Neural representation of transparent overlay

Fangtu T Qiu & Rüdiger von der Heydt
Nature Neuroscience - 10, 283 - 284 (2007)

Perceptual transparency is a surprising phenomenon in which a number of regions of different shades organize into overlaying transparent objects. We recorded single neuron responses from Macaca mulatta area V2 to a display of two bright and two dark squares that appeared as two overlaying bars. We found that neurons assign border ownership according to the transparent interpretation, representing the shapes of the bars rather than the squares.