Coding of visual patterns and textures in monkey inferior temporal cortex.

Neural coding for texture features of visual objects was investigated in monkey inferior temporal cortex by inactivating intrinsic GABAergic inhibition. The inactivation enabled a substantial number of cells to respond to originally ineffective texture pattern that had a particular feature distinct from the originally effective pattern, or to ineffective texture and non-texture stimuli that possessed a component feature of the originally effective texture. Cells that showed selectivity changes related to a texture feature were often met along a vertical recording track. We suggest that a texture feature is coded by a group of cells which signal different aspects of the texture. The coding occurs at different processing levels, from extracting a particular feature within patterns to detecting complex texture features combined with color and shape of natural objects.