How monkeys see in 3D

Abstract

Visual Neuroscience The primate brain uses two major visual systems to represent the three-dimensional (3D) shape of objects. A number of heavily interacting cortical areas make up these two systems. To better understand how these systems interact, Van Dromme et al. used a drug to reversibly silence one of these regions in monkeys. In psychophysical tests and functional MRI investigations, this caused not only deficits in the system to which this region belonged but also in the second major system. Using microelectrodes to selectively stimulate the same region indicated complex indirect effects that used a number of interconnected circuits. These data help reveal how several regions in the primate visual system required for 3D object vision functionally interact. PLOS Biol. 10.1371/journal. pbio.1002445 (2016).