Correlates of figure-ground segregation in fMRI

We investigated which correlates of figure-ground-segregation can be detect ed by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Five subjects were scanned with a Siemens Vision 1.5 T system. Motion, colour, and lumina nce-defined checkerboards were presented with alternating control condition s containing one of the two features of the checkerboard. We find a segrega tion-specific activation in V1 for all subjects and all stimuli and conclud e that neural mechanisms exist as early as in the primary visual cortex tha t are sensitive to figure-ground segregation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.