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M Mizunami

Publications and source records attributed to M Mizunami.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Synaptic rectification model equivalent to the correlation-type movement detector.

Neural models which are equivalent to the correlation-type movement detector are described. The models involve contrast-coding channels which comprise bandpass linear filters followed by synaptic retifiers. Linear, one-directional lateral interactions are assumed among the contrast-coding channels. Synaptic rectifiers convert linear spatial interaction into a multiplication-like (quadratic) interaction, which is the core of the correlation-type movement detector. One of the neural models (E-I model) well approximates the correlation model in both time-averaged and dynamic (instantaneous) responses. Possible applicability of the model to movement detection by insects is discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Nonlinear signal transmission between second- and third-order neurons of cockroach ocelli.

Transfer characteristics of the synapse made from second- to third-order neurons of cockroach ocelli were studied using simultaneous microelectrode penetrations and the application of tetrodotoxin. Potential changes were evoked in second-order neurons by either an extrinsic current or a sinusoidally modulated light. The synapse had a low-pass filter characteristic with a cutoff frequency of 25-30 Hz, which passed most presynaptic signals. The synapse operated at an exponentially rising part of the overall sigmoidal input/output curve relating pre- and postsynaptic voltages. Although the response of the second-order neuron to sinusoidal light was essentially linear, the response of the third-order neuron contained an accelerating nonlinearity: the response amplitude was a positively accelerated function of the stimulus contrast, reflecting nonlinear synaptic transmission. The response of the third-order neuron exhibited a half-wave rectification: the depolarizing response to light decrement was much larger than the hyperpolarizing response to light increment. Nonlinear synaptic transmission also enhanced the transient response to step-like intensity changes. I conclude that (a) the major function of synaptic transmission between second- and third-order neurons of cockroach ocelli is to convert linear presynaptic signals into nonlinear ones and that (b) signal transmission at the synapse between second- and third-order neurons of cockroach ocelli fundamentally differs from that at the synapse between photoreceptors and second-order neurons of visual systems so far studied, where the synapse operates in the midregion of the characteristic curve and the transmission is essentially linear.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Dynamic relationship between the slow potential and spikes in cockroach ocellar neurons.

The relationship between the slow potential and spikes of second-order ocellar neurons of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, was studied. The stimulus was a sinusoidally modulated light with various mean illuminances. A solitary spike was generated at the depolarizing phase of the modulation response. Analysis of the relationship between the amplitude/frequency of voltage modulation and the rate of spike generation showed that (a) the spike initiation process was bandpass at approximately 0.5-5 Hz, (b) the process contained a dynamic linearity and a static nonlinearity, and (c) the spike threshold at optimal frequencies (0.5-5 Hz) remained unchanged over a mean illuminance range of 3.6 log units, whereas (d) the spike threshold at frequencies of less than 0.5 Hz was lower at a dimmer mean illuminance. The voltage noise in the response was larger and the mean membrane potential level was more positive at a dimmer mean illuminance. Steady or noise current injection during sinusoidal light stimulation showed that (a) the decrease in the spike threshold at a dimmer mean illuminance was due to the increase in the noise variance: the noise had facilitatory effects on the spike initiation; and (b) the change in the mean potential level had little effect on the spike threshold. We conclude that fundamental signal modifications occur during the spike initiation in the cockroach ocellar neuron, a finding that differs from the spike initiation process in other visual systems, including Limulus eye and vertebrate retina, in which it is presumed that little signal modification occurs at the analog-to-digital conversion process.

Animals↗