Receptive field

About: Receptive field is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 8537 publications have been published within this topic receiving 596428 citations.

Independent component filters of natural images compared with simple cells in primary visual cortex.

Abstract: Properties of the receptive fields of simple cells in macaque cortex were compared with properties of independent component filters generated by independent component analysis (ICA) on a large set of natural images. Histograms of spatial frequency bandwidth, orientation tuning bandwidth, aspect ratio and length of the receptive fields match well. This indicates that simple cells are well tuned to the expected statistics of natural stimuli. There is no match, however, in calculated and measured distributions for the peak of the spatial frequency response: the filters produced by ICA do not vary their spatial scale as much as simple cells do, but are fixed to scales close to the finest ones allowed by the sampling lattice. Possible ways to resolve this discrepancy are discussed.

High-frequency, long-range coupling between prefrontal and visual cortex during attention.

Abstract: Electrical recordings in humans and monkeys show attentional enhancement of evoked responses and gamma synchrony in ventral stream cortical areas. Does this synchrony result from intrinsic activity in visual cortex or from inputs from other structures? Using paired recordings in the frontal eye field (FEF) and area V4, we found that attention to a stimulus in their joint receptive field leads to enhanced oscillatory coupling between the two areas, particularly at gamma frequencies. This coupling appeared to be initiated by FEF and was time-shifted by about 8 to 13 milliseconds across a range of frequencies. Considering the expected conduction and synaptic delays between the areas, this time-shifted coupling at gamma frequencies may optimize the postsynaptic impact of spikes from one area upon the other, improving cross-area communication with attention.

Feature linking via synchronization among distributed assemblies: Simulations of results from cat visual cortex

Abstract: We recently discovered stimulus-specific interactions between cell assemblies in cat primary visual cortex that could constitute a global linking principle for feature associations in sensory and motor systems: stimulus-induced oscillatory activities (35-80 Hz) in remote cell assemblies of the same and of different visual cortex areas mutually synchronize, if common stimulus features drive the assemblies simultaneously. Based on our neurophysiological findings we simulated feature linking via synchronizations in networks of model neurons. The networks consisted of two one-dimensional layers of neurons, coupled in a forward direction via feeding connections and in lateral and backward directions via modulatory linking connections. The models' performance is demonstrated in examples of region linking with spatiotemporally varying inputs, where the rhythmic activities in response to an input, that initially are uncorrelated, become phase locked. We propose that synchronization is a general principle for the coding of associations in and among sensory systems and that at least two distinct types of synchronization do exist: stimulus-forced (event-locked) synchronizations support crude instantaneous associations and stimulus-induced (oscillatory) synchronizations support more complex iterative association processes. In order to bring neural linking mechanisms into correspondence with perceptual feature linking, we introduce the concept of the linking field (association field) of a local assembly of visual neurons. The linking field extends the concept of the invariant receptive field (RF) of single neurons to the flexible association of RFs in neural assemblies.

Stimulus Specific Responses from Beyond the Classical Receptive Field: Neurophysiological Mechanisms for Local-Global Comparisons in Visual Neurons

Abstract: We perceive the visual world as a unitary whole, yet one of the guiding principles of nearly a half century of neurophysiological research since the early recordings by Hartline (1938) has been that the visual system consists of neurons that are driven by stimulation within small discrete portions of the total visual field. These classical receptive fields (CRFs) have been mapped with the excitatory responses evoked by a flashed or moving stimulus, usually a spot or bar of light. Most of the visual neurons, in turn, are organized in a series of maps of the visual field, at least 10 of which exist in the visual cortex in primates as well as additional topographic representations in the lateral geniculate body, pulvinar and optic tectum (Allman 1977, Newsome & Allman 1980, Allman & Kaas 1984). It has been widely assumed that perceptual functions that require the integration of inputs over large portions of the visual field must be either collective properties of arrays of neurons representing the visual field, or features of those neurons at the highest processing levels in the visual system, such as the cells in inferotemporal or posterior parietal cortex that typically possess very large receptive fields and do not appear to be organized in visuotopic maps. These assumptions have been based on the results of the many studies in which receptive fields were mapped with conventional stimuli, presented one at a time, against a featureless background. However, unlike the neurophysiologist's tangent screen, the natural visual scene is rich in features, and there is a growing body of evidence that in many visual neurons stimuli presented outside the CRF strongly and selectively influence neural responses to stimuli presented within the CRF. These results suggest obvious mechanisms for local-global comparisons within visuotopically organized structures. Such broad and specific surround mechanisms could participate in many functions that require the integration of inputs over wide regions of the visual space such as the perceptual constancies, the segregation of figure from ground, and depth perception through motion parallax. In the first section of this paper, we trace the historical development of the evidence of response selectivity for visual stimuli presented beyond the CRF; in the second, examine the anatomical pathways that sub serve these far-reaching surround mechanisms; and in the third, explore the possible relationships between these mechanisms and perception.