A quantitative study of chromatic organisation and receptive fields of cells in the lateral geniculate body of the rhesus monkey

Abstract

The responses of neurones in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) were investigated in anaesthetised rhesus monkeys. A new classification for cells in the parvocellular layers (PCL) is proposed, based on their spectral response curve and their response to white stimuli: (A) narrow-band, short wavelength (NS) excited cells, activity suppressed by white stimuli; (B) wide-band, short-wavelength (WS) excited cells, excited by white stimuli; (C) wide-band, long-wavelength (WL) excited cells, (D) narrow-band, long-wavelength (NL) excited cells, activity suppressed by white stimuli; (E) light suppressed (LI) cells, activity suppressed by all wavelengths, usually with some concealed excitatory input at extreme short or long wavelengths. Responses to moving bars and to spots of various diameters (area response curves) were determined for various wavelengths. It was found that the receptive fields from which wavelength-dependent excitatory or suppressive effects could be elicited are concentrically superimposed. The spectral responsiveness of the excitatory inputs to individual cell types corresponds to the absorption curves of single cones (S-, M- or L-cone for NS, WS and WL cells respectively), the spectral distribution of the suppressive mechanisms of all cells was panchromatic and approximately fitted to a sum of all cones. The excitatory input to NL-cells cannot be related to any of the known cone absorption curves, and a simple (L-M) subtraction model is questioned. Neurones in the magnocellular layers (MCL) can be divided into on- and off-centre cells as in the cat's LGN and give qualitatively similar responses over the whole spectrum. In contrast to the tonic responses of PCL cells, MCL cells respond phasically to chromatic and white flashed spots, even with the smallest stimuli. Implications of these findings for colour processing in the LGN are discussed.

Subcortical Mechanisms of Feature-Based Attention

“…The retinotopic subcortical visual nucleithe superior colliculus (SC), the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), and two pulvinar nuclei-are highly spatial selective (Allman et al, 1972;Cynader and Berman, 1972;Goldberg and Wurtz, 1972;Malpeli and Baker, 1975;Bender, 1981;Benevento and Standage, 1983;Cusick et al, 1993;Schneider et al, 2004;Kastner, 2005, 2009), but their nonspatial feature selectivity varies: neurons in the superficial layers of the SC respond well to many stimuli largely independent of contrast, orientation, size, shape, or velocity (Humphrey, 1968;Schiller and Koerner, 1971;Cynader and Berman, 1972;Goldberg and Wurtz, 1972;Schiller and Stryker, 1972;Marrocco and Li, 1977); LGN neurons are segregated into layers of monochromatic and quickly adapting magnocellular neurons and chromatic and more sustained parvocellular neurons (Wiesel and Hubel, 1966;Dreher et al, 1976;Creutzfeldt et al, 1979;Shapley et al, 1981;Derrington and Lennie, 1984;Merigan and Maunsell, 1993;Schneider et al, 2004;Solomon et al, 2004); and pulvinar neurons encode features such as direction of motion and orientation (Mathers and Rapisardi, 1973;Gattass et al, 1979;Benevento and Miller, 1981;Bender, 1982;Petersen et al, 1985;Merabet et al, 1998;Casanova et al, 2001).…”

Functional Imaging of the Human Lateral Geniculate Nucleus and Pulvinar

“…The LGN is organized into 6 layers, each of which receives input from either the contra-or ipsilateral eye. There are 4 dorsal LGN layers containing small (parvocellular, P) neurons that are characterized by sustained discharge patterns, sensitivity to color, and low contrast gain, and 2 ventral layers containing large (magnocellular, M) neurons that are characterized by transient discharge patterns and high contrast gain (Creutzfeldt et al 1979;Dreher et al 1976;Merigan and Maunsell 1993;Shapley et al 1981;Wiesel and Hubel 1966).…”

Retinotopic Organization and Functional Subdivisions of the Human Lateral Geniculate Nucleus: A High-Resolution Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

“…The LGN is typically organized into six main layers, each of which receives input from either the contralateral or ipsilateral eye and contains a retinotopic map of the contralateral hemifield. The four dorsal layers contain small [parvocellular (P)] neurons characterized by sustained discharge patterns and low contrast gain, and the two ventral layers contain large [magnocellular (M)] neurons characterized by transient discharge patterns and high contrast gain (Wiesel and Hubel, 1966;Dreher et al, 1976;Creutzfeldt et al, 1979;Shapley et al, 1981;Derrington and Lennie, 1984;Merigan and Maunsell, 1993).…”