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Evaluation of a linear model of directional selectivity in simple cells of the cat's striate cortex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

D. J. Tolhurst  and
A. F. Dean
D. J. Tolhurst
Affiliation:
The Physiological Laboratory, Downing Street, Cambridge, England CB2 3EG
A. F. Dean
Affiliation:
The Physiological Laboratory, Downing Street, Cambridge, England CB2 3EG
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Abstract

We have compared the responses of simple cells to laterally moving sinusoidal gratings and to stationary temporally-modulated gratings. From the amplitudes and temporal phases of the responses to stationary gratings of different spatial phases, it should be possible to predict the preferred direction of movement, the amplitudes of the responses to gratings moving in the preferred and nonpreferred directions and, thence, the degree of directional preference (Reid et al., 1987). The preferred direction can be predicted reliably. However, the magnitude of the directional preference cannot be predicted, since the measured amplitude of the response in the nonpreferred direction of movement is very much less than that predicted by a linear theory. Nonlinearities in the relationship between response amplitude and contrast may contribute to the failure of the predictions, but this contribution is small. We conclude that the magnitude of the directional preference seems to be determined predominantly by nonlinear suppression of the response in the nonpreferred direction of movement.

Keywords

Visual cortexDirectional selectivitySimple cells
Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 6 , Issue 5 , May 1991 , pp. 421 - 428
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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