Relationships between color, shape, and pattern selectivities of neurons in the inferior temporal cortex of the monkey.

1. To examine the way in which information from different visual submodalities is integrated in the inferior temporal (IT) cortex of the monkey, we studied the relationships between the color, shape, and pattern selectivities of individual neurons in IT cortex of two awake macque monkeys. Neurons were recorded while each animal performed a visual fixation task. For each neuron, we analyzed selectivity for the visual submodalities of color, contour shape, and textural pattern using preselected standard sets of visual stimuli, namely colored geometrical shapes with certain patterns. 2. About two thirds (62%) of single neurons whose activities were recorded from the anterior part of IT cortex, which included the ventral bank of the superior temporal sulcus, responded to one or more of the stimuli in the standard sets of stimuli used. An index (stimulus selectivity index) was calculated for each neuron to quantify how well a cell discriminated the preferred stimulus from the least preferred stimulus in each set of stimuli. The stimulus selectivity index, as well as the statistical significance of the variation in the responses to the stimuli within a given set, was used to classify a cell as selective or not selective in a given submodality. Of the neurons whose responses were analyzed quantitatively, 69% were selective for color, 68% were selective for shape, and 82% were selective for pattern. 3. Of the neurons that were tested with respect to the selectivity for color and for shape, 45% were selective both for color and shape, 50% were selective for either color or shape, and only 5% were not selective for color or shape. These frequencies were not significantly different from those predicted from the occurrence of the selective and nonselective neurons in each submodality if the independence of the selectivities for color and shape is assumed. We also found that the color preference of individual neurons does not depend on the shape of the stimulus. These results indicate that there was no overt interaction between the selectivities for color and shape in these IT neurons. 4. Of the neurons that were compared with respect to the selectivity for color and for pattern, 58% were selective both for color and pattern, 38% were selective for either color or pattern, and only 4% were not selective for color or pattern. There was no correlation between the degree of color selectivity and the degree of pattern selectivity of individual neurons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)