QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted 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 HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (10) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Saul, A. B. Articles by Feidler, J. C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Saul, A. B. Articles by Feidler, J. C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

The Journal of Neuroscience, April 1, 2002, 22(7):2945-2955

Development of Response Timing and Direction Selectivity in Cat Visual Thalamus and Cortex

Alan B. Saul^{1, 2} and Jordan C. Feidler^{1, 2}

¹ Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, and ² Mitre Corporation, McLean, Virginia 22102

Single-unit recordings were made in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and visual cortex of kittens that were 4-13 weeks of age. Responses to visual stimuli were analyzed to determine the relationship between two related facets of the behaviors of the cells: direction selectivity (DS) and timing. DS depends on timing differences within the receptive field. Cortical DS was present at all ages, but its temporal frequency tuning changed. In kittens, DS was more common at high (~4 Hz) than low (~1 Hz) temporal frequencies. This is in contrast to adults, in which DS is tuned to low frequencies, more common at 1 Hz than at 4 Hz (Saul and Humphrey, 1992a). In adult cats, the LGN provides the cortex with a wide range of timings that are also observable in cortical receptive fields (Saul and Humphrey, 1990, 1992b; Alonso et al., 2001). In kittens, LGN and cortical timing were immature. Most cells showed long-latency sustained responses. At low temporal frequencies, the variance in timing was small, but at higher frequencies, all timings were well represented. The timing data thus matched the temporal frequency tuning of DS. Kittens show DS at high temporal frequencies because of the abundance of inputs with different timing at high frequencies. As cells in the LGN mature, more low-frequency timing differences become available to the cortex, allowing DS at low frequencies to become possible for more cortical cells.

Key words: direction selectivity; visual cortex; lateral geniculate nucleus; response timing; temporal frequency; postnatal development; lagged cells; spatiotemporal receptive fields

---

Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/02/2272945-11$05.00/0

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. D. Moore IV, H. J. Alitto, and W. M. Usrey Orientation Tuning, But Not Direction Selectivity, Is Invariant to Temporal Frequency in Primary Visual Cortex J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2005; 94(2): 1336 - 1345. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Li, M. R. Peterson, J. K. Thompson, T. Duong, and R. D. Freeman Cross-Orientation Suppression: Monoptic and Dichoptic Mechanisms Are Different J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2005; 94(2): 1645 - 1650. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C.-H. Mo, M. Gu, and C. Koch A Learning Rule for Local Synaptic Interactions Between Excitation and Shunting Inhibition Neural Comput., December 1, 2004; 16(12): 2507 - 2532. [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]

				M. S. Grubb and I. D. Thompson Quantitative Characterization of Visual Response Properties in the Mouse Dorsal Lateral Geniculate Nucleus J Neurophysiol, December 1, 2003; 90(6): 3594 - 3607. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help