20.500.12556/RUL-175632 Perceptography unveils the causal contribution of inferior temporal cortex to visual perception Neurons in the inferotemporal (IT) cortex respond selectively to complex visual features, implying their role in object perception. However, perception is subjective and cannot be read out from neural responses; thus, bridging the causal gap between neural activity and perception demands independent characterization of perception. Historically, though, the complexity of the perceptual alterations induced by artificial stimulation of IT cortex has rendered them impossible to quantify. To address this old problem, we tasked male macaque monkeys to detect and report optical impulses delivered to their IT cortex. Combining machine learning with high-throughput behavioral optogenetics, we generated complex and highly specific images that were hard for the animal to distinguish from the state of being cortically stimulated. These images, named “perceptograms” for the first time, reveal and depict the contents of the complex hallucinatory percepts induced by local neural perturbation in IT cortex. Furthermore, we found that the nature and magnitude of these hallucinations highly depend on concurrent visual input, stimulation location, and intensity. Objective characterization of stimulation-induced perceptual events opens the door to developing a mechanistic theory of visual perception. Further, it enables us to make better visual prosthetic devices and gain a greater understanding of visual hallucinations in mental disorders. object perception neural responses perceptal alterations behavioral optogenetics zaznavanje objektov nevronski odzivi percepcijske spremembe vedenjska optogenetika true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2025-11-06 14:31:04 2025-11-06 14:31:10 2025-12-13 03:54:19 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2024 0 0 11 str. art. 3347 Vol. 15 2024 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 004.93 2041-1723 10.1038/s41467-024-47356-8 193479427 s41467-024-47356-8.pdf s41467-024-47356-8.pdf 1 2D4333951DC127EEA90A7D829137FDF2 cf50baff99d108f0b409723ead0245dbcf042ae8f1eb8b5163bb5eed3f0c4600 ab4666a7-bb14-11f0-9328-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=221472 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-47356-8 1 8b160014-bb14-11f0-9328-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=221471 Fakulteta za elektrotehniko 0 0 0