Work

Overrepresentation of horizontal and vertical orientation preferences in developing ferret area 17

Year: 1998

Type: article

Abstract: One of the fundamental principles of visual cortical organization is that neurons form a "map" in which neighboring cells have similar orientation preferences. Previous anatomical and imaging studies have shown that although the exact layouts of these orientation preference maps vary between individuals, features of iso-orientation domains such as width and spacing appear constant within a species. Using chronic optical imaging of intrinsic signals we now demonstrate that in ferret area 17 a larger proportion of cortical surface is dominated by responses to horizontal and vertical contours than to the two oblique orientations. This was true for all ferrets studied both during development and in adulthood. Interestingly, however, we found that the degree of the overrepresentation varied significantly between individual animals. In some young ferrets, responses to horizontal and vertical stimuli developed faster than responses to oblique stimuli, and a much larger percentage of the cortex responded preferentially to horizontal and vertical stimuli. In other individuals, responses to all stimuli developed at roughly the same rate, and there was relatively little overrepresentation of horizontal and vertical preferences.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.95.5.2609

Authors: Barbara Chapman, Tobias Bonhoeffer

Institutions: Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, University of California, Davis, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Visual perception and processing mechanisms

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Stryker, National Eye Institute

Award: Development of Visual Pathways