Retinotopic organization of ferret suprasylvian cortex

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
GINA CANTONE ◽  
JUN XIAO ◽  
JONATHAN B. LEVITT
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Visual Area ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Horizontal Meridian ◽  
Field Representation ◽  
Retinotopic Organization ◽  
Suprasylvian Cortex ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Extrastriate Areas

The retinotopic organization of striate and several extrastriate areas of ferret cortex has been established. Here we describe the representation of the visual field on the Suprasylvian visual area (Ssy). This cortical region runs mediolaterally along the posterior bank of the suprasylvian sulcus, and is distinct from adjoining areas in anatomical architecture. The Ssy lies immediately rostral to visual area 21, medial to lateral temporal areas, and lateral to posterior parietal areas. In electrophysiological experiments we made extracellular recordings in adult ferrets. We find that single and multiunit receptive fields range in size from 2 deg × 4 deg to 21 deg × 52 deg. The total visual field representation in Ssy spans over 70 deg in azimuth in the contralateral hemifield (with a small incursion into the ipsilateral hemifield), and from +36 deg to −30 deg in elevation. There are often two representations of the horizontal meridian. Furthermore, the location of the transition from upper to lower fields varies among animals. General features of topography are confirmed in anatomical experiments in which we made tracer injections into different locations in Ssy, and determined the location of retrograde label in area 17. Both isoelevation and isoazimuth lines can span substantial rostrocaudal and mediolateral distances in cortex, sometimes forming closed contours. This topography results in cortical magnifications averaging 0.07 mm/deg in elevation and 0.06 mm/deg in azimuth; however, some contours can run in such a way that it is possible to move a large distance on cortex without moving in the visual field. Because of these irregularities, Ssy contains a coarse representation of the contralateral visual field.

A reassessment of the lower visual field map in striate-recipient lateral suprasylvian cortex

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Sherk ◽  
Kathleen A. Mulligan
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Lower Visual Field ◽  
Lower Field ◽  
Global Features ◽  
Dual Representation ◽  
Field Representation ◽  
Retinotopic Organization ◽  
Lateral Suprasylvian Cortex ◽  
Suprasylvian Cortex

AbstractLateral suprasylvian visual cortex in the cat has been studied extensively, but its retinotopic organization remains controversial. Although some investigators have divided this region into many distinct areas, others have argued for a simpler organization. A clear understanding of the region’s retinotopic organization is important in order to define distinct areas that are likely to subserve unique visual functions. We therefore reexamined the map of the lower visual field in the striate-recipient region of lateral suprasylvian cortex, a region we refer to as the lateral suprasylvian area, LS.A dual mapping approach was used. First, receptive fields were plotted at numerous locations along closely spaced electrode penetrations; second, different anterograde tracers were injected at retinotopically identified sites in area 17, yielding patches of label in LS. To visualize the resulting data, suprasylvian cortex was flattened with the aid of a computer.Global features of the map reported in many earlier studies were confirmed. Central visual field was represented posteriorly, and elevations generally shifted downward as one moved anteriorly. Often (though not always) there was a progression from peripheral locations towards the vertical meridian as the electrode moved down the medial suprasylvian bank.The map had some remarkable characteristics not previously reported in any map in the cat. The vertical meridian’s representation was split into two pieces, separated by a gap, and both pieces were partially internalized within the map. Horizontal meridian occupied the gap. The area centralis usually had a dual representation along the posterior boundary of the lower field representation, and other fragments of visual field were duplicated as well. Finally, magnification appeared to change abruptly and unexpectedly, so that compressed regions of representation adjoined expanded regions. Despite its complexity, we found the map to be more orderly than previously thought. There was no clearcut retinotopic basis on which to subdivide LS’s lower field representation into distinct areas.

A role for the corpus callosum in visual area V4 of the macaque

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Desimone ◽  
Jeffrey Moran ◽  
Stanley J. Schein ◽  
Mortimer Mishkin
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Corpus Callosum ◽  
Anterior Commissure ◽  
Color Constancy ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Optic Tract ◽  
Complete Suppression ◽  
Central Visual Field ◽  
Field Representation ◽  
Area V4

AbstractThe classically defined receptive fields of V4 cells are confined almost entirely to the contralateral visual field. However, these receptive fields are often surrounded by large, silent suppressive regions, and stimulating the surrounds can cause a complete suppression of response to a simultaneously presented stimulus within the receptive field. We investigated whether the suppressive surrounds might extend across the midline into the ipsilateral visual field and, if so, whether the surrounds were dependent on the corpus callosum, which has a widespread distribution in V4. We found that the surrounds of more than half of the cells tested in the central visual field representation of V4 crossed into the ipsilateral visual field, with some extending up to at least 16 deg from the vertical meridian. Much of this suppression from the ipsilateral field was mediated by the corpus callosum, as section of the callosum dramatically reduced both the strength and extent of the surrounds. There remained, however, some residual suppression that was not further reduced by addition of an anterior commissure lesion. Because the residual ipsilateral suppression was similar in magnitude and extent to that found following section of the optic tract contralateral to the V4 recording, we concluded that it was retinal in origin. Using the same techniques employed in V4, we also mapped the ipsilateral extent of surrounds in the foveal representation of VI in an intact monkey. Results were very similar to those in V4 following commissural or contralateral tract sections. The findings suggest that V4 is a central site for long-range interactions both within and across the two visual hemifields. Taken with previous work, the results are consistent with the notion that the large suppressive surrounds of V4 neurons contribute to the neural mechanisms of color constancy and figure-ground separation.

Visual-field map in the transcallosal sending zone of area 17 in the cat

1991 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. R. Payne
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Horseradish Peroxidase ◽  
Corpus Callosum ◽  
Constant Width ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Retrograde Transport ◽  
Area 17 ◽  
Horizontal Meridian ◽  
Contralateral Hemisphere ◽  
Opposite Hemisphere

AbstractThe representation of the visual field in the part of area 17 containing neurons that project axons across the corpus callosum to the contralateral hemisphere was defined in the cat. Of 1424 sites sampled along 77 electrode tracks, 768 proved to be in the callosal sending zone, which was identified by retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase that had been deposited in the opposite hemisphere. The results show that the callosal sending zone has a fairly constant width of between 3 and 4 mm at most levels in area 17. However, the representation of the contralateral field at the different elevations of the visual field is not equal in this zone. The zone represents positions within 4 deg of the midline at the 0-deg horizontal meridian, and positions out to 15-deg azimuths in the upper hemifield and out to positions of 25-deg azimuth in the lower hemifield. The shape of the representation is approximately mirror-symmetric about the horizontal meridian, although there is a greater extent in the lower hemifield, which can be accounted for by the greater range of elevations (>60 deg) represented there compared with the upper hemifield (-40 deg). The representation in the sending zone of one hemisphere matches that present in the area 17/18 transition zone, which receives the bulk of transcallosal projections, in the opposite hemisphere. The observations on the sending zone show that callosal connections of area 17 are concerned with a vertical hour-glass-shaped region of the visual field centered on the midline. The observations suggest that in addition to interactions between neurons concerned with positions immediately adjacent to the midline, there are positions, especially high and low in the visual field, where interactions can occur between neurons that have receptive fields displaced some distance from the midline.

Perceptual filling-in at the scotoma following a monocular retinal lesion in the monkey

1997 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikuya Murakami ◽  
Hidehiko Komatsu ◽  
Masaharu Kinoshita
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Retinal Lesion ◽  
Visual Inputs ◽  
Visual Attribute ◽  
Retinotopic Organization ◽  
Normal Visual Field ◽  
Behavioral Evidence

AbstractAlthough no visual inputs arise from the blind spot, the same visual attribute there as in the visual field surrounding the blind spot is perceived. Because of this remarkable “perceptual filling-in,” a hole corresponding to the blind spot is not perceived, even when one eye is closed. Does the same phenomenon occur in the case of a scotoma in which visual inputs are lost postnatally due to a retinal lesion? We report that it did: in the macaque monkey, behavioral evidence for filling-in at a scotoma produced by a laser-induced monocular retinal lesion was obtained. The visual receptive fields of neurons in the primary visual cortex (VI) in and around the representation of the visual field corresponding to the scotoma were also mapped, and no clear difference between the retinotopic organization of this part in VI and that found in the normal visual field was found. Also, perceptual filling-in was found to occur only two days after the lesion. These findings suggest that the normal visual system possesses a mechanism that yields filling-in when some part of the retina is damaged, and that such a mechanism requires no topographical reorganization in VI.

scholarly journals Visual Field Representation in Striate and Prestriate Cortices of a Prosimian Primate (Galago garnetti)

1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (6) ◽  
pp. 3193-3217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcello G. P. Rosa ◽  
Vivien A. Casagrande ◽  
Todd Preuss ◽  
Jon H. Kaas
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Horizontal Meridian ◽  
Magnification Factor ◽  
Field Representation ◽  
Lower Quadrant ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Area Centralis ◽  
Order Representation

Rosa, Marcello G. P., Vivien A. Casagrande, Todd Preuss, and Jon H. Kaas. Visual field representation in striate and prestriate cortices of a prosimian primate ( Galago garnetti). J. Neurophysiol. 77: 3193–3217, 1997. Microelectrode mapping techniques were used to study the visuotopic organization of the first and second visual areas (V1 and V2, respectively) in anesthetized Galago garnetti, a lorisiform prosimian primate. 1) V1 occupies ∼200 mm2 of cortex, and is pear shaped, rather than elliptical as in simian primates. Neurons in V1 form a continuous (1st-order) representation of the visual field, with the vertical meridian forming most of its perimeter. The representation of the horizontal meridian divides V1 into nearly equal sectors representing the upper quadrant ventrally, and the lower quadrant dorsally. 2) The emphasis on representation of central vision is less marked in Galago than in simian primates, both diurnal and nocturnal. The decay of cortical magnification factor with increasing eccentricity is almost exactly counterbalanced by an increase in average receptive field size, such that a point anywhere in the visual field is represented by a compartment of similar diameter in V1. 3) Although most of the cortex surrounding V1 corresponds to V2, one-quarter of the perimeter of V1 is formed by agranular cortex within the rostral calcarine sulcus, including area prostriata. Although under our recording conditions virtually every recording site in V2 yielded visually responsive cells, only a minority of those in area prostriata revealed such responses. 4) V2 forms a cortical belt of variable width, being narrowest (∼1 mm) in the representation of the area centralis and widest (2.5–3 mm) in the representation of the midperiphery (>20° eccentricity) of the visual field. V2 forms a second-order representation of the visual field, with the area centralis being represented laterally and the visual field periphery medially, near the calcarine sulcus. Unlike in simians, the line of field discontinuity in Galago V2 does not exactly coincide with the horizontal meridian: a portion of the lower quadrant immediately adjacent to the horizontal meridian is represented at the rostral border of ventral V2, instead of in dorsal V2. Despite the absence of cytochrome oxidase stripes, the visual field map in Galago V2 resembles the ones described in simians in that the magnification factor is anisotropic. 5) Receptive field progressions in cortex rostral to dorsal V2 suggest the presence of a homologue of the dorsomedial area, including representations of both quadrants of the visual field. These results indicate that many aspects of organization of V1 and V2 in simian primates are shared with lorisiform prosimians, and are therefore likely to have been present in the last common ancestor of living primates. However, some aspects of organization of the caudal visual areas in Galago are intermediate between nonprimates and simian primates, reflecting either an intermediate stage of differentiation or adaptations to a nocturnal niche. These include the shape and the small size of V1 and V2, the modest degree of emphasis on central visual field representation, and the relatively large area prostriata.

The nature of the boundary between cortical visual areas II and III in the cat

1977 ◽  
Vol 199 (1136) ◽  
pp. 445-462 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Horizontal Meridian ◽  
Vertical Meridian ◽  
Reversal Point ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Primate Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Cortical Visual Areas

The representation of the visual field in the second and third visual cortical areas (V II and V III) of the cat was examined by microelectrode recording. The position of the field maps and the arrangement of the map within V II were found to vary greatly from one cat to another so that no single composite map can be made. The horizontal meridian of the visual field was found to run laterally and forward from V I across V II to V III. The reversal of field sequence, which indicates the V II/V III boundary, was very variable both from cat to cat and in the same cat for points above and below the horizontal meridian. The commonest situation was one in which the reversal point was 40° for some lines of latitude, but for others the reversal point was only 6- 15° out. This means an ‘island’ of representation of points 40° out was bounded by areas of representation much closer to the vertical meridian. In some cats one ‘island’ was plotted, in one there were two completely plotted and in others there were two ‘islands’, one complete, one incompletely plotted. In one cat no ‘island’ was found, and the boundary between V II and V III seemed to be formed anteriorly and posteriorly by the vertical (longitudinal) meridian 20° out. The islands contain many units with markedly elongated receptive fields whose particular function is not yet clear. The arrangement of the V II/V III boundary found in these experiments is compared to that previously suggested and to present knowledge of the mapping in primate visual cortex.

scholarly journals Retinotopic organization of extrastriate cortex in the owl monkey—dorsal and lateral areas

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTIN I. SERENO ◽  
COLIN T. MCDONALD ◽  
JOHN M. ALLMAN
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Cytochrome Oxidase ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Extrastriate Cortex ◽  
Uniform Grid ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Lower Visual Field ◽  
Field Representation ◽  
Retinotopic Organization

AbstractDense retinotopy data sets were obtained by microelectrode visual receptive field mapping in dorsal and lateral visual cortex of anesthetized owl monkeys. The cortex was then physically flatmounted and stained for myelin or cytochrome oxidase. Retinotopic mapping data were digitized, interpolated to a uniform grid, analyzed using the visual field sign technique—which locally distinguishes mirror image from nonmirror image visual field representations—and correlated with the myelin or cytochrome oxidase patterns. The region between V2 (nonmirror) and MT (nonmirror) contains three areas—DLp (mirror), DLi (nonmirror), and DLa/MTc (mirror). DM (mirror) was thin anteroposteriorly, and its reduced upper field bent somewhat anteriorly away from V2. DI (nonmirror) directly adjoined V2 (nonmirror) and contained only an upper field representation that also adjoined upper field DM (mirror). Retinotopy was used to define area VPP (nonmirror), which adjoins DM anteriorly, area FSTd (mirror), which adjoins MT ventrolaterally, and TP (mirror), which adjoins MT and DLa/MTc dorsoanteriorly. There was additional retinotopic and architectonic evidence for five more subdivisions of dorsal and lateral extrastriate cortex—TA (nonmirror), MSTd (mirror), MSTv (nonmirror), FSTv (nonmirror), and PP (mirror). Our data appear quite similar to data from marmosets, though our field sign-based areal subdivisions are slightly different. The region immediately anterior to the superiorly located central lower visual field V2 varied substantially between individuals, but always contained upper fields immediately touching lower visual field V2. This region appears to vary even more between species. Though we provide a summary diagram, given within- and between-species variation, it should be regarded as a guide to parsing complex retinotopy rather than a literal representation of any individual, or as the only way to agglomerate the complex mosaic of partial upper and lower field, mirror- and nonmirror-image patches into areas.

Representation of the ipsilateral visual field in the transition zone between areas 17 and 18 of the cat's cerebral cortex

1990 ◽  
Vol 4 (05) ◽  
pp. 445-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. R. Payne
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Transition Zone ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Horizontal Meridian ◽  
Visual Hemifield ◽  
Areas 17 And 18 ◽  
Cat Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Made In

AbstractThe representation of the visual field in the architectonically defined transition zone between areas 17 and 18 of cat cerebral cortex was assessed by recording the activities and plotting the receptive fields of neurons at 2327 sites along 148 electrode penetrations made in 19 cats. The results show that the transition zone contains a significant representation of the ipsilateral visual hemifield although not all elevations in the visual field represented to the same extent. The shape of the field region represented resembles an hour glass, for the region represented is narrowest on the 0-deg horizontal meridian and increasingly wider at progressively more positive and negative elevations. When receptive-field centers are considered, the extent of the representation reaches to -2.5 deg on the 0-deg horizontal meridian and to 10 or more degrees towards the field periphery. When receptive-field areas are considered, the representation at the 0-deg horizontal meridian extends to -3.6 deg and to beyond 20 deg at other elevations. In contrast, the visual-field representations in flanking areas 17 and 18 are essentially limited to the contralateral hemifield. The presence of a distinct representation of part of the ipsilateral hemifield in the transition zone suggests that the zone may have connections distinctly different from those of the adjacent areas. The observations bear on the problems of understanding the visual pathways in hypopigmented cats and binocular disparity mechanisms about the midline.

scholarly journals Highly accurate retinotopic maps of the physiological blind spot in human visual cortex

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poutasi W. B. Urale ◽  
Alexander Michael Puckett ◽  
Ashley York ◽  
Derek Arnold ◽  
D. Sam Schwarzkopf
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Visual Field Loss ◽  
Blind Spot ◽  
Neural Circuitry ◽  
Extrastriate Cortex ◽  
Retinotopic Maps ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Perceptual Completion ◽  
Retinotopic Organization

The physiological blind spot is a naturally occurring scotoma corresponding with the optic disc in the retina of each eye. Even during monocular viewing, observers are usually oblivious to the scotoma, in part because the visual system extrapolates information from the surrounding area. Unfortunately, studying this visual field region with neuroimaging has proven difficult, as it occupies only a small part of retinotopic cortex. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a novel data-driven method for mapping the retinotopic organization in and around the blind spot representation in V1. Our approach allowed for highly accurate reconstructions of the extent of an observer's blind spot, and out-performed conventional model-based analyses. This method opens exciting opportunities to study the plasticity of receptive fields after visual field loss, and our data add to evidence suggesting that the neural circuitry responsible for impressions of perceptual completion across the physiological blind spot most likely involves regions of extrastriate cortex - beyond V1.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document