|
|
||||||||
1 Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892; 2 Department of Neurobiology and Physiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208; and 3 Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, California 94115
Jagadeesh, Bharathi, Heidi Sue Wheat, Leonid L. Kontsevich, Christopher W. Tyler, and David Ferster. Direction selectivity of synaptic potentials in simple cells of the cat visual cortex. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2772-2789, 1997. The direction selectivity of simple cells in the visual cortex is generated at least in part by nonlinear mechanisms. If a neuron were spatially linear, its responses to moving stimuli could be predicted accurately from linear combinations of its responses to stationary stimuli presented at different positions within the receptive field. In extracellular recordings, this has not been found to be the case. Although the extracellular experiments demonstrate the presence of a nonlinearity, the cellular process underlying the nonlinearity, whether an early synaptic mechanism such as a shunting inhibition or simply the spike threshold at the output, is not known. To differentiate between these possibilities, we have recorded intracellularly from simple cells of the intact cat with the whole cell patch technique. A linear model of direction selectivity was used to analyze the synaptic potentials evoked by stationary sine-wave gratings. The model predicted the responses of cells to moving gratings with considerable accuracy. The degree of direction selectivity and the time course of the responses to moving gratings were both well matched by the model. The direction selectivity of the synaptic potentials was considerably smaller than that of the intracellularly recorded action potential, indicating that a nonlinear mechanism such as threshold enhances the direction selectivity of the cell's output over that of its synaptic inputs. At the input stage, however, the cells apparently sum their synaptic inputs in a highly linear fashion. A more constrained test of linearity of synaptic summation based on principal component analysis was applied to the responses of direction-selective cells to stationary gratings. The analysis confirms that the summation in these cells is highly linear. The principal component analysis is consistent with a model in which direction selectivity in cortical simple cells is generated by only two subunits, each with a different receptive-field position and response time course. The response time course for each of the two subunits is derived for four analyzed cells. Each derived subunit is linear in spatial summation, suggesting that the neurons that comprise each subunit are either geniculate X-cells or receive their primary synaptic input from X-cells. The amplitude of the response of each subunit is linearly related to the contrast of the stimulus. The subunits are nonlinear in the time domain, however: the response to a stationary stimulus whose contrast is modulated sinusoidally in time is nonsinusoidal. The principal component analysis does not exclude models of direction selectivity based on more than two subunits, but such higher-order models would have to include the constraint that the extra subunits form a smooth continuum of interpolation between the properties derived from the two subunit solution.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
L. G. Nowak, M. V. Sanchez-Vives, and D. A. McCormick Lack of Orientation and Direction Selectivity in a Subgroup of Fast-Spiking Inhibitory Interneurons: Cellular and Synaptic Mechanisms and Comparison with Other Electrophysiological Cell Types Cereb Cortex, May 1, 2008; 18(5): 1058 - 1078. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. J. Malone, V. R. Kumar, and D. L. Ringach Dynamics of Receptive Field Size in Primary Visual Cortex J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2007; 97(1): 407 - 414. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. R. DeWeese and A. M. Zador Non-Gaussian Membrane Potential Dynamics Imply Sparse, Synchronous Activity in Auditory Cortex. J. Neurosci., November 22, 2006; 26(47): 12206 - 12218. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Bardy, J. Y. Huang, C. Wang, T. FitzGibbon, and B. Dreher 'Simplification' of responses of complex cells in cat striate cortex: suppressive surrounds and 'feedback' inactivation J. Physiol., August 1, 2006; 574(3): 731 - 750. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. D. Victor, F. Mechler, M. A. Repucci, K. P. Purpura, and T. Sharpee Responses of V1 Neurons to Two-Dimensional Hermite Functions J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2006; 95(1): 379 - 400. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. B Saul, P. L Carras, and A. L Humphrey Temporal Properties of Inputs to Direction-Selective Neurons in Monkey V1 J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2005; 94(1): 282 - 294. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
I. Vajda, M. J.M. Lankheet, B. G. Borghuis, and W. A. van de Grind Dynamics of Directional Selectivity in Area 18 and PMLS of the Cat Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2004; 14(7): 759 - 767. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Thiele, C. Distler, H. Korbmacher, and K.-P. Hoffmann Contribution of inhibitory mechanisms to direction selectivity and response normalization in macaque middle temporal area PNAS, June 29, 2004; 101(26): 9810 - 9815. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. R. Peterson, B. Li, and R. D. Freeman The Derivation of Direction Selectivity in the Striate Cortex J. Neurosci., April 7, 2004; 24(14): 3583 - 3591. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. K. Murphy and K. D. Miller Multiplicative Gain Changes Are Induced by Excitation or Inhibition Alone J. Neurosci., November 5, 2003; 23(31): 10040 - 10051. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. Hou, M. W. Pettet, V. Sampath, T. R. Candy, and A. M. Norcia Development of the Spatial Organization and Dynamics of Lateral Interactions in the Human Visual System J. Neurosci., September 24, 2003; 23(25): 8630 - 8640. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Li, M. R. Peterson, and R. D. Freeman Oblique Effect: A Neural Basis in the Visual Cortex J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2003; 90(1): 204 - 217. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. R. Conway and M. S. Livingstone Space-Time Maps and Two-Bar Interactions of Different Classes of Direction-Selective Cells in Macaque V-1 J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2003; 89(5): 2726 - 2742. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
C. B. Sturdy, J. M. Wild, and R. Mooney Respiratory and Telencephalic Modulation of Vocal Motor Neurons in the Zebra Finch J. Neurosci., February 1, 2003; 23(3): 1072 - 1086. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. D. Miller Understanding Layer 4 of the Cortical Circuit: A Model Based on Cat V1 Cereb Cortex, January 1, 2003; 13(1): 73 - 82. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Lau, G. B. Stanley, and Y. Dan Computational subunits of visual cortical neurons revealed by artificial neural networks PNAS, June 25, 2002; 99(13): 8974 - 8979. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. D. Miller and T. W. Troyer Neural Noise Can Explain Expansive, Power-Law Nonlinearities in Neural Response Functions J Neurophysiol, February 1, 2002; 87(2): 653 - 659. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. Tamas, J. Szabadics, and P. Somogyi Cell Type- and Subcellular Position-Dependent Summation of Unitary Postsynaptic Potentials in Neocortical Neurons J. Neurosci., February 1, 2002; 22(3): 740 - 747. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. Mooney, W. Hoese, and S. Nowicki Auditory representation of the vocal repertoire in a songbird with multiple song types PNAS, October 23, 2001; 98(22): 12778 - 12783. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
K. Sen, F. E. Theunissen, and A. J. Doupe Feature Analysis of Natural Sounds in the Songbird Auditory Forebrain J Neurophysiol, September 1, 2001; 86(3): 1445 - 1458. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. R. Ibbotson and C.W.G. Clifford Interactions Between ON and OFF Signals in Directional Motion Detectors Feeding the NOT of the Wallaby J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2001; 86(2): 997 - 1005. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. J. Wielaard, M. Shelley, D. McLaughlin, and R. Shapley How Simple Cells Are Made in a Nonlinear Network Model of the Visual Cortex J. Neurosci., July 15, 2001; 21(14): 5203 - 5211. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T. R. Candy, A. M. Skoczenski, and A. M. Norcia Normalization Models Applied to Orientation Masking in the Human Infant J. Neurosci., June 15, 2001; 21(12): 4530 - 4541. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. L. Peña and M. Konishi Auditory Spatial Receptive Fields Created by Multiplication Science, April 13, 2001; 292(5515): 249 - 252. [Abstract] [Full Text] |
||||
![]() |
C. Rivadulla, J. Sharma, and M. Sur Specific Roles of NMDA and AMPA Receptors in Direction-Selective and Spatial Phase-Selective Responses in Visual Cortex J. Neurosci., March 1, 2001; 21(5): 1710 - 1719. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
U. Hillenbrand and J. L. van Hemmen Does Corticothalamic Feedback Control Cortical Velocity Tuning? Neural Comput., February 1, 2001; 13(2): 327 - 355. [Abstract] [Full Text] |
||||
![]() |
J. L. Pena and M. Konishi Cellular mechanisms for resolving phase ambiguity in the owl's inferior colliculus PNAS, October 24, 2000; 97(22): 11787 - 11792. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
J. S. Anderson, M. Carandini, and D. Ferster Orientation Tuning of Input Conductance, Excitation, and Inhibition in Cat Primary Visual Cortex J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2000; 84(2): 909 - 926. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. Mooney Different Subthreshold Mechanisms Underlie Song Selectivity in Identified HVc Neurons of the Zebra Finch J. Neurosci., July 15, 2000; 20(14): 5420 - 5436. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. J. Rosen and R. Mooney Intrinsic and Extrinsic Contributions to Auditory Selectivity in a Song Nucleus Critical for Vocal Plasticity J. Neurosci., July 15, 2000; 20(14): 5437 - 5448. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. Carandini and D. Ferster Membrane Potential and Firing Rate in Cat Primary Visual Cortex J. Neurosci., January 1, 2000; 20(1): 470 - 484. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Anzai, I. Ohzawa, and R. D. Freeman Neural Mechanisms for Processing Binocular Information I. Simple Cells J Neurophysiol, August 1, 1999; 82(2): 891 - 908. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Murthy and A. L. Humphrey Inhibitory Contributions to Spatiotemporal Receptive-Field Structure and Direction Selectivity in Simple Cells of Cat Area 17 J Neurophysiol, March 1, 1999; 81(3): 1212 - 1224. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. L. Humphrey and A. B. Saul Strobe Rearing Reduces Direction Selectivity in Area 17 by Altering Spatiotemporal Receptive-Field Structure J Neurophysiol, December 1, 1998; 80(6): 2991 - 3004. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. L. Humphrey, A. B. Saul, and J. C. Feidler Strobe Rearing Prevents the Convergence of Inputs With Different Response Timings Onto Area 17 Simple Cells J Neurophysiol, December 1, 1998; 80(6): 3005 - 3020. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |