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Two mechanisms of vision in primates

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Zusammenfassung

Versuche an „split-brain“ Affen legten die Annahme nahe, daß die Wahrnehmung des Raumes und die Wahrnehmung der Identität von Gegenständen auf anatomisch getrennten Hirnmechanismen beruhen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden die Sehmechanismen des Gehirns untersucht, wobei von der Überlegung ausgegangen wird, daß hier zwei parallele Prozesse involviert sind: ein dezentrierter („ambient“), der die Wahrnehmung des den Körper umgebenden Raumes bestimmt, und ein zentrierter („focal“), durch welchen Details kleiner Raumflächen aufgefaßt werden.

Bei Wirbeltieren wird eine detaillierte Topographie des körper-zentrierten Verhaltensraumes vom Auge zum Mittelhirn projiziert. Diese visuelle Topographie ist so mit dem bi-symmetrischen motorischen System integriert, daß sich eine Korrespondenz zwischen gesehenen Punkten und Bewegungszielen ergibt.

Das phylogenetisch jüngere visuelle System des Vorderhirns befaßt sich fast ausschließlich mit dem zentralen Verhaltensraum; die corticale motorische Kontrolle befaßt sich entsprechend mit sehr spezifischen Handlungen im gleichen zentralen Gebiet.

Anatomie und Hirnchirurgie liefern bei Primaten Hinweise auf einen visuellen Mechanismus im Mittelhirn, der für die dezentrierte Raumwahrnehmung eine Rolle spielt. Im Gegensatz dazu greift das auf Fovea, Parafovea und den visuellen Arealen des Cortex beruhende zentrierte Sehen Areale des umgebenden Feldes für eine eingehendere Inspektion heraus. Koordinierte Augenbewegungen sind direkter Ausdruck dieser Aufmerksamkeitszuwendung.

Die Wechselwirkung zweier Mechanismen der visuellen Analyse kennzeichnet das Sehen bei allen aktiven Tieren. Die Komplexität des zentrierten Sehens zeigt sich auf allen Stufen des visuellen Systems von Primaten und in den Teilen des motorischen Systems, welche das Sehen ausrichten und die auf bestimmte visuelle Objekte gerichteten Handlungen steuern.

Summary

Experiments with split-brain monkeys led me to consider that vision of space and vision of object identity may be subserved by anatomically distinct brain mechanisms. In this paper I examine the visual mechanisms of the brain to test the idea that vision involves two parallel processes; one ambient, determining space at large around the body, the other focal which examines detail in small areas of space.

In vertebrates there is a projection from eye to midbrain of a detailed topography of body-centered behavioral space. This visual map is integrated with the bisymmetric motor system to obtain correspondence between visual loci and the goals for movements. The midbrain visual system governs basic vertebrate locomotor behavior.

The phylogenetically more recent forebrain visual system looks almost exclusively at central behavioral space, and cortical motor control is likewise concerned with the formulation of highly specific acts in the same central territory.

Anatomy and brain surgery reveal a midbrain visual mechanism in primates which plays a part in ambient space perception over the whole field. In contrast, focal vision served by the fovea and parafovea and by the cortical visual areas picks out areas in the ambient field for close attention. Conjugate eye movements are the most direct sign of this attention.

The interplay between the two channels of visual analysis is a feature of vision in all active animals; but the complexity of focal vision in primates is revealed in their visual system at all levels, and in the parts of the motor system which orient vision, or which govern acts directed to specific visual objects.

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  1. Center for Cognitive Studies, Harvard University, USA

    Colwyn B. Trevarthen

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The preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by Grant No. 1 PO1 MH 12623 from the National Institutes of Health to Harvard University, Center for Cognitive Studies, and in part pursuant to a contract, OE 6-10-043, with the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Office of Education, under the provisions of the Cooperative Research Program, while the author was a Research Fellow at the Center.

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Trevarthen, C.B. Two mechanisms of vision in primates. Psychol. Forsch. 31, 299–337 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00422717

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