Publications by authors named "Stephanie M Tetrick"
The superior colliculus is an evolutionarily conserved midbrain region that is thought to mediate spatial orienting, including saccadic eye movements and covert spatial attention. Here, we reveal a role for the superior colliculus in higher-order cognition, independent of its role in spatial orienting. We trained rhesus macaques to perform an abstract visual categorization task that involved neither instructed eye movements nor differences in covert attention.
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- Categorization is a key cognitive function where the brain groups stimuli into meaningful categories, and this process occurs in different brain areas, especially in primates.
- *Recent studies suggest that the superior colliculus (SC), a brain region traditionally linked only to reflexive actions, also plays a significant role in higher-order visual categorization tasks.
- *In experiments with monkeys, researchers found that the SC shows quicker and stronger neural responses during categorization compared to another brain area, the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and when the SC is inactivated, monkeys struggle with category decisions.