Topographic reorganization of the hand representation in cortical area 3b owl monkeys trained in a frequency-discrimination task

1992 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1031-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. Recanzone ◽  
M. M. Merzenich ◽  
W. M. Jenkins ◽  
K. A. Grajski ◽  
H. R. Dinse
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Cortical Area ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Skin Site ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Topographic Complexity ◽  
Owl Monkeys ◽  
Area 3B

1. Adult owl monkeys were trained to detect differences in the frequency of a tactile flutter-vibration stimulus above a 20-Hz standard. All stimuli were delivered to a constant skin site restricted to a small part of a segment of one finger. The frequency-difference discrimination performance of all but one of these monkeys improved progressively with training. 2. The distributed responses of cortical neurons ("maps") of the hand surfaces were defined in detail in somatosensory cortical area 3b. Representations of trained hands were compared with those of the opposite, untrained hand, and to the area 3b representations of hands in a second set of monkeys that were stimulated tactually in the same manner while these monkeys were attending to auditory stimuli (passive stimulation controls). 3. The cortical representations of the trained hands were substantially more complex in topographic detail than the representations of unstimulated hands or of passively stimulated control hands. 4. In all well-trained monkeys the representations of the restricted skin location trained in the behavioral task were significantly (1.5 to greater than 3 times) greater in area than were the representations of equivalent skin locations on control digits. However, the overall extents of the representations of behaviorally stimulated fingers were not larger than those of control fingers in the same hemisphere, or in opposite hemisphere controls. 5. The receptive fields representing the trained skin were significantly larger than receptive fields representing control digits in all but one trained monkey. The largest receptive fields were centered in the zone of representation of the behaviorally engaged skin, but they were not limited to it. Large receptive fields were recorded in a 1- to 2-mm-wide zone in the area 3b maps of trained hands. 6. Receptive-field sizes were also statistically significantly larger on at least one adjacent, untrained digit when compared with the receptive fields recorded on the homologous digit of the opposite hand. 7. There was an increase in the percent overlaps of receptive fields in the cortical zone of representation of the trained skin. A significant number of receptive fields were centered on the behaviorally trained skin site. 8. The effects of increased topographic complexity, increased representation of the trained skin location, increased receptive-field size, and increased receptive-field overlap were not observed in the representations of the untrained hands in these same monkeys. Only modest increases in topographic complexity were recorded in the representations of passively stimulated hands, and no effects on receptive-field size or overlap were noted.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Functional role of GABA in cat primary somatosensory cortex: shaping receptive fields of cortical neurons

1984 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 1066-1093 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Dykes ◽  
P. Landry ◽  
R. Metherate ◽  
T. P. Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Primary Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Gamma Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Thalamic Stimulation ◽  
Somatosensory Neurons

Extracellular recordings of 209 neurons were obtained with carbon fiber-containing multibarrel micropipettes. The cells were isolated in the primary somatosensory cortex of cats anesthetized with barbiturate and classified according to the nature of their response to natural stimuli, the nature of the surrounding multiunit responses to the same stimuli, the response to thalamic stimulation, and their depth in the cortex. To study factors controlling the excitability of somatosensory neurons, their receptive fields were examined in the presence of iontophoretically administered gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), glutamate, and bicuculline methiodide (BMI). Even when the neurons were depolarized to perithreshold levels with glutamate, or when local inhibitory influences mediated by GABA were antagonized by BMI, the apparent specificity for one class of afferent input was maintained. Neurons responding to stimulation of either cutaneous or deep receptors maintained their modality specificity, and neurons in cutaneous rapidly adapting regions never took on slowly adapting properties. When ejected at currents that did not elicit action potentials, glutamate lowered the threshold for activation by cutaneous stimuli but did not enlarge the receptive field. With larger ejecting currents, the neurons developed an on-going discharge, but even at these higher doses, glutamate did not produce an increase in the receptive-field size. Some neurons in regions of cortex exhibiting slowly adapting multiunit responses were relatively insensitive to glutamate. These cells required four to five times more glutamate to evoke discharges than did most neurons. Other cells, previously unresponsive to somatic stimuli, could be shown to possess distinct cutaneous receptive fields when either glutamate or BMI was ejected in their vicinity. Iontophoretically administered BMI altered the firing pattern of somatosensory neurons, causing them to discharge in bursts of 3-15 impulses. BMI enlarged the receptive-field size of neurons in regions displaying rapidly adapting multiunit background discharges but not in those regions with slowly adapting multiunit discharges. This differential effect of BMI, suggesting that GABA controls receptive-field size in rapidly adapting regions, also indicates that neurons in rapidly adapting regions differ pharmacologically from those in other submodality regions. In all cortical regions, BMI blocked the poststimulus inhibitory period that normally followed thalamic stimulation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Receptive Field Size and Response Latency Are Correlated Within the Cat Visual Thalamus

2005 ◽  
Vol 93 (6) ◽  
pp. 3537-3547 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chong Weng ◽  
Chun-I Yeh ◽  
Carl R. Stoelzel ◽  
Jose-Manuel Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Spatial Frequency ◽  
Response Latency ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Frequency Tuning ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Cortical Cell ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Spatial Frequency Tuning

Each point in visual space is encoded at the level of the thalamus by a group of neighboring cells with overlapping receptive fields. Here we show that the receptive fields of these cells differ in size and response latency but not at random. We have found that in the cat lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) the receptive field size and response latency of neighboring neurons are significantly correlated: the larger the receptive field, the faster the response to visual stimuli. This correlation is widespread in LGN. It is found in groups of cells belonging to the same type (e.g., Y cells), and of different types (i.e., X and Y), within a specific layer or across different layers. These results indicate that the inputs from the multiple geniculate afferents that converge onto a cortical cell (approximately 30) are likely to arrive in a sequence determined by the receptive field size of the geniculate afferents. Recent studies have shown that the peak of the spatial frequency tuning of a cortical cell shifts toward higher frequencies as the response progresses in time. Our results are consistent with the idea that these shifts in spatial frequency tuning arise from differences in the response time course of the thalamic inputs.

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.

Plasticity of Primary Somatosensory Cortex Paralleling Sensorimotor Skill Recovery From Stroke in Adult Monkeys

1998 ◽  
Vol 79 (4) ◽  
pp. 2119-2148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Xerri ◽  
Michael M. Merzenich ◽  
Bret E. Peterson ◽  
William Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Skill Acquisition ◽  
Cortical Area ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Primary Somatosensory Cortex ◽  
Small Object ◽  
Object Retrieval ◽  
Area 3A ◽  
Area 3B

Xerri, Christian, Michael M. Merzenich, Bret E. Peterson, and William Jenkins. Plasticity of primary somatosensory cortex paralleling sensorimotor skill recovery from stroke in adult monkeys. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 2119–2148, 1998. Adult owl and squirrel monkeys were trained to master a small-object retrieval sensorimotor skill. Behavioral observations along with positive changes in the cortical area 3b representations of specific skin surfaces implicated specific glabrous finger inputs as important contributors to skill acquisition. The area 3b zones over which behaviorally important surfaces were represented were destroyed by microlesions, which resulted in a degradation of movements that had been developed in the earlier skill acquisition. Monkeys were then retrained at the same behavioral task. They could initially perform it reasonably well using the stereotyped movements that they had learned in prelesion training, although they acted as if key finger surfaces were insensate. However, monkeys soon initiated alternative strategies for small object retrieval that resulted in a performance drop. Over several- to many-week-long period, monkeys again used the fingers for object retrieval that had been used successfully before the lesion, and reacquired the sensorimotor skill. Detailed maps of the representations of the hands in SI somatosensory cortical fields 3b, 3a, and 1 were derived after postlesion functional recovery. Control maps were derived in the same hemispheres before lesions, and in opposite hemispheres. Among other findings, these studies revealed the following 1) there was a postlesion reemergence of the representation of the fingertips engaged in the behavior in novel locations in area 3b in two of five monkeys and a less substantial change in the representation of the hand in the intact parts of area 3b in three of five monkeys. 2) There was a striking emergence of a new representation of the cutaneous fingertips in area 3a in four of five monkeys, predominantly within zones that had formerly been excited only by proprioceptive inputs. This new cutaneous fingertip representation disproportionately represented behaviorally crucial fingertips. 3) There was an approximately two times enlargement of the representation of the fingers recorded in cortical area 1 in postlesion monkeys. The specific finger surfaces employed in small-object retrieval were differentially enlarged in representation. 4) Multiple-digit receptive fields were recorded at a majority of emergent, cutaneous area 3a sites in all monkeys and at a substantial number of area 1 sites in three of five postlesion monkeys. Such fields were uncommon in area 1 in control maps. 5) Single receptive fields and the component fields of multiple-digit fields in postlesion representations were within normal receptive field size ranges. 6) No significant changes were recorded in the SI hand representations in the opposite (untrained, intact) control hemisphere. These findings are consistent with “substitution” and “vicariation” (adaptive plasticity) models of recovery from brain damage and stroke.

scholarly journals Reversible deactivation of higher-order posterior parietal areas. I. Alterations of receptive field characteristics in early stages of neocortical processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (10) ◽  
pp. 2529-2544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dylan F. Cooke ◽  
Adam B. Goldring ◽  
Mary K. L. Baldwin ◽  
Gregg H. Recanzone ◽  
Arnold Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Macaque Monkey ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Somatosensory Processing ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Area 5 ◽  
Posterior Parietal ◽  
Area 7B

Somatosensory processing in the anesthetized macaque monkey was examined by reversibly deactivating posterior parietal areas 5L and 7b and motor/premotor cortex (M1/PM) with microfluidic thermal regulators developed by our laboratories. We examined changes in receptive field size and configuration for neurons in areas 1 and 2 that occurred during and after cooling deactivation. Together the deactivated fields and areas 1 and 2 form part of a network for reaching and grasping in human and nonhuman primates. Cooling area 7b had a dramatic effect on receptive field size for neurons in areas 1 and 2, while cooling area 5 had moderate effects and cooling M1/PM had little effect. Specifically, cooling discrete locations in 7b resulted in expansions of the receptive fields for neurons in areas 1 and 2 that were greater in magnitude and occurred in a higher proportion of sites than similar changes evoked by cooling the other fields. At some sites, the neural receptive field returned to the precooling configuration within 5–22 min of rewarming, but at other sites changes in receptive fields persisted. These results indicate that there are profound top-down influences on sensory processing of early cortical areas in the somatosensory cortex.

scholarly journals FSRFNet: Feature-Selective and Spatial Receptive Fields Networks

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (19) ◽  
pp. 3954 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma ◽  
Yang ◽  
Yu
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Spatial Attention ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Network Architecture ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
Neuroscience Community ◽  
Architectural Unit

The attention mechanism plays a crucial role in the human visual experience. In the cognitive neuroscience community, the receptive field size of visual cortical neurons is regulated by the additive effect of feature-selective and spatial attention. We propose a novel architectural unit called a “Feature-selective and Spatial Receptive Fields” (FSRF) block that implements adaptive receptive field sizes of neurons through the additive effects of feature-selective and spatial attention. We show that FSRF blocks can be inserted into the architecture of existing convolutional neural networks to form an FSRF network architecture, and test its generalization capabilities on different datasets.

Synthesis of Multiwhisker-Receptive Fields in Subcortical Stations of the Vibrissa System

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 1510-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Timofeeva ◽  
Philippe Lavallée ◽  
Dominique Arsenault ◽  
Martin Deschênes
Keyword(s):  
Receptive Field ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Electrolytic Lesion ◽  
Evoked Responses ◽  
Similar Reduction ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Brain Stem Lesion ◽  
Before And After

This study addresses the origins of multiwhisker-receptive fields of neurons in the thalamic ventral posterior medial (VPM) nucleus of the rat. We sought to determine whether multiwhisker-receptive field synthesis occurs in VPM through convergent projections from the principalis (PrV) and interpolaris (SpVi) nuclei, or in PrV by intersubnuclear projections from the spinal trigeminal complex. We tested these hypotheses by recording whisker-evoked responses in PrV and VPM before and after electrolytic lesion of the SpVi in lightly anesthetized rats. Before the lesion PrV cells responded, on average, to 3.2 ± 1.2 whiskers but responsiveness was reduced to 1.07 ± 0.31 whisker after the lesion. A similar reduction of receptive field size was observed in VPM, where neurons responded, on average, to 2.94 ± 0.95 whiskers before the lesion and to 1.05 ± 0.22 whisker after the lesion. Thus one can conclude that intersubnuclear projections mediate surround whisker-receptive fields in PrV, and therefore in VPM. However, it has previously been shown that parasagittal brain stem transection, which severed ascending projections from SpVi, but left intersubnuclear connections intact, rendered VPM cells monowhisker responsive. We wondered whether midline brain stem lesion modified receptive field properties in SpVi. In normal rats SpVi cells responded, on average, to 7.52 ± 4.25 whiskers, but responsiveness was dramatically reduced to 1.47 ± 1.07 whisker after the lesion. Together these results indicate that the synthesis of surround receptive fields in subcortical stations relies almost exclusively on intersubnuclear projections from the spinal trigeminal complex to the PrV.

Control of Size and Excitability of Mechanosensory Receptive Fields in Dorsal Column Nuclei by Homolateral Dorsal Horn Neurons

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert W. Dykes ◽  
A. D. Craig
Keyword(s):  
Spinal Cord ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Dorsal Horn ◽  
Cobalt Chloride ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Dorsal Column ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Dorsal Column Nuclei ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Dorsal Horn Neurons

Dykes, Robert W. and A. D. Craig. Control of size and excitability of mechanosensory receptive fields in dorsal column nuclei by homolateral dorsal horn neurons. J. Neurophysiol. 80: 120–129 1998. Both accidental and experimental lesions of the spinal cord suggest that neuronal processes occurring in the spinal cord modify the relay of information through the dorsal column-lemniscal pathway. How such interactions might occur has not been adequately explained. To address this issue, the receptive fields of mechanosensory neurons of the dorsal column nuclei were studied before and after manipulation of the spinal dorsal horn. After either a cervical or lumbar laminectomy and exposure of the dorsal column nuclei in anesthetized cats, the representation of the hindlimb or of the forelimb was defined by multiunit recordings in both the dorsal column nuclei and in the ipsilateral spinal cord. Next, a single cell was isolated in the dorsal column nuclei, and its receptive field carefully defined. Each cell could be activated by light mechanical stimuli from a well-defined cutaneous receptive field. Generally the adequate stimulus was movement of a few hairs or rapid skin indentation. Subsequently a pipette containing either lidocaine or cobalt chloride was lowered into the ipsilateral dorsal horn at the site in the somatosensory representation in the spinal cord corresponding to the receptive field of the neuron isolated in the dorsal column nuclei. Injection of several hundred nanoliters of either lidocaine or cobalt chloride into the dorsal horn produced an enlargement of the receptive field of the neuron being studied in the dorsal column nuclei. The experiment was repeated 16 times, and receptive field enlargements of 147–563% were observed in 15 cases. These data suggest that the dorsal horn exerts a tonic inhibitory control on the mechanosensory signals relayed through the dorsal column-lemniscal pathway. Because published data from other laboratories have shown that receptive field size is controlled by signals arising from the skin, we infer that the control of neuronal excitability, receptive field size and location for lemniscal neurons is determined by tonic afferent activity that is relayed through a synapse in the dorsal horn. This influence of dorsal horn neurons on the relay of mechanosensory information through the lemniscal pathways must modify our traditional views concerning the relative independence of these two systems.

scholarly journals Receptive field size, chemical and thermal responses, and fiber conduction velocity of rat chorda tympani geniculate ganglion neurons

2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 3062-3072 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Yokota ◽  
Robert M. Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Receptive Field ◽  
Conduction Velocity ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Field Size ◽  
Geniculate Ganglion ◽  
Chorda Tympani ◽  
Fungiform Papillae ◽  
Receptive Field Size ◽  
Chemical Stimuli

Afferent chorda tympani (CT) fibers innervating taste and somatosensory receptors in fungiform papillae have neuron cell bodies in the geniculate ganglion (GG). The GG/CT fibers branch in the tongue to innervate taste buds in several fungiform papillae. To investigate receptive field characteristics of GG/CT neurons, we recorded extracellular responses from GG cells to application of chemical and thermal stimuli. Receptive field size was mapped by electrical stimulation of individual fungiform papillae. Response latency to electrical stimulation was used to determine fiber conduction velocity. Responses of GG neurons to lingual application of stimuli representing four taste qualities, and water at 4°C, were used to classify neuron response properties. Neurons classified as SALT, responding only to NaCl and NH4Cl, had a mean receptive field size of six papillae. Neurons classified as OTHER responded to salts and other chemical stimuli and had smaller mean receptive fields of four papillae. Neurons that responded to salts and cold stimuli, classified as SALT/THERMAL, and neurons responding to salts, other chemical stimuli and cold, classified as OTHER/THERMAL, had mean receptive field sizes of six and five papillae, respectively. Neurons responding only to cold stimuli, categorized as THERMAL, had receptive fields of one to two papillae located at the tongue tip. Based on conduction velocity most of the neurons were classified as C fibers. Neurons with large receptive fields had higher conduction velocities than neurons with small receptive fields. These results demonstrate that GG neurons can be distinguished by receptive field size, response properties and afferent fiber conduction velocity derived from convergent input of multiple taste organs.

Changes in the distributed temporal response properties of SI cortical neurons reflect improvements in performance on a temporally based tactile discrimination task

1992 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1071-1091 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. Recanzone ◽  
M. M. Merzenich ◽  
C. E. Schreiner
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Cortical Area ◽  
Discrimination Task ◽  
Tactile Stimulus ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Frequency Discrimination ◽  
Temporal Response ◽  
Owl Monkeys ◽  
Control Skin ◽  
Area 3B

1. Temporal response characteristics of neurons were sampled in fine spatial grain throughout the hand representations in cortical areas 3a and 3b in adult owl monkeys. These monkeys had been trained to detect small differences in tactile stimulus frequencies in the range of 20-30 Hz. Stimuli were presented to an invariant, restricted spot on a single digit. 2. The absolute numbers of cortical locations and the cortical area over which neurons showed entrained frequency-following responses to behaviorally important stimuli were significantly greater when stimulation was applied to the trained skin, as compared with stimulation on an adjacent control digit, or at corresponding skin sites in passively stimulated control animals. 3. Representational maps defined with sinusoidal stimuli were not identical to maps defined with just-visible tapping stimuli. Receptive-field/frequency-following response site mismatches were recorded in every trained monkey. Mismatches were less frequently recorded in the representations of control skin surfaces. 4. At cortical locations with entrained responses, neither the absolute firing rates of neurons nor the degree of the entrainment of the response were correlated with behavioral discrimination performance. 5. All area 3b cortical locations with entrained responses evoked by stimulation at trained or untrained skin sites were combined to create population peristimulus time and cycle histograms. In all cases, stimulation of the trained skin resulted in 1) larger-amplitude responses, 2) peak responses earlier in the stimulus cycle, and 3) temporally sharper responses, than did stimulation applied to control skin sites. 6. The sharpening of the response of cortical area 3b neurons relative to the period of the stimulus could be accounted for by a large subpopulation of neurons that had highly coherent responses. 7. Analysis of cycle histograms for area 3b neuron responses revealed that the decreased variance in the representation of each stimulus cycle could account for behaviorally measured frequency discrimination performance. A strong correlation between these temporal response distributions and the discriminative performances for stimuli applied at all studied skin surfaces was even stronger (r = 0.98) if only the rising phases of cycle histogram were considered in the analysis. 8. The responses of neurons in area 3a could not account for measured differences in frequency discrimination performance. 9. These representational changes did not occur in monkeys that were stimulated on the same schedule but were performing an auditory discrimination task during skin stimulation. 10. It is concluded that by behaviorally training adult owl monkeys to discriminate the temporal features of a tactile stimulus, distributed spatial and temporal response properties of cortical neurons are altered.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

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