Interhemispheric coordination and transfer of visual information

Abstract It has been a tacit assumption that the “split” of visual sensory processing between right vs left visual hemifields (between the left vs right visual cortex, respectively) is somehow “healed” in higher cortex/ cognition. We now know that is not true, at least not in any straightforward way. Yet visual cognition seems seamless, not split down the middle. We don’t know how it becomes seamless because neurophysiology experiments typically study only one hemisphere at a time. Our project uses bilateral multiple-electrode recordings to test hypotheses about how visual information is coordinated and transferred between cerebral hemispheres. Monkeys will perform tasks in which information is transferred between hemispheres by gaze shifts, by a moving object’s trajectory, or in which information is loaded simultaneously into both hemispheres. Our results will give insights into the neural basis of visual cognition, consciousness, and into cortical communication in general. This is especially relevant for understanding disorders of interhemispheric interaction, such as dyslexia and hemispatial neglect.