Nesc 2470- Chapter 10 Cont.

11/10/2009
 Input to Striate Cortex
 Magnocellular LGN neurons: project to layer IVCa
 Parvocellular LGN neurons: project to layer IVCB
 Koniocellular LGN axons: Bypasses layer IV to make synapses in layers II
and III
 Pyramidal cells- output cells of primary visual area
 LGN receptive fields look like ganglion receptive fields (on/off center and
antagonist surround)  enhances contrast
 Area IV is main input area-
 The input from P and M ganglion are being kept separate in the IVC layer

Anatomy of the Striate Cortex

 AT the level of the LGN, the information from the left visual field which is
from the left and right eye are kept in different columns Optical
Dominant Columns
 Info from both eye is mixed in layer II and III- the eye becomes
unimportant
 It isn’t until level III that you will have action potential regardless of the
eye that the input has come from.
 In layer IV, there are alternating layers from left eye and right eye input.
 First binocular cells in visual systems
 Binocolular receptive fields, one for each eye
 Usually cell driven more strongly by one eye- there is a dominant eye
 Layers II, III and IVB: Projection to other cortical areas
 Layer V: Projects to the superior colliculus and pons
 Layer VI: projects back to the LGN
 Pyramidal cells also make local connections
 There is not random output
 Cytochrome Oxidase Blobs:
 cytochrome oxidase is a mitochondrial enzyme used for cell
metabolism
 Blobs: areas of high activity; input mainly from non M, non P cells
as well as P and M cells from layer IVC
  Strips of ocular dominance columns and within these collums are
strips of cytochrome oxidase blobs
 Cells sensitive to colour

Physiology of the Striate Cortex

 Receptive Fields
 Layer IVC: Monocular; center-surround
 Layer IVCa: Insensitive to the wavelength- get on/off ganglion cells
which respond for any cone
 Layer IVC B: Center-surround colour opponency
 Layer IV cells: receptive fields similar to LGN cells
 Outside layer IVC, you have receptive fields that look different from
center/surround
 - no longer spot
 You begin to see orientation selectivity: on group of striate cells
respond to angle of visual stimulus: put electrons next to individual
neurons and so there are different receptive fields for different
layers
 Direction Selectivity: Neurons fires action potential in response to
moving bar of light- it wants visual stimulus to move in a particular
direction
 Simple cells:
o Some of the first cells that you get beyond the LGN
o Responsive to bars instead of just the center surround
o Binocular; Orientation-selective; Elongated on-off region with
antagonistic flanks respond to optimally orientated bar of
light.
o The want bar that enhance contrast (antagonistic receptive
field)- dark bar you want a light surround
o Possibly composed of three LGN cells axons with center-
surround receptive fields. The 3 center-surrounds of
neighboring cells combine to form a bar
 Complex Cells:
o Binocular- it doesn’t matter if the information is coming from
the left eye or right eye
o Orientation-selectiv
 o On and Off response to the bar of light but unlike simple
cells, not distinct on-off regions
 Blob Receptive Fields:
o Blobs: Wavelength-sensitive (important for colour vision)
o Monocular: only respond to input from one eye
o No orientation, no direction selectivity
 Parallel Pathways: Magnocellular, Koniocellular, Parovocellular
 Retina LGNV1
 M cells Magnocellular Layer IVC Layer IVB (some to blobs) 
Cortical Area
 nonM- non P--> Koniocellular--> Blob--> Cortical areas
 P-type Parvocellular Layer IVC (some to blob) Interblob Cortical
areas
 **Mixing within the Striate cortex (it does some processing unlike the
LGN)
 ** A lot of the information is still being kept separate in the Striate cortex
 Cortical Module:

Beyond the Striate Cortex

 Dorsal Stream
 Analysis of visual motion and visual control of action
 Information about MT: cells are sensitive to motion in direction, for
speed- motion sensitive area which allows you to understand,
interperate motion
 M type ganglion cells
 Central stream:
 Perception of the visual world and recognition of objects.
 to IT area
 colour vision

Dorsal Stream
 V1, V2, V3, MT, MST, other dorsal areas
 Area MT (temporal lobe)
 Most cells: Direction-selective
 Respond more to the motion of objects than their shape
 plays a role in navigation
 Beyond area MT; three roles of cells in area MST (pariental lobe)
 Navigation
 Directing eye movements
 Motion perception

Ventral Stream
 V1, V2, V3, V4, IT, Other Ventral areas
 Receives information from the blobs
 Area V4:
 Achromatopsia: parial or complete loss of colour vision if you
damage this area
 you can still see motion and determine the shape of objects, but
not colour.
 Area IT:
 Major output of V4
 Receptive fields respond to a wide variety of colors and abstract
shapes
 Face blindness

From Single Neuron to Perception

 Visual Perception:
 Identifying and assigning meaning to objects
 Hierarchy of complex receptive fields:
 Retinal ganglion cells: Center-surround structure, Sensitive to
contrast, and wavelength of light
 Striate cortex: Orientation selectivity direction selectivity and
binocularity
 Extrastriatve cortical areas: Selective responsive to complex
shapes; e.g. Faces
 Grandmother cell theory: ganglion cells in retina LGNStriate Cortex--
> Cell IT area. You have parallel tracts which carry information about
colour, orientation etc and these all come together on one particular cell.
 You would have to have different cell for each object and each orientation
of the object.
 Parallel Processing: visual of grandmother is projected onto many cells in
the IT area, and these combine to form image. Image is stored in a
network of cell. IF they fire in different patterns, will give you the
perception of your grandmother. There are different circuits for different
people, but the circuits overalap.

 Vision
 Perception combines individually identified properties of visual
object
 Achieved by simultaneous, parallel processing of several visual
pathway
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