Receptive field organization and response properties of visual neurons in the pigeon nucleus semilunaris

2002 ◽  
Vol 331 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Yang ◽  
Xiao Li ◽  
Shu-Rong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Visual Neurons ◽  
Response Properties ◽  
Field Organization ◽  
Receptive Field Organization

Comparison of response properties of cells in the cat's visual cortex at high and low luminance levels

1985 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Ramoa ◽  
R. D. Freeman ◽  
A. Macy
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Spatial Frequency ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Scattered Light ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Response Properties ◽  
Low Luminance ◽  
Field Organization ◽  
Receptive Field Organization

Receptive-field organization of cells in the cat's striate cortex and lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) was investigated by using bars of light as stimuli. The aim was to determine if differences occur between conditions of high and low luminance levels. Of 72 cortical cells studied, the receptive fields of 63 were clearly different at high compared with low luminances. Units that gave on-off responses to flashed bars, for example, typically displayed on-only responses at low luminance. By far the most frequent change was that off responses were reduced or absent at low luminance levels. Of 63 cells that showed clear changes, 54 were of this type. This altered receptive-field organization appears to remain for extended periods (we have monitored the steady-state case for up to 2 h). Additional tests allow us to rule out the possible influence of overall changes in response strength and scattered light. To see if similar changes in receptive-field organization are present at the level of the LGN, we recorded from a small number of cells in the LGN (n = 10) and from an additional five afferent fibers in the cortex. In each case, there was a change in center-surround organization between high and low luminance levels similar to that previously reported for retinal ganglion cells. The excitatory responses from the surround for both on-center and off-center cells were absent at low luminance. Taken together, the results suggest that surround responses that can be elicited from ganglion cells and LGN cells make an important contribution to the receptive-field organization of cortical neurons. Changes in receptive-field organization of cortical cells are apparently not accompanied by alterations of other basic response properties. Orientation (7 cells) and spatial frequency (53 cells) selectivity remain relatively unchanged when measured at different luminances. Although optimal spatial frequency is slightly lower at low luminance levels, the low spatial frequency attenuation remains unaltered. Since receptive-field changes between high and low luminance levels suggest that a unit's classification may also vary, we examined simple and complex cell characteristics using sinusoidal gratings (65 cells). Contrary to what we had anticipated, the degree of modulation of responses was relatively independent of luminance, indicating that cell classification does not vary with stimulus luminance.

Comparison of the responses of AII amacrine cells in the dark- and light-adapted rabbit retina

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 653-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAIYAN XIN ◽  
STEWART A. BLOOMFIELD
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Light Adaptation ◽  
Amacrine Cells ◽  
Bipolar Cells ◽  
Rabbit Retina ◽  
Response Component ◽  
Synaptic Inputs ◽  
Field Organization ◽  
Receptive Field Organization ◽  
Aii Amacrine Cells

We studied the light-evoked responses of AII amacrine cells in the rabbit retina under dark- and light-adapted conditions. In contrast to the results of previous studies, we found that AII cells display robust responses to light over a 6–7 log unit intensity range, well beyond the operating range of rod photoreceptors. Under dark adaptation, AII cells showed an ON-center/OFF-surround receptive-field organization. The intensity–response profile of the center-mediated response component followed a dual-limbed sigmoidal function indicating a transition from rod to cone mediation as stimulus intensities were increased. Following light adaptation, the receptive-field organization of AII cells changed dramatically. Light-adapted AII cells showed both ON- and OFF-responses to stimulation of the center receptive field, but we found no evidence for an antagonistic surround. Interestingly, the OFF-center response appeared first following rapid light adaptation and was then replaced gradually over a 1–4 min period by the emerging ON-center response component. Application of the metabotropic glutamate receptor agonist APB, the ionotropic glutamate blocker CNQX, 8-bromo-cGMP, and the nitric oxide donor SNAP all showed differential effects on the various center-mediated responses displayed by dark- and light-adapted AII cells. Taken together, these pharmacological results indicated that different synaptic circuits are responsible for the generation of the different AII cell responses. Specifically, the rod-driven ON-center responses are apparently derived from rod bipolar cell synaptic inputs, whereas the cone-driven ON-center responses arise from signals crossing the gap junctions between AII cells and ON-center cone bipolar cells. Additionally, the OFF-center response of light-adapted AII cells reflects direct synaptic inputs from OFF-center cone bipolar cells to AII dendritic processes in the distal inner plexiform layer.

Two-dimensional receptive-field organization in striate cortical neurons of the cat

1994 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 703-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Sun ◽  
A. B. Bonds
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Cortical Layers ◽  
Field Organization ◽  
Receptive Field Organization ◽  
Cortical Receptive Fields

AbstractThe two-dimensional organization of receptive fields (RFs) of 44 cells in the cat visual cortex and four cells from the cat LGN was measured by stimulation with either dots or bars of light. The light bars were presented in different positions and orientations centered on the RFs. The RFs found were arbitrarily divided into four general types: Punctate, resembling DOG filters (11%); those resembling Gabor filters (9%); elongate (36%); and multipeaked-type (44%). Elongate RFs, usually found in simple cells, could show more than one excitatory band or bifurcation of excitatory regions. Although regions inhibitory to a given stimulus transition (e.g. ON) often coincided with regions excitatory to the opposite transition (e.g. OFF), this was by no means the rule. Measurements were highly repeatable and stable over periods of at least 1 h. A comparison between measurements made with dots and with bars showed reasonable matches in about 40% of the cases. In general, bar-based measurements revealed larger RFs with more structure, especially with respect to inhibitory regions. Inactivation of lower cortical layers (V-VI) by local GABA injection was found to reduce sharpness of detail and to increase both receptive-field size and noise in upper layer cells, suggesting vertically organized RF mechanisms. Across the population, some cells bore close resemblance to theoretically proposed filters, while others had a complexity that was clearly not generalizable, to the extent that they seemed more suited to detection of specific structures. We would speculate that the broadly varying forms of cat cortical receptive fields result from developmental processes akin to those that form ocular-dominance columns, but on a smaller scale.

Dynamic aspects of receptive field organization in area VI of the macaque monkey

1992 ◽  
pp. 177-188
Author(s):  
James M. Fox ◽  
David C. Van Essen ◽  
Tobias Delbrück ◽  
Jack Gallant ◽  
Charles H. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Field Organization ◽  
Receptive Field Organization

Effects of nerve injury on sympathetic excitation of A delta mechanical nociceptors

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 1721-1723 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. F. Bossut ◽  
E. R. Perl
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Nerve Injury ◽  
High Threshold ◽  
Myelinated Fiber ◽  
Mechanical Stimuli ◽  
Sympathetic Stimulation ◽  
Great Auricular Nerve ◽  
C Fiber ◽  
Field Organization ◽  
Receptive Field Organization

1. The effects of sympathetic stimulation and close arterial injection of norepinephrine were tested on cutaneous myelinated-fiber (A delta) mechanical nociceptors [high-threshold mechanoreceptors-(MyHTMs)] from normal and from partially transsected nerves. 2. Neither sympathetic stimulation nor close arterial injection of norepinephrine (200 ng) excited MyHTMs (18) recorded from the uninjured great auricular nerve of adult rabbits. 3. MyHTMs (58) conducting across the site of partial cut lesions, made 2 to 28 days previously, had threshold and responsiveness to mechanical stimuli, receptive field organization, and absence of background discharge typical of such elements in normal nerve. 4. Four MyHTMs recorded from the injured nerves were excited by sympathetic stimulation and/or norepinephrine injection but only one gave more than two impulses within 60 s to either form of stimulation. 5. The meagerness of the sympathetic and adrenergic excitation of MyHTMs after nerve injury contrasts with that observed under similar conditions for C-fiber polymodal nociceptors. Therefore, induction of adrenergic responsiveness in nociceptors after partial denervation in cutaneous MyHTMs appears to be less important for mechanisms related to pathogenic pain than alterations in certain C-fiber nociceptors.

scholarly journals Spatiotemporal Receptive Field Properties of a Looming-Sensitive Neuron in Solitarious and Gregarious Phases of the Desert Locust

2010 ◽  
Vol 103 (2) ◽  
pp. 779-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Rogers ◽  
George W. J. Harston ◽  
Fleur Kilburn-Toppin ◽  
Thomas Matheson ◽  
Malcolm Burrows ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Schistocerca Gregaria ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Lifestyle Changes ◽  
Movement Detector ◽  
Local Motion ◽  
Gregarious Locusts ◽  
Spatiotemporal Receptive Field ◽  
Field Organization ◽  
Receptive Field Organization

Desert locusts ( Schistocerca gregaria ) can transform reversibly between the swarming gregarious phase and a solitarious phase, which avoids other locusts. This transformation entails dramatic changes in morphology, physiology, and behavior. We have used the lobula giant movement detector (LGMD) and its postsynaptic target, the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD), which are visual interneurons that detect looming objects, to analyze how differences in the visual ecology of the two phases are served by altered neuronal function. Solitarious locusts had larger eyes and a greater degree of binocular overlap than those of gregarious locusts. The receptive field to looming stimuli had a large central region of nearly equal response spanning 120° × 60° in both phases. The DCMDs of gregarious locusts responded more strongly than solitarious locusts and had a small caudolateral focus of even further sensitivity. More peripherally, the response was reduced in both phases, particularly ventrally, with gregarious locusts showing greater proportional decrease. Gregarious locusts showed less habituation to repeated looming stimuli along the eye equator than did solitarious locusts. By contrast, in other parts of the receptive field the degree of habituation was similar in both phases. The receptive field organization to looming stimuli contrasts strongly with the receptive field organization of the same neurons to nonlooming local-motion stimuli, which show much more pronounced regional variation. The DCMDs of both gregarious and solitarious locusts are able to detect approaching objects from across a wide expanse of visual space, but phase-specific changes in the spatiotemporal receptive field are linked to lifestyle changes.

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