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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Material All Versions of this Article: 102/2/841    most recent 90642.2008v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (1) Google Scholar Articles by Kang, I. Articles by Malpeli, J. G. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kang, I. Articles by Malpeli, J. G.

Dim-Light Sensitivity of Cells in the Awake Cat's Lateral Geniculate and Medial Interlaminar Nuclei: A Correlation With Behavior

¹Neuroscience Program and ²Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois

Submitted 4 June 2008; accepted in final form 15 May 2009

Contrast thresholds of cells in the dorsal lateral geniculate (LGNd) and medial interlaminar (MIN) nuclei of awake cats were measured for scotopic and mesopic vision with drifting sine gratings (1/8, 2, and 4 cycles/deg [cpd]; 4-Hz temporal frequency). Thresholds for mean firing rate (F0) and temporally modulated responses (F1) were derived with receiver-operating-characteristic analyses and compared with behavioral measures recently reported by Kang and colleagues. Behavioral sensitivity was predicted by the neural responses of the most sensitive combinations of cell class and response mode: Y-cell F1 responses for 1/8 cpd, X-cell F1 responses for 2 cpd, and Y-cell F0 responses for 4 cpd. All previous estimates of neural scotopic increment thresholds in animal models fell between Weber's law (proportional to retinal illuminance) and the deVries–Rose law (proportional to the square root of illuminance). However, psychophysical experiments suggest that under appropriate conditions human scotopic vision follows the deVries–Rose law. If behavioral sensitivity is assumed to be determined by the most sensitive class of cells, this discrepancy is resolved. Under scotopic conditions, OFF-center Y cells were the most sensitive and these followed the deVries–Rose law fairly closely. MIN Y cells were, on average, 0.25 log units more sensitive than LGNd Y cells under scotopic conditions, supporting a previous proposal that the MIN is a specialization of the carnivore for dim-light vision. We conclude that both physiologically and behaviorally, cat and human scotopic vision are fundamentally similar, including adherence to the deVries–Rose law for detection of Gabor functions.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				I. Kang, R. E. Reem, A. L. Kaczmarowski, and J. G. Malpeli Contrast Sensitivity of Cats and Humans in Scotopic and Mesopic Conditions J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2009; 102(2): 831 - 840. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]