Striate cortex increases contrast gain of macaque LGN neurons

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-494 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDRZEJ W. PRZYBYSZEWSKI ◽  
JAMES P. GASKA ◽  
WARREN FOOTE ◽  
DANIEL A. POLLEN
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus ◽  
Functional Significance ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Experimental Basis ◽  
Contrast Gain ◽  
Classical Receptive Field ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Universal Feature ◽  
Parvocellular Neurons

Recurrent projections comprise a universal feature of cerebral organization. Here, we show that the corticofugal projections from the striate cortex (V1) to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) robustly and multiplicatively enhance the responses of parvocellular neurons, stimulated by gratings restricted to the classical receptive field and modulated in luminance, by over two-fold in a contrast-independent manner at all but the lowest contrasts. In the equiluminant plane, wherein stimuli are modulated in chromaticity with luminance held constant, such enhancement is strongly contrast dependent. These projections also robustly enhance the responses of magnocellular neurons but contrast independently only at high contrasts. Thus, these results have broad functional significance at both network and neuronal levels by providing the experimental basis and quantitative constraints for a wide range of models on recurrent projections and the control of contrast gain.

scholarly journals Feedback from V1 and inhibition from beyond the classical receptive field modulates the responses of neurons in the primate lateral geniculate nucleus

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 583-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
BEN S. WEBB ◽  
CHRIS J. TINSLEY ◽  
NICK E. BARRACLOUGH ◽  
ALEXANDER EASTON ◽  
AMANDA PARKER ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Firing Rate ◽  
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Optimal Size ◽  
Marmoset Monkey ◽  
Lateral Geniculate ◽  
Classical Receptive Field

It is well established that the responses of neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) can be modulated by feedback from visual cortex, but it is still unclear how cortico-geniculate afferents regulate the flow of visual information to the cortex in the primate. Here we report the effects, on the gain of LGN neurons, of differentially stimulating the extraclassical receptive field, with feedback from the striate cortex intact or inactivated in the marmoset monkey, Callithrix jacchus. A horizontally oriented grating of optimal size, spatial frequency, and temporal frequency was presented to the classical receptive field. The grating varied in contrast (range: 0–1) from trial to trial, and was presented alone, or surrounded by a grating of the same or orthogonal orientation, contained within either a larger annular field, or flanks oriented either horizontally or vertically. V1 was ablated to inactivate cortico-geniculate feedback. The maximum firing rate of LGN neurons was greater with V1 intact, but was reduced by visually stimulating beyond the classical receptive field. Large horizontal or vertical annular gratings were most effective in reducing the maximum firing rate of LGN neurons. Magnocellular neurons were most susceptible to this inhibition from beyond the classical receptive field. Extraclassical inhibition was less effective with V1 ablated. We conclude that inhibition from beyond the classical receptive field reduces the excitatory influence of V1 in the LGN. The net balance between cortico-geniculate excitation and inhibition from beyond the classical receptive field is one mechanism by which signals relayed from the retina to V1 are controlled.

Receptive Field Properties and Laminar Organization of Lateral Geniculate Nucleus in the Gray Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

2003 ◽  
Vol 90 (5) ◽  
pp. 3398-3418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Van Hooser ◽  
J. Alexander F. Heimel ◽  
Sacha B. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus ◽  
Spatial Summation ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Gray Squirrel ◽  
Response Latencies ◽  
Laminar Organization ◽  
Contrast Gain ◽  
Lateral Geniculate ◽  
Heterogeneous Class

Physiological studies of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) have revealed three classes of relay neurons, called X, Y, and W cells in carnivores and parvocellular (P), magnocellular (M), and koniocellular (K) in primates. The homological relationships among these cell classes and how receptive field (RF) properties of these cells compare with LGN cells in other mammals are poorly understood. To address these questions, we have characterized RF properties and laminar organization in LGN of a highly visual diurnal rodent, the gray squirrel, under isoflurane anesthesia. We identified three classes of LGN cells. One class found in layers 1 and 2 showed sustained, reliable firing, center-surround organization, and was almost exclusively linear in spatial summation. Another class, found in layer 3, showed short response latencies, transient and reliable firing, center-surround organization, and could show either linear (76%) or nonlinear (24%) spatial summation. A third, heterogeneous class found throughout the LGN but primarily in layer 3 showed highly variable responses, a variety of response latencies and could show either center-surround or noncenter-surround receptive field organization and either linear (77%) or nonlinear (23%) spatial summation. RF sizes of all cell classes showed little dependency on eccentricity, and all of these classes showed low contrast gains. When compared with LGN cells in other mammals, our data are consistent with the idea that all mammals contain three basic classes of LGN neurons, one showing reliable, sustained responses, and center-surround organization (X or P); another showing transient but reliable responses, short latencies, and center-surround organization (Y or M); and a third, highly variable and heterogeneous class of cells (W or K). Other properties such as dependency of receptive field size on eccentricity, linearity of spatial summation, and contrast gain appear to vary from species to species.

Spatial Distribution of Suppressive Signals Outside the Classical Receptive Field in Lateral Geniculate Nucleus

2005 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 1789-1797 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben S. Webb ◽  
Christopher J. Tinsley ◽  
Christopher J. Vincent ◽  
Andrew M. Derrington
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Spatial Summation ◽  
Sinusoidal Grating ◽  
Circular Symmetry ◽  
Lateral Geniculate ◽  
Classical Receptive Field

A suppressive surround modulates the responsiveness of cells in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), but we know nothing of its spatial structure or the way in which it combines signals arising from different locations. It is generally assumed that suppressive signals are either uniformly distributed or balanced in opposing regions outside the receptive field. Here, we examine the spatial distribution and summation of suppressive signals outside the receptive field in extracellular recordings from 46 LGN cells in anesthetized marmosets. The receptive field of each cell was stimulated with a drifting sinusoidal grating of the preferred size and spatial and temporal frequency; we probed different positions in the suppressive surround with either a large half-annular grating or a small circular grating patch of the preferred spatial and temporal frequency. In many of the cells with a strong suppressive surround (29/46), the spatial distribution of suppression showed clear deviation from circular symmetry. In the majority of these of cells, suppressive signals were spatially asymmetrical or balanced in opposing areas outside the receptive field. A suppressive area was larger than the classical receptive field itself and spatial summation within and between these areas was nonlinear. There was no bias for suppression to arise from foveal or nasal retina where cone density is higher and no other sign of a systematic spatial organization to the suppressive surround. We conclude that nonclassical suppressive signals in LGN deviate from circular symmetry and are nonlinearly combined.

scholarly journals Gain control from beyond the classical receptive field in primate primary visual cortex

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
BEN S. WEBB ◽  
CHRIS J. TINSLEY ◽  
NICK E. BARRACLOUGH ◽  
AMANDA PARKER ◽  
ANDREW M. DERRINGTON
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Gain Control ◽  
Salient Feature ◽  
Retinal Eccentricity ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
Contrast Gain ◽  
Classical Receptive Field ◽  
Extrastriate Areas

Gain control is a salient feature of information processing throughout the visual system. Heeger (1991, 1992) described a mechanism that could underpin gain control in primary visual cortex (V1). According to this model, a neuron's response is normalized by dividing its output by the sum of a population of neurons, which are selective for orientations covering a broad range. Gain control in this scheme is manifested as a change in the semisaturation constant (contrast gain) of a V1 neuron. Here we examine how flanking and annular gratings of the same or orthogonal orientation to that preferred by a neuron presented beyond the receptive field modulate gain in V1 neurons in anesthetized marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). To characterize how gain was modulated by surround stimuli, the Michaelis–Menten equation was fitted to response versus contrast functions obtained under each stimulus condition. The modulation of gain by surround stimuli was modelled best as a divisive reduction in response gain. Response gain varied with the orientation of surround stimuli, but was reduced most when the orientation of a large annular grating beyond the classical receptive field matched the preferred orientation of neurons. The strength of surround suppression did not vary significantly with retinal eccentricity or laminar distribution. In the marmoset, as in macaques (Angelucci et al., 2002a, b), gain control over the sort of distances reported here (up to 10 deg) may be mediated by feedback from extrastriate areas.

scholarly journals Neural Mechanisms for Encoding Binocular Disparity: Receptive Field Position Versus Phase

1999 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 874-890 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akiyuki Anzai ◽  
Izumi Ohzawa ◽  
Ralph D. Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Spatial Frequency ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Binocular Disparity ◽  
High Spatial Frequency ◽  
Mapping Technique ◽  
Relative Depth ◽  
Simple Cells ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Left And Right

The visual system uses binocular disparity to discriminate the relative depth of objects in space. Because the striate cortex is the first site along the central visual pathways at which signals from the left and right eyes converge onto a single neuron, encoding of binocular disparity is thought to begin in this region. There are two possible mechanisms for encoding binocular disparity through simple cells in the striate cortex: a difference in receptive field (RF) position between the two eyes (RF position disparity) and a difference in RF profiles between the two eyes (RF phase disparity). Although there is evidence that supports each of these schemes, both mechanisms have not been examined in a single study to determine their relative roles. In this study, we have measured RF position and phase disparities of individual simple cells in the cat’s striate cortex to address this issue. Using a sophisticated RF mapping technique that employs binary m-sequences, we have obtained left and right eye RF profiles of two or more cells recorded simultaneously. A version of the reference-cell method was used to estimate RF position disparity. We find that RF position disparities generally are limited to values that are not sufficient to encode large binocular disparities. In contrast, RF phase disparities cover a wide range of binocular disparities and exhibit dependencies on RF orientation and spatial frequency in a manner expected for a mechanism that encodes binocular disparity. These results suggest that binocular disparity is encoded mainly through RF phase disparity. However, RF position disparity may play a significant role for cells with high spatial frequency selectivity that are constrained to have only small RF phase disparities.

scholarly journals Extra-classical receptive field effects measured in striate cortex with fMRI

NeuroImage ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 1199-1208 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.M. Harrison ◽  
K.E. Stephan ◽  
G. Rees ◽  
K.J. Friston
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Field Effects ◽  
Classical Receptive Field

Suppression outside the classical cortical receptive field

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
GARY A. WALKER ◽  
IZUMI OHZAWA ◽  
RALPH D. FREEMAN
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Complex Cell ◽  
Surround Suppression ◽  
Classical Receptive Field ◽  
Simple And Complex Cell ◽  
Prevalent Form

The important visual stimulus parameters for a given cell are defined by the classical receptive field (CRF). However, cells are also influenced by visual stimuli presented in areas surrounding the CRF. The experiments described here were conducted to determine the incidence and nature of CRF surround influences in the primary visual cortex. From extracellular recordings in the cat's striate cortex, we find that for over half of the cells investigated (56%, 153/271), the effect of stimulation in the surround of the CRF is to suppress the neuron's activity by at least 10% compared to the response to a grating presented within the CRF alone. For the remainder of the cells, the interactions were minimal and a few were of a facilitatory nature. In this paper, we focus on the suppressive interactions. Simple and complex cell types exhibit equal incidences of surround suppression. Suppression is observed for cells in all layers, and its degree is strongly correlated between the two eyes for binocular neurons. These results show that surround suppression is a prevalent form of inhibition and may play an important role in visual processing.

Visual Responses Outside the Classical Receptive Field in Primate Striate Cortex: A Possible Correlate of Perceptual Completion

1992 ◽  
pp. 233-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Gattass ◽  
Mario Fiorani ◽  
Marcello Gonçalves Pereira Rosa ◽  
Maria Carmen Giraldez Pereira Piñon ◽  
Aglai Penna Barbosa de Sousa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Visual Responses ◽  
Classical Receptive Field ◽  
Perceptual Completion

Long-range interactions modulate the contrast gain in the lateral geniculate nucleus of cats

1999 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 943-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
FATIMA FELISBERTI ◽  
ANDREW M. DERRINGTON
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Ganglion Cells ◽  
Suppressive Effect ◽  
Visual Sensitivity ◽  
Optimal Size ◽  
Retinal Ganglion ◽  
Contrast Gain ◽  
Central Spot ◽  
Classical Receptive Field ◽  
Long Range Interactions

In previous work, we have shown that sudden image displacements well outside the classical receptive field modulate the visual sensitivity of LGN relay cells. Here we report the effect of image displacements on the response versus contrast function. The stimuli consisted of a central spot of optimal size and polarity (contrast range: 3–98%), flashed alone or in the presence of a peripheral annulus (radii: 5–15 deg) containing a low spatial-frequency grating displaced at saccade-like velocities (shift). The most consistent effect of the shift on the response to a central spot was to reduce the responsiveness of Y relay cells and, to a lesser extent, of X relay cells. The reduction in responsiveness was primarily a divisive rather than a subtractive effect and could be modelled by assuming that a greater contrast was required to produce a given excitatory response. In the absence of a central spot, remote motion had inhibitory effects on the firing rates of the majority of relay cells, but its effect on retinal ganglion cells was mainly excitatory. When the shifting grating covered the classical receptive field and its periphery, facilitatory effects or suppressive effects, depending on the spatial phase of the pattern, were observed in both retinal and geniculate cells. Remote motion strongly suppresses the responsiveness of relay cells to stimuli within the classical receptive field. This suppressive effect involves intrageniculate processing and is primarily associated with a reduction in contrast gain. It is likely that shift suppression contributes to the loss of visual sensitivity observed in saccadic suppression.

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