Task-related modulation in the monkey inferotemporal cortex

The latencies of the neuronal responses from the inferotemporal cortical cells were analyzed in animals performing a visual fixation task and a recognition task with the same stimulus set. A consistent reduction in response latencies of about 10 ms was observed in favor of the recognition task. It was found that behavioral relevance reduces the latency in the inferotemporal cortex and it was concluded that behavioral significance accelerates information processing. This effect has not been described previously.