Columnar clusters in the human motion complex reflect consciously perceived motion axis.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America March 12, 2019 Marian Schneider, Valentin G Kemper, Thomas C Emmerling et al.
The conscious experience of seeing motion in a particular direction is linked to the activity of specialized neuron clusters in the brain's motion-processing area. Using high-resolution 7-tesla fMRI, researchers identified clusters of neurons in the human motion complex that responded preferentially to either horizontal or vertical motion. When participants viewed an ambiguous display that could be seen as moving either horizontally or vertically, their reported perceptions alternated every 7 to 13 seconds. The activity in the horizontal- and vertical-tuned clusters dissociatively reflected which direction the person perceived at any moment, even though the visual input remained constant. These clusters were organized in columns, with stable direction preferences through the depth of the cortex.