VISUAL FEATURES THAT VARY TOGETHER OVER TIME GROUP TOGETHER OVER SPACE

The visual system perceives objects as coherent even when some parts a re hidden or discontinuous. How this representation is constructed fro m local features of many nearby objects is termed the 'binding problem .' Here we manipulate contrast in several drifting gratings that can b e perceived as either independent objects or parts of a single object. Contrast modulations that are correlated in time enhance perceptual c oherence, whereas uncorrelated modulations impair coherence. Presumabl y, correlated contrast modulations produce correlated responses in cor tical neurons. Therefore, our results are consistent with the hypothes is that temporal correlation of neural activity is important for featu re binding.