Visual acuity of neurones in the cat lateral suprasylvian cortex

Stefano, M. Di; Morrone, Maria Concetta; Burr, David

doi:10.1016/0006-8993(85)91568-9

Cited by 21 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This "low-pass" tuning is rare in area 17, but characterizes about 10% of the units in area 18 (Movshon et al, 1978c). 3A) ranged from 0.05-0.94 cycle/deg, in rough agreement with other studies (Shelepin, 1983;DiStefano et al, 1985;Morrone et al, 1986;. A further 22 units (30%) showed band-pass spatial-frequency selectivity but gave reliable responses to zero spatial frequency.…”

Section: Selectivity For Spatial Frequencysupporting

confidence: 85%

“…The study by Zumbroich and Blakemore (1987) reported a considerable decline in spatial resolution in LS when compared with areas 17 and 18. Other studies (DiStefano et al, 1985;Morrone et al, 1986) reported similar or slightly higher optima and acuities similar to those seen in area 18. They also noted an average spatial bandwidth of 2.2 octaves compared with 1.5 octaves in areas 17 and 18.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Spatial and temporal analysis by neurons in the representation of the central visual field in the cat's lateral suprasylvian visual cortex

1990

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We studied quantitatively the receptive-field properties of 74 units recorded from the representation of the central visual fields in the cat's lateral suprasylvian (LS) visual cortex. In agreement with previous workers, we found that LS receptive fields tended to be large and to lack discernible spatial structure. They resembled the complex receptive fields of areas 17 and 18 in their general organization. We examined the responses of these neurons to moving optimally oriented sinusoidal gratings that varied in spatial and temporal frequency of drift. Most LS neurons were selective for the spatial frequency of sinusoidal gratings; 7% responded to all spatial frequencies below a cutoff value. In agreement with previous reports, the optimal spatial frequencies for LS neurons covered a wider range than is seen in either area 17 or 18 alone (0.05-1 cycle/deg), but are certainly included in the range covered by both these afferent areas. Individual neurons in LS responded to a range of spatial frequencies broader than is typical for neurons in areas 17 and 18. The effect of varying the drift rate of otherwise optimal gratings was similar in LS to that reported for areas 17 and 18. Most neurons were optimally responsive to drift rates between 0.5 and 4 Hz, and resolved frequencies as high as 10-30 Hz. A few neurons had optima higher than 6 Hz and resolved frequencies in excess of 30 Hz. We conclude that the receptive fields of LS neurons reflect rather closely the properties of their afferents from areas 17 and 18. Apart from the increased incidence of directional selectivity in LS and the increase in receptive-field size seen there, we find no evidence for a significant reorganization of visual signals.

show abstract

Section: Selectivity For Spatial Frequencysupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

Spatial and temporal analysis by neurons in the representation of the central visual field in the cat's lateral suprasylvian visual cortex

1990

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On the other hand, it is possible that the residual sensitivity reflects the response of area 17 neurons, some of which have broad enough bandwidth (>2 octaves) to respond, albeit weakly, to relatively low-spatial-frequency targets (Movshon et al, 1978;Berardi et al, 1982). Furthermore, neurons in other cortical areas, such as the lateral suprasylvian (LS) area or area 19, respond well to low-spatial-frequency targets (DiStefano et al, 1985;Morrone et al, 1986;Tanaka et al, 1987;Gizzi et al, 1990). These spatiotemporal properties of LS neurons appear to survive lesions of both areas 17 and 18 (Guido et al, 1990).…”

Section: Lesion Placementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal sensitivity following lesions of area 18 in the cat

Pasternak

Maunsell

1992

J. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The contribution of cat area 18 to spatiotemporal sensitivity and to motion processing was assessed in cats with unilateral ibotenic acid lesions placed in physiologically identified portions of area 18. The lesions were centered in the representation of the lower right visual field, about 10 degrees from the vertical meridian. In one of the animals, the lesion invaded a small portion of area 19. We measured detectability of various spatiotemporal stimuli placed within the lesioned and intact portions of the visual field, while monitoring eye position with a scleral search coil. We found a loss of sensitivity to gratings of low and intermediate spatial frequency, within the ablated portion of the visual field. The sensitivity loss was 0.6-1.0 log units at low and intermediate spatial frequencies, and decreased at higher frequencies with the resolution limits remaining intact. The loss extended over a range of temporal frequencies for both drifting gratings and grating modulated in counterphase. We also found that within the lesioned hemifield, the cats were unable to discriminate between rightward and leftward motion even at the highest contrasts. These results demonstrate that area 18 plays an important role in detecting drifting low- and intermediate-spatial-frequency targets and is likely to represent a critical stage in the cortical processing of motion signals.

show abstract

“…Now the spatial resolution of many cells in the striate cortex is so high that it is likely to be determined by input from X-cells. It would be interesting to learn whether the time course of development of spatial properties is similar in extrastriate areas, such as PMLS, where the maximum resolution of cells in the adult is lower than that in striate cortex (Berardi et al, 1982;Blakemore and Zumbroich, 1985;Di Stefano et al, 1985;Morrone et al, 1986;Zumbroich and Blakemore, 1987) and where spatial properties may be determined by Y-cell and W-cell input (Zumbroich and Blakemore, 1987). We have therefore studied the postnatal development of spatial selectivity in PMLS.…”

Section: Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In adult PMLS there is, despite great scatter, a significant negative correlation between the eccentricity of the receptive fields of cells and their high-spatial-frequency cutoffs: the closer the receptive field center is to the area centralis, the higher its acuity is likely to be (Blakemore and Zumbroich, 1985;Di Stefano et al, 1985;Zumbroich and Blakemore, 1987). We were interested to know whether this regional variation in acuity develops only gradually.…”

Section: Spatial Resolution and Optimum Spatial Frequencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of spatial and temporal selectivity in the suprasylvian visual cortex of the cat

Zumbroich¹,

Price²,

Blakemore³

1988

J. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have studied the development of the spatial and temporal properties of neurons in the medial bank of the suprasylvian visual cortex (PMLS) in kittens aged between 9 d and 8 weeks. Quantitative measurements were made of the responses to drifting high-contrast gratings of optimum orientation and direction of motion, but varying in spatial and temporal frequency. The spatial resolution ("acuity") of cells increased rapidly and was fully mature (over 2 cycles/deg for the best cells) at 3 weeks of age. The optimum spatial frequency also tended to improve and reached adult values (around 0.5 cycles/deg for the best cells) at about the end of the third week. In younger kittens, the spatial resolution of neurons was not obviously correlated with the eccentricity of their receptive fields, but in older animals acuity was clearly elevated for receptive fields in the central visual field. The proportion of "low-pass" cells (showing no obvious attenuation of response for gratings of low spatial frequency) decreased with age and simultaneously there was a slight increase in the mean spatial bandwidth of "bandpass" cells. Responses to drifting sinusoidal gratings were generally dominated by an unmodulated elevation of discharge at all ages. In tests with stationary, contrast-modulated gratings presented at different spatial positions, cells in the youngest kittens behaved nonlinearly and showed mainly an unmodulated increase in discharge, whereas in older kittens, as in adult cats, most neurons responded to contrast-modulated gratings with a small, phase-dependent response at the temporal frequency of modulation and a larger component at twice the fundamental frequency. None of the cells recorded at any age had a true "null position." As in adult PMLS, the widths of receptive fields in kittens were, on average, about twice the size of the preferred spatial period (4 times the preferred bar width). At all ages, therefore, neurons in PMLS resembled striate complex cells with respect to the nonlinearity of their responses and the spatial structure of their receptive fields. The preferred temporal frequency and high-temporal-frequency cutoff also improved, on average, during the first 3 weeks of life, and the range of temporal frequencies over which cells responded continued to increase until at least 8 weeks. Although the low-spatial-frequency inhibition that creates spatial bandpass characteristics probably depends on cortical mechanisms, the postnatal development of both temporal and spatial resolution might well be limited by maturation at the level of the retina.

show abstract

Visual acuity of neurones in the cat lateral suprasylvian cortex

Cited by 21 publications

References 19 publications

Spatial and temporal analysis by neurons in the representation of the central visual field in the cat's lateral suprasylvian visual cortex

Spatial and temporal analysis by neurons in the representation of the central visual field in the cat's lateral suprasylvian visual cortex

Spatiotemporal sensitivity following lesions of area 18 in the cat

Development of spatial and temporal selectivity in the suprasylvian visual cortex of the cat

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About