Feedback from area 21a influences orientation but not direction maps in the primary visual cortex of the cat

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2011.09.019

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 504, Issue 2, 24 October 2011, Pages 141-145

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2011.09.019 Get rights and content

Abstract

In the monkey's visual cortex, there are two well-documented information processing streams: the dorsal motion and ventral form/color pathways. Similarly, two corresponding information streams were also found in the cat's visual cortices, and PMLS and area 21a are the gateways for distinct motion and form information processing. It has been shown that the feedback from PMLS solely modulates motion direction, but not orientation response, while the feedback from area 21a modulates form related features, such as spatial frequency dependency and neuronal oblique effect. Here, we postulate that feedback signals from higher cortical areas in the form or the motion information pathway may solely modulate the corresponding properties in neurons in the lower areas of the visual system. To examine the above hypothesis, the impact of feedback from higher area 21a on both orientation and direction maps was investigated in area 17 of the cat using intrinsic signal optical imaging. The results showed that the feedback from area 21a did not affect the amplitude and preference of direction, but did modulate orientation response in area 17, supporting the above hypothesis.

Highlights

▸ We examined the impact of area 21a feedback on orientation/direction maps in area 17. ▸ The activation/deactivation of area 21a changed the orientation response in area 17. ▸ The identical manipulation did not affect the amplitude and preference of direction map. ▸ It suggests the segregated motion/form feedback pathways from higher visual cortices.

Section snippets

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from the “973”, National Basic Science Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2010CB327901), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30970976), Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China, Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Shanghai Pujiang Program, and Shu Guang Project by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and Shanghai Education Development Foundation to H. Yu.

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¹: These authors contributed equally to the work.

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Feedback from area 21a influences orientation but not direction maps in the primary visual cortex of the cat

Abstract

Highlights

Section snippets

Acknowledgements

Prog. Brain Res.

Trends Neurosci.

Brain Res.

Neuroimage

J. Neurosci. Methods

Neuroscience