Tracing the timing of human analysis of motion and chromatic signals from occipital to temporo-parieto-occipital cortex: A transcranial magnetic stimulation study

AbstractIn human visual analysis, the initial processing of motion and chromatic signals may be mediated by feed-forward pathways from striate cortex to segregated areas of extrastriate cortex. The time-course of occipital to temporo-parieto-occipital motion processing was unknown, as was the selectivity of the effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on motion processing. TMS delivered over occipital cortex degraded the discrimination of motion-defined form (MDF) in a discrete time window beginning 100–120 ms from the onset of the visual stimulus. Bilateral focal TMS delivered over the temporo-parieto-occipital junction (TPO) disrupted the discrimination of MDF in a time window beginning 20–40 ms later than the effect of TMS delivered over occipital cortex. Bilateral focal TMS delivered over TPO also degraded the discrimination of CDF, motion direction, and color