TY - JOUR
T1 - Distributed representation of visual objects by single neurons in the human brain
AU - Valdez, André B.
AU - Papesh, Megan H.
AU - Treiman, David M.
AU - Smith, Kris A.
AU - Goldinger, Stephen
AU - Steinmetz, Peter N.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 the authors.
PY - 2015/4/1
Y1 - 2015/4/1
N2 - It remains unclear how single neurons in the human brain represent whole-object visual stimuli. While recordings in both human and nonhuman primates have shown distributed representations of objects (many neurons encoding multiple objects), recordings of single neurons in the human medial temporal lobe, taken as subjects’ discriminated objects during multiple presentations, have shown gnostic representations (single neurons encoding one object). Because some studies suggest that repeated viewing may enhance neural selectivity for objects, we had human subjects discriminate objects in a single, more naturalistic viewing session. We found that, across 432 well isolated neurons recorded in the hippocampus and amygdala, the average fraction of objects encoded was 26%. We also found that more neurons encoded several objects versus only one object in the hippocampus (28 vs 18%, p < 0.001) and in the amygdala (30 vs 19%, p < 0.001). Thus, during realistic viewing experiences, typical neurons in the human medial temporal lobe code for a considerable range of objects, across multiple semantic categories.
AB - It remains unclear how single neurons in the human brain represent whole-object visual stimuli. While recordings in both human and nonhuman primates have shown distributed representations of objects (many neurons encoding multiple objects), recordings of single neurons in the human medial temporal lobe, taken as subjects’ discriminated objects during multiple presentations, have shown gnostic representations (single neurons encoding one object). Because some studies suggest that repeated viewing may enhance neural selectivity for objects, we had human subjects discriminate objects in a single, more naturalistic viewing session. We found that, across 432 well isolated neurons recorded in the hippocampus and amygdala, the average fraction of objects encoded was 26%. We also found that more neurons encoded several objects versus only one object in the hippocampus (28 vs 18%, p < 0.001) and in the amygdala (30 vs 19%, p < 0.001). Thus, during realistic viewing experiences, typical neurons in the human medial temporal lobe code for a considerable range of objects, across multiple semantic categories.
KW - Distributed representation
KW - Human single neuron
KW - Medial temporal lobe
KW - Object representation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84929377644&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84929377644&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1958-14.2015
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1958-14.2015
M3 - Article
C2 - 25834044
AN - SCOPUS:84929377644
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 35
SP - 5180
EP - 5186
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 13
ER -