Spatiotemporal processing of saliency signals in the primate: a behavioral and neurophysiological investigation

To quickly locate and discriminate visual events important for an organisms survival is a complex task. The visual systems of mammals evolved specialized heuristics to quickly aid in detecting visually salient items that may be relevant for survival. Salient items differ statistically from their background, and tend to ’pop-out’, or draw an observer’s attention automatically (such as red flower among green grass, or the abrupt onset of a light). A standard computational model of saliency processing has been implemented and has served as a quantitative framework to study salient item detection in primates during free viewing of natural scenes. This thesis consists of three experiments that address the spatiotemporal processing of visual saliency signals in the monkey (Macaca mulatta), with an emphasis on assessing models of saccadic behavior and neural processing during free viewing of natural scenes.