Notes � neuro prelims lecture/tutorial, visual system

Greg Detre

25/11/99

sub-cortical visual pathways

 

centre surround � mutually antagonistic � insensitive to whole cell illumination

spatial contrast rather than luminance

 

p- and m-retinal cells (parasol and midget)��������� size of dendritic field

analysign the world at a different spatial scale

P-cells in fovea � fine-grained, convert to single cone

little overlap � important principle of retinal sampling = spatially efficient

tile the retina doubly (on + off-centre cells)

M-cell 3 times the diameter of P-cell � also tile

M-cell 3 times the diameter of P-cell � also tile

density P:M 9:1���������� 10% specialised, project non-thalamic

 

can vary the spatial contrast (the difference between illumination + background)

m-cells quite sensitive respond lots over different contrast ranges

detect fine scale contrast/reflectances in the external world

chromatic selectivity

 

LGN:

parvo-cellular layers (P-cells project) 4 layers

magno-cellular layers (M-cells)

the physiology = exactly same as retina

segregation of input according to ocularity

the further from the fovea, the bigger the receptive fields

eccentricity 1/resolution

 

90% retina LGN

10% superior colliculus (convergent input from somatosensory + auditory as well)

sit on top of motor neurons

sensorimotor integration awaiting resopnses eye/head

protection � pupil light response

suprahiasmatic(???) nucleus � close to hypothalamus + pituitary)

set biological clock���� registration with daylight

 

why don't we see double?

cortical map represents density of retinal ganglion cells in the fovea

visual cortex neurons in area 17 are selective to bars (orientation)

orientation tuning curve

 

simple:

bar detectors based on a line of receptive field

H&W predict optical stimulus for receptive field (other way round???)

spatially separate mutually antagonistic sub-fields

 

complex:

spatially paired on & off responses

same range of timing � just as orientation-selective

less selective of position � not selective of locality

complex � converging lots of simple cells

 

hyper-complex

continuum of tuning for length

(as well as bar orientation and width)

used for occlusion + termination

and possibly also curvature

 

cortical cells = binocular = get information from both eyes

Questions

parasol + midget vs parvo + magno???

single cone/triplet?