Evaluation Summary:
The authors report that neurons in V1 and V4 provide multiplex information of simultaneously presented objects. A combination of multi-single unit recordings, statistical modelling of neuronal responses and neuronal correlations analyses argues in favor of their claims. Pairs of neurons having similar object preferences tended to be positively correlated when both objects were presented, while pairs of neurons having different objects preferences tended to be negatively correlated. These patterns and others suggest that information about the two objects is multiplexed in time. There are, however, some unclear points that deserve discussion and further analysis that could more strongly support the claims.
(This preprint has been reviewed by eLife. We include the public reviews from the reviewers here; the authors also receive private feedback with suggested changes to the manuscript. Reviewer #3 agreed to share their name with the authors.)