Abstract
The primary visual cortex (area V1) encodes visual attributes such as direction of motion, orientation, and position through the activity of populations of neurons. We asked how this activity is affected by different combinations of these attributes. We measured population responses by imaging voltage-sensitive dye fluorescence in area V1 of anesthetized cats with dye RH-1692 in response to stimuli that are both oriented and localized in space. We tested whether the resulting activation could be explained by a simple rule of combination that assumes the activation is a point-by-point multiplication of the map of orientation preference with a blurred prediction of the stimulus’ footprint in cortex derived from a map of retinotopy. This simple rule of combination provided good fits of the responses and implies that the effects of stimulus orientation and position on population responses are independent.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Basole, A., White, L.E., Fitzpatrick, D.: Mapping multiple features in the population response of visual cortex. Nature 423, 986–990 (2003)
Mante, V., Carandini, M.: Mapping of stimulus energy in primary visual cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 94, 788–798 (2005)
Grinvald, A., Hildesheim, R.: VSDI: a new era in functional imaging of cortical dynamics. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 5, 874–885 (2004)
Gilbert, C.D., Kelly, J.P.: The projections of cells in different layers of the cat’s visual cortex. J. Comp. Neurol. 163, 81–106 (1975)
Bosking, W.H., Crowley, J.C., Fitzpatrick, D.: Spatial coding of position and orientation in primary visual cortex. Nat. Neurosci. 5, 874–882 (2002)
Albus, K.: A quantitative study of the projection area of the central and the paracentral visual field in area 17 of the cat. I. The precision of the topography. Exp. Brain Res. 24, 159–179 (1975)
Reid, R.C., Victor, J.D., Shapley, R.M.: The use of m-sequences in the analysis of visual neurons: linear receptive field properties. Vis. Neurosci. 14, 1015–1027 (1997)
Shoham, D., et al.: Imaging cortical dynamics at high spatial and temporal resolution with novel blue voltage-sensitive dyes. Neuron 24, 791–802 (1999)
Sharon, D., Grinvald, A.: Dynamics and constancy in cortical spatiotemporal patterns of orientation processing. Science 295, 512–515 (2002)
Tusa, R.J., Palmer, L.A., Rosenquist, A.C.: The retinotopic organization of area 17 (striate cortex) in the cat. J. Comp. Neurol. 177, 213–236 (1978)
Tusa, R.J., Rosenquist, A.C., Palmer, L.A.: Retinotopic organization of areas 18 and 19 in the cat. J. Comp. Neurol. 185, 657–678 (1979)
Hubel, D.H., Wiesel, T.N.: Uniformity of monkey striate cortex: a parallel relationship between field size, scatter, and magnification factor. J. Comp. Neurol. 158, 295–305 (1974)
Mooser, F., Bosking, W.H., Fitzpatrick, D.: A morphological basis for orientation tuning in primary visual cortex. Nat. Neurosci. 7, 872–879 (2004)
Alonso, J.M., Usrey, W.M., Reid, R.C.: Rules of connectivity between geniculate cells and simple cells in cat primary visual cortex. J. Neurosci. 21, 4002–4015 (2001)
Swindale, N.V., et al.: Visual cortex maps are optimized for uniform coverage. Nat. Neurosci. 3, 822–826 (2000)
Blasdel, G., Campbell, D.: Functional retinotopy of monkey visual cortex. J. Neurosci. 21, 8286–8301 (2001)
Das, A., Gilbert, C.D.: Distortions of visuotopic map match orientation singularities in primary visual cortex. Nature 387, 594–598 (1997)
Buzas, P., et al.: Independence of visuotopic representation and orientation map in the visual cortex of the cat. Eur. J. Neurosci. 18, 957–968 (2003)
Adams, D.L., Horton, J.C.: A precise retinotopic map of primate striate cortex generated from the representation of angioscotomas. J. Neurosci. 23, 3771–3789 (2003)
Adams, D.L., Horton, J.C.: The representation of retinal blood vessels in primate striate cortex. J. Neurosci. 23, 5984–5997 (2003)
Sceniak, M.P., et al.: Contrast’s effect on spatial summation by macaque V1 neurons. Nat. Neurosci. 2, 733–739 (1999)
Sengpiel, F., Sen, A., Blakemore, C.: Characteristics of surround inhibition in cat area 17. Exp. Brain Res. 116, 216–228 (1997)
DeAngelis, G.C., Freeman, R.D., Ohzawa, I.: Length and width tuning of neurons in the cat’s primary visual cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 71, 347–374 (1994)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Frazor, R.A., Benucci, A., Carandini, M. (2007). Independent Encoding of Position and Orientation by Population Responses in Primary Visual Cortex. In: Mele, F., Ramella, G., Santillo, S., Ventriglia, F. (eds) Advances in Brain, Vision, and Artificial Intelligence. BVAI 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4729. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75555-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75555-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-75554-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-75555-5
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)