The Topographical Arrangement of Cutoff Spatial Frequencies across Lower and Upper Visual Fields in Mouse V1

Abstract

The visual response to spatial frequency (SF), a characteristic of spatial structure across position in space, is of particular importance for animal survival. A natural challenge for rodents is to detect predators as early as possible while foraging. Whether neurons in mouse primary visual cortex (V1) are functionally organized to meet this challenge remains unclear. Combining intrinsic signal optical imaging and single-unit recording, we found that the cutoff SF was much greater for neurons whose receptive fields were located above the mouse. Specifically, we discovered that the cutoff SF increased in a gradient that was positively correlated with the elevation in the visual field. This organization was present at eye opening and persisted through adulthood. Dark rearing delayed the maturation of the cutoff SF globally, but had little impact on the topographical organization of the cutoff SF, suggesting that this regional distribution is innately determined. This form of cortical organization of different SFs may benefit the mouse for detection of airborne threats in the natural environment.

A Mouse Model of Visual Perceptual Learning Reveals Alterations in Neuronal Coding and Dendritic Spine Density in the Visual Cortex

“…The average cut-off SF of the NSFT mice (0.39 ± 0.07 cpd) was significantly higher than those of the control (0.27 ± 0.04 cpd) and naïve mice (0.27 ± 0.06 cpd; Tukey post hoc test, both p = 0.001; Figure 5B ). The threshold value measured by optical imaging was consistent with that of our previous study ( Zhang et al, 2015 ), which was lower than that determined by behavioral measurements. Therefore, we plotted the behavioral VA and its cut-off SF in V1 for each mouse, which showed that the behavioral VAs were correlated with the cut-off SFs of V1 in all of the control and NSFT mice ( Figure 5D ).…”

“…Intrinsic signal optical imaging was performed in the mouse visual cortex as described in our recent study ( Zhang et al, 2015 ). Mice were initially anesthetized with ketamine (0.1 mg/g) and xylazine (0.01 mg/g) mixture (i.p.…”

Anatomic and functional asymmetries interactively shape human early visual cortex responses

“…For humans in particular, two-legged locomotion likely requires especially rapid and detailed peripheral monitoring of the LVF ( Buckley et al, 2011 ; Marigold & Patla, 2008 ; Timmis et al, 2009 ). More detailed neural representations highlighting specific environmental features in circumscribed visual field locations may thus have evolved to solve particular problems ( Quek & Finkbeiner, 2014 ; Zhang et al, 2015 ). However, such more detailed representations may not be necessary in all environmental settings and can sometimes even be detrimental ( Carrasco & Yeshurun, 1998 ).…”

On Parallel Streams through the Mouse Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

“…However, it should be noted that this separation in macaque depends strongly on eccentricity, which we did not account for here. Although mice do not have a fovea, there are differences in retinal ganglion density that may create differences in tuning across visual space (Bleckert et al, 2014 ) and very recently, Zhang et al ( 2015 ) reported that the spatial frequency cut-offs of mouse V1 neurons with receptive fields in the upper visual field (where mouse aerial predators are likely to lurk) is substantially higher than that of V1 neurons with receptive fields in the lower visual field. It should further be noted that overlap in the spatial and temporal tuning properties has also been reported in the visual pathways of squirrels (Van Hooser et al, 2003 ), rats (Hale et al, 1979 ), rabbits (Swadlow and Weyand, 1985 ), cats (Bullier and Norton, 1979 ), galagos (Irvin et al, 1993 ) and even macaques (Hicks et al, 1983 ).…”