Visual Physiology of the Mammalian Superior Colliculus

Chalupa, Leo M.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-5376-6_19

Cited by 38 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 232 publications

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“…The overall topographic arrangement of body parts in the star-nosed mole's SC is consistent with that found in other species and other sensory systems (Kruger, 1970;Cynader and Berman, 1972;Stein, 1981;Chalupa, 1984;Stein and Meredith, 1993). The representation of the body in the deeper somatosensory layers (IV-VII) of sighted mammals is generally in register with the overlying visual representation such that the body has an upright position (dorsal body facing the midline) with the head and face represented rostrally and the tail and hindlimb represented caudally (Stein et al, 1975(Stein et al, ,1976Stein, 1984;Drä ger and Hubel, 1976;Wallace and Stein, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Somatosensation in the superior colliculus of the star‐nosed mole

Crish

Comer

Marasco

et al. 2003

J of Comparative Neurology

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The superior colliculus (or optic tectum in nonmammals) plays a critical role in the visual system and is essential for integrating sensory inputs to guide eye and head movements. However, what is the role of the superior colliculus (SC) in species that depend almost exclusively on touch? In this study we examined the SC of the star-nosed mole, a subterranean mammal that, instead of using vision, explores its environment using its tactile star. The star acts like a mechanosensory eye with a central tactile fovea that is constantly shifted in a saccadic manner. Multiunit microelectrode recordings were used to determine the topography and receptive field organization of somatosensory inputs to the SC and to test for visual and auditory responses. Here we report an SC dominated by somatosensory inputs in which neurons in all layers responded to mechanosensory stimulation, forming a topographic representation of contralateral body dominated by the mechanosensory star. Receptive fields were large, and appendage representations overlapped, suggesting that the SC may use a distributed, population code to guide the saccadic movements of the mole's touch fovea. No auditory or visual responses were recorded from the SC, although neurons in the neighboring inferior colliculus responded to auditory stimuli. Layers IVb-VII were identified, and a layer superficial to IVb contained neurons that responded to somatosensory stimulation, suggesting that there are unique patterns of afferents in the star-nosed mole's SC.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Somatosensation in the superior colliculus of the star‐nosed mole

Crish

Comer

Marasco

et al. 2003

J of Comparative Neurology

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show abstract

“…Golgi studies (e.g., Sterling, 1971;ValVerde, 1973;Langer and Lund, 1974;Tokunaga and Otani, 1976;Labriola and Laemle, 1977;Mathers, 1977) Chalupa, 1984, for a recent review of this literature). Up to now, there have been only a few attempts to correlate directly the receptive field properties and structural characteristics of SC neurons.…”

Section: The Results Of Numerousmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The responses of many superficial layer SC neurons in hamster as well as In other species (agarn, see Chalupa, 1984, for a review) are reduced by stimuli having dlmenslons that exceed those of the receptive field actlvatlng region Rhoades, 1978) We tested for such suppression by moving spots, which exceeded the largest dimension of the receptive field by at least 50%, across the field at the speed and in the direction Judged to be optimal for the cell A neuron was judged to exhibit surround suppression If the large stimulus ylelded less than 50% of the number of spikes obtained with an optimally slzed spot.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlations between the structural and functional characteristics of neurons in the superficial laminae and the hamster's superior colliculus

Mooney¹,

Klein²,

Rhoades³

1985

J. Neurosci.

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“…It has been shown that this latter input exerts a significant influence on tectal cells (Wickelgren & Sterling, 1969;Ogarasawa, McHaffie, & Stein, 1984;Chalupa, 1984).…”

Section: Oscillatory Activities In the Optic Tecta Of Various Phylamentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual Awareness Due to Neuronal Activities in Subcortical Structures: A Proposal

Sewards

2000

Consciousness and Cognition

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Visual Physiology of the Mammalian Superior Colliculus

Cited by 38 publications

References 232 publications

Somatosensation in the superior colliculus of the star‐nosed mole

Somatosensation in the superior colliculus of the star‐nosed mole

Correlations between the structural and functional characteristics of neurons in the superficial laminae and the hamster's superior colliculus

Visual Awareness Due to Neuronal Activities in Subcortical Structures: A Proposal

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