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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 98/2/1002    most recent 00417.2007v1 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 ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yang, Z. Articles by Seidemann, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yang, Z. Articles by Seidemann, E.

INNOVATIVE METHODOLOGY

Rapid and Precise Retinotopic Mapping of the Visual Cortex Obtained by Voltage-Sensitive Dye Imaging in the Behaving Monkey

¹Department of Psychology and Center for Perceptual Systems, University of Texas, Austin, Texas; and ²Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, New York

Submitted 13 April 2007; accepted in final form 18 May 2007

Retinotopy is a fundamental organizing principle of the visual cortex. Over the years, a variety of techniques have been used to examine it. None of these techniques, however, provides a way to rapidly characterize retinotopy, at the submillimeter range, in alert, behaving subjects. Voltage-sensitive dye imaging (VSDI) can be used to monitor neuronal population activity at high spatial and temporal resolutions. Here we present a VSDI protocol for rapid and precise retinotopic mapping in the behaving monkey. Two monkeys performed a fixation task while thin visual stimuli swept periodically at a high speed in one of two possible directions through a small region of visual space. Because visual space is represented systematically across the cortical surface, each moving stimulus produced a traveling wave of activity in the cortex that could be precisely measured with VSDI. The time at which the peak of the traveling wave reached each location in the cortex linked this location with its retinotopic representation. We obtained detailed retinotopic maps from a region of about 1 cm² over the dorsal portion of areas V1 and V2. Retinotopy obtained during <4 min of imaging had a spatial precision of 0.11–0.19 mm, was consistent across experiments, and reliably predicted the locations of the response to small localized stimuli. The ability to rapidly obtain precise retinotopic maps in behaving monkeys opens the door for detailed analysis of the relationship between spatiotemporal dynamics of population responses in the visual cortex and perceptually guided behavior.