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Cellular response to texture and form defined by motion in area 19 of the cat
Author(s) -
Khayat Paul S.,
SaintAmour Dave,
Molotchnikoff Stéphane,
Lepore Franco,
Guillemot JeanPaul
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
european journal of neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.346
H-Index - 206
eISSN - 1460-9568
pISSN - 0953-816X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1460-9568.2000.00046.x
Subject(s) - bar (unit) , texture (cosmology) , cats , sensitivity (control systems) , materials science , physics , artificial intelligence , computer science , medicine , image (mathematics) , electronic engineering , meteorology , engineering
The present study examined the neuronal sensitivity in area 19 of the cat to a motion‐defined bar and to texture. Sensitivity was tested in normal, lesioned (areas 17–18) and split‐chiasm cats using a kinematogram, as well as a textured bar drifting on a uniform light background and a light bar drifting on a stationary textured background. Texture density was varied. The results indicate that almost all cells of area 19 recorded in the three groups of cats responded to a motion‐defined bar or to its edges. Texture density influenced the responses in that the discharge rate increased as density decreased. However, the majority of cells were sensitive to the highest texture density kinematogram. Moreover, the neural responses of all cats were either independent of the density of the textured bar or background, or were modulated by it. These results show that cells in area 19 can signal the presence of a kinetic bar and that the density of either the textured bar, the background or both can influence figure–ground detection. The results are interpreted with respect to how various inputs influence the function of area 19.