Physiological correlates of motion perception in marmoset monkeys

When we see and hear objects move, specialised "motion processing" regions of the brain are activated. This thesis examined how the activity of cells in these regions encode the direction in which objects move. It found that a single cell can reliably encode the direction of visual motion, but the activity of multiple cells can be combined to give a better account of where objects are moving. However, these cells do not respond moving sounds. These results contribute to the understanding of the neural basis of motion perception, and demonstrate an anatomical distinction between visual and auditory motion processing.