The role of disparity-sensitive cortical neurons in signalling the direction of self-motion

MOVEMENT of an observer through the environment generates motion on the retina. This optic flow provides information about the direction of self-motion1, but only if it contains differential motion of elements at different depths2,3. If the observer tracks a stationary object while moving in a direction different from his line of sight, the images of objects in the foreground and in the background move in opposite directions. We have found neurons in the cerebral cortex of monkeys that prefer one direction of motion when the disparity of a stimulus corresponds to foreground motion and prefer the opposite direction when the disparity corresponds to background motion. We propose that these neurons contribute a signal about the direction of self-motion.