Line of Sight is inspired by the primary visual cortex; neurons selectively fire, based on visual features seen by the retina, for example, horizontal or vertical shapes or movement. As the viewer interacts with Line of Sight, they begin to realise that by adapting their movements, different columns of neurons fire up, encouraging them to adjust their behaviour accordingly.
The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre (SWC) brings together world-leading neuroscientists to generate theories about how neural circuits in the brain give rise to the fundamental processes underpinning behaviour, including perception, memory, expectation, decisions, cognition, volition and action. Funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and Wellcome, SWC is located within UCL and is closely associated with the Faculties of Life Sciences and Brain Sciences.
Our research on the primary visual cortex led us to neuroscientists Hubel and Wiesel who were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981 for their work on the cortex of cats, in which they found that certain cortical cells increased their firing rate when a horizontal line moved into the cats field, while other cortical cells fire in response to vertical or diagonal lines. This same process occurs in other animals, as demonstrated by Peter Ewart’s work with toads; helping them to identify prey and adapt their behaviour accordingly.