual cortex. Science 255:1141–1143
Clifford WGC, Vaina LM (1999) A computational model of selective deficits in first- and second-order motion processing. Vision Res 39:113–130
Conover WJ (1998) Practical nonparametric statistics. Wiley, Hoboken
Cowey A, Vaina LM (2000) Blindness to form from motion despite intact static form perception and motion detection. Neuropsychologia 38:566–578
Dumoulin SO, Baker CL, Hess RF, Evans AC (2003) Cortical specialization for processing first- and second-order motion. Cereb Cortex 13:1375–1385
Ilmoniemi RJ, Virtanen J, Ruohonen J, Karhu J, Aronen HJ, Näatanen R, Katila R (1997) Neuronal responses to magnetic stimulation reveal cortical reactivity and connectivity. Neuroreport 8:3537–3540
Ledgeway T, Smith AT (1994) Evidence for separate motion detecting mechanisms for first- and second-order motion in human vision. Vision Res 34:2727–2740
Lu ZL, Sperling G (1995) The functional architecture of human visual motion perception. Vision Res 35:2697–2722
O’Keefe LP, Movshon JA (1996) Processing of first- and second-order motion by neurons in area MT of the macaque monkey. Vis Neurosci 15:305–317
Smith AT, Greenlee MW, Singh KD, Kraemer FM, Hennig J (1998) The processing of first- and second-order motion in human visual cortex assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). J Neurosci 18:3816–3830
Somers DC, Seiffert AE, Dale AM, Tootell RBH (1998) fMRI analysis of second-order visual motion perception and attentive tracking. Neuroimage 7:S323
Sunaert S, Van Hecke P, Marchal G, Orban GA (1999) Motion-responsive regions of the human brain. Exp Brain Res 127:355–370
Vaina LM (1998) Complex motion perception and its deficits. Curr Opin Neurobiol 8:494–502
Vaina LM, Cowey A (1996) Impairment of the perception of second order motion but not first order motion in a patient with unilateral focal brain damage. Proc R Soc Lond B 263:1225–1232
Vaina LM, Soloviev S (2004). First-order and second-order motion: neurological evidence for neuroanatomically distinct systems. Prog Brain Res 144:197–212
Vaina LM, Grywacz NM, LeMay M, Bienfang DC, Wolpow E (1998a) Perception of motion discontinuity in patients with selective motion deficits. In: Watanabe T (ed) High level motion processing, MIT, Cambridge, pp 213–248
Vaina LM, Makris N, Kennedy D, Cowey A (1998b) The selective impairment of the perception of first-order motion by unilateral cortical brain damage. Vis Neurosci 15:333–348
Van Essen DC, DeYoe EA (1995) Concurrent processing in the primate visual cortex. In: Gazzaniga MS (ed) The cognitive neurosciences. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 383–400
Walsh V, Cowey A (2000) Transcranial magnetic stimulation and cognitive neuroscience. Nat Rev Neurosci 1:73–79
Walsh V, Ellison A, Bottelli L, Cowey A (1998) Task specific impairments and enhancements induced by magnetic stimulation of human visual area V5. Proc R Soc Lond B 265:537–543
Werkhoven P, Sperling G, Chubb C (1993) The dimensionality of texture-defined motion: a single channel theory. Vision Res 33:463–486
Zhou Y-X, Baker CLB (1993) A processing stream in mammalian visual cortex neurons for non-Fourier responses. Science 261:98–101
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a UK Medical Research Council grant to AC, a Royal society Research Fellowship to VW, a Marie Curie EC Grant to GC, and by NIH grant RO1-EY007861 to LMV.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cowey, A., Campana, G., Walsh, V. et al. The role of human extra-striate visual areas V5/MT and V2/V3 in the perception of the direction of global motion: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Exp Brain Res 171, 558–562 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0479-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-006-0479-6