@article {45,
	title = {Selectivity and Tolerance ("Invariance") Both Increase as Visual Information Propagates from Cortical Area V4 to IT},
	journal = {Journal of Neuroscience},
	volume = {30},
	year = {2010},
	month = {09/2010},
	pages = {12978 - 12995},
	abstract = {<p>Our ability to recognize objects despite large changes in position, size, and context is achieved through computations that are thought to increase both the shape selectivity and the tolerance (\&quot;invariance\&quot;) of the visual representation at successive stages of the ventral pathway [visual cortical areas V1, V2, and V4 and inferior temporal cortex {(IT)].} However, these ideas have proven difficult to test. Here, we consider how well population activity patterns at two stages of the ventral stream {(V4} and {IT)} discriminate between, and generalize across, different images. We found that both V4 and {IT} encode natural images with similar fidelity, whereas the {IT} population is much more sensitive to controlled, statistical scrambling of those images. Scrambling sensitivity was proportional to receptive field {(RF)} size in both V4 and {IT,} suggesting that, on average, the number of visual feature conjunctions implemented by a V4 or {IT} neuron is directly related to its {RF} size. We also found that the {IT} population could better discriminate between objects across changes in position, scale, and context, thus directly demonstrating a {V4-to-IT} gain in tolerance. This tolerance gain could be accounted for by both a decrease in single-unit sensitivity to identity-preserving transformations (e.g., an increase in {RF} size) and an increase in the maintenance of rank-order object selectivity within the {RF.} These results demonstrate that, as visual information travels from V4 to {IT,} the population representation is reformatted to become more selective for feature conjunctions and more tolerant to identity preserving transformations, and they reveal the single-unit response properties that underlie that reformatting.</p>
},
	issn = {0270-6474},
	doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0179-10.2010},
	url = {http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/doi/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0179-10.2010},
	author = {Rust, N. C. and DiCarlo, J. J.}
}
