Detection of the movement direction by the cells with directional receptive fields in the primary visual cortex of the cat

Abstract

The study was performed on neurons with direction selective (DS) receptive fields (RFs) in the primary visual cortex of the cat. Preferred directions (PDs) of these cells to a single light spot and a system of two identical light spots moving across the RF with a given angle between them were compared. Directional interactions appeared when the angles between the directions of the two moving spots were 30º or 60º. PD for 56% of the cells coincided with bisectors of these angles. These cells responded to a combination of the two moving stimuli as if only one stimulus moved in the RF in an intermediate direction. This direction coincided with PD of the DS neuron to a single spot. Also, the investigation revealed that DS neurons responded to stimuli moving at such angles as 180º (to preferred and opposite directions simultaneously). In the further experiment we investigated responses of the DS cells in the primary visual cortex of RF. The angle between the directions of the two moving spots was 60º. These cells responded to a combination of the two moving stimuli as if only one stimulus moved in RF in an intermediate direction. The more relative luminance of one of spots in pair was, the closer the intermediate direction approached to the direction of this spot).

Share and Cite:

Daugirdiene, A. , Svegzda, A. , Satinskas, R. and Vaitkevicius, H. (2010) Detection of the movement direction by the cells with directional receptive fields in the primary visual cortex of the cat. Health, 2, 1232-1237. doi: 10.4236/health.2010.210183.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1] Cleland, B.G. and Levick, W.R. (1974) Properties of rar- ely encountered types of ganglion cells in the cat’s retina and an overall classification. Journal of Physiology, 240(2), 457-492.
[2] Stone, J. and Fukuda, Y. (1974) Properties of cat retinal ganglion cells: a comparison of W-cells with X- and Y-cells. Journal of Neurophysiology, 37, 722-748.
[3] Hoffmann, K.P. (1973) Conduction velocity in pathways from retina to superior colliculus in the cat: A correlation with receptive-field properties. Journal of Neurophysiology, 36(3), 409-424.
[4] Hoffmann, K.P. and Stone, J. (1985) Retinal input to the nucleus of the optic tract of the cat assessed by antid- romic activation of ganglion cells. Experimental Brain Research, 59(2), 395-403.
[5] Cleland, B.G., Levick, W.R., Morstyn, R. and Wagner, H.G. (1976) Lateral geniculate relay of slowly conducting retinal afferents to cat visual cortex. Journal of Physiology, 255(1), 299-320.
[6] Stone, J. and Dreher, B. (1973) Projection of X- and Y- cells of the cat’s lateral geniculate nucleus to areas 17 and 18 of visual cortex. Journal of Neurophysiology, 36(3), 551-567.
[7] Orban, G.A. and Callens, M. (1977) Receptive field types of area 18 neurones in the cat. Experimental Brain Research, 30(1), 107-123.
[8] Orban, G.A., Kenedy, H. and Maes, H. (1981) Response to movement of neurons in areas 17 and 18 of the cat: Direction selectivity. Journal of Neurophysiology, 45(6), 1059-1073.
[9] Tretter, F., Cynader, M. and Singer, W. (1975) Cat par- astriate cortex: A primary or secondary visual area. Journal of Neurophysiology, 38(5), 109-113.
[10] Movshon, J.A., Thompson, I.D. and Tolhurst, D.J. (1978) Receptive field organization of complex cells in the cat’s striate cortex. Journal of Physiology, 283, pp. 79-99.
[11] Emerson, R.C., Bergen, J.R. and Adelson, E.H. (1992) Directionally selective complex cells and the computation of motion energy in cat visual cortex. Vision Research, 32(2), 203-218.
[12] Hammond, P. and MacKay, D.M. (1975) Differential responses of cat visual cortical cells to textured stimuli. Experimental Brain Research, 22(4), 427-430.
[13] Jagadeesh, B., Wheat, H.S. and Ferster, D. (1993) Linearity of summation of synaptic potentials underlying direction selectivity in simple cells of the cat visual cortex. Science, 262(5141), 1901-1904.
[14] Emerson, R.C. (1997) Quadrature subunits in directionally selective simple cells: Spatiotemporal interactions. Visual Neuroscience, 14(2), 357-371.
[15] Barlow, H.B. and Levick, W.R. (1965) The mechanism of directionally selective units in rabbit’s retina. Journal of Physiology, 178(3), 477-504.
[16] Orban, G.A., Kenedy, H. and Maes, H. (1981) Response to movement of neurons in areas 17 and 18 of the cat: direction selectivity. Journal of Neurophysiology, 45(6), 1059-1073.
[17] Bishop, P.O., Kozak, W. and Vakkur, G.J. (1962) Some quantitative aspects of the cat’s eye: Axis and plane of reference, visual field co-ordinates and optics. Journal of Physiology, 163(3), 466-502.
[18] Hubel, D.H. and Wiesel, T.N. (1962) Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. Journal of Physiology, 160(1), 106- 154.
[19] Henry, G.H. (1977) Receptive field classes of cells in the striate cortex of the cat. Brain Res., 133(1), 1-28.
[20] Adelson, E.H. and Berger, J.R. (1985) Spatiotemporal energy models for the perception of motion. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 2(2), 284-291.
[21] Van Santen, J.P. and Sperling, G. (1985) Elaborated Reichardt detectors. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 2(2), 300-321.
[22] Zohary, E., Scase, M.O. and Bradic, O.J. (1996) Integration across directions in dynamic random dot displays: vector summation or winner take all? Vision Research, 36(15), 2321-2331.

Copyright © 2024 by authors and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.

Creative Commons License

This work and the related PDF file are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.