scholarly journals Sound induces change in orientation preference of V1 neurons: Audio-visual cross-influence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nayan Chanauria ◽  
Vishal Bharmauria ◽  
Lyes Bachatene ◽  
Sarah Cattan ◽  
Jean Rouat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Auditory Stimulus ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
List Type ◽  
Visual Neurons ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
The Individual

AbstractIn the cortex, demarcated unimodal sensory regions often respond to unforeseen sensory stimuli and exhibit plasticity. The goal of the current investigation was to test evoked responses of primary visual cortex (V1) neurons when an adapting auditory stimulus is applied in isolation. Using extracellular recordings in anesthetized cats, we demonstrate that, unlike the prevailing observation of only slight modulations in the firing rates of the neurons, sound imposition in isolation entirely shifted the peaks of orientation tuning curves of neurons in both supra- and infragranular layers of V1. Our results suggest that neurons specific to either layer dynamically integrate features of sound and modify the organization of the orientation map of V1. Intriguingly, these experiments present novel findings that the mere presentation of a prolonged auditory stimulus may drastically recalibrate the tuning properties of the visual neurons and highlight the phenomenal neuroplasticity of V1 neurons.HighlightsProlonged application of sound shifts preferred orientation of neurons in area 17 of cats.Orientation tuning shifts in the individual neurons in supra- and infragranular layers of V1.Supra- and infragranular layers of V1 operate together but also as distinct compartments following sound adaptation.Visual cortex is specifically and dynamically impacted by non-visual stimuli.Sound adaptation certainly modifies the organization of orientation maps in V1.

scholarly journals Traumatic brain injury to primary visual cortex produces long-lasting circuit dysfunction

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan C. Frankowski ◽  
Andrzej T. Foik ◽  
Alexa Tierno ◽  
Jiana R. Machhor ◽  
David C. Lyon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Traumatic Brain Injury ◽  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
Adult Mice ◽  
Electrophysiological Recordings

AbstractPrimary sensory areas of the mammalian neocortex have a remarkable degree of plasticity, allowing neural circuits to adapt to dynamic environments. However, little is known about the effects of traumatic brain injury on visual circuit function. Here we used anatomy and in vivo electrophysiological recordings in adult mice to quantify neuron responses to visual stimuli two weeks and three months after mild controlled cortical impact injury to primary visual cortex (V1). We found that, although V1 remained largely intact in brain-injured mice, there was ~35% reduction in the number of neurons that affected inhibitory cells more broadly than excitatory neurons. V1 neurons showed dramatically reduced activity, impaired responses to visual stimuli and weaker size selectivity and orientation tuning in vivo. Our results show a single, mild contusion injury produces profound and long-lasting impairments in the way V1 neurons encode visual input. These findings provide initial insight into cortical circuit dysfunction following central visual system neurotrauma.

Are neurons in cat posteromedial lateral suprasylvian visual cortex orientation sensitive? Tests with bars and gratings

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Danilov ◽  
Rodney J. Moore ◽  
Von R. King ◽  
Peter D. Spear
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
Orientation Sensitivity ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Response Measures ◽  
Direction Of Movement ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Quantitative Response

AbstractThere is controversy in the literature concerning whether or not neurons in the cat's posteromedial lateral suprasylvian (PMLS) visual cortex are orientation selective. Previous studies that have tested cells with simple bar stimuli have found that few, if any, PMLS cells are orientation selective. Conversely, studies that have used repetitive stimuli such as gratings have found that most or all PMLS cells are orientation selective. It is not known whether this difference in results is due to the stimuli used or the laboratories using them. The present experiments were designed to answer this question by testing individual PMLS neurons for orientation sensitivity with both bar and grating stimuli. Using quantitative response measures, we found that most PMLS neurons respond well enough to stationary flashed stimuli to use such stimuli to test for orientation sensitivity. On the basis of these tests, we found that about 85% of the cells with well-defined receptive fields are orientation sensitive to flashed gratings, and a similar percentage are orientation sensitive to flashed bars. About 80% of the cells were orientation sensitive to both types of stimuli. The preferred orientations typically were similar for the two tests, and they were orthogonal to the preferred direction of movement. The strength of the orientation sensitivity (measured as the ratio of discharge to the preferred and nonpreferred orientations) was similar to both types of stimuli. However, the width of the orientation tuning curves was systematically broader to bars than to gratings. Several hypotheses are considered as to why previous studies using bars failed to find evidence for orientation sensitivity. In addition, a mechanism for the difference in orientation tuning to bars and gratings is suggested.

Plasticity of neuronal response properties in adult cat striate cortex

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. MCLEAN ◽  
L.A. PALMER
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Striate Cortex ◽  
Direction Selectivity ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
Spatial Phase ◽  
Associative Conditioning ◽  
Phase Tuning ◽  
Adult Cat ◽  
Cat Striate Cortex

We have utilized an associative conditioning paradigm to induce changes in the receptive field (RF) properties of neurons in the adult cat striate cortex. During conditioning, the presentation of particular visual stimuli were repeatedly paired with the iontophoretic application of either GABA or glutamate to control postsynaptic firing rates. Similar paradigms have been used in kitten visual cortex to alter RF properties (Fregnac et al., 1988, 1992; Greuel et al., 1988; Shulz & Fregnac, 1992). Roughly half of the cells that were subjected to conditioning with stimuli differing in orientation were found to have orientation tuning curves that were significantly altered. In general, the modification in orientation tuning was not accompanied by a shift in preferred orientation, but rather, responsiveness to stimuli at or near the positively reinforced orientation was increased relative to controls, and responsiveness to stimuli at or near the negatively reinforced orientation was decreased relative to controls. A similar proportion of cells that were subjected to conditioning with stimuli differing in spatial phase were found to have spatial-phase tuning curves that were significantly modified. Conditioning stimuli typically differed by 90 deg in spatial phase, but modifications in spatial-phase angle were generally 30–40 deg. An interesting phenomenon we encountered was that during conditioning, cells often developed a modulated response to counterphased grating stimuli presented at the null spatial phase. We present an example of a simple cell for which the shift in preferred spatial phase measured with counterphased grating stimuli was comparable to the shift in spatial phase computed from a one-dimensional Gabor fit of the space-time RF profile. One of ten cells tested had a significant change in direction selectivity following associative conditioning. The specific and predictable modifications of RF properties induced by our associative conditioning procedure demonstrate the ability of mature visual cortical neurons to alter their integrative properties. Our results lend further support to models of synaptic plasticity where temporal correlations between presynaptic and postsynaptic activity levels control the efficiency of transmission at existing synapses, and to the idea that the mature visual cortex is, in some sense, dynamically organized.

Neural responses to relative speed in the primary visual cortex of rhesus monkey

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
AN CAO ◽  
PETER H. SCHILLER
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Relative Motion ◽  
Motion Parallax ◽  
Relative Speed ◽  
Neural Responses ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
Cortex Area ◽  
Ground Segmentation

Relative motion information, especially relative speed between different input patterns, is required for solving many complex tasks of the visual system, such as depth perception by motion parallax and motion-induced figure/ground segmentation. However, little is known about the neural substrate for processing relative speed information. To explore the neural mechanisms for relative speed, we recorded single-unit responses to relative motion in the primary visual cortex (area V1) of rhesus monkeys while presenting sets of random-dot arrays moving at different speeds. We found that most V1 neurons were sensitive to the existence of a discontinuity in speed, that is, they showed higher responses when relative motion was presented compared to homogenous field motion. Seventy percent of the neurons in our sample responded predominantly to relative rather than to absolute speed. Relative speed tuning curves were similar at different center–surround velocity combinations. These relative motion-sensitive neurons in macaque area V1 probably contribute to figure/ground segmentation and motion discontinuity detection.

scholarly journals Projection of orthogonal tiling from the retina to the visual cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaeson Jang ◽  
Min Song ◽  
Gwangsu Kim ◽  
Se-Bum Paik
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Spatial Frequency ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Ocular Dominance ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
List Type ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Electrode Recording ◽  
Alignment Angle

AbstractIn higher mammals, the primary visual cortex (V1) is organized into diverse tuning maps of visual features such as orientation, spatial frequency and ocular dominance. The topography of these maps is observed to intersect orthogonally, implying that a developmental principle for efficient tiling of sensory modules may exist. However, it remains unclear how such a systematic relationship among cortical tuning maps could develop. Here, we show that the orthogonal organization of tuning modules already exist in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) mosaics, and that this provides a blueprint of the orthogonal organization in V1. Firstly, from the analysis of multi-electrode recording data in V1, we found that the ON-OFF subregion distance of receptive fields varies periodically across the cortical surface, strongly correlated to ocular dominance and spatial frequency in the area. Further, the ON-OFF alignment angle, that is orthogonal to the ON-OFF distance, appears to correlate with orientation tuning. These suggest that the orthogonal organization in V1 may originate from the spatial organization of the ON-OFF receptive fields in the bottom-up projections, and this scenario was tested from analysis of the RGC mosaics data in monkeys and cats. We found that the ON-OFF RGC distance and ON-OFF angle of neighbouring RGCs are organized into a topographic tiling across mosaics, analogous to the orthogonal intersection of cortical tuning maps. These findings suggest that the regularly structured ON-OFF patterns mirrored from a retina may initiate efficient tiling of functional domains in V1.HighlightsOrthogonal organization of visual tuning maps are observed in both V1 and the retinaCortical tuning maps are correlated with the profile of ON-OFF feedforward projectionsThe profile of ON-OFF receptive fields varies periodically across the V1 surfaceRegularly structured RGC patterns initiate the orthogonal tiling of sensory modules in V1

scholarly journals Sub-Optimality of the Early Visual System Explained Through Biologically Plausible Plasticity

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tushar Chauhan ◽  
Timothée Masquelier ◽  
Benoit R. Cottereau
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Spike Timing ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
Stdp Rule ◽  
Early Visual Cortex ◽  
Minimisation Problem

The early visual cortex is the site of crucial pre-processing for more complex, biologically relevant computations that drive perception and, ultimately, behaviour. This pre-processing is often studied under the assumption that neural populations are optimised for the most efficient (in terms of energy, information, spikes, etc.) representation of natural statistics. Normative models such as Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and Sparse Coding (SC) consider the phenomenon as a generative, minimisation problem which they assume the early cortical populations have evolved to solve. However, measurements in monkey and cat suggest that receptive fields (RFs) in the primary visual cortex are often noisy, blobby, and symmetrical, making them sub-optimal for operations such as edge-detection. We propose that this suboptimality occurs because the RFs do not emerge through a global minimisation of generative error, but through locally operating biological mechanisms such as spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP). Using a network endowed with an abstract, rank-based STDP rule, we show that the shape and orientation tuning of the converged units are remarkably close to single-cell measurements in the macaque primary visual cortex. We quantify this similarity using physiological parameters (frequency-normalised spread vectors), information theoretic measures [Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence and Gini index], as well as simulations of a typical electrophysiology experiment designed to estimate orientation tuning curves. Taken together, our results suggest that compared to purely generative schemes, process-based biophysical models may offer a better description of the suboptimality observed in the early visual cortex.

scholarly journals Influence of Contrast on Orientation and Temporal Frequency Tuning in Ferret Primary Visual Cortex

2004 ◽  
Vol 91 (6) ◽  
pp. 2797-2808 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry J. Alitto ◽  
W. Martin Usrey
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Cortical Neurons ◽  
Frequency Tuning ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
Visual Response ◽  
Stimulus Contrast ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
Simple And Complex Cells

Neurons in primary visual cortex are highly sensitive to the contrast, orientation, and temporal frequency of a visual stimulus. These three stimulus properties can be varied independently of one another, raising the question of how they interact to influence neuronal responses. We recorded from individual neurons in ferret primary visual cortex to determine the influence of stimulus contrast on orientation tuning, temporal-frequency tuning, and latency to visual response. Results show that orientation-tuning bandwidth is not affected by contrast level. Thus neurons in ferret visual cortex display contrast-invariant orientation tuning. Stimulus contrast does, however, influence the structure of orientation-tuning curves as measures of circular variance vary inversely with contrast for both simple and complex cells. This change in circular variance depends, in part, on a contrast-dependent change in the ratio of null to preferred orientation responses. Stimulus contrast also has an influence on the temporal-frequency tuning of cortical neurons. Both simple and complex cells display a contrast-dependent rightward shift in their temporal frequency-tuning curves that results in an increase in the highest temporal frequency needed to produce a half-maximum response (TF50). Results show that the degree of the contrast-dependent increase in TF50 is similar for cortical neurons and neurons in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and indicate that subcortical mechanisms likely play a major role in establishing the degree of effect displayed by downstream neurons. Finally, results show that LGN and cortical neurons experience a contrast-dependent phase advance in their visual response. This phase advance is most pronounced for cortical neurons indicating a role for both subcortical and cortical mechanisms.

scholarly journals Simultaneous development and periodic clustering of simple and complex cells in visual cortex

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwangsu Kim ◽  
Jaeson Jang ◽  
Se-Bum Paik
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Periodic Variation ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
List Type ◽  
Simple Complex ◽  
Single Class ◽  
Complex Cells ◽  
Orientation Maps ◽  
Simple And Complex Cells ◽  
Retinal Afferents

AbstractNeurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) are often classified as simple or complex cells, but it is debated whether they are discrete hierarchical classes of neurons developing sequentially, or if they represent a continuum of variation within a single class of cells developing simultaneously. Herein, we show that simple and complex cells may arise simultaneously from the universal process of retinal development. From analysis of the cortical receptive fields in cats, we show evidence that simple and complex cells originate from the periodic variation of ON-OFF segregation in the feedforward projection of retinal mosaics, by which they organize into periodic clusters in V1. Our key prediction that clusters of simple and complex cells correlate topographically with orientation maps was confirmed by data in cats. Our results suggest that simple and complex cells are not two distinct neural populations but arise from common retinal afferents, simultaneous with orientation tuning.HighlightsSimple and complex cells arise simultaneously from retinal afferents.Simple/complex cells are organized into periodic clusters across visual cortex.Simple/complex clusters are topographically correlated with orientation maps.Development of clustered cells in V1 is explained by the Paik-Ringach model.

scholarly journals Fast cortical dynamics encode tactile grating orientation during active touch

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan R. Harrell ◽  
Anthony Renard ◽  
Brice Bathellier
Keyword(s):  
Single Neuron ◽  
Barrel Cortex ◽  
Orientation Tuning ◽  
Perceptual Task ◽  
Physical Stimulus ◽  
Cortical Dynamics ◽  
Tuning Curves ◽  
Firing Rates ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Decision Orientation

AbstractTouch-based object recognition relies on perception of compositional tactile features like roughness, shape, and surface orientation. However, besides roughness, it remains unclear how these different tactile features are encoded to guide perception. Here, we establish a barrel cortex-dependent perceptual task in which mice discriminate tactile gratings based on orientation using only their whiskers. Multi-electrode recordings in barrel cortex reveal weak orientation tuning in average firing rates during grating exploration despite high levels of cortical activity. Just before decision, orientation information extracted from fast cortical dynamics more closely resembles concurrent psychophysical measurements than single neuron orientation tuning curves. This temporal code conveys both stimulus and choice-related information, suggesting that fast cortical dynamics during exploration of a tactile object both reflect the physical stimulus and impact the upcoming perceptual decision of the animal.

scholarly journals Hierarchical temporal prediction captures motion processing from retina to higher visual cortex

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosef Singer ◽  
Ben D. B. Willmore ◽  
Andrew J. King ◽  
Nicol S. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Neural Coding ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Motion Processing ◽  
Visual Neurons ◽  
V1 Neurons ◽  
Temporal Prediction ◽  
Complex Features ◽  
High Level ◽  
Visual Cortical

Visual neurons respond selectively to specific features that become increasingly complex in their form and dynamics from the eyes to the cortex. Retinal neurons prefer localized flashing spots of light, primary visual cortical (V1) neurons moving bars, and those in higher cortical areas, such as middle temporal (MT) cortex, favor complex features like moving textures. Whether there are general computational principles behind this diversity of response properties remains unclear. To date, no single normative model has been able to account for the hierarchy of tuning to dynamic inputs along the visual pathway. Here we show that hierarchical application of temporal prediction - representing features that efficiently predict future sensory input from past sensory input - can explain how neuronal tuning properties, particularly those relating to motion, change from retina to higher visual cortex. This suggests that the brain may not have evolved to efficiently represent all incoming information, as implied by some leading theories. Instead, the selective representation of sensory inputs that help in predicting the future may be a general neural coding principle, which when applied hierarchically extracts temporally-structured features that depend on increasingly high-level statistics of the sensory input.

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