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ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE PIGEON'S OPTIC TECTUM
Author(s) -
Bilge M.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
quarterly journal of experimental physiology and cognate medical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1469-445X
pISSN - 0033-5541
DOI - 10.1113/expphysiol.1971.sp002125
Subject(s) - receptive field , tectum , neuroscience , binocular neurons , stratum , visual cortex , electrophysiology , visual field , dorsum , physics , midbrain , anatomy , biology , central nervous system , paleontology
Electrical responses of the cells at different depths of the pigeon's optic tectum to different visual stimuli were recorded. Point to point representation of the upper visual field on the dorsal surface of the tectum was obtained as a projection on a horizontal stereotaxic plane. Different units in the stratum griseum et fibrosum superficiale of the tectal cortex are all sensitive to stationary and moving stimuli and all have very small (2–3 degrees in diameter) visual receptive fields. The most noticeable difference between units from the superficial sublayers of the stratum griseum et fibrosum superficiale and those from the deeper sublayers of the stratum griseum et fibrosum superficiale is that the deeper units show much more rapid habituation to repetitive stationary stimuli, while they remain equally sensitive to all types of moving visual stimuli. All the units in the stratum griseum centrale are either insensitive to stationary stimuli or habituate very rapidly to them. They are very sensitive to moving stimuli. These movement detectors have large receptive fields mostly rectangular in shape with long axes vertical or horizontal but never oblique. The nucleus isthmi showed different types of special units all with large receptive fields, the majority of which had indefinite boundaries. A small group had sharp boundaries and rectangular fields and resembled those seen in the stratum griseum centrale. These units are insensitive to stationary target and habituate very rapidly to steadily moving targets. Some of them behave as if they were sensitive to more complex types of movement.