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Stop Animal
Exploitation NOW!
S. A. E. N.
"Exposing the truth to wipe
out animal experimentation"
Government Grants Promoting Cruelty to Animals
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
CHARLES E. CONNOR - Primate Testing - 2005
See
Original Application
- PDF file
Torture Apparatus Used For This Experiment Shown Below
Grant Number: 5R01EY016711-02
Project Title: Neural coding of complex 3D shape
PI Information:
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR CHARLES E. CONNOR,
[email protected]
Abstract: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant):
Our ability to live
within and interact with a world composed of 3D objects depends largely
on our spectacular capacity for visual shape perception. This is what
makes vision so critical to our health, happiness, and survival. The
long-term goal of this project is to understand 3D object perception by
discovering the neural code for complex 3D shape in the primate ventral
visual pathway. After decades in which neurophysiological studies of
object representation in the monkey ventral pathway have focused
exclusively on 2D shape, recent reports indicate a robust representation
of 3D shape, although the nature of that representation remains
completely unknown. We will address this issue using the same techniques
we have recently applied to produce the first quantitative descriptions
of complex 2D shape representation. We will combine dense, parametric
exploration of 3D shape space with intensive computational analysis to
test hypotheses about 3D shape coding dimensions, tuning functions,
integration mechanisms, and population coding principles. The stimuli
will be complex, smooth (spline-based), abstract, randomly generated 3D
shapes. Successive generations of random shape stimuli will be
determined with a genetic algorithm, using neural responses as feedback
to guide sampling toward the most relevant regions of 3D shape space.
The resulting data will be used to test hypotheses about coding
dimensions relating to 2D boundary contours, 3D surface patches, and 3D
medial axis shape, all described in terms of absolute and relative
position, 2D and 3D orientation, 2D and 3D curvature, curvature
orientation, and curvature derivative. We will test tuning functions
ranging from simple Gaussians to complex manifolds describing highly
specific part shapes. We will test a variety of mechanisms for
integrating information across object parts, ranging from single-part
tuning through multi-part tuning to holistic tuning for overall object
shape. The hypotheses surviving from these individual cell analyses will
then be tested at the population coding level.
Thesaurus Terms:
neural information processing, neuropsychology, visual cortex, visual
perception
temporal lobe /cortex
Macaca mulatta, behavioral /social science research tag, single cell
analysis
Institution: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
W400 Wyman Park Building
BALTIMORE, MD 212182680
Fiscal Year: 2006
Department: NONE
Project Start: 15-SEP-2005
Project End: 31-AUG-2009
ICD: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
IRG: ZRG1
J Neurophysiol 94: 2726-2737, 2005
Quantitative Characterization of Disparity Tuning in Ventral Pathway
Area V4
David A. Hinkle and Charles E. Connor
Department of Neuroscience, The Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine and Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, The Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, Maryland
Submitted 1 April 2005; accepted in final form 20 June 2005
Stereoscopic visual stimuli were generated on an Octane workstation
(Silicon Graphics, Mountain View, CA) using OpenGL 1.1 graphics
libraries. Images for the left and right eyes were presented in
alternate frames. Separate presentation of images for the two eyes was
accomplished using a NuVision stereoscopic liquid crystal shutter
(MacNaughton, Beaverton, OR) attached to the monitor, and passive
circular-polarized lenses placed immediately in front of the monkey's
eyes. We compensated for cross talk between the two eye channels by
adding to each eye's image a low-contrast, negative version of the
opposite eye image. Contrast levels of the negative image for each
stimulus color were adjusted manually and verified with a luminance
meter. This procedure produced stimuli that were free of any appreciable
interference between eye channels.
The scleral coil of fine insulated wire was surgically implanted beneath
the conjunctiva of the eye (Judge et al. 1980 ). The coil was attached
to the sclera with instant adhesive (Loctite, Rocky Hill, CT) in three
locations to prevent slippage. A head-restraint post and recording
chamber were implanted in separate surgical procedures. All procedures
conformed to the National Institutes of Health and USDA guidelines and
were approved by The Johns Hopkins University Animal Care and Use
Committee.
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Please email: CHARLES E. CONNOR,
[email protected] to protest the inhumane use of animals in this
experiment. We would also love to know about your efforts with this
cause:
[email protected]
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Rats, mice, birds, amphibians and other animals have
been excluded from coverage by the Animal Welfare Act. Therefore research
facility reports do not include these animals. As a result of this
situation, a blank report, or one with few animals listed, does not mean
that a facility has not performed experiments on non-reportable animals. A
blank form does mean that the facility in question has not used covered
animals (primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, pigs,
sheep, goats, etc.). Rats and mice alone are believed to comprise over 90%
of the animals used in experimentation. Therefore the majority of animals
used at research facilities are not even counted.
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