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The Journal of Neuroscience, March 1, 2002, 22(5):1976-1984
Dynamics of Spatial Frequency Tuning in Macaque V1
C. E.
Bredfeldt1 and
D.
L.
Ringach1, 2, 3
1 Departments of Psychology and
2 Neurobiology, 3 Brain Research Institute,
University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
90095
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ABSTRACT |
Spatial frequency tuning in the lateral geniculate nucleus of the
thalamus (LGN) and primary visual cortex (V1) differ substantially. LGN
responses are largely low-pass in spatial frequency, whereas the
majority of V1 neurons have bandpass characteristics. To study this
transformation in spatial selectivity, we measured the dynamics of
spatial frequency tuning using a reverse correlation technique. We find
that a large proportion of V1 cells show inseparable responses in
spatial frequency and time. In several cases, tuning becomes more
selective over the course of the response, and the preferred spatial
frequency shifts from low to higher frequencies. Many responses also
show suppression at low spatial frequencies, which correlates with the
increases in response selectivity and the shifts of preferred spatial
frequency. These results indicate that suppression plays an important
role in the generation of bandpass selectivity in V1.
Key words:
primate vision; striate cortex; spatial frequency tuning; response suppression; dynamic tuning; quality factor
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INTRODUCTION |
Neurons in the lateral geniculate
nucleus of the thalamus (LGN) have antagonistic center-surround
receptive fields, which are poorly tuned for orientation and
predominantly low-pass in spatial frequency (Rodieck and Stone,
1965 ; Derrington and Fuchs, 1979 ; So and
Shapley, 1979 ; Kaplan and Shapley, 1982 ;
Hicks et al., 1983 ; Irvin et al., 1993 ).
In contrast, many primary visual cortex (V1) simple cell receptive
fields are elongated and have between two and three subfields of
alternating polarity (Hubel and Wiesel,
1959 , 1962 ). This
type of receptive field can be sharply tuned for both
orientation and spatial frequency (De Valois et al.,
1982 ; De Valois and Tootell, 1983 ).
Two major classes of models have emerged to explain the transformation
of receptive fields and spatial tuning properties between the LGN and
V1. Feed-forward models suggest that elongated receptive fields and
sharp cortical tuning are a result of input from spatially collinear
LGN receptive fields (Hubel and Wiesel,
1959 , 1962 ). The
summation of spatially aligned input in V1 could improve both orientation and spatial selectivity. A recent version of the
feed-forward model that also accounts for contrast invariance
(Sclar and Freeman, 1982 ; Skottun et al.,
1986 ) incorporates feed-forward inhibition as well as
feed-forward excitation (Troyer et al., 1998 ).
In contrast to the hierarchical organization of feed-forward models,
feedback models suggest that cortical selectivity is produced primarily
through intracortical mechanisms. These models suggest that cortical
tuning is only loosely biased by LGN input and is refined through
intracortical excitatory and inhibitory influences (Benevento et
al., 1972 ; Worgotter and Koch, 1991 ; Ben-Yishai et al., 1995 ; Somers et al.,
1995 ; Carandini and Ringach, 1997 ;
Adorjan et al., 1999 ; Anderson et al.,
2000 ; Pugh et al., 2000 ). The cortical feedback
interactions determine, at least in part, the elongation of the
subfields in simple cells as well as their effective number
(Sabatini et al., 1997 ).
The feed-forward and feedback models make testable predictions about
both the time course of cortical tuning and the characteristics of
suppressive input. Feed-forward models postulate that excitation and
inhibition have similar spatial frequency tuning. Thus, suppression produces a change in the magnitude of the response and not in its
tuning shape. In other words, the resulting spatial frequency tuning
function should be separable in spatial frequency and time. In
contrast, feedback models suggest that cortical tuning could emerge
over the time course of the response; tuning should be initially broad,
reflecting the tuning of the LGN input, and become more selective as
the effect of intracortical feedback increases. This could be the
result of the contribution of cortical inhibition with a different
tuning shape than the LGN component.
Here, we measure the dynamics of spatial frequency tuning in macaque V1
using a reverse correlation method. Our primary goal is to determine
whether the dynamics of spatial frequency tuning exhibit spatiotemporal
separability. In cases of inseparability, we are also interested in
describing what the main forms of inseparability are and how we can
account for these responses with feed-forward or feedback mechanisms.
To study these issues we focus on three questions of interest. (1) Does
the peak and/or shape of the tuning curve change over the course of the
response? (2) Is there evidence of suppressive input in the spatial
frequency tuning curve, and if so, what are the tuning characteristics
of suppression? (3) If suppression is evident in the tuning curve, how
does it affect the preferred spatial frequency and the selectivity of
the tuning curve?
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
We performed acute experiments on adult Old World monkeys
(Macaca fascicularis), using methods described
elsewhere (Ringach et al., 1997 ). All procedures were
performed in compliance with National Institutes of Health and
University of California Los Angeles/Animal Research Committee guidelines.
The dynamics of spatial frequency tuning in V1 were measured using the
reverse correlation technique described by Ringach et al.
(1997) . Receptive fields were located at eccentricities of
1-6°. Visual stimulation was monocular through the dominant eye (the
other eye was occluded). We recorded the responses of individual cells
to a rapid sequence of luminance-modulated sinusoidal gratings at a
fixed orientation (optimal for the cell) but with varying spatial
frequencies and spatial phases (Fig. 1).
The stimulus was presented at an effective rate of 50 Hz by presenting
each grating twice on a monitor with a refresh rate of 100 Hz. The optimal orientation for each cell was determined using conventional steady-state orientation tuning curves run before the experiment. Test
spatial frequencies were selected to completely span the response range
of each cell, spanning between 3.33 and 6 octaves, centered at the
preferred spatial frequency of the cell. Spatial frequencies were
logarithmically spaced. The preferred spatial frequency of the cell was
defined by the peak of the steady-state spatial frequency curve in
response to drifting gratings. Each spatial frequency test was
presented in eight equally spaced spatial phases spanning 360°. Blank
images of uniform luminance were interleaved in the sequence to provide
a measure of baseline response. The probability of presentation of a
blank image was equal to that of any one spatial frequency independent
of spatial phase.

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Figure 1.
Reverse correlation in the spatial frequency
domain. Each stimulus in the sequence is a sinusoidal grating with 1 of
11-19 possible spatial frequencies equally spaced logarithmically. A
blank stimulus is randomly interleaved in the sequence to provide a
measure of baseline activity. The spikes in the response sequence are
correlated with the spatial frequencies of the images that preceded
them by msec. We perform this calculation for a range of values
from 0 to 150 msec.
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The stimulus was presented in a circular window 1.5-3× the size of
the classical receptive field of the cell. The size of the receptive
field was defined as the saturation point or peak of an area summation
curve, run at the preferred orientation, temporal frequency, and
spatial frequency of the cell (Levitt and Lund, 1997 ;
Sceniak et al., 1999 ). The Michaelson contrast of the
stimulus was 99%. Each sequence was composed of 1500 images drawn
randomly from the stimulus set of all test spatial frequencies and
blanks. Each sequence lasted 30 sec. Thirty sequences were run
consecutively for each cell, for a total experimental time of 15 min.
The response of the cell consisted of the arrival time of each action
potential elicited during the visual stimulus. For a fixed time lag,
, we calculate the probability that a spike was preceded by a
particular grating with spatial frequency f at a particular
time delay, , independent of spatial phase: Pr(f, ).
The baseline, B( ), is calculated as the probability that a blank image with uniform luminance preceded a spike by msec. By
dividing the magnitude of the response to a given stimulus grating by
the magnitude of the response to a blank, we calculate the relative
strength of the response:
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(1)
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The log transformation makes the absolute value of
R(f, ) proportional to the d' value between the response
and the baseline assuming a Poisson firing rate (Green and
Swets, 1974 ; Ringach et al., 2002 ).
We studied the dynamics of tuning by calculating R(f, )
at values of ranging from 0 to 150 msec. R(f, )
equals zero when the response of the cell to a test stimulus equals the
response to a blank stimulus. Positive values indicate enhancement of
the response of the cell, whereas negative values indicate suppression. For both short and long time lags ( < 30 and > 130 msec), the response distribution should be flat and near zero,
indicating no correlation between the stimulus and the response. At
some intermediate values of , the response may show both positive and negative values, indicating enhancement or suppression of the
response for different spatial frequencies.
Curve fitting. Steady-state spatial frequency tuning curves
are sometimes fit with a Gaussian curve to reduce the effect of response noise on estimates of the peak and selectivity of the tuning
curve (Hawken and Parker, 1987 ; DeAngelis et al.,
1994 ). However, as will be described below, many of the cells
in our data set showed changes in the peak and selectivity of the
response, as well as response suppression for nonoptimal spatial
frequencies. These features could not be well fit by a single curve in
which only the amplitude of the curve is allowed to vary as a function of time. Instead, we modeled our data as the sum of excitatory and
inhibitory components, each of which is separable in spatial frequency
and time:
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(2)
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where:
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(3)
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In this model, E(f) acts as an excitatory component,
with fctr(E) and E as the center
and width of the component respectively, and
gE( ) as the gain parameter. I(f)
is the inhibitory component. fctr(I) and
I represent the center and width of the inhibitory component, and gI( ) its gain. The center and
width of each component is invariant across time. The amplitudes of
both components are the best fitting positive coefficients, using a
least squares measurement of error. Unless specifically stated
otherwise, estimates of tuning curve properties are based on the fit of
the two-component model.
Time course of the response. For most cells, the response
starts around 30 msec and returns to baseline shortly
after 130 msec, although there was considerable variation
in the time of the onset ( onset) and decay
( final) of the response. We use the variance of
the response over time to identify onset and
final. For short time delays, before the stimulus signal has reached the cortex, any deviation of the response from the zero
baseline is attributable to noise in the measurement. The magnitude of
the deviations from baseline can be measured as the variance of the
signal (across all spatial frequencies) at each time delay:
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(4)
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We use the first 20 msec of the response to provide an estimate
of the "variance of the noise," which is defined as the average response variance during the first 20 msec after the stimulus presentation, ( 20). For time delays that
produce a stimulus-driven response, the variance should increase
significantly. onset and final were
defined as the time lags at which the variance of the response,
V( ), crossed a threshold of 4 SD above the variance of
the noise.
Figure 2A illustrates
V( ) for one example cell. The first 20 msec of the curve
are shown to the left of the short vertical line. These values are
averaged to provide an estimate of ( 20).
The SD of the noise is calculated as the square root of this value. The
response criterion level is set at 4 SD above ( 20) and is indicated by a dashed line intersecting the curve.
onset and final are defined as the first
and last level-crossings of the curve with the criterion level.

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Figure 2.
Analysis of the dynamics of spatial frequency
tuning. A, Plot of the variance of response for one example.
The short vertical line indicates = 20 msec. The
dashed line indicates the criterion level for a significant
response. B, Plot of the maximum (thick line) and
minimum (thin line) amplitudes, Mx( ) and
Mn( ), respectively, of a sample dynamic spatial frequency
tuning response as a function of . max and
min indicate the time delays that produced the largest
response enhancement and the most suppression, respectively. The
dashed line indicates 50% of the maximum response. The
intersection of this line with the thick
curve indicates the half point of development
( dev) and the half point of decay
( decay) of the response. C, Example of
a typical response at a single time-slice. fpk
indicates the peak spatial frequency of the response.
flow and fhigh mark the
low and high spatial frequency cutoffs. Areas of the curve below 0, shaded with vertical lines, indicate suppression of the
response of the cell, whereas points on the curve above 0, shaded with
horizontal lines, indicate enhancement of the response of
the cell. is shown in the top right of the graph.
D, Best fitting model components for the response in
C. The solid and dashed lines indicate
the spatial frequency tuning of the excitatory and inhibitory inputs to
the model, respectively. The gray shading indicates the area
of overlap between the two inputs (Eq. 13).
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We define the maximum and minimum amplitudes of the response as:
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(5)
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respectively. Figure 2B shows an example of how the
maximum and minimum amplitudes of the response vary over time.
max and min indicate the time lag
that produced maximum response enhancement and suppression,
respectively. In addition, we define dev and decay as the points at which Mx( ) has
achieved or decayed back to half of its maximum amplitude,
R(fpk, max)/2, indicated
by the dashed line. dev and decay occur
where the maximum amplitude curve intersects the dashed line.
Spatial frequency tuning characteristics. Figure
2C illustrates a time slice of the spatial frequency tuning
curve at max = 64 msec. fpk
denotes the preferred spatial frequency at this time delay. The
dashed line indicates R(fpk, )/ ; the points at which the curve intersects this value are defined as the
low and high spatial frequency cutoffs, flow and
fhigh. Responses above zero indicate enhancement
of the spike rate relative to the baseline; responses below zero
indicate suppression. We define total response enhancement at each time
lag as the total area of response enhancement
[AE( )], indicated by the horizontal lines
in Figure 2C. Total response suppression
[AS( )] was defined similarly and is
indicated by vertical lines.
We estimated the preferred spatial frequency of the cell at
max and for the time-averaged tuning curve,
(f):
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(6)
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The peak of the time-averaged tuning curve will be referred to
as .
As described below, we found that fpk changes
with time in a number of cells. To quantify this change, we estimated
fpk as a function of . In most cases, but not
always, the change was monotonic and increasing with time. We compare
fpk at final with fpk at onset to measure the
overall change in the location of the preferred spatial frequency:
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(7)
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This value estimates fpk in octaves of
spatial frequency. We calculated fpk using
the raw data, smoothed to reduce the effects of noise. Raw data were
interpolated to 300 log-spaced data points and smoothed by convolving
with a Gaussian filter with a of 0.4 log units. The peak of the
tuning curve was defined by the peak of the smoothed curve.
Spatial frequency selectivity was measured by the "quality factor"
of the tuning curve. The quality factor is given by:
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(8)
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where fpk( ) is the preferred spatial
frequency at time , and fhigh( ) and
flow( ) represent the high and low cutoff
spatial frequencies, respectively (Horowitz and Hill,
1989 ). Cells that have sharp spatial frequency tuning have a
large Q-factor, whereas cells with very broad tuning have a Q-factor
close to 0.
The use of the quality factor to define selectivity has an advantage
over more traditional estimates such as response bandwidth. Traditional
estimates of bandwidth that consider the log ratio between
fhigh( ) and flow( )
are undefined when the response is low-pass. Because many of the cells
in our sample are low-pass for spatial frequency for at least a portion
of the duration of their response, bandwidth measures would limit our
ability to assess selectivity for non-bandpass cells. The Q-factor does
not suffer from this problem, but is similar to bandwidth measures in
that it remains constant if the tuning curve is translated along a
logarithmic frequency axis.
As described below, we found that many responses become more selective
over time. We measure the change in selectivity as a function of time
( Q) as:
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(9)
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Positive values of Q indicate that the cell became
more selective over time, whereas negative values indicate that the
cell became less selective over time.
When measured with luminance-modulated sinusoidal drifting gratings,
the spatial frequency tuning curves of the LGN have a characteristic
low-pass shape in which the high spatial frequency limb of the tuning
curve returns to baseline, but the low spatial frequency limb remains
elevated. Tuning in V1 is generally bandpass, with both the high and
low spatial frequency limbs decaying to baseline. To examine the
steepness of the spatial frequency limbs in our data, we use two
indices that allow us to separately examine the low and high spatial
frequency flanks of the tuning curve. These indices are given by:
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(10)
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An index close to 0 indicates that the spatial frequency
limb has a shallow slope, whereas a very steep slope is indicated by an
index close to 1.
Suppression. Cells were identified as having a significant
suppressive response if the minimum response at min was
below the suppression criterion point and remained below this level for
a period of at least 10 msec. The suppression criterion point was
defined as 4 SD of the noise below zero. For cells with significant suppression, the strength of suppression was measured as the ratio of
the area of suppression over all response values, versus the total
area beneath the curve, including enhancement and suppression:
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(11)
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AE( ) and
AS( ) are approximations of the excitatory and
suppressive area under the curve, as illustrated in Figure
2C. This measure indicates the relative strength of
suppression for different values of .
The SupIndex measures the net suppression in the tuning
curve. However, if inhibitory and excitatory inputs have similar, but
not equal, tuning, the strength and contribution of the suppressive input to the net tuning curve may be masked by overlapping excitatory input. We measure the relative location of excitation and suppression on the basis of the centers of the two components of the model:
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(12)
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As described below, for some responses the centers of the
excitatory and inhibitory inputs are more than two octaves apart. For
such responses, we would not expect the two inputs to overlap significantly. If the tuning of the components does not overlap, the
inhibitory input could not cause a change in the selectivity of the net
tuning curve. However, the overlap between the excitatory and
inhibitory components depends on both the relative location and the
bandwidth of the two inputs. Figure 2D illustrates the model
components used to fit the response in Figure 2C. We measure the overlap as:
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(13)
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This measure represents the shaded region in Figure
2D. Using this measure of the overlap between excitatory and
inhibitory input, we can then measure how the interaction between
suppressive and excitatory inputs changes the tuning of the response by
looking at the change in overlap over time:
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(14)
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Data selection. We recorded from a total of 208 cells
from 10 animals. Multiple electrodes were used on some animals to allow us to gather data from several cells concurrently. Because we recorded
from multiple cells simultaneously, in some experiments cells were not
stimulated at their optimal orientation. This study includes only cells
that were stimulated at orientations within 20° of their preferred
orientation; 56 cells were excluded from the data set for this reason.
From this subset of cells, we excluded cells for which the response was
not considered significant (n = 43). A significant response
requires that V( > 20) was more than 4 SD above the
average variance of the noise, ( 20). Finally,
some responses did not return to baseline for the highest spatial
frequencies measured. These cells (n = 15) were excluded from the analysis. A total of 94 cells passed these criteria and form
the dataset analyzed in this study.
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RESULTS |
Figure 3 illustrates the dynamic
responses of three cells that are representative of our data. In Figure
3A-C, we plot R(f, ) for a range of time
delays between onset and final. Positive values indicate that the response of the cell was enhanced for a given
spatial frequency relative to the response to a blank stimulus.
Negative values indicate that a stimulus with a given spatial frequency
suppressed the response of the cell below the level produced by a blank
stimulus. The dashed line is the zero level, defined as the response to
a blank. Figure 3D-F shows changes in spatial frequency
selectivity over the response period of the neuron for the examples
shown in A-C. Similarly, Figure 3G-I shows the
location of the peak spatial frequency as a function of time for the
examples in A-C.

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Figure 3.
Examples of dynamic spatial frequency tuning
curves. A, Example of a response that increases in
selectivity over time. The increase in selectivity is accompanied by
lagged suppression at low spatial frequencies. The peak of the tuning
curve shifts from 0.72 cpd at 36 msec to 2.63 cpd at 72 msec.
B, Example of a tuning curve that is initially low-pass (at
= 42 msec) and becomes bandpass over time. The peak of the
tuning curve shifts from 1.51 cpd at 34 msec to 4.3 cpd at 74 msec.
C, This response shows no change in selectivity or preferred
spatial frequency and little to no response suppression.
D-F, Selectivity as a function of , for the three
example cells shown in A-C. Selectivity is measured by the
Q-factor (Eq. 8). G-I, Preferred spatial frequency,
fpk, as a function of , for the three example
cells shown in A-C.
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Figure 3A depicts a response that is initially broadly
bandpass ( = 36-42 msec), which becomes more selective over
the course of the response. Although the magnitude of the response is
approximately equal at = 42 and = 66 msec, the
Q-factor at = 66 msec is approximately double the Q-factor at
the earlier time delay. The change in selectivity over time is
illustrated in Figure 3D. This increase in selectivity is a
result of two potentially related phenomena that are apparent in Figure
3A: the low spatial frequency limb of the tuning curve
becomes markedly steeper over time, and the response at the lowest
spatial frequencies is suppressed, starting at max = 60 msec.
Figure 3B shows another common phenomenon that may be
related to suppression at low spatial frequencies: a change in peak spatial frequency over time from low to high spatial frequencies. At
= 42 msec, the response peaks at 1.8 cycles per degree (cpd). Later in the response, at = 74 msec, the response peaks at 4.7 cpd. The change in fpk can be seen more clearly
in Figure 3H, which plots fpk as a
function of . The total shift in fpk for this
cell was 1.9 octaves. The shift was accompanied by a decrease in
responsiveness at low spatial frequencies to baseline levels by
= 66 msec, and below baseline levels as the response decays.
The increase in selectivity, change in peak spatial frequency, and
suppression at low spatial frequencies frequently occur together and,
as we show below, appear to be related. Both the responses in Figure 3,
A and B, show all three phenomena, whereas the
example illustrated in C shows virtually none of these
response characteristics. There is no overall change in either
selectivity or peak spatial frequency, and the apparent high spatial
frequency suppression ( = 120-130 msec) is not
significantly different from noise activity.
Tuning characteristics
Preferred spatial frequency
We measured the preferred spatial frequency of
R(f, max) and of the time-averaged response,
(f). There was no significant difference between
these two measures (Wilcoxon sign rank test; p > 0.5).
Figure 4A shows the
distribution of for the
time-averaged data. ranges from
0.13 to 9.72 cpd. The average was
3.7 cpd (SD = 2.1 cpd). The distribution is skewed toward low- to
mid-range spatial frequencies, with a sharp dropoff above 4.5 cpd.

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Figure 4.
Preferred spatial frequency of dynamic tuning.
A, Histogram of the preferred spatial frequency
( ) of the time-averaged response of
each cell. B, Change of preferred spatial frequency over the
time course of their response. Positive numbers indicate a
shift from low to high spatial frequencies, whereas negative
numbers indicate a shift from high to low spatial
frequencies.
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To determine whether fpk is invariant with time,
we measured the magnitude of fpk for each
cell (Eq. 7). Figure 4B shows how
fpk is distributed in the population.
Positive values indicate that fpk shifted from
low spatial frequencies toward higher spatial frequencies, whereas
negative values indicate a spatial frequency preference shift from
higher to lower spatial frequencies. On average there is a positive
change in fpk over time, averaging 0.62 octaves ± 0.69 (1 SD). The largest change in
fpk was slightly over two octaves. Figure 3,
A and B, both provide examples of responses with
large changes in fpk over the course of the
response; for both cells, plots of fpk as a
function of are shown in Figure 3, G and H,
respectively. For both responses, the peak spatial frequency increases
at an approximately constant rate over the entire time course of the
response enhancement. The change in the preferred spatial frequency
over time is a clear form of inseparability in spatial frequency and
time that we observed in many V1 neurons.
Selectivity
We used the Q-factor to estimate spatial frequency selectivity. As
we did for fpk, we measured selectivity for both
R(f, max) and for the time-averaged curve,
(f). The Q-factor was significantly higher for the
time-averaged curve than for max (Wilcoxon sign rank;
p < 0.01). Figure
5A shows a histogram of the
Q-factor for (f). Selectivity ranged from very
untuned (Q-factor = 0.36) to highly tuned (Q-factor = 2.12),
with a mean of 1.24 ± 0.38 (1 SD).

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Figure 5.
Selectivity of dynamic spatial frequency tuning.
A, Histogram of the selectivity of the time-averaged
responses. We use the Q-factor to estimate selectivity. B,
Scatter plot of the selectivity index measured at dev
versus decay. The dashed line indicates the
unit line, at which Q( dev) equals
Q( decay). C, Comparison of the
change in steepness over time of the low spatial frequency limb of the
tuning curve versus the high spatial frequency limb of the curve.
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The Q-factor in V1 cells may change over time. Figure 5B
shows the Q-factor during development of the response compared with the
Q-factor during decay. For the majority of cells,
Q( decay) is higher than
Q( dev) (Wilcoxon sign rank test; p < 0.001), although the amplitude of the curve at the two time
points is equal by definition.
We next asked whether the increase in selectivity is similarly
distributed on both flanks of the tuning curve (Fig. 5C).
The increase in selectivity should be accompanied by an increase in the
steepness of at least one of the limbs of the tuning curve. We compare
the change in steepness ( steepness) for the response on
both sides of the peak spatial frequency to determine whether steepness is evenly distributed. For the low spatial
frequency flank, steepness is measured as
ML( decay) ML( dev); similarly, steepness for the high spatial frequency flank is
measured as MH( decay) MH( dev). Positive
values of steepness indicate an increase in steepness
over time. Figure 5C shows the results of the comparison.
The low spatial frequency side of the tuning curve shows a
significantly larger increase in steepness than the high spatial
frequency flank (Wilcoxon sign rank test; p < 0.001).
steepness(f < fctr) ranges from
just below zero, or no change, to ~0.7. In contrast, values of
steepness(f fctr) tend to be
clustered near zero. These results indicate that the increase in
selectivity is primarily dependent on changes in the response to low
spatial frequencies.
Suppression
The increase in the steepness of the low-frequency limb of the
tuning curve often appeared to be accompanied by suppression at the
lowest spatial frequencies. A majority of neurons (69%; 65 of 94)
showed significant response suppression, usually at spatial frequencies
lower than the optimal. The distribution of suppression strength in our
data is shown in Figure 6A.
The suppression index is a measure of how strongly suppression
contributed to the overall response (Eq. 11). A value of 1 indicates a
purely suppressive response, whereas a value of 0 indicates pure
enhancement. A suppression index of 0.5 indicates that enhancement and
suppression are equally balanced. For the majority of cells with
significant suppression, suppression accounted for a little less than
one-third of the total area under the curve (mean SupIndex = 0.27 ± 0.19).

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Figure 6.
Properties of suppression. A, Histogram
of the overall amount of response suppression relative to response
enhancement. Values near 0 indicate that there was very little
suppression relative to the amount of response enhancement; values near
1 would indicate an almost pure suppressive response. B,
Histogram of the relative location of maximal response enhancement
versus response suppression (Eq. 12). Positive values indicate that the
center spatial frequency of response enhancement was higher than the
center spatial frequency of suppression.
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For most cells, maximal suppression occurred at the lowest spatial
frequencies measured, regardless of the spatial frequency of
excitation. Figure 6B indicates the location of suppression, relative to the location of excitation (Eq. 12). For the majority of
cells, excitation is centered at higher spatial frequencies than
suppression. This pattern is consistent with a role of suppression in
increasing the steepness of the low spatial frequency limb of the
tuning curve. In addition, we observed from the model fits that the
peak amplitude of the suppressive component was delayed relative to the
peak of the excitatory component by ~5 msec on average (data not shown).
Relative location and widths of enhancement and suppression
On the basis of changes in selectivity and
fpk over time, as well as the location of
suppression at frequencies other than fpk, we
conclude that, as a whole, the dynamics of spatial frequency tuning are
not separable in spatial-frequency and time. Instead, we found that the
response could be well fit by a model based on two input components,
each of which is separable in space and time. The components of the
model act as excitatory and inhibitory inputs to the response, with
separate temporal profiles. Figure 7
gives an example of the model fit for the response shown in Figure
3A. The response shows a change in both selectivity and peak
spatial frequency as a function of time, which are both reasonably well
fit by the model. The spatial and temporal profiles of the model
components for this cell are illustrated in Figure 7, A and
B, respectively. For both plots, the solid line indicates the excitatory component; the dashed line indicates the inhibitory component. The inhibitory component is centered at lower spatial frequencies but largely overlaps the excitatory component, and its time
course is slightly delayed relative to the development of the
excitatory component. Figure 7C shows the model fit to the
data for dev, max, and
decay. The fit is able to capture the change from broad
bandpass tuning at dev to sharp tuning with low spatial
frequency suppression at decay.

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Figure 7.
Example of the model components and fit for the
response shown in Figure 3A. A, Spatial profile of the
excitatory (solid line) and inhibitory (dashed
line) input components fit by our model. B, Temporal
profile of the components. C, Response and fit at three time
points ( dev, max, and
decay). At decay, the
response is clearly suppressed for low spatial frequencies.
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Figure 8 shows the population data for
the best fitting curves. Figure 8A compares
fctr(E) with fctr(I), in
a log-log scatter plot. fctr(I) tends to be
lower than fctr(E), by up to 3.5 octaves. The
large degree of separation between the centers of the two components is
a consequence of the tendency for fctr(I) to be located at the lowest spatial frequencies that we measured, whereas fctr(E) tends to be located at spatial
frequencies very similar to the peak of the response. The degree of
separation between the centers of the components might be surprising at
first, because the components can only interact if they overlap.

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Figure 8.
Distribution of model parameters. A,
Scatter plot of the center spatial frequency of the excitatory
(fctr(E)) and suppressive components
(fctr(I)), on a log-log axis. The histogram
indicates the log ratio of fctr(E) and
fctr(I) and shows that
fctr(E) is higher than
fctr(I) for most responses. B,
Scatter plot of the of the excitatory ( (E))
and inhibitory ( (I)) components. The histogram
indicates the difference between (E) and
(I).
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Figure 8B compares I and E. A
large proportion of cells are located near the unit line, indicating
that they tend to covary. In other words, cells with broad excitatory
components also tend to have broad suppressive components. Cells with
the largest separation between fctr(E) and
fctr(I) also tend to have large values, suggesting that the increase in the width of the components compensates for the separation between their centers (data not shown). The result
is that there is a large degree of overlap between the components,
regardless of the separation between fctr(E) and
fctr(I).
Correlation between suppression, fpk
and Q
Many cells show both a net effect of suppression and a change in
selectivity and fpk. We asked whether
suppression plays a role in generating these characteristics. In
principle, a time-delayed suppressive component at low spatial
frequencies could increase both selectivity and cause a shift in
fpk toward higher frequencies over time. If the
suppressive and excitatory input overlap, but have different tuning,
the result will be an increase in the slope of the tuning curve. The
location of suppression relative to excitation determines whether the
increase in selectivity will be symmetrical or biased toward one flank
of the tuning curve. If suppression is located at the same spatial
frequency as excitation, but is broader in tuning, both flanks of the
tuning curve would be equally suppressed, resulting in a symmetrical
tuning function. However, if suppression is located primarily at
spatial frequencies either higher or lower than excitation, the
increase in selectivity would be biased toward the corresponding flank
of the tuning curve. In addition, the overlap between suppressive and
excitatory input might push the peak of the resulting tuning curve away
from the location of suppression over time.
Suppression and selectivity
We examined the possible role of suppression in increasing
selectivity by looking at the correlation between spatial frequency selectivity and suppression (Fig.
9A). In general, cells with a
high suppression index (SupIndex > 0.23), which
indicates the relative contribution of suppression to the total
response (Eq. 11), tend to be more selective than cells with a lower
suppression index (Wilcoxon sign rank test; p < 0.001). This relationship suggests that at least one of the roles
of suppressive input may be to increase the selectivity of the tuning
of the cell.

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Figure 9.
Effect of suppression on selectivity.
A, The time-averaged selectivity of dynamic tuning increases
with increasing suppression. B, C, The change in selectivity
over the time course of the response ( Q) is related to a
change in the amount of overlap between the two components of the model
( overlap). Positive numbers on the
abscissa indicate an increase in selectivity over time,
whereas negative numbers indicate a decrease in selectivity.
On the ordinate, positive numbers indicate
increasing amounts of overlap between the components over time.
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We investigated the relationships between the inhibitory and excitatory
inputs in our model to examine the influence of suppression on
selectivity. If the delayed development of suppression is responsible for the increase in selectivity shown by many of the cells in our
sample, we should find a correlation between changes in selectivity over time, Q (Eq. 9), and the amount of overlap between
the components of the model, overlap (Eq. 14).
Figure 9, B and C, compares Q and
overlap, on the basis of whether the suppression was
centered at lower or higher spatial frequencies than excitation. When
fctr(E) is higher than
fctr(I), there is a significant positive
relationship between Q and overlap (Fig.
9B) (r2 = 0.6; p < 0.001). The
opposite is true when fctr(E) is lower than
fctr(I) (r2 = 0.4;
p < 0.05). These correlations suggest that the relationship between suppression and excitation contributes to changes in
selectivity over time.
Suppression and spatial frequency shift
In addition to changes in selectivity, changes in the amount of
overlap between the excitatory and suppressive components could also
produce changes in the peak of dynamic tuning. An increase in
overlap would tend to shift the peak of the tuning curve
away from fctr(E), toward the nonsuppressed
flank of the tuning curve. We tested this hypothesis by comparing
overlap with fpk (Fig. 10A,B); for larger values of
overlap, we expect to find larger shifts in
fpk.

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Figure 10.
Effect of suppression on
fpk. A, B, There is a correlation
between fpk and overlap. The
form of this relationship is similar to the relationship seen between
the change in selectivity and the change in overlap (Fig. 9).
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Similar to the results for selectivity, there is a positive correlation
when fctr(E) is greater than
fctr(I) and a negative correlation otherwise
(r2 = 0.3; p < 0.001 and
r2 = 0.3; p < 0.1
respectively). These results suggest that suppression may also be
involved in producing the shift of fpk over time.
 |
DISCUSSION |
In this study, we measured how spatial frequency tuning evolves as
a function of time from stimulus presentation. We found that, for a
majority of cells, the tuning curve is not separable in
spatial-frequency and time. The three most salient patterns in the data
were (1) shifts in the preferred spatial frequency toward higher
spatial frequencies over the duration of their response, (2) increases
in selectivity over time, and (3) suppression at low spatial frequencies.
The role of suppression in generating cortical spatial
frequency tuning
Of particular interest in this study was whether suppression plays
a role in spatial frequency tuning. We found suppression primarily at
low spatial frequencies, slightly lagged in time relative to the
development of excitation. For individual cells, the relative amount of
suppression correlates with the selectivity of the response, suggesting
that the generation of sharp cortical spatial frequency tuning may be
directly dependent on suppression of nonpreferred stimuli. This
hypothesis is supported by the dynamics of the relationship between
suppression and selectivity revealed by the two-component model. The
model suggests that the relative location, timing, and the amount of
overlap between excitatory and inhibitory inputs are all important in
understanding the relationship between suppression and selectivity.
When lagged suppression is located at lower spatial frequencies than
excitation, it inhibits the response to low spatial frequencies,
sharpening the low spatial frequency limb of the tuning curve. As the
magnitude of suppression increases relative to the magnitude of
excitation, the increasing overlap between the inhibitory and
excitatory components pushes the peak of the spatial frequency tuning
curve toward higher frequencies. Such a mechanism might be partly
responsible for transforming low-pass tuning input from the LGN into
the more typical bandpass shape observed in V1. This process is seen in
the dynamic responses of many cells, which are initially low-pass but
become bandpass over the time course of their responses.
The relationship between suppression and selectivity in our data is
consistent to some extent with the study of Bauman and Bonds
(1991) in cat area 17. These investigators suggested that suppression occurs on the sharper limb of the spatial frequency tuning
curve. For both "low-pass" and "high-pass" cells, suppression was most often revealed on the complementary limb of the tuning curve,
i.e., on the high spatial frequency limb of a low-pass tuning curve.
For bandpass cells, suppression was often located on both sides of the
tuning curve. On the basis of their results, Bauman and Bonds
(1991) suggested that suppression was involved in sharpening
the slope of spatial frequency tuning.
For reasons that are not completely clear, however, another study of
spatial frequency suppression has reached different conclusions (Ramoa et al., 1986 ). In this study, when spontaneous
firing rates were elevated using pharmacological agents, there was no
evidence for suppression in the spatial frequency tuning curve,
although orientation tuning showed robust suppression.
Comparison with the dynamics of orientation tuning
There are several similarities between the dynamics of spatial
frequency tuning and the dynamics of orientation tuning, suggesting that cortical selectivity for both orientation and spatial frequency relies on similar mechanisms. First, the dynamics of cortical tuning
revealed suppression in both the orientation and spatial frequency
domains. For both orientation and spatial frequency, the suppression is
correlated with higher tuning selectivity (Ringach et al.,
1997 , 2002 ). In
addition, dynamic orientation tuning responses are well described by a
two-component model, in which an oriented excitatory component and a
delayed, iso-oriented suppressive component can accurately capture the
salient aspects of the data (Pugh et al., 2000 ). For
orientation tuning, suppression tends to be broader than excitation,
producing symmetrical flank suppression or global inhibition. A few
cells also show changes in orientation preferences over time, which
could be the result of suppression centered slightly off the excitatory
peak. Such changes in the orientation peak could be analogous to the
shift in peak spatial frequency found in this experiment. The
similarities between the dynamics of orientation and spatial frequency
tuning in V1 suggest that a single model in Fourier space can probably
account for the transformation of thalamic input into sharp cortical selectivity.
Models of cortical tuning and the role of suppression
There are two major classes of models that attempt to explain the
emergence of cortical selectivity. In their most simple forms,
feed-forward models suggest that cortical tuning is generated from the
organized convergence of thalamic input (Hubel and Wiesel, 1959 , 1962 ;
Troyer et al., 1998 ; Ferster and Miller,
2000 ). In contrast, feedback models hypothesize that the
excitatory thalamic input provides only a weak tuning bias, which is
then refined through intracortical excitatory and inhibitory
interactions (Benevento et al., 1972 ; Worgotter
and Koch, 1991 ; Ben-Yishai et al., 1995 ; Somers et al., 1995 ; Carandini and Ringach,
1997 ; Adorjan et al., 1999 ; Anderson et
al., 2000 ; Pugh et al., 2000 ).
There is evidence that aligned LGN input does play at least a partial
role in generating cortical selectivity (Bullier et al.,
1982 ; Ferster, 1987 ; Chapman et al.,
1991 ; Reid and Alonso, 1995 ); the extent of this
role is at the center of the feed-forward/feedback debate. As
feed-forward models have become more sophisticated, an additional
question has arisen regarding the role of suppressive input. Current
feed-forward models draw on evidence that V1 receptive fields receive
push-pull suppression (Heggelund, 1981 ; Palmer and Davis, 1981 ; Ferster, 1988 ). Push-pull
suppression is required by these models to explain contrast invariance,
while maintaining a primary dependence on feed-forward influences to
produce cortical selectivity (Troyer et al., 1998 ).
Feedback models, on the other hand, focus on evidence of a more broadly
tuned suppression in the orientation domain (Benevento et al.,
1972 ; Nelson, 1991 ; Sato et al.,
1996 ; Ringach et al., 1997 ) that could improve
cortical selectivity by suppressing nonoptimal stimuli
(Ben-Yishai et al., 1995 ; Somers et al.,
1995 ). Such suppression could also produce contrast
invariance (Wielaard et al., 2001 ). Both classes of
models were developed to account for the properties of orientation
selectivity. Here, we consider how well these classes of models account
for dynamic spatial frequency tuning in V1.
Our results suggest that response suppression has a strong influence on
the spatial frequency tuning characteristics of V1 neurons. The
influence of response suppression is seen most clearly in spatial
frequency tuning selectivity, which is sharpened through inhibitory
influences. The effects of suppression on tuning selectivity indicate
that, although response suppression may be responsible for contrast
invariance and contrast gain control, it is also involved in producing
sharp tuning. We think a single inhibitory circuit could potentially
explain, in a parsimonious way, gain control phenomena, contrast
invariance, and the dynamics of both orientation and spatial frequency
tuning selectivity.
The effect of suppression on cortical selectivity is most consistent
with feedback models, which predict that LGN input provides a tuning
bias, but that this bias is sharpened by intracortical excitation and
suppression (Ben-Yishai et al., 1995 ; Somers et al., 1995 ; Adorjan et al., 1999 ). Thus, feedback
models predict that the dynamic response should become more selective
over time as the intracortical feedback develops. These predictions are supported by the increase in selectivity over time observed in our
data. In addition, the broad tuning of the excitatory input components
fit by our model (Fig. 8A) is similar to estimates of
thalamic spatial frequency tuning (Derrington and Fuchs,
1979 ; Kaplan and Shapley, 1982 ), suggesting that
the excitatory components of the model could be thought of as biased
LGN input.
Current feedback models have not made specific predictions about the
tuning of intracortical spatial frequency suppression. In the
orientation domain, broad iso-oriented inhibition suppresses both flanks of the symmetrical orientation tuning curve (Ringach et al., 1997 ). The flank suppression increases the selectivity of orientation tuning while maintaining a symmetrical orientation tuning curve. In the spatial frequency domain, the LGN inputs to V1 are
low-pass rather than symmetrically bandpass; thus inhibitory inputs at
low spatial frequencies, such as those described by our model, would
suppress the response at the lowest spatial frequencies, producing the
bandpass curves characteristic of visual cortex.
The dynamics of spatial frequency tuning are not consistent with
current instantiations of the push-pull model (Troyer et al.,
1998 ), because this model does not predict the suppressive component at low-spatial frequencies that is seen in our data. However,
we emphasize that our results do not reject the entire class of
feed-forward models. Inhibitory influences could be caused by
feed-forward input from the LGN that is inverted by cortical interneurons. Thus, it might be possible to modify the push-pull model
to account for some or all of the effects seen in our data.
To summarize, we think that a goal for future theoretical work is to
explain the correlation between suppression and selectivity observed in
the data. It might be possible to identify a single inhibitory circuit
that can adequately explain bandwidth, gain control, and contrast
invariance simultaneously. Further experiments can also shed new light
on the relationship between these properties. If inhibition is
responsible for most of these phenomena, one could ask whether
correlations are observed on a cell-by-cell case.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
Received Oct. 1, 2001; revised Dec. 13, 2001; accepted Dec. 14, 2001.
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant
EY-12816 and National Science Foundation Grant IBN-9720305 (D.L.R.).
Correspondence should be addressed to Christine Bredfeldt, Department
of Psychology, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Franz Hall, University of
California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095. E-mail:
gecko{at}ucla.edu.
 |
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C. Weng, C.-I Yeh, C. R. Stoelzel, and J.-M. Alonso
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J Neurophysiol,
June 1, 2005;
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[Abstract]
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G. Chen, Y. Dan, and C.-Y. Li
Stimulation of non-classical receptive field enhances orientation selectivity in the cat
J. Physiol.,
April 1, 2005;
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233 - 243.
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L. Sirovich and R. Uglesich
The organization of orientation and spatial frequency in primary visual cortex
PNAS,
November 30, 2004;
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[Abstract]
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J. Hegde and D. C. Van Essen
Temporal Dynamics of Shape Analysis in Macaque Visual Area V2
J Neurophysiol,
November 1, 2004;
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[Abstract]
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A. Grunewald and E. K. Skoumbourdis
The Integration of Multiple Stimulus Features by V1 Neurons
J. Neurosci.,
October 13, 2004;
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W. Bair and J. A. Movshon
Adaptive Temporal Integration of Motion in Direction-Selective Neurons in Macaque Visual Cortex
J. Neurosci.,
August 18, 2004;
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[Abstract]
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D. Xing, D. L. Ringach, R. Shapley, and M. J Hawken
Correlation of local and global orientation and spatial frequency tuning in macaque V1
J. Physiol.,
June 15, 2004;
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R. A. Frazor, D. G. Albrecht, W. S. Geisler, and A. M. Crane
Visual Cortex Neurons of Monkeys and Cats: Temporal Dynamics of the Spatial Frequency Response Function
J Neurophysiol,
June 1, 2004;
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2607 - 2627.
[Abstract]
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M. D. Menz and R. D. Freeman
Temporal Dynamics of Binocular Disparity Processing in the Central Visual Pathway
J Neurophysiol,
April 1, 2004;
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1782 - 1793.
[Abstract]
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D. L. Ringach, M. J. Hawken, and R. Shapley
Dynamics of Orientation Tuning in Macaque V1: The Role of Global and Tuned Suppression
J Neurophysiol,
July 1, 2003;
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[Abstract]
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