Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 118, Issue 32, Pages -Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2105062118
Keywords
direction selectivity; primary visual cortex; ON/OFF pathways; temporal frequency; spatial frequency
Categories
Funding
- NIH [R01 EY001472, R01 EY008300, R01 EY 15549, P30 EY13079, T32 EY7136]
- NSF [1734854]
- SBE Off Of Multidisciplinary Activities
- Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie [1734854] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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This paper proposes a theory for the origin of direction selectivity in the macaque primary visual cortex, suggesting that DS is initiated in feed-forward LGN input and achieved through the interplay of ON and OFF LGN cells and their connections to cortex. The authors present data on Simple cells in layer 4C alpha in response to drifting gratings to support the proposed theory.
This paper offers a theory for the origin of direction selectivity (DS) in the macaque primary visual cortex, V1. DS is essential for the perception of motion and control of pursuit eye movements. In the macaque visual pathway, neurons with DS first appear in V1, in the Simple cell population of the Magnocellular input layer 4C alpha. The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) cells that project to these cortical neurons, however, are not direction selective. We hypothesize that DS is initiated in feed-forward LGN input, in the summed responses of LGN cells afferent to a cortical cell, and it is achieved through the interplay of 1) different visual response dynamics of ON and OFF LGN cells and 2) the wiring of ON and OFF LGN neurons to cortex. We identify specific temporal differences in the ON/OFF pathways that, together with item 2, produce distinct response time courses in separated subregions; analysis and simulations confirm the efficacy of the mechanisms proposed. To constrain the theory, we present data on Simple cells in layer 4C alpha in response to drifting gratings. About half of the cells were found to have high DS, and the DS was broadband in spatial and temporal frequency (SF and TF). The proposed theory includes a complete analysis of how stimulus features such as SF and TF interact with ON/OFF dynamics and LGN-to-cortex wiring to determine the preferred direction and magnitude of DS.
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