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Ever wondered how our eyes can immediately focus on a subject, unlike a video camera in an unsteady hand. Researchers have identified what could be the brain circuit behind this, LiveScience reports.
People have been searching for a circuit to accomplish this stability for the last 50 years, and we think we've made good progress with this study," said Marc Sommer of the University of Pittsburgh.
Neurons in the brain's visual cortex each have a receptive field," which is sort of like a window that sees a tiny part of the world. Scientists have known that somehow just before the eye moves from one position to another, the neuron's receptive field shifts to that location.
The neuron can sample the same absolute position in space both before and after movement. So in this way, if the visual information at that same part of space is the same before and after the movement, then the neuron knows the world has been stable," Sommer told LiveScience.
While scientists knew this shifting phenomenon occurred, the link between the brain's visual cortex and the motor region responsible for eye movements has remained elusive.
People have been searching for a circuit to accomplish this stability for the last 50 years, and we think we've made good progress with this study," said Marc Sommer of the University of Pittsburgh.
Neurons in the brain's visual cortex each have a receptive field," which is sort of like a window that sees a tiny part of the world. Scientists have known that somehow just before the eye moves from one position to another, the neuron's receptive field shifts to that location.
The neuron can sample the same absolute position in space both before and after movement. So in this way, if the visual information at that same part of space is the same before and after the movement, then the neuron knows the world has been stable," Sommer told LiveScience.
While scientists knew this shifting phenomenon occurred, the link between the brain's visual cortex and the motor region responsible for eye movements has remained elusive.
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