Illusory contours: A window onto the neurophysiology of constructing perception

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Volumn 17, Issue 9, 2013, Pages 471-481

  Murray, Micah M ^a,b   Herrmann, Christoph S ^c  

^a LAUSANNE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL   (Switzerland)

^b University of Lausanne   (Switzerland)

^c UNIVERSITY OF OLDENBURG   (Germany)

Author keywords

Binding; Illusory contour; Neuroimaging; Object recognition; Perceptual completion; Visual perception

Indexed keywords

BINDING; GENERATING MODELS; ILLUSORY CONTOUR; INFORMATION EXCHANGES; NEURAL POPULATIONS; VISUAL COMPLETION; VISUAL INFORMATION; VISUAL PERCEPTION;

ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY; NEURAL NETWORKS; OBJECT RECOGNITION;

NEUROIMAGING;

BRAIN FUNCTION; DYNAMICS; ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY; ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY; HUMAN; MAGNETOENCEPHALOGRAPHY; NERVE STIMULATION; NEUROIMAGING; NEUROPHYSIOLOGY; PERCEPTION; REVIEW; VISUAL INFORMATION; VISUAL SYSTEM;

BINDING; ILLUSORY CONTOUR; NEUROIMAGING; OBJECT RECOGNITION; PERCEPTUAL COMPLETION; VISUAL PERCEPTION;

ANIMALS; COMPUTER SIMULATION; FORM PERCEPTION; HUMANS; ILLUSIONS; MODELS, BIOLOGICAL; NEUROPHYSIOLOGY; PHOTIC STIMULATION; VISUAL CORTEX; VISUAL PATHWAYS;

EID: 84882930603     PISSN: 13646613     EISSN: 1879307X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.07.004     Document Type: Review

References (118)

1. Nieder A. Seeing more than meets the eye: processing of illusory contours in animals. J. Comp. Physiol. A: Neuroethol. Sens. Neural Behav. Physiol. 2002, 188:249-260.
2. Grosof D.H., et al. Macaque V1 neurons can signal 'illusory' contours. Nature 1993, 365:550-552.
3. Alexander D.M., Wright J.J. The maximum range and timing of excitatory contextual modulation in monkey primary visual cortex. Vis. Neurosci. 2006, 23:721-728.
4. Von der Heydt R., et al. Illusory contours and cortical neuron responses. Science 1984, 224:1260-1262.
5. Kobatake E., Tanaka K. Neuronal selectivities to complex object features in the ventral visual pathway of the macaque cerebral cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 1994, 71:856-867.
6. Rust N.C., Dicarlo J.J. Selectivity and tolerance ('invariance') both increase as visual information propagates from cortical area V4 to IT. J. Neurosci. 2010, 30:12978-12995.
7. Stanley D.A., Rubin N. fMRI activation in response to illusory contours and salient regions in the human lateral occipital complex. Neuron 2003, 37:323-331.
8. Murray M.M., et al. The spatiotemporal dynamics of illusory contour processing: combined high-density electrical mapping, source analysis, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. J. Neurosci. 2002, 22:5055-5073.
9. Thut G., et al. The functional importance of rhythmic activity in the brain. Curr. Biol. 2012, 22:R658-R663.
10. James W. Principles of Psychology 1890, Henry Holt.
11. Gregory R.L. Cognitive contours. Nature 1972, 238:51-52.
12. Handwerker H.O. General sensory physiology. Human Physiology 1989, 176-195. Springer-Verlag. R.F. Schmidt (Ed.).
13. Sheth B.R., et al. Orientation maps of subjective contours in visual cortex. Science 1996, 274:2110-2115.
14. Sugita Y. Grouping of image fragments in primary visual cortex. Nature 1999, 401:269-272.
15. Redies C., et al. Neuronal responses to borders with and without luminance gradients in cat visual cortex and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. Exp. Brain Res. 1986, 61:469-481.
16. Lee T.S., Nguyen M. Dynamics of subjective contour formation in the early visual cortex. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2001, 98:1907-1911.
17. Ramsden B.M., et al. Real and illusory contour processing in area V1 of the primate: a cortical balancing act. Cereb. Cortex 2001, 11:648-665.
18. Sáry G., et al. The representation of Kanizsa illusory contours in the monkey inferior temporal cortex. Eur. J. Neurosci. 2008, 28:2137-2146.
19. Pan Y., et al. Equivalent representation of real and illusory contours in macaque V4. J. Neurosci. 2012, 32:6760-6770.
20. Murray M.M., et al. Topographic ERP analyses: a step-by-step tutorial review. Brain Topogr. 2008, 20:249-264.
21. Brunet D., et al. Spatiotemporal analysis of multichannel EEG: CARTOOL. Comput. Intell. Neurosci. 2011, 2011:813870.
22. Michel C.M., et al. EEG source imaging. Clin. Neurophysiol. 2004, 115:2195-2222.
23. Michel C.M., Murray M.M. Towards the utilization of EEG as a brain imaging tool. Neuroimage 2012, 61:371-385.
24. Miniussi C., Thut G. Combining TMS and EEG offers new prospects in cognitive neuroscience. Brain Topogr. 2010, 22:249-256.
25. Huster R.J., et al. Methods for simultaneous EEG-fMRI: an introductory review. J. Neurosci. 2012, 32:6053-6060.
26. Kruggel F., et al. Hemodynamic and electroencephalographic responses to illusory figures: recording of the evoked potentials during functional MRI. Neuroimage 2001, 14:1327-1336.
27. Tallon-Baudry C., et al. Stimulus specificity of phase-locked and non-phase-locked 40Hz visual responses in human. J. Neurosci. 1996, 16:4240-4249.
28. Herrmann C.S., et al. Gamma responses and ERPs in a visual classification task. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1999, 110:636-642.
29. Herrmann C.S., Mecklinger A. Magnetoencephalographic responses to illusory figures: early evoked gamma is affected by processing of stimulus features. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 2000, 38:265-281.
30. Bosman C.A., et al. Functional differences of low- and high-frequency oscillatory dynamics during illusory border perception. Brain Res. 2010, 1319:92-102.
31. Van Zaen J., et al. Adaptive tracking of EEG oscillations. J. Neurosci. Methods 2010, 186:97-106.
32. Van Zaen J., et al. Adaptive filtering methods for identifying cross-frequency couplings in human EEG. PLoS ONE 2013, 8:e60513.
33. Brandeis D., Lehmann D. Segments of event-related potential map series reveal landscape changes with visual attention and subjective contours. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. 1989, 73:507-519.
34. Brodeur M., et al. Alternative mode of presentation of Kanizsa figures sheds new light on the chronometry of the mechanisms underlying the perception of illusory figures. Neuropsychologia 2008, 46:554-566.
35. Shpaner M., et al. Early processing in the human lateral occipital complex is highly responsive to illusory contours but not to salient regions. Eur. J. Neurosci. 2009, 30:2018-2028.
36. Murray M.M., et al. Setting boundaries: brain dynamics of modal and amodal illusory shape completion in humans. J. Neurosci. 2004, 24:6898-6903.
37. Murray M.M., et al. Boundary completion is automatic and dissociable from shape discrimination. J. Neurosci. 2006, 26:12043-12054.
38. Knebel J.-F., Murray M.M. Towards a resolution of conflicting models of illusory contour processing in humans. Neuroimage 2012, 59:2808-2817.
39. Sugawara M., Morotomi T. Visual evoked potentials elicited by subjective contour figures. Scand. J. Psychol. 1991, 32:352-357.
40. Mendola J.D., et al. The representation of illusory and real contours in human cortical visual areas revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. J. Neurosci. 1999, 19:8560-8572.
41. Herrmann C.S., Bosch V. Gestalt perception modulates early visual processing. Neuroreport 2001, 12:901-904.
42. Altschuler T.S., et al. Early electrophysiological indices of illusory contour processing within the lateral occipital complex are virtually impervious to manipulations of illusion strength. Neuroimage 2012, 59:4074-4085.
43. Peterhans, et al. Mechanisms of contour perception contours bridging gaps in monkey visual cortex. J. Neurosci. 1989, 9:1749-1763.
44. Ohtani Y., et al. Magnetic responses of human visual cortex to illusory contours. Neurosci. Lett. 2002, 321:173-176.
45. Halgren E., et al. Cortical activation to illusory shapes as measured with magnetoencephalography. Neuroimage 2003, 18:1001-1009.
46. Knebel J.-F., et al. Impaired early visual response modulations to spatial information in chronic schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res. 2011, 193:168-176.
47. Ales J.M., et al. V1 is not uniquely identified by polarity reversals of responses to upper and lower visual field stimuli. Neuroimage 2010, 52:1401-1409.
48. Ales J.M., et al. On determining the intracranial sources of visual evoked potentials from scalp topography: a reply to Kelly et al. (this issue). Neuroimage 2013, 64:703-711.
49. Kelly S.P., et al. The cruciform model of striate generation of the early VEP, re-illustrated, not revoked: a reply to Ales et al. (2013). Neuroimage 2013, 82:154-159.
50. Di Russo F., et al. Cortical sources of the early components of the visual evoked potential. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2002, 15:95-111.
51. Foxe J.J., et al. Parvocellular and magnocellular contributions to the initial generators of the visual evoked potential: high-density electrical mapping of the 'C1' component. Brain Topogr. 2008, 21:11-21.
52. Hagler D.J., et al. Source estimates for MEG/EEG visual evoked responses constrained by multiple, retinotopically-mapped stimulus locations. Hum. Brain Mapp. 2009, 30:1290-1309.
53. Maertens M., et al. Retinotopic activation in response to subjective contours in primary visual cortex. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 2008, 2:2.
54. Yoshino A., et al. Activation time course of responses to illusory contours and salient region: a high-density electrical mapping comparison. Brain Res. 2006, 1071:137-144.
55. Nieder A., Wagner H. Perception and neuronal coding of subjective contours in the owl. Nat. Neurosci. 1999, 2:660-663.
56. Engel A.K., Singer W. Temporal binding and the neural correlates of sensory awareness. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2001, 5:16-25.
57. Tallon-Baudry C., et al. Gamma-range activity evoked by coherent visual stimuli in humans. Eur. J. Neurosci. 1995, 7:1285-1291.
58. Kinsey K., et al. Cortical oscillatory activity associated with the perception of illusory and real visual contours. Int. J. Psychophysiol. 2009, 73:265-272.
59. Tallon-Baudry C., Bertrand O. Oscillatory gamma activity in humans and its role in object representation. Trends Cogn. Sci. 1999, 3:151-162.
60. Herrmann C.S., et al. Cognitive functions of gamma-band activity: memory match and utilization. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2004, 8:347-355.
61. Léveillé J., et al. Running as fast as it can: how spiking dynamics form object groupings in the laminar circuits of visual cortex. J. Comput. Neurosci. 2010, 28:323-346.
62. Hirsch J., et al. Illusory contours activate specific regions in human visual cortex: evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1995, 92:6469-6473.
63. Ffytche D.H., Zeki S. Brain activity related to the perception of illusory contours. Neuroimage 1996, 3:104-108.
64. Seghier M., et al. Moving illusory contours activate primary visual cortex: an fMRI study. Cereb. Cortex 2000, 10:663-670.
65. Larsson J., et al. Neuronal correlates of real and illusory contour perception: functional anatomy with PET. Eur. J. Neurosci. 1999, 11:4024-4036.
66. Kartsounis L.D., Warrington E.K. Failure of object recognition due to a breakdown of figure-ground discrimination in a patient with normal acuity. Neuropsychologia 1991, 29:969-980.
67. Mattingley J.B., et al. Preattentive filling-in of visual surfaces in parietal extinction. Science 1997, 275:671-674.
68. Vecera S.P., Behrmann M. Spatial attention does not require preattentive grouping. Neuropsychology 1997, 11:30-43.
69. Vuilleumier P., Landis T. Illusory contours and spatial neglect. Neuroreport 1998, 9:2481-2484.
70. Vuilleumier P., et al. Explicit and implicit perception of illusory contours in unilateral spatial neglect: behavioural and anatomical correlates of preattentive grouping mechanisms. Neuropsychologia 2001, 39:597-610.
71. Ricci R., et al. A deficit of intermediate vision: experimental observations and theoretical implications. Neurocase 1999, 5:1-12.
72. Conci M., et al. The time-course of global and local attentional guidance in Kanizsa-figure detection. Neuropsychologia 2011, 49:2456-2464.
73. Davis G., Driver J. Parallel detection of Kanizsa subjective figures in the human visual system. Nature 1994, 371:791-793.
74. Senkowski D., et al. Kanizsa subjective figures capture visual spatial attention: evidence from electrophysiological and behavioral data. Neuropsychologia 2005, 43:872-886.
75. Huxlin K.R., et al. Perceptual deficits after lesions of inferotemporal cortex in macaques. Cereb. Cortex 2000, 10:671-683.
76. De Weerd P., et al. Cue-dependent deficits in grating orientation discrimination after V4 lesions in macaques. Vis. Neurosci. 1996, 13:529-538.
77. Sáry G., et al. Illusory shape representation in the monkey inferior temporal cortex. Eur. J. Neurosci. 2007, 25:2558-2564.
78. Bullier J., et al. The role of feedback connections in shaping the responses of visual cortical neurons. Prog. Brain Res. 2001, 134:193-204.
79. Pascual-Leone A., Walsh V. Fast backprojections from the motion to the primary visual area necessary for visual awareness. Science 2001, 292:510-512.
80. Hochstein S., Ahissar M. View from the top: hierarchies and reverse hierarchies in the visual system. Neuron 2002, 36:791-804.
81. Rosenthal O., Behrmann M. Acquiring long-term representations of visual classes following extensive extrastriate damage. Neuropsychologia 2006, 44:799-815.
82. Schadow J., et al. Impairments of Gestalt perception in the intact hemifield of hemianopic patients are reflected in gamma-band EEG activity. Neuropsychologia 2009, 47:556-568.
83. Bradley D.R., Dumais S.T. The effects of illumination level and retinal size on the depth stratification of subjective contour figures. Perception 1984, 13:155-164.
84. Shipley T.F., Kellman P.J. Strength of visual interpolation depends on the ratio of physically specified to total edge length. Percept. Psychophys. 1992, 52:97-106.
85. Kojo I., et al. Spatial and temporal properties of illusory figures. Vision Res. 1993, 33:897-901.
86. Csibra G., et al. Gamma oscillations and object processing in the infant brain. Science 2000, 290:1582-1585.
87. Schumann F. Einige Beobachtungen über die Zusammenfassung von Gesichtseindrücken zu Einheiten. Psychol. Stud. 1904, 23:1-32.
88. Ehrenstein W. Über Abwandlundgen der 1. Hermannschen Helligkeitserscheinung. Z. Psychol. 1941, 150:83-91.
89. Kanizsa G. Margini quasi-percettivi in campi con stimulazione omogenea. Riv. Psicol. 1955, 49:7-30.
90. Michotte, A. et al. (1964) Les Compléments amodaux des Structures perceptives (Studia Psychologica Series), Publications Universitaires de Louvain.
91. Vaughan H.G. The relationship of brain activity to scalp recordings of event related potentials. Averaged Evoked Potentials: Methods, Results, Evaluations. 1969, 45-49. National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration. E. Donchin, D.B. Lindsley (Eds.).
92. Felleman D.J., Van Essen D.C. Distributed hierarchical processing in the primate cerebral cortex. Cereb. Cortex 1991, 1:1-47.
93. Kanizsa G. Subjective contours. Sci. Am. 1976, 234:48-52.
94. Wörgötter F., Eysel U.T. Context, state and the receptive fields of striatal cortex cells. Trends Neurosci. 2000, 23:497-503.
95. Gilbert C.D., Li W. Top-down influences on visual processing. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 2013, 14:350-363.
96. Dura-Bernal S., et al. The role of feedback in a hierarchical model of object perception. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 2011, 718:165-179.
97. Dura-Bernal S., et al. Top-down feedback in an HMAX-like cortical model of object perception based on hierarchical Bayesian networks and belief propagation. PLoS ONE 2012, 7:e48216.
98. Francis G., Grossberg S. Cortical dynamics of form and motion integration: persistence, apparent motion, and illusory contours. Vision Res. 1996, 36:149-173.
99. Grossberg S., et al. Visual brain and visual perception: how does the cortex do perceptual grouping?. Trends Neurosci. 1997, 20:106-111.
100. Kellman P.J., et al. A common mechanism for illusory and occluded object completion. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Percept. Perform. 1998, 24:859-869.
101. Kalar D.J., et al. A unified model of illusory and occluded contour interpolation. Vision Res. 2010, 50:284-299.
102. Ungerleider L.G., Mishkin M. Two Cortical Visual Systems. Analysis of Visual Behavior 1982, 549-586. MIT Press. D.J. Ingle (Ed.).
103. Tootell R.B., et al. From retinotopy to recognition: fMRI in human visual cortex. Trends Cogn. Sci. 1998, 2:174-183.
104. Pasupathy A. Neural basis of shape representation in the primate brain. Prog. Brain Res. 2006, 154:293-313.
105. Smith A.T., et al. Estimating receptive field size from fMRI data in human striate and extrastriate visual cortex. Cereb. Cortex 2001, 11:1182-1190.
106. Gattass R., et al. Visuotopic organization and extent of V3 and V4 of the macaque. J. Neurosci. 1988, 8:1831-1845.
107. Schroeder C.E., et al. A spatiotemporal profile of visual system activation revealed by current source density analysis in the awake macaque. Cereb. Cortex 1998, 8:575-592.
108. Schmolesky M.T., et al. Signal timing across the macaque visual system. J. Neurophysiol. 1998, 79:3272-3278.
109. Bullier J. Integrated model of visual processing. Brain Res. Brain Res. Rev. 2001, 36:96-107.
110. Snodgrass J.G., Vanderwart M. A standardized set of 260 pictures: norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Learn. 1980, 6:174-215.
111. Herrmann C.S., et al. Transcranial alternating current stimulation: a review of the underlying mechanisms and modulation of cognitive processes. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 2013, 7:279.
112. Bertenthal B.I., et al. Development of visual organization: the perception of subjective contours. Child Dev. 2013, 51:1072-1080.
113. Herrmann C.S., Friederici A.D. Object processing in the infant brain. Science 2001, 292:163.
114. Foxe J.J., et al. Filling-in in schizophrenia: a high-density electrical mapping and source-analysis investigation of illusory contour processing. Cereb. Cortex 2005, 15:1914-1927.
115. Doniger G.M., et al. Impaired visual object recognition and dorsal/ventral stream interaction in schizophrenia. Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 2002, 59:1011-1020.
116. Li C.Y., Guo K. Measurements of geometric illusions, illusory contours and stereo-depth at luminance and colour contrast. Vision Res. 1995, 35:1713-1720.
117. Parks T.E. Prior experience of form and illusory figures: new demonstrations. Perception 1996, 25:353-354.
118. Striem-Amit E., et al. 'Visual' acuity of the congenitally blind using visual-to-auditory sensory substitution. PLoS ONE 2012, 7:e33136.