Quantifying the variability of patterns of orientation domains in the visual cortex of cats

Abstract

In the visual cortex, orientation domains are arranged in complex patterns, assumed to exhibit a high degree of interindividual variability. In the present study, we quantitatively analyzed this variability using 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) labeled patterns of orientation domains in area 17 of cat visual cortex. We calculated wavelengths, correlation-lengths, anisotropy parameters and band-parallelism parameters within the entire area 17 and analyzed their statistical relationships. All parameters vary considerably among different individuals and appear to be statistically independent. These analyses identify sensitive quantitative indicators for the overall similarity and dissimilarity of cortical orientation maps and confirm their strong interindividual variability.