Introducing the brain: linking sight and movement (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, August 15, 2020, 22:52 (1559 days ago) @ David Turell

A logical coordination discovered:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200814123211.htm

"Researchers found that image-processing circuits in the primary visual cortex not only are more active when animals move freely, but that they receive signals from a movement-controlling region of the brain that is independent from the region that processes what the animal is looking at.

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"The results of the study, published Tuesday in the journal Neuron, suggest that image-processing circuits in the primary visual cortex not only are more active when animals move, but that they receive signals from a movement-controlling region of the brain that is independent from the region that processes what the animal is looking at. In fact, the researchers describe two sets of movement-related patterns in the visual cortex that are based on head motion and whether an animal is in the light or the dark.

"The movement-related findings were unexpected, since vision tends to be thought of as a feed-forward computation system in which visual information enters through the retina and travels on neural circuits that operate on a one-way path, processing the information piece by piece. What the researchers saw here is more evidence that the visual system has many more feedback components where information can travel in opposite directions than had been thought.

'These results offer a nuanced glimpse into how neural activity works in a sensory region of the brain, and add to a growing body of research that is rewriting the textbook model of vision in the brain.

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"'The model explanation for this is that the brain somehow needs to coordinate perception and action," Guitchounts said. "You need to know when a sensory input is caused by your own action as opposed to when it's caused by something out there in the world."

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"'It's all to better understand how vision actually works," Guitchounts said. "Neuroscience is entering into a new era where we understand that perception and action are intertwined loops. ... There's no action without perception and no perception without action. We have the technology now to measure this.'"

Comment: All of these findings are logical. Understanding body and eye movements must be coordinated and understood by the brain and designed for function for all types of activity. In human sports the basketball player must contort his body to avoid the defense and keep his gaze on the basket to shoot the ball properly. As animals hunt the same considerations apply.
This must be designed, it is so neurologically complex.