Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T11:16:30.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evaluation of a linear model of directional selectivity in simple cells of the cat's striate cortex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

D. J. Tolhurst  and
A. F. Dean
D. J. Tolhurst
Affiliation:
The Physiological Laboratory, Downing Street, Cambridge, England CB2 3EG
A. F. Dean
Affiliation:
The Physiological Laboratory, Downing Street, Cambridge, England CB2 3EG
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We have compared the responses of simple cells to laterally moving sinusoidal gratings and to stationary temporally-modulated gratings. From the amplitudes and temporal phases of the responses to stationary gratings of different spatial phases, it should be possible to predict the preferred direction of movement, the amplitudes of the responses to gratings moving in the preferred and nonpreferred directions and, thence, the degree of directional preference (Reid et al., 1987). The preferred direction can be predicted reliably. However, the magnitude of the directional preference cannot be predicted, since the measured amplitude of the response in the nonpreferred direction of movement is very much less than that predicted by a linear theory. Nonlinearities in the relationship between response amplitude and contrast may contribute to the failure of the predictions, but this contribution is small. We conclude that the magnitude of the directional preference seems to be determined predominantly by nonlinear suppression of the response in the nonpreferred direction of movement.

Keywords

Visual cortexDirectional selectivitySimple cells
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 6 , Issue 5 , May 1991 , pp. 421 - 428
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albrecht, D.G. & Hamilton, D.B. (1982). Striate cortex of cat and monkey: contrast response function. Journal of Neurophysiology 48, 217–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, C.L. (1988). Spatial and temporal determinants of directionally selective velocity preference in cat striate cortex neurons. Journal of Neurophysiology 59, 1557–1574.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baker, C.L. (1989). Spatial- and temporal-frequency selectivity as a basis for velocity preference in cat striate cortex neurones. Visual Neuroscience 4, 101–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barlow, H.B. & Levick, W.R. (1965). The mechanism of directionally selective units in the rabbit retina. Journal of Physiology 178, 477–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, A.F. (1981). The relationship between response amplitude and contrast for cat striate cortical neurones. Journal of Physiology 318, 413–427.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dean, A.F. & Tolhurst, D.J. (1983). On the distinctness of simple and complex cells in the visual cortex of the cat. Journal of Physiology 344, 305–325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dean, A.F. & Tolhurst, D.J. (1986). Factors influencing the temporal phase of response to bar and grating stimuli for simple cells in the cat striate cortex. Experimental Brain Research 62, 143–151.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dean, A.F., Hess, R.F. & Tolhurst, D.J. (1980). Divisive inhibition involved in directional selectivity. Journal of Physiology 308, 84–85P.Google Scholar
Emerson, R.C. & Gerstein, G.L. (1977). Simple striate neurons in the cat, 11: Mechanisms underlying directional asymmetry and direction selectivity. Journal of Neurophysiology 40, 1352–1361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ganz, L. & Felden, R. (1984). Mechanism of directional selectivity in simple neurons of the cat's visual cortex analyzed with stationary flash sequences. Journal of Neurophysiology 51, 294–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hamilton, D.B., Albrecht, D.G. & Geisler, W.S. (1989). Visual cortical receptive fields in monkey and cat: spatial and temporal phase transfer function. Vision Research 29, 1285–1308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hubel, D.H. & Wiesel, T.N. (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction, and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. Journal of Physiology 160, 106–154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ikeda, H. & Wright, M.J. (1974). Sensitivity of neurones in visual cortex (area 17) under different levels of anaesthesia. Experimental Brain Research 20, 471–484.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLean, J. & Palmer, L.A. (1989). Contribution of linear spatiotemporal field structure to velocity selectivity of simple cells in area 17 of cat. Vision Research 29, 675–679.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Movshon, J.A., Thompson, I.D. & Tolhurst, D.J. (1978a). Spatial summation in the receptive fields of simple cells in the cat's striate cortex. Journal of Physiology 283, 53–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Movshon, J.A., Thompson, I.D. & Tolhurst, D.J. (1978b). Receptive field organization of complex cells in the cat's striate cortex. Journal of Physiology 283, 79–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reid, R.C., Soodak, R.E. & Shapley, R.M. (1987). Linear mechanisms of directional selectivity in simple cells of the cat striate cortex. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 84, 8740–8744.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sillito, A.M. (1977). Inhibitory processes underlying the directional specificity of simple, complex, and hypercomplex cells in the cat's visual cortex.Journal of Physiology 271, 699–720.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tadmor, Y. & Tolhurst, D.J. (1989). The effect of threshold on the relationship between the receptive-field profile and the spatial-frequency tuning curve in simple cells of the cat's striate cortex. Visual Neuroscience 3, 445–454.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tolhurst, D.J., Movshon, J.A. & Dean, A.F. (1983). The statistical reliability of signals in single neurones in cat and monkey visual cortex. Visual Research 23, 775–785.Google Scholar
Tolhurst, D.J., Movshon, J.A. & Thompson, I.D. (1981). The dependence of response amplitude and variance of cat visual cortex neurones on stimulus contrast. Experimental Brain Research 41, 414–419.Google ScholarPubMed
Tolhurst, D.J. & Thompson, I.D. (1981). On the variety of spatial frequency selectivities shown by neurones in area 17 of the cat. Proceedings of the Royal Society B (London) 213, 183–199.Google ScholarPubMed
Watson, A.B. & Ahumada, A.J., (1983). A look at motion in the frequency domain. NASA Technical Memorandum 84352, 1–10.Google Scholar