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Parasol cell mosaics are unlikely to drive the formation of structured orientation maps in primary visual cortex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2012

VICTORIA R.A. HORE ,
JOHN B. TROY  and
STEPHEN J. EGLEN
VICTORIA R.A. HORE
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge Computational Biology Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
JOHN B. TROY
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Road Evanston, Illinois
STEPHEN J. EGLEN*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge Computational Biology Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
*
*Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Stephen J. Eglen, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge Computational Biology Institute, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UK. E-mail: s.j.eglen@damtp.cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

The receptive fields of on- and off-center parasol cell mosaics independently tile the retina to ensure efficient sampling of visual space. A recent theoretical model represented the on- and off-center mosaics by noisy hexagonal lattices of slightly different density. When the two lattices are overlaid, long-range Moiré interference patterns are generated. These Moiré interference patterns have been suggested to drive the formation of highly structured orientation maps in visual cortex. Here, we show that noisy hexagonal lattices do not capture the spatial statistics of parasol cell mosaics. An alternative model based upon local exclusion zones, termed as the pairwise interaction point process (PIPP) model, generates patterns that are statistically indistinguishable from parasol cell mosaics. A key difference between the PIPP model and the hexagonal lattice model is that the PIPP model does not generate Moiré interference patterns, and hence stimulated orientation maps do not show any hexagonal structure. Finally, we estimate the spatial extent of spatial correlations in parasol cell mosaics to be only 200–350 μm, far less than that required to generate Moiré interference. We conclude that parasol cell mosaics are too disordered to drive the formation of highly structured orientation maps in visual cortex.

Keywords

Hexagonal latticesRetinal mosaicsReceptive fieldsOrientation selectivityPIPP model
Type
Review Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , November 2012 , pp. 283 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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