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Modelling the spatio-temporal modulation response of ganglion cells with difference-of-Gaussians receptive fields: Relation to photoreceptor response kinetics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Kristian Donner  and
Simo Hemilä
Kristian Donner
Affiliation:
Department of Biosciences and Department of Ecology and Systematics, P.O. Box 17, F1N-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
Simo Hemilä
Affiliation:
laboratory of Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, F1N-02150 Espoo, Finland
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Abstract

Difference-of-Gaussians (DOG) models for the receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells accurately predict linear responses to both periodic stimuli (typically moving sinusoidal gratings) and aperiodic stimuli (typically circular fields presented as square-wave pulses). While the relation of spatial organization to retinal anatomy has received considerable attention, temporal characteristics have been only loosely connected to retinal physiology. Here we integrate realistic photoreceptor response waveforms into the DOG model to clarify how far a single set of physiological parameters predict temporal aspects of linear responses to both periodic and aperiodic stimuli. Traditional filter-cascade models provide a useful first-order approximation of the single-photon response in photoreceptors. The absolute time scale of these, plus a time for retinal transmission, here construed as a fixed delay, are obtained from flash/step data. Using these values, we find that the DOG model predicts the main features of both the amplitude and phase response of linear cat ganglion cells to sinusoidal flicker. Where the simplest model formulation fails, it serves to reveal additional mechanisms. Unforeseen facts are the attenuation of low temporal frequencies even in pure center-type responses, and the phase advance of the response relative to the stimulus at low frequencies. Neither can be explained by any experimentally documented cone response waveform, but both would be explained by signal differentiation, e.g. in the retinal transmission pathway, as demonstrated at least in turtle retina.

Keywords

RetinaContrast sensitivityFlickerPhotoreceptors
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 1996 , pp. 173 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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