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Directional tuning of cells in area 18 of the feline visual cortex for visual noise, bar and spot stimuli: a comparison with area 17.

Directional tuning for visual noise, bar and single spot stimuli was compared over a wide range of velocities in cells from areas 17 and 18 of the visual cortex in lightly-anaesthetized cats. In each area, S-cells were predominantly insensitive to motion of a field of visual noise. C-cells were more sensitive to noise motion than B-cells, but showed heterogeneity in noise sensitivity, which was associated with other response properties: strongly noise-sensitive C-cells had relatively high spontaneous activity and broad directional tuning, and were predominantly direction-selective and binocularly-driven. Frequently, directional tuning for noise was unimodal at low velocity, but became progressively more bimodal as velocity was increased: a trough of depressed response corresponding to the peak in tuning for the bar separated two progressively more widely disparate preferred directions. In area 18, cells with velocity tuned (VT) functions for bar motion developed bimodal tuning for noise well below the optimum velocity for bar or for noise motion, while velocity high-pass (VHP) cells became progressively more bimodally tuned for noise over a wide range of velocities, in parallel with a steep increase in response to bar and noise motion. A high proportion of VT and VHP cells was bimodally tuned for noise at all velocities, one VHP cell showing two discrete lobes of tuning for noise below the threshold velocity for bar motion. Among cells which remained unimodally tuned for noise, VT and VHP cells in area 18 had radically dissimilar preferred directions for noise and bar motion at all velocities. With the exception of VHP cells, velocity bandpass was higher for noise than for bar motion. These results, together with other novel observations on the modality of tuning for noise in preferred and opposite directions of motion, demonstrate that bimodality of tuning for noise cannot simply be an effect of upper cut-off velocity for bar motion (Movshon et al. 1980; Orban 1984). It is argued that the trough between the lobes of tuning arises through laterally-directed inhibitory convergence from superficial- and deep-layer, large basket cells. In 40% of noise-sensitive cells, tuning for bar motion was broader on the flank closest to the preferred direction for noise and for a moving sport, while some 25% of cells showed variations in tuning for bar motion with velocity, which were associated with velocity-dependent changes in tuning for noise.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗

Modulatory influences of a moving visual noise background on bar-evoked responses of cells in area 18 of the feline visual cortex.

The modulatory influence of a synchronously moving visual noise background on responsiveness to an optimally-oriented moving bar stimulus was investigated in visual cortical area 18 of the lightly-anaesthetized cat. The bar and noise background were swept along the axis orthogonal to bar orientation, with the same phase, velocity and amplitude of motion. Cells which were insensitive to motion of visual noise per se or weakly responsive to individual 'grains' in the noise sample showed suppression of bar-evoked responses by simultaneous motion of the noise background. Percent suppression declined with increase in bar length, over a range which could exceed the maximum estimate of receptive field length. The decline in percent suppression was non-linear, becoming progressively flatter in slope as bar length was increased until an asymptotic value was reached; observations on end-stopped cells and on end-free cells with restricted length summation verified that percent suppression was related specifically to the length of the comparison bar and not to the strength of response it evoked. Percent suppression and the extent over which it declined with increase in bar length were comparable for preferred and opposite directions of bar motion even in cells with radically different length-response functions in the two directions, including end-stopped cells with direction-selective end-zones. In contrast to end-inhibition, which was maximal at or near the preferred velocity for a bar of optimal length, percent suppression by motion of the noise background was essentially velocity-invariant; in velocity tuned and velocity high-pass cells, background motion reduced the slope(s) of the velocity-response function, implying that the suppressive action of moving noise backgrounds is divisive rather than subtractive. It is argued that the suppression derives predominantly from an axo-somatic noise-sensitive inhibitory input from superficial- and deep-layer, large basket cells in orientation 'columns' at some distance from those of their target cells.

Animals↗

The postnatal development of visual callosal connections in the absence of visual experience or of the eyes.

Counts of callosal neurons retrogradely labeled by horseradish peroxidase (visualized using multiple substrates) were obtained in areas 17 and 18 of five kittens reared with their eyelids bilaterally sutured and of three kittens which had undergone bilateral enucleation on postnatal days 1--4. These counts were compared with those obtained in normal adult cats. The normal adult distribution of the callosal neurons results from the gradual postnatal reduction of a more widespread juvenile population. Binocular visual deprivation by lid suturing dramatically decreases the final number of callosal neurons and narrows their region of distribution (callosal zone) in areas 17 and 18. A less severe reduction in the final number of callosal neurons is caused by bilateral enucleation, which also increases the width of the callosal zone compared to that of normal cats. Thus, visual experience is necessary for the normal stabilization of juvenile callosal connections. However, since some callosal neurons form connections in the absence of vision, other influences capable of stabilizing juvenile callosal neurons also exist. These influences are probably antagonized by destabilizing influences or inhibited, when the eyes are intact.

Aging↗

The use of Nd:YAG laser in pituitary surgery and evaluation of visual function by visual evoked potential (VEP).

Surgery of pituitary tumors has been improved by microneurosurgical methods. However, despite improvements in surgical results, pituitary tumors still continue to represent a problem and, therefore, prompt a search for new surgical techniques. Since Nd:YAG laser energy penetrates the target tissue more deeply than other instruments, its use in the para- and suprasellar region should be considered. It is well known that Visual Evoked Potential (VEP) is a sensitive and objective method for the valuation of compressive or destructive lesions in or around the optic nerve. Visual function correlates with the latency and amplitude of P100 wave in VEP. We used the Nd:YAG laser in 50 transsphenoidal operations of pituitary adenomas. Postoperative effects of the laser on visual function was evaluated by conventional neurophthalmological tests as well as VEP and was compared with preoperative values. Following surgery using Nd:YAG laser, both conventional neurophthalmological tests and VEP values improved due to decompression of optic nerves by tumor removal. In this study, we also examined anterior lobe functions and found that Nd:YAG laser does not affect these functions. Our study shows that Nd:YAG laser has no harmful effects and seems to be very helpful especially for surgery for invading hormone-active adenomas.

Adenoma↗

Cortical visual impairment following bacterial meningitis: magnetic resonance imaging and visual evoked potentials findings in two cases.

Cortical visual impairment (CVI) following bacterial meningitis is a very uncommon complication. Two children with CVI following bacterial meningitis are reported. Bacterial agents were Haemophilus influenzae type B in one and meningococci in the other child. Both children showed only insufficient recovery from CVI, mental retardation and residual neurological symptoms. Flash visual evoked potentials (VEP) showed preserved cortical response at onset of CVI. Re-evaluations several months later showed significantly reduced amplitudes, but normal latencies for P100. Thus, flash VEP does not allow prediction of visual outcome. MRI results have not been reported before. MRI at onset of diagnosis showed occipital parenchymal irregularities with enlarged sulci and subarachnoid spaces. Follow up MRI 15 months after onset of CVI in one patient showed marked atrophy of the occipital cortex, hyperintensities of the cortical white matter and no visible optic radiation. The MRI findings indicate hypoxic-ischaemic lesions in the border zone between the distribution of the great cerebral arteries.

Blindness↗

Visual dysfunction in treated schizophrenia suggested by visual evoked potentials from pattern-reversal stimulation.

Steady-state visual evoked potentials (steady-state VEPs) from pattern-reversal stimulations were compared in treated schizophrenic patients and normal subjects matched for sex and age. The VEP amplitudes were more variable in the patients than in the controls. Furthermore, the VEP amplitudes of the patients mostly showed little or no change when the check size was varied, in contrast to the controls who showed a marked check size effect. These results suggest that schizophrenics receiving drugs have dysfunction of the visual system, especially an inability to respond adequately to changes of visual information.

Adult↗

Maturation of evoked potentials and visual preference in 6-45-day-old infants: effects of check size, visual acuity, and refractive error.

Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) and the percentage time fixated (PTF) were investigated in response to checkerboard light flashes in 10 human infaed as a function of the size of check in the evoking stimulus (diffuse light, 11, 22, 45, 90 and 180 min of arc), the refractive lens strength the checkerboards were viewed through (-6 to +6 diopters), and the age of the infants (6-26 or 27-45 days). Check size significantly influenced VEP amplitude in infants as young as 6 days. The 11' checks evoked greater responses that diffuse light suggesting a visual acuity of better than 20/220. Only the 27--45-day-olds behaviorally discriminated the checks, PTF indicating an acuity of 20/120. Evoked potential refraction with spherical lention between VEP amplitude and check size measured from different VEP components at different ages indicated the function contained two modes or components. The first mode was inverted "U-shaped" and was obtained in response to check sizes less than 45'. It was primarily due to changes in amplitude of the early VEP components (less than 210 msec after the evoking stimulus) and was poorly correlated with the behavioral PTF measure. It was proposed that this mode reflected subcortical activity. The second mode was a linear increase in amplitude as check size was increased from 45' to 180'. It was primarily due to changes in the amplitude of late VEP components (240--400 msec after the evoking stimulus) and was highly correlated with the percentage time the infants fixated the various check sizes. It was proposed that this mode reflected cortical activity. Age selectively influenced the late VEP components and the PTF behavioral measure, these measures being influenced by check size only in the 27--45-day-old infants. This change in responsivity of late VEP components and the transition from passive to more active and discriminating visual preference, suggest the onset of increased cortical function between 28 and 45 days of age.

Age Factors↗

Responsiveness of Clare-Bishop neurons to visual cues associated with motion of a visual stimulus in three-dimensional space.

Photic responsiveness of cells in the medial bank of the lateral suprasylvian cortex (Clare-Bishop area) was studied using a three-dimensional visual stimulator that reproduced two visual cues (motion disparity and change in size) for perception of three-dimensional motion of a visual stimulus. About one third of them (48/148) were selectively responsive to motion disparity corresponding to approaching (AP cells, n = 30) or recessive motion (RC cells, N = 18), another half to motion of retinal images in the same direction between the two eyes corresponding to fronto-parallel motion (FP cells, n = 75), and the remaining cells were rather equally responsive to these types of stimuli (NS cells, n = 25). More than a half of the AP (19/30) or RC (11/18) cells were also responsive to increase or decrease in stimulus size, respectively, and they were optimally activated by a combination of the motion and size stimuli while relatively few FP and NS cells were sensitive to change in stimulus size. These findings indicate that the Clare-Bishop cells encode three-dimensional motion on the basis of photic responsiveness to the motion and size cues.

Animals↗

The visual acuity for the lateral visual field of the pigeon (Columba livia).

Previous studies on pigeons indicated that the visual acuity for the frontal visual field was much higher than that for the lateral one. Suspecting that the poor values for the lateral field were due to suboptimal testing conditions, we determined the lateral field acuity in eight head-fixed pigeons with high-contrast square-wave gratings. An instrumental conditioning task with water as reinforcer and mandibulation as an operant was used. Subjects achieved a mean acuity value of 12.6 c/deg. The results show that the acuity of the lateral visual field is only slightly lower than that of the frontal field. These data provide a psychophysical basis for ecological observations that pigeons and most other birds gaze laterally when scrutinizing small and distant objects.

Animals↗

Control of cell number in the developing visual system. III. Effects of visual cortex ablation.

The effect of unilateral deletion of the visual cortex on early cell death and eventual cell number in various structures of the visual system was examined. At minimum, this manipulation potentially provides excess retinal afference to the superior colliculi, partially denervates the superior colliculi, reduces normal retinal terminal area and opens up potential target space for the retina and superior colliculus in those areas where they share terminal space with the visual cortex. All layers of the superior colliculus, bilaterally, showed an initial decrease in the rate of cell death relative to normal followed by an increase in cell death rates. No change in the number or distribution of cells in the retinal ganglion cell layer resulted despite a substantial loss of retinal terminal area, and a substantial alteration of the pattern of retinal central termination. These results are interpreted as evidence for two stages in normally occurring cell death, a first in which axons compete to colonize any available terminal space, and a second in which axon-to-target specificity must be matched. These results also provide evidence that the amount of target required for neuron survival is clearly variable.

Animals↗

The role of frontal eye-fields and superior colliculi in visual search and non-visual search in rhesus monkeys.

Rhesus monkeys were tested on a visual search task in which they had to find and retrieve a peanut from a display of visually similar but inedible objects. The speed with which they did so was measured. Animals in which the superior colliculi or frontal eye-fields had been removed took longer to find the peanut than two operated control groups. Animals with collicular lesions had longer latencies than those with frontal eye-fields removed. These two groups were also tested on a second task, non-visual search, in which a peanut was concealed in each of 25 identical holes. The animals' task was to retrieve all 25 peanuts as quickly as possible. The group with frontal eye-fields removed made significantly more return errors, i.e. returning to a hole already sampled, than the control group but, in contrast to the first task, the animals with collicular lesions were not impaired. The results are related to the physiological properties of frontal eye-fields and superior colliculi and to the effects of frontal cortical brain damage in man. It is suggested that the frontal eye-fields are concerned with internally organized, i.e. voluntary, eye scanning whereas the superior colliculi are concerned with the detection and location of targets which are then fixated involuntarily.

Animals↗

The effect of devascularization of the visual cortex on visual function in the rabbit.

The role of the visual cortex in brightness and pattern vision was re-examined in the rabbit. Animals were trained on both a brightness and a horizontal-vertical striation discrimination. Bilateral removal of the dura mater overlying the entire visual cortex produced no impairments in either brightness or pattern vision. When the visual cortex was devascularized by removal of the pia mater bilaterally, total loss of pattern vision was found with no impairment of brightness discrimination ability. The significance of the finding that the effects of slowly developing degenerative lesions are the same as those of surgical ablation was discussed.

Animals↗

Ipsilateral visual field represented in the cat's visual cortex.

Responses to visual stimulation were recorded in cells from the border region between cortical areas 17 and 18 in anaesthetized cats. There was found to be a band of ipsilateral representation, the cells of which had rather large receptive fields centered up to 8-12 degrees into the ipsilateral hemifield. The edges of the receptive fields extended 2-3 degrees still further ipsilaterally. The cortical region involved is very small, however, stretching 0.2-1.0 mm mediolaterally, and possibly restricted largely to layers II and III. Hence, in cats, as in sheep and hamsters, there is a band about 20 degrees wide of visual field along the naso-temporal division that is represented in the visual cortices of both hemispheres.

Animals↗

Neural impact of the semantic content of visual mental images and visual percepts.

The existence of hemispheric lateralization of visual mental imagery remains controversial. In light of the literature, we used fMRI to test whether processing of mental images of object drawings preferentially engages the left hemisphere to compared non-object drawings. An equivalent comparison was also made while participants actually perceived object and non-object drawings. Although these two conditions engaged both hemispheres, activation was significantly stronger in the left occipito-temporo-frontal network during mental inspection of object than of non-object drawings. This network was also activated when perception of object drawings was compared to that of non-object drawings. An interaction was nonetheless observed: this effect was stronger during imagery than during perception in the left inferior frontal and the left inferior temporal gyrus. Although the tasks subjects performed did not explicitly require semantic analysis, activation of this network probably reflected, at least in part, a semantic and possibly a verbal retrieval component when object drawings were processed. Mental imagery tasks elicited activation of early visual cortex at a lower level than perception tasks. In the context of the imagery debate, these findings indicate that, as previously suggested, figurative imagery could involve primary visual cortex and adjacent areas.

Adolescent↗

Evaluating a split fovea model of visual word recognition: effects of case alternation in the two visual fields and in the left and right halves of words presented at the fovea.

Two experiments are reported exploring the effect of cAsE aLtErNaTiOn on lexical decisions to words and nonwords presented laterally or centrally. In line with previous research, Experiment 1 found that case alternation slowed lexical decision responses to words more in the right visual field (RVF) than in the left visual field (LVF). In Experiment 2, the words and nonwords were all presented centrally. There were three conditions, a condition in which the word and nonwords were presented in lower case letters, a condition in which the letters to the left of the central fixation were case alternated (e.g., aMbItion, mOdLants) and a condition in which the letters to the right of fixation were case alternated (e.g., collApSe, pireNtOl). Alternating the case of letters to the right of fixation slowed lexical decision responses more than alternating letter case to the left of fixation. The results provide further support for a split fovea account of visual word recognition according to which those letters of a centrally-fixated word that fall to the left of fixation are processed initially by the right cerebral hemisphere while those letters that fall to the right of fixation are processed initially by the left cerebral hemisphere, with the characteristics of the left and right hemispheres being revealed in the processing of initial and final letters in centrally presented words.

Adolescent↗

Acuity, ophthalmoscopy, and visually evoked potentials in the prediction of visual outcome in infants with bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia.

PURPOSE: To determine whether Teller Acuity Cards, transient visually evoked potentials (VEPs), and optic disc size estimated from ophthalmoscopy were predictive of acuity outcome in infants and young children with bilateral optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH). METHODS: Twenty-eight infants (mean age, 7 months) with bilateral ONH underwent clinical assessment, including ophthalmoscopy. All but a few of these patients underwent neuroimaging studies, analysis of transient VEPs to multiple stimuli, and repeated acuity assessment. Acuity outcome was assessed, on average, 28 months later. RESULTS: Acuity outcome was significantly correlated with the estimated optic disc diameter, initial acuity, and VEP signal-to-noise ratios (r = 0.80, 0.71, 0.69, respectively; all P <.001). Multiple regression analysis showed that the initial acuity and estimated optic disc diameter accounted for 73% of the variation in acuity outcome. VEPs to white-black gratings segregated infants by 6 months of age, whose acuity outcome was better or worse than 5.6 cycles/degree (20/100). CONCLUSIONS: Acuity outcome was predicted in infants with bilateral ONH with a linear equation using initial acuity and estimated optic disc diameter. Additionally, analysis of VEPs may segregate infants with a good visual outcome from those with a poor visual outcome. Longer follow-up will be necessary to determine final Snellen acuity.

Child, Preschool↗

The relationship of visual threshold and reaction time to visual field eccentricity with conventional automated perimetry.

To investigate the relationship between reaction time (RT), stimulus intensity and visual field eccentricity. We generated frequency of seeing (FOS) curves and measured RTs by testing 10 perimetrically experienced normal subjects with a Humphrey perimeter controlled by a custom program. Subjects were tested from 10 degrees to 50 degrees eccentricity along the nasal horizontal meridian in 10 degrees increments. A range of 20 dB, centered on threshold, was tested in 1 dB steps along with 60 and 0 dB intensities as catch trials. Twenty repetitions for each intensity at each location were used. Linear regression showed a significant increase in suprathreshold RT (to the 0 dB stimulus) with increasing eccentricity. The RT at the calculated FOS 50% threshold was prolonged by about 200 ms compared with the RT using the 0 dB target at the equivalent eccentricities. Also, when the difference between the RT at 0 dB stimulus and the RT at threshold was regressed against visual field eccentricity there was a significant decrease with eccentricity. When the RT(pi) (RT prolongation from threshold relative to the 0 dB stimulus) was plotted as a function of decreasing stimulus attenuation, the results fit the function RT(pi)=a+bi(3) (i=stimulus intensity) with r(2)>0.94 at all eccentricities. However, the slope of the function flattened with increasing eccentricity. Using conventional automated perimetry stimuli in perimetrically experienced young subjects, suprathreshold RT increases but threshold RT prolongation decreases with increasing visual field eccentricity. RT fits a power function with decreasing stimulus attenuation but the slope flattens with eccentricity. This relationship found along the nasal horizontal meridian may allow use of RT to cross-check threshold results or to define response windows for reliability indices of conventional automated perimetry.

Adult↗

Diffuse light increases metabolic activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus, visual cortex, and superior colliculus of the cone-dominated ground squirrel visual system.

Ground squirrels were monocularly exposed to either steady- or flashing-diffuse light for 45 min following an injection of 14C 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG). Autoradiographic analysis indicated greater metabolic activity in the lateral geniculate nucleus, visual cortex and superior colliculus (SC) of the hemisphere lying contralateral to and receiving input from the diffusely stimulated eye (covered by a white mask), than in the corresponding regions of the other hemisphere receiving input from the occluded eye (black mask). The diffuse light results for the cortex and colliculus of the diurnal ground squirrel are different from those for the nocturnal rat. In the rat visual cortex, there is no difference between metabolic activity under conditions of diffuse light (steady or flashing) and under darkness. In the rat SC, although flashing-diffuse light increases metabolic activity (as is the case for the squirrel), steady-diffuse light decreases it to a level below that which occurs in darkness. The cortex and colliculus differences in 2-DG response to diffuse light between the ground squirrel and rat were attributed to differences in the operations of their respective cone- and rod-dominated visual systems.

Animals↗