Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuli
Abstract In natural visually guided behavior, observers must separate relevant information from a barrage of irrelevant information. Many studies have investigated the neural underpinnings of this ability using artificial stimuli presented on blank backgrounds. Natural images, however, contain task-...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-02-01
|
| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88910-8 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850067497956409344 |
|---|---|
| author | Ramanujan Srinath Amy M. Ni Claire Marucci Marlene R. Cohen David H. Brainard |
| author_facet | Ramanujan Srinath Amy M. Ni Claire Marucci Marlene R. Cohen David H. Brainard |
| author_sort | Ramanujan Srinath |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract In natural visually guided behavior, observers must separate relevant information from a barrage of irrelevant information. Many studies have investigated the neural underpinnings of this ability using artificial stimuli presented on blank backgrounds. Natural images, however, contain task-irrelevant background elements that might interfere with the perception of object features. Recent studies suggest that visual feature estimation can be modeled through the linear decoding of task-relevant information from visual cortex. So, if the representations of task-relevant and irrelevant features are not orthogonal in the neural population, then variation in the task-irrelevant features would impair task performance. We tested this hypothesis using human psychophysics and monkey neurophysiology combined with parametrically variable naturalistic stimuli. We demonstrate that (1) the neural representation of one feature (the position of an object) in visual area V4 is orthogonal to those of several background features, (2) the ability of human observers to precisely judge object position was largely unaffected by those background features, and (3) many features of the object and the background (and of objects from a separate stimulus set) are orthogonally represented in V4 neural population responses. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that orthogonal neural representations can support stable perception of object features despite the richness of natural visual scenes. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ef136c9cbcc2495f8272ec569d1e6d7f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-ef136c9cbcc2495f8272ec569d1e6d7f2025-08-20T02:48:18ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-02-0115111710.1038/s41598-025-88910-8Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuliRamanujan Srinath0Amy M. Ni1Claire Marucci2Marlene R. Cohen3David H. Brainard4Department of Neurobiology and Neuroscience Institute, The University of ChicagoDepartment of Neurobiology and Neuroscience Institute, The University of ChicagoDepartment of Psychology, University of PennsylvaniaDepartment of Neurobiology and Neuroscience Institute, The University of ChicagoDepartment of Psychology, University of PennsylvaniaAbstract In natural visually guided behavior, observers must separate relevant information from a barrage of irrelevant information. Many studies have investigated the neural underpinnings of this ability using artificial stimuli presented on blank backgrounds. Natural images, however, contain task-irrelevant background elements that might interfere with the perception of object features. Recent studies suggest that visual feature estimation can be modeled through the linear decoding of task-relevant information from visual cortex. So, if the representations of task-relevant and irrelevant features are not orthogonal in the neural population, then variation in the task-irrelevant features would impair task performance. We tested this hypothesis using human psychophysics and monkey neurophysiology combined with parametrically variable naturalistic stimuli. We demonstrate that (1) the neural representation of one feature (the position of an object) in visual area V4 is orthogonal to those of several background features, (2) the ability of human observers to precisely judge object position was largely unaffected by those background features, and (3) many features of the object and the background (and of objects from a separate stimulus set) are orthogonally represented in V4 neural population responses. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that orthogonal neural representations can support stable perception of object features despite the richness of natural visual scenes.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88910-8Neural representationsDecodingPsychophysicsPopulation recordingsV4Natural vision |
| spellingShingle | Ramanujan Srinath Amy M. Ni Claire Marucci Marlene R. Cohen David H. Brainard Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuli Scientific Reports Neural representations Decoding Psychophysics Population recordings V4 Natural vision |
| title | Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuli |
| title_full | Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuli |
| title_fullStr | Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuli |
| title_full_unstemmed | Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuli |
| title_short | Orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuli |
| title_sort | orthogonal neural representations support perceptual judgments of natural stimuli |
| topic | Neural representations Decoding Psychophysics Population recordings V4 Natural vision |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88910-8 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ramanujansrinath orthogonalneuralrepresentationssupportperceptualjudgmentsofnaturalstimuli AT amymni orthogonalneuralrepresentationssupportperceptualjudgmentsofnaturalstimuli AT clairemarucci orthogonalneuralrepresentationssupportperceptualjudgmentsofnaturalstimuli AT marlenercohen orthogonalneuralrepresentationssupportperceptualjudgmentsofnaturalstimuli AT davidhbrainard orthogonalneuralrepresentationssupportperceptualjudgmentsofnaturalstimuli |