Comparison of visual receptive field properties of the superior colliculus and primary visual cortex in rats.

Comparison of visual receptive field properties of the superior colliculus and primary visual cortex in rats.
Brain Res Bull. 2015 Jul 26;
Authors: Li X, Sun C, Shi L
Abstract
The rat visual system comprises cortical and subcortical pathways. The receptive field properties of cells in the visual cortex have been extensively studied; however, the fundamental roles of the two circuits in visual information processing are not well understood. To address this question, we have applied quantitative methods to compare and characterize the spatiotemporal receptive field (RF) properties of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1) cells and superficial layers of the superior colliculus (SC) in rats by means of extracellular recordings. An analysis of visual stimulus processing revealed distinct functional characteristics of the two visual circuits. RF diameters of SC neurons were significantly larger than those of V1 cells. Most cells in both regions had high orientation selectivity, but the mean orientation bandwidth of the SC was broader than that of V1 cells (101.5° vs. 60.2°). The mean optimal spatial frequency (SF) of SC cells was lower but had a broader bandwidth than that of V1 cells (0.03 vs. 0.068 cpd). The majority of SC and V1 cells (70% and 68%, respectively) had RFs with band-pass temporal frequency (TF) tuning profiles and similar optimal TFs. However, temporal band-pass profiles of the SC showed narrower mean temporal bandwidths...

Source: Brain Research Bulletin - July 26, 2015 Category: Neurology Authors: Li X, Sun C, Shi L Tags: Brain Res Bull Source Type: research