Parietal cortical neurons responding to rotary movement of visual stimulus in space.

We found in the posterior parietal association cortex (area 7a) of alert monkeys a group of neurons that were specifically sensitive to the rotation of a visual stimulus (N = 21). They responded to rotation of a stimulus in a particular direction much better than to the linear movement in any direction, regardless of shape or orientation of the stimulus. Responses were relatively independent of stimulus position within relatively large receptive fields. The majority of these neurons (N = 13) responded to rotation in depth either in the saggital, horizontal or diagonal plane rather than in the frontoparallel plane. These neurons were localized in a small region on the anterior bank of the superior temporal sulcus and may be related directly to the perception of rotation of visual objects in space.