scholarly journals Visual intracortical and transthalamic pathways carry distinct information to cortical areas

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonin Blot ◽  
Morgane M Roth ◽  
Ioana T Gasler ◽  
Mitra Javadzadeh ◽  
Fabia Imhof ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Behavioral Context ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Lateral Posterior ◽  
Lateral Posterior Nucleus ◽  
And Function ◽  
Combine Information ◽  
Higher Visual Areas

Sensory processing involves information flow between neocortical areas, assumed to rely on direct intracortical projections. However, cortical areas may also communicate indirectly via higher-order nuclei in the thalamus, such as the pulvinar or lateral posterior nucleus (LP) in the visual system. The fine-scale organization and function of these cortico-thalamo-cortical pathways remains unclear. We find that responses of mouse LP neurons projecting to higher visual areas likely derive from feedforward input from primary visual cortex (V1) combined with information from many cortical and subcortical areas, including superior colliculus. Signals from LP projections to different higher visual areas are tuned to specific features of visual stimuli and their locomotor context, distinct from the signals carried by direct intracortical projections from V1. Thus, visual transthalamic pathways are functionally specific to their cortical target, different from feedforward cortical pathways and combine information from multiple brain regions, linking sensory signals with behavioral context.

scholarly journals Magnitude, time course, and specificity of rapid adaptation across mouse visual areas

2020 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 245-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miaomiao Jin ◽  
Lindsey L. Glickfeld
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Rapid Adaptation ◽  
It Impacts ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Higher Visual Areas

Rapid adaptation dynamically alters sensory signals to account for recent experience. To understand how adaptation affects sensory processing and perception, we must determine how it impacts the diverse set of cortical and subcortical areas along the hierarchy of the mouse visual system. We find that rapid adaptation strongly impacts neurons in primary visual cortex, the higher visual areas, and the colliculus, consistent with its profound effects on behavior.

scholarly journals Mouse higher visual areas provide both distributed and discrete contributions to visually guided behaviors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miaomiao Jin ◽  
Lindsey L. Glickfeld
Keyword(s):  
Orientation Discrimination ◽  
Visually Guided ◽  
Begging The Question ◽  
Distributed Representations ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Contrast Detection ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Higher Visual Areas ◽  
Distinct Role

SummaryCortical parallel processing streams segregate many diverse features of a sensory scene. However, some features are distributed across streams, begging the question of whether and how such distributed representations contribute to perception. We determined the necessity of primary visual cortex (V1) and three key higher visual areas (LM, AL and PM) for perception of orientation and contrast, two features that are robustly encoded across all four areas. Suppressing V1, LM or AL decreased sensitivity for both orientation discrimination and contrast detection, consistent with a role for these areas in sensory perception. In comparison, suppressing PM selectively increased false alarm rates during contrast detection, without any effect on orientation discrimination. This effect was not retinotopically-specific, suggesting a distinct role for PM in the regulation of noise during decision-making. Thus, we find that distributed representations in the visual system can nonetheless support specialized perceptual roles for higher visual cortical areas.

scholarly journals Reversed depth in anti-correlated random dot stereograms and central-peripheral difference in visual inference

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Zhaoping ◽  
Joelle Ackermann
Keyword(s):  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Black Dot ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Random Dot Stereograms ◽  
Monocular Image ◽  
Random Dot Stereogram ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Higher Visual Areas

1AbstractTwo images of random black and white dots, one for each eye, can represent object surfaces in a threedimensional scene when the dots correspond interocularly in a random dot stereogram (RDS). The spatial disparities between the corresponding dots represent depths of object surfaces. If the dots become anti-correlated such that a black dot in one monocular image corresponds to a white dot in the other, disparity-tuned neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) respond as if their preferred disparities become non-preferred and vice versa, thereby reversing the disparity signs reported to higher visual areas. Humans have great difficulty perceiving the reversed depth, or any depth at all, in anti-correlated RDSs. We report that the reversed depth is more easily perceived when the RDSs are viewed in peripheral visual field, supporting a recently proposed central-peripheral dichotomy in mechanisms of feedback from higher to lower visual cortical areas for visual inference.

scholarly journals Mesoscale correlation structure with single cell resolution during visual coding

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiyi Yu ◽  
Jeffrey N. Stirman ◽  
Christopher R. Dorsett ◽  
Spencer L. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Correlation Structure ◽  
Visual Coding ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Higher Visual Areas

AbstractNeural circuitry represents sensory input with patterns of spiking activity. Across brain regions, initial representations are transformed to ultimately drive adaptive behavior. In mammalian neocortex, visual information is processed by primary visual cortex (V1) and multiple higher visual areas (HVAs). The interconnections of these brain regions, over which transformations can occur, span millimeters or more. Shared variability in spiking responses between neurons, called “noise correlations” (NCs), can be due to shared input and/or direct or indirect connectivity. Thus, NCs provide insight into the functional connectivity of neuronal circuits. In this study, we used subcellular resolution, mesoscale field-of-view two-photon calcium imaging to systematically characterize the NCs for pairs of layer 2/3 neurons across V1 and four HVAs (areas LM, LI, AL and PM) of mice. The average NCs for pairs of neurons within or across cortical areas were orders of magnitude larger than trial-shuffled control values. We characterized the modulation of NCs by neuron distance, tuning similarity, receptive field overlap, and stimulus type over millimeter scale distances in mouse visual cortex, within and across V1 and multiple HVAs. NCs were positively correlated with shared tuning and receptive field overlap, even across cortical areas and millimeter length scales. We compared the structure of these NCs to that of hypothetical networks to determine what network types can account for the results. We found that to reproduce the NC networks, neuron connectivity was regulated by both feature similarities and hub mechanism. Overall, these results revealed principles for the functional organization and correlation structure at the individual neuron level across multiple cortical areas, which can inform and constrain computational theories of cortical networks.

Interocular Transfer of Expansion, Rotation, and Translation Motion Aftereffects

Perception ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1197-1202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Steiner ◽  
Randolph Blake ◽  
David Rose
Keyword(s):  
Interocular Transfer ◽  
Motion Aftereffect ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Translation Motion ◽  
Random Dot Patterns ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Motion Aftereffects ◽  
Higher Visual Areas

The motion aftereffect demonstrates the existence of direction-selective mechanisms in the visual system. However, direction-selective cells exist within many visual areas, including V1 and MT/V5. Can motion aftereffects be generated within each of these areas? In visual cortical areas beyond V1 almost all cells are binocular, whereas a smaller percentage are binocular in V1. The degree of binocularity can be revealed psychophysically by assessing interocular transfer. Interocular transfer of motion aftereffects generated from expanding, rotating, and translating dynamic random-dot patterns were therefore compared, since these stimuli should activate cells in higher visual areas selectively. Partial interocular transfer was found that was greater for expansion and rotation than for translation. The results support the involvement of higher visual areas in motion aftereffects to complex animation sequences.

Combined Activation and Deactivation of Visual Cortex During Tactile Sensory Processing

2007 ◽  
Vol 97 (2) ◽  
pp. 1633-1641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lotfi B. Merabet ◽  
Jascha D. Swisher ◽  
Stephanie A. McMains ◽  
Mark A. Halko ◽  
Amir Amedi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Visual Areas ◽  
Cortical Hierarchy ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Higher Visual Areas ◽  
Significant Activation

The involvement of occipital cortex in sensory processing is not restricted solely to the visual modality. Tactile processing has been shown to modulate higher-order visual and multisensory integration areas in sighted as well as visually deprived subjects; however, the extent of involvement of early visual cortical areas remains unclear. To investigate this issue, we employed functional magnetic resonance imaging in normally sighted, briefly blindfolded subjects with well-defined visuotopic borders as they tactually explored and rated raised-dot patterns. Tactile task performance resulted in significant activation in primary visual cortex (V1) and deactivation of extrastriate cortical regions V2, V3, V3A, and hV4 with greater deactivation in dorsal subregions and higher visual areas. These results suggest that tactile processing affects occipital cortex via two distinct pathways: a suppressive top-down pathway descending through the visual cortical hierarchy and an excitatory pathway arising from outside the visual cortical hierarchy that drives area V1 directly.

Visual cortex damage-induced growth of retinal axons into the lateral posterior nucleus of the cat

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 747-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertram R. Payne ◽  
Heather A. Foley ◽  
Stephen G. Lomber
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Field ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Retinal Axons ◽  
Lateral Posterior ◽  
Lateral Posterior Nucleus ◽  
Visual Field Maps ◽  
Areas 17 And 18 ◽  
Adult Cats ◽  
Visual Cortical

AbstractAblation of visual cortical areas 17 and 18 in neonatal and young adult cats induces novel retinal projections to terminate bilaterally in the lateral posterior nucleus (LP) at a position ventromedial from the medial interlaminar nucleus. Comparison with the visual-field maps of LP indicate that the terminations are focussed on the representation of the visual-field center.

Engaging regularly with fiction influences connectivity in cortical areas for language and mentalizing

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roel M. Willems ◽  
Franziska Hartung
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Social Abilities ◽  
Behavioral Evidence ◽  
Amount Of Reading

Behavioral evidence suggests that engaging with fiction is positively correlated with social abilities. The rationale behind this link is that engaging with fictional narratives offers a ‘training modus’ for mentalizing and empathizing. We investigated the influence of the amount of reading that participants report doing in their daily lives, on connections between brain areas while they listened to literary narratives. Participants (N=57) listened to two literary narratives while brain activation was measured with fMRI. We computed time-course correlations between brain regions, and compared the correlation values from listening to narratives to listening to reversed speech. The between-region correlations were then related to the amount of fiction that participants read in their daily lives. Our results show that amount of fiction reading is related to functional connectivity in areas known to be involved in language and mentalizing. This suggests that reading fiction influences social cognition as well as language skills.

scholarly journals Cortical neurons exhibit diverse myelination patterns that scale between mouse brain regions and regenerate after demyelination

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cody L. Call ◽  
Dwight E. Bergles
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Axon Diameter ◽  
Neuronal Identity ◽  
Cortical Areas ◽  
Myelin Sheaths ◽  
Parvalbumin Interneurons ◽  
Selection Of

ABSTRACTAxons in the cerebral cortex show a broad range of myelin coverage. Oligodendrocytes establish this pattern by selecting a cohort of axons for myelination; however, the distribution of myelin on distinct neurons and extent of internode replacement after demyelination remain to be defined. Here we show that myelination patterns of seven distinct neuron subtypes in somatosensory cortex are influenced by both axon diameter and neuronal identity. Preference for myelination of parvalbumin interneurons was preserved between cortical areas with varying myelin density, suggesting that regional differences in myelin abundance arises through local control of oligodendrogenesis. By imaging loss and regeneration of myelin sheaths in vivo we show that myelin distribution on individual axons was altered but overall myelin content on distinct neuron subtypes was restored. Our findings suggest that local changes in myelination are tolerated, allowing regenerated oligodendrocytes to restore myelin content on distinct neurons through opportunistic selection of axons.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document