Journal of Neurophysiology, Vol 42, Issue 6 1495-1517, Copyright © 1979 by APS

ARTICLES

Luxotonic responses of units in macaque striate cortex

Y. Kayama, R. R. Riso, J. R. Bartlett and R. W. Doty

1. Single units in striate cortex were studied in alert macaques while they viewed a ganzfeld. Of the 385 well-isolated units studied for 10 min to 2 h, 24% gave "luxotonic" responses, i.e., their rate of discharge for 1 min or more in diffuse, featureless, wideangle illumination (20-450 cd/m2) was at least double that during a comparable period in darkness, or vice versa, and not attributable to eye movements of blinking. Those discharging faster in the light, "photergic" units, outnumber those responding to darkness, "scotergic" units 1 by 4:1. 2. In the lateral geniculate nucleus, on the other hand, among 46 units studied, 28% were luxotonic, but scotergic units were the more common. Both types were present in both magno- and parvocellular laminae. 3. For striate cortex two-thirds of the luxotonic units were binocular. Some showed highly similar response for either eye alone, and essentially no summation binocularly; others had grossly differing responses from each eye, and complex binocular interaction. 4. Many units of all types at striate cortex showed significant modulation of their activity consequent to saccadic eye movements made in darkness, whereas comparable modulation was not observed at the lateral geniculate nucleus. 5. On the basis of these and other findings it is concluded that luxotonic cortical activity is prominent probably only in alert primates, and that this is a consequence of the fact that all retinal ganglion cells in primates synapse in the lateral geniculate nucleus (Ref. 9). Possible functions range from mere trophic input to providing a veridical image or a scaling factor for maintenance of perceptual constancy in the face of varying levels of general illumination.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. M. Kaskan, H. D. Lu, B. C. Dillenburger, J. H. Kaas, and A. W. Roe The Organization of Orientation-Selective, Luminance-Change and Binocular- Preference Domains in the Second (V2) and Third (V3) Visual Areas of New World Owl Monkeys as Revealed by Intrinsic Signal Optical Imaging Cereb Cortex, October 8, 2008; (2008) bhn178v1. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				X. Huang and M. A. Paradiso V1 Response Timing and Surface Filling-In J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2008; 100(1): 539 - 547. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. D. Lu and A. W. Roe Optical Imaging of Contrast Response in Macaque Monkey V1 and V2 Cereb Cortex, November 1, 2007; 17(11): 2675 - 2695. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Wang, Y. Xiao, and D. J. Felleman V2 Thin Stripes Contain Spatially Organized Representations of Achromatic Luminance Change Cereb Cortex, January 1, 2007; 17(1): 116 - 129. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. R. Tucker and D. Fitzpatrick Luminance-Evoked Inhibition in Primary Visual Cortex: A Transient Veto of Simultaneous and Ongoing Response J. Neurosci., December 27, 2006; 26(52): 13537 - 13547. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Vladusich, M. P. Lucassen, and F. W. Cornelissen Do Cortical Neurons Process Luminance or Contrast to Encode Surface Properties? J Neurophysiol, April 1, 2006; 95(4): 2638 - 2649. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. R. Bartlett, E. A. DeYoe, R. W. Doty, B. B. Lee, J. D. Lewine, N. Negrao, and W. H. Overman Jr Psychophysics of Electrical Stimulation of Striate Cortex in Macaques J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2005; 94(5): 3430 - 3442. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. A. DeYoe, J. D. Lewine, and R. W. Doty Laminar Variation in Threshold for Detection of Electrical Excitation of Striate Cortex by Macaques J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2005; 94(5): 3443 - 3450. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. W. Roe, H. D. Lu, and C. P. Hung Cortical processing of a brightness illusion PNAS, March 8, 2005; 102(10): 3869 - 3874. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J.-D. Haynes, R. B. Lotto, and G. Rees Responses of human visual cortex to uniform surfaces PNAS, March 23, 2004; 101(12): 4286 - 4291. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Tani, I. Yokoi, M. Ito, S. Tanaka, and H. Komatsu Functional Organization of the Cat Visual Cortex in Relation to the Representation of a Uniform Surface J Neurophysiol, February 1, 2003; 89(2): 1112 - 1125. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				X. Huang, S. P. MacEvoy, and M. A. Paradiso Perception of Brightness and Brightness Illusions in the Macaque Monkey J. Neurosci., November 1, 2002; 22(21): 9618 - 9625. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Sobotka, W. Zuo, and J. L. Ringo Is the Functional Connectivity Within Temporal Lobe Influenced By Saccadic Eye Movements? J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2002; 88(4): 1675 - 1684. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Kinoshita and H. Komatsu Neural Representation of the Luminance and Brightness of a Uniform Surface in the Macaque Primary Visual Cortex J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2001; 86(5): 2559 - 2570. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Allman and S. Zucker Cytochrome Oxidase and Functional Coding in Primate Striate Cortex: A Hypothesis Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol, January 1, 1990; 55(0): 979 - 982. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. P. MacEvoy and M. A. Paradiso Lightness constancy in primary visual cortex PNAS, July 17, 2001; 98(15): 8827 - 8831. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]