The human primary visual cortex (V1) encodes the perceived position of static but not moving objects

Man-Ling Ho,D Samuel Schwarzkopf

doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03136-y

Man-Ling Ho, D Samuel Schwarzkopf

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03136-y

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Abstract

Brain activity in retinotopic cortex reflects illusory changes in stimulus position. Is this neural signature a general code for apparent position? Here we show that responses in primary visual cortex (V1) are consistent with perception of the Muller-Lyer illusion; however, we found no such signature for another striking illusion, the curveball effect. This demonstrates that V1 does not encode apparent position per se.

Highlights

Brain activity in retinotopic cortex reflects illusory changes in stimulus position
Our results showed that V1 response is consistent with the perceived position shift in the Muller–Lyer illusion, but not the curveball effect; as such, V1 is unlikely to encode a general reference of apparent position
In our first experiment, we devised a dot variant of the Muller–Lyer illusion, where the distance between two target dots appears further or nearer depending on whether the fins are outward- or inward-facing (Fig. 1a; Supplementary Movie 1: outward-facing, and Supplementary Movie 2: inward-facing). Participants viewed these stimuli while we measured brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging

Summary

Introduction

Brain activity in retinotopic cortex reflects illusory changes in stimulus position. Is this neural signature a general code for apparent position? Here we show that responses in primary visual cortex (V1) are consistent with perception of the Muller-Lyer illusion; we found no such signature for another striking illusion, the curveball effect. Our results showed that V1 response is consistent with the perceived position shift in the Muller–Lyer illusion, but not the curveball effect; as such, V1 is unlikely to encode a general reference of apparent position.

Results

Conclusion