Receptive field surround influences on the neuron’s activity in extrastriate area 21a.

Abstract

The formation of the neuron response to the specific visual stimulus is attributed to the involvement of many interconnected neuron groups, various both qualitatively and quantitatively. The main aim of the present study was to identify patterns of modulating influences exerted on the neuron response patterns when the space surrounding their receptive fields (RF) was stimulated. The presented results demonstrated that the parallel and synchronous activation of the surrounding RF space significantly modulates the response patterns of neurons in area 21a to the moving visual stimuli. This modulation can have both facilitating and inhibitory effects. In most cases (68%), activation of the near environment of the RF had a facilitating effect, while stimulation of more distant areas of the visual field led to inhibition of responses. These data suggest that the coordinated interaction among a multitude of simultaneously activated neurons with overlapping RFs may play a crucial role in the integration and diversification of incoming visual information.