Abstract
The spatial summation characteristic in the receptive fields of cat lateral geniculate cells were investigated. First, the central area of the receptive field was determined using a spot of light. Then the response of the cell were obtained using disc-shaped stimuli of various radii located in the middle point of the receptive field center. When the radius was increased gradually, the response tended to increase, at first, until it reached a peak value and began to decrease thereafter. The radius where the peak response took place was generally less than that of the receptive field center. Furthermore, this radius decreased when the intensity of the stimulus light was increased. These neurophysiological findings could be simulated by a model. The model consists of two parts. The first part receives the input from the photoreceptors. It is of homogeneous structure with shunting inhibition. The second part receives the input from the first part. The structure is characterized by the conventional center-surround type lateral interaction.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Baylor, D.A., Fuortes, M.G.F., O'Bryan, P.M.: Receptive fields of cones in the retina of the turtle. J. Physiol. (Lond.)214, 265–294 (1971)
Büttner, U., Grüsser, O.-J.: Quantitative Untersuchungen der räumlichen Erregungssummation im receptiven Feld retinaler Neurone der Katze. Kybernetik4, 81–94 (1968)
Dowling, J.E., Boycott, B.B.: Organization of the primate retina: electron microscopy. Proc. roy. Soc. B166, 80–111 (1966)
Enroth-Cugell, C., Robson, J.G.: The contrast sensitivity of retinal ganglion cells of the cat. J. Physiol. (Lond.)187, 517–552 (1966)
Freund, H.-J., Grünewald, G.: Räumliche Summation und Hemmungsvorgänge im receptiven Feldzentrum von Retina-Neuronen der Katze, Exp. Brain Res.8, 37–52 (1969)
Freund, H.-J., Grünewald, G., Baumgartner, G.: Räumliche Summation im receptiven Feldzentrum von Neuronen der geniculatum laterale der Katze, Exp. Brain Res.8, 53–65 (1969)
Furman, C.G.: Comparison of models for subtractive and shunting lateral-inhibition in receptor-neuron fields. Kybernetik2, 252–274 (1965)
Rodieck, R.W.: Central neuvous system: afferent mechanisms. Ann. Rev. Physiol.33, 203–240 (1971)
Stone, J., Fabian, M.: Summing properties of the cat's retinal ganglion cell. Vision Res.8, 1023–1040 (1968)
Yamane, S., Kaji, S., Sugie, N.: A simple method for determining the axis and the focus of the eye in the visual experiment. J. Physiol. Soc. Japan33, 660–661 (1971)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sugie, N., Yamane, S., Kaji, S. et al. On the characteristic of nonlinear spatial summation observed in the lateral geniculate cells of cats. Biol. Cybernetics 19, 211–215 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02281971
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02281971