Classical Receptive Field Research Articles

Retinal ganglion cells encode the direction of motion outside their classical receptive field

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) typically respond to light stimulation over their spatially restricted receptive field. Using large-scale recordings in the mouse retina, we show that a subset of non- direction-selective (DS) RGCs exhibit asymmetric activity, selective to motion direction, in response to a stimulus crossing an area far beyond the classic receptive field. The extraclassical response arises via inputs from an asymmetric distal zone and is enhanced by desensitization mechanisms and an inherent DS component, creating a network of neurons responding to motion toward the optic disc. Pharmacological manipulations revealed the necessity of glycinergic amacrine cells for this response. Using in vivo recordings, we identified similar extraclassical responses in lateral geniculate nucleus neurons, suggesting such non conventional DS information is transferred to downstream structures. Our results suggest a complex integration of motion direction processing across the visual field, which arises beyond the classical receptive field boundaries.

Context-dependent orientation discontinuity encoding by gamma rhythms in mouse primary visual cortex.

Through the modulation of its surround, an identical visual stimulus can be perceived as more or less salient, allowing it to either stand out or seamlessly integrate with the rest of the visual scene. Gamma rhythms are associated with processing stimulus features across extensive areas of the visual field. Consistent with this concept, the magnitude of visually induced gamma rhythm depends on how well stimulus features aligned both within and outside the classical receptive field (CRF) at the recording site. However, there still exists some uncertainty regarding the encoding of context-modulated orientation discontinuity by gamma rhythms. To address this concern, we conducted extracellular recordings in layers II/III and IV of area V1 using lightly anaesthetized mice to investigate the gamma tuning for stimuli with orientation discontinuity. Our study revealed that gamma rhythms exhibit a preference for stimuli with orientation discontinuity similar to the spiking responses observed in V1, which contradicts the findings of previous studies. Furthermore, the gamma tuning of discontinuous orientations exhibits a moderate correlation with spike tuning and a positive correlation with the strength of surround suppression. Therefore, our study suggests a close association between gamma tuning and nearby spiking tuning; additionally, it highlights the connection between the encoding of visual features by gamma rhythms and functional architecture, as well as neural signal integration. KEY POINTS: Visual context modulates the gamma rhythms in the primary visual cortex. Discontinuous orientation elicits significantly enhanced gamma rhythms compared to the iso-orientation stimulus. The gamma tuning of discontinuous orientations exhibits a moderate correlation with spike tuning. Gamma tuning of orientation discontinuity exhibits a positive correlation with the strength of surround suppression.

Contour Detection Algorithm for α Phase Structure of TB6 Titanium Alloy fused with Multi-Scale Fretting Features

Aiming at the problems of inaccuracy in detecting the α phase contour of TB6 titanium alloy. By combining computer vision technology with human vision mechanisms, the spatial characteristics of the α phase can be simulated to obtain the contour accurately. Therefore, an algorithm for α phase contour detection of TB6 titanium alloy fused with multi-scale fretting features is proposed. Firstly, through the response of the classical receptive field model based on fretting and the suppression of new non-classical receptive field model based on fretting, the information maps of the α phase contour of the TB6 titanium alloy at different scales are obtained; then the information map of the smallest scale contour is used as a benchmark, the neighborhood is constructed to judge the deviation of other scale contour information, and the corresponding weight value is calculated; finally, Gaussian function is used to weight and fuse the deviation information, and the contour detection result of TB6 titanium alloy α phase is obtained. In the Visual Studio 2013 environment, 484 metallographic images with different temperatures, strain rates, and magnifications were tested. The results show that the performance evaluation F value of the proposed algorithm is 0.915, which can effectively improve the accuracy of α phase contour detection of TB6 titanium alloy.

SNN using color-opponent and attention mechanisms for object recognition

The current spiking neural network (SNN) relies on spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) primarily for shape learning in object recognition tasks, overlooking the equally critical aspect of color information. To address this gap, our study introduces an unsupervised variant of STDP that incorporates principles from color-opponency mechanisms (COM) and classical receptive fields (CRF) found in the biological visual system, facilitating the integration of color information during parameter updates within the SNN architecture. Our approach initially preprocesses images into two distinct feature maps: one for shape and another for color. Then, signals derived from COM and intensity concurrently drive the STDP process, thereby updating parameters associated with both color and shape feature maps. Furthermore, we propose a channel-wise attention mechanism to enhance differentiation among objects sharing similar shapes or colors. Specifically, this mechanism utilizes convolution to generate an output spike-wave, identifying a winner based on earliest spike timing and maximal potential. The winning kernel computes attention, which is then applied via convolution to each input image feature map, generating post-feature maps. A STDP-like normalization rule compares firing times between pre- and post-feature maps, dynamically adjusting channel weights to optimize object recognition during the training phase.We assessed the proposed algorithm using SNN with both single-layer and multi-layer architectures across three datasets. Experimental findings highlight its efficacy and superiority in complex object recognition tasks compared to state-of-the-art (SOTA) algorithms. Notably, our approach achieved a significant 20% performance improvement over the SOTA on the Caltech-101 dataset. Moreover, the algorithm is well-suited for hardware implementation and energy efficiency, leveraging a winner-selection mechanism based on the earliest spike time.

Dependence of Contextual Modulation in Macaque V1 on Interlaminar Signal Flow.

In visual cortex, neural correlates of subjective perception can be generated by modulation of activity from beyond the classical receptive field (CRF). In macaque V1, activity generated by nonclassical receptive field (nCRF) stimulation involves different intracortical circuitry than activity generated by CRF stimulation, suggesting that interactions between neurons across V1 layers differ under CRF and nCRF stimulus conditions. Using Neuropixels probes, we measured border ownership modulation within large, local populations of V1 neurons. We found that neurons in single columns preferred the same side of objects located outside of the CRF. In addition, we found that cross-correlations between pairs of neurons situated across feedback/horizontal and input layers differed between CRF and nCRF stimulation. Furthermore, independent of the comparison with CRF stimulation, we observed that the magnitude of border ownership modulation increased with the proportion of information flow from feedback/horizontal layers to input layers. These results demonstrate that the flow of signals between layers covaries with the degree to which neurons integrate information from beyond the CRF.

Representation of Natural Contours by a Neural Population in Monkey V4.

The cortical visual area, V4, has been considered to code contours that contribute to the intermediate-level representation of objects. The neural responses to the complex contour features intrinsic to natural contours are expected to clarify the essence of the representation. To approach the cortical coding of natural contours, we investigated the simultaneous coding of multiple contour features in monkey (Macaca fuscata) V4 neurons and their population-level representation. A substantial number of neurons showed significant tuning for two or more features such as curvature and closure, indicating that a substantial number of V4 neurons simultaneously code multiple contour features. A large portion of the neurons responded vigorously to acutely curved contours that surrounded the center of classical receptive field, suggesting that V4 neurons tend to code prominent features of object contours. The analysis of mutual information (MI) between the neural responses and each contour feature showed that most neurons exhibited similar magnitudes for each type of MI, indicating that many neurons showing the responses depended on multiple contour features. We next examined the population-level representation by using multidimensional scaling analysis. The neural preferences to the multiple contour features and that to natural stimuli compared with silhouette stimuli increased along with the primary and secondary axes, respectively, indicating the contribution of the multiple contour features and surface textures in the population responses. Our analyses suggested that V4 neurons simultaneously code multiple contour features in natural images and represent contour and surface properties in population.

Bio-Inspired Network for Diagnosing Liver Steatosis in Ultrasound Images.

Using ultrasound imaging to diagnose liver steatosis is of great significance for preventing diseases such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Accurate diagnosis under conditions of low quality, noise and poor resolutions is still a challenging task. Physiological studies have shown that the visual cortex of the biological visual system has selective attention neural mechanisms and feedback regulation of high features to low features. When processing visual information, these cortical regions selectively focus on more sensitive information and ignore unimportant details, which can effectively extract important features from visual information. Inspired by this, we propose a new diagnostic network for hepatic steatosis. In order to simulate the selection mechanism and feedback regulation of the visual cortex in the ventral pathway, it consists of a receptive field feature extraction module, parallel attention module and feedback connection. The receptive field feature extraction module corresponds to the inhibition of the non-classical receptive field of V1 neurons on the classical receptive field. It processes the input image to suppress the unimportant background texture. Two types of attention are adopted in the parallel attention module to process the same visual information and extract different important features for fusion, which improves the overall performance of the model. In addition, we construct a new dataset of fatty liver ultrasound images and validate the proposed model on this dataset. The experimental results show that the network has good performance in terms of sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for the diagnosis of fatty liver disease.

Saturation of visual responses explains size tuning in rat collicular neurons.

The receptive field of many visual neurons is composed of a central responsive area, the classical receptive field, and a non-classical receptive field, also called the "suppressive surround." A visual stimulus placed in the suppressive surround does not induce any response but modulates visual responses to stimuli within the classical receptive field, usually by suppressing them. Therefore, visual responses become smaller when stimuli exceed the classical receptive field size. The stimulus size inducing the maximal response is called the preferred stimulus size. In cortex, there is good correspondence between the sizes of the classical receptive field and the preferred stimulus. In contrast, in the rodent superior colliculus, the preferred size is often several fold smaller than the classical receptive field size. Here, we show that in the rat superior colliculus, the preferred stimulus size changes as a square root of the contrast inverse and the classical receptive field size is independent of contrast. In addition, responses to annulus were largely independent of the inner hole size. To explain these data, three models were tested: the divisive modulation of the gain by the suppressive surround (the "normalization" model), the difference of the Gaussians, and a divisive model that incorporates saturation to light flux. Despite the same number of free parameters, the model incorporating saturation to light performed the best. Thus, our data indicate that in rats, the saturation to light can be a dominant phenomenon even at relatively low illumination levels defining visual responses in the collicular neurons.

Recurrent neural circuits for perceptual grouping

Neurons in the visual cortex are sensitive to context: Responses to stimuli presented within their classical receptive fields (CRFs) are modulated by stimuli in their surrounding extra-classical receptive fields (eCRFs). However, the circuits underlying these contextual effects are not well understood, and little is known about how these circuits drive perception during everyday vision. We tackle these questions by approximating circuit-level eCRF models with a differentiable discrete-time recurrent neural network that is trainable with gradient-descent. After optimizing model synaptic connectivity and dynamics for object contour detection in natural images, the neural-circuit model rivals human observers on the task with far better sample efficiency than state-of-the-art computer vision approaches. Notably, the model also exhibits CRF and eCRF phenomena typically associated with primate vision. The model’s ability to accurately detect object contours also critically depends on these effects, and these contextual effects are not found in ablated versions of the model. Finally, we derive testable predictions about the neural mechanisms responsible for contextual integration and illustrate their importance for accurate and efficient perceptual grouping.

Disinhibitory circuit mediated by connections from vasoactive intestinal polypeptide to somatostatin interneurons underlies the paradoxical decrease in spike synchrony with increased border ownership selective neuron firing rate.

The activity of border ownership selective (BOS) neurons in intermediate-level visual areas indicates which side of a contour owns a border relative to its classical receptive field and provides a fundamental component of figure-ground segregation. A physiological study reported that selective attention facilitates the activity of BOS neurons with a consistent border ownership preference, defined as two neurons tuned to respond to the same visual object. However, spike synchrony between this pair is significantly suppressed by selective attention. These neurophysiological findings are derived from a biologically-plausible microcircuit model consisting of spiking neurons including two subtypes of inhibitory interneurons, somatostatin (SOM) and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) interneurons, and excitatory BOS model neurons. In our proposed model, BOS neurons and SOM interneurons cooperate and interact with each other. VIP interneurons not only suppress SOM interneuron responses but also are activated by feedback signals mediating selective attention, which leads to disinhibition of BOS neurons when they are directing selective attention toward an object. Our results suggest that disinhibition arising from the synaptic connections from VIP to SOM interneurons plays a critical role in attentional modulation of neurons in intermediate-level visual areas.

Figure-ground responsive fields of monkey V4 neurons estimated from natural image patches.

Neurons in visual area V4 modulate their responses depending on the figure-ground (FG) organization in natural images containing a variety of shapes and textures. To clarify whether the responses depend on the extents of the figure and ground regions in and around the classical receptive fields (CRFs) of the neurons, we estimated the spatial extent of local figure and ground regions that evoked FG-dependent responses (RF-FGs) in natural images and their variants. Specifically, we applied the framework of spike triggered averaging (STA) to the combinations of neural responses and human-marked segmentation images (FG labels) that represent the extents of the figure and ground regions in the corresponding natural image stimuli. FG labels were weighted by the spike counts in response to the corresponding stimuli and averaged over. The bias due to the nonuniformity of FG labels was compensated by subtracting the ensemble average of FG labels from the weighted average. Approximately 50% of the neurons showed effective RF-FGs, and a large number exhibited structures that were similar to those observed in virtual neurons with ideal FG-dependent responses. The structures of the RF-FGs exhibited a subregion responsive to a preferred side (figure or ground) around the CRF center and a subregion responsive to a non-preferred side in the surroundings. The extents of the subregions responsive to figure were smaller than those responsive to ground in agreement with the Gestalt rule. We also estimated RF-FG by an adaptive filtering (AF) method, which does not require spherical symmetry (whiteness) in stimuli. RF-FGs estimated by AF and STA exhibited similar structures, supporting the veridicality of the proposed STA. To estimate the contribution of nonlinear processing in addition to linear processing, we estimated nonlinear RF-FGs based on the framework of spike triggered covariance (STC). The analyses of the models based on STA and STC did not show inconsiderable contribution of nonlinearity, suggesting spatial variance of FG regions. The results lead to an understanding of the neural responses that underlie the segregation of figures and the construction of surfaces in intermediate-level visual areas.

Mechanisms of Surround Suppression Effect on the Contrast Sensitivity of V1 Neurons in Cats.

Surround suppression (SS) is a phenomenon that a neuron's response to visual stimuli within the classical receptive field (cRF) is suppressed by a concurrent stimulation in the surrounding receptive field (sRF) beyond the cRF. Studies show that SS affects neuronal response contrast sensitivity in the primary visual cortex (V1). However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we examined SS effect on the contrast sensitivity of cats' V1 neurons with different preferred SFs using external noise-masked visual stimuli and perceptual template model (PTM) analysis at the system level. The contrast sensitivity was evaluated by the inverted threshold contrast of neurons in response to circular gratings of different contrasts in the cRF with or without an annular grating in the sRF. Our results showed that SS significantly reduced the contrast sensitivity of cats' V1 neurons. The SS-induced reduction of contrast sensitivity was not correlated with SS strength but was dependent on neuron's preferred SF, with a larger reduction for neurons with low preferred SFs than those with high preferred SFs. PTM analysis of threshold versus external noise contrast (TvC) functions indicated that SS decreased contrast sensitivity by increasing both the internal additive noise and impact of external noise for neurons with low preferred SFs, but improving only internal additive noise for neurons with high preferred SFs. Furthermore, the SS effect on the contrast-response function of low- and high-SF neurons also exhibited different mechanisms in contrast gain and response gain. Collectively, these results suggest that the mechanisms of SS effect on neuronal contrast sensitivity may depend on neuronal populations with different SFs.

Classical-Contextual Interactions in V1 May Rely on Dendritic Computations

A signature feature of the neocortex is the dense network of horizontal connections (HCs) through which pyramidal neurons (PNs) exchange “contextual” information. In primary visual cortex (V1), HCs are thought to facilitate boundary detection, a crucial operation for object recognition, but how HCs modulate PN responses to boundary cues within their classical receptive fields (CRF) remains unknown. We began by “asking” natural images, through a structured data collection and ground truth labeling process, what function a V1 cell should use to compute boundary probability from aligned edge cues within and outside its CRF. The “answer” was an asymmetric 2-D sigmoidal function, whose nonlinear form provides the first normative account for the “multiplicative” center-flanker interactions previously reported in V1 neurons (Kapadia et al., 1995, 2000; Polat et al., 1998). Using a detailed compartmental model, we then show that this boundary-detecting classical-contextual interaction function can be computed by NMDAR-dependent spatial synaptic interactions within PN dendrites – the site where classical and contextual inputs first converge in the cortex. In additional simulations, we show that local interneuron circuitry activated by HCs can powerfully leverage the nonlinear spatial computing capabilities of PN dendrites, providing the cortex with a highly flexible substrate for integration of classical and contextual information.

Explaining Orientation Adaptation in V1 by Updating the State of a Spatial Model.

In this work, we extend an influential statistical model based on the spatial classical receptive field (CRF) and non-classical receptive field (nCRF) interactions (Coen-Cagli et al., 2012) to explain the typical orientation adaptation effects observed in V1. If we assume that the temporal adaptation modifies the “state” of the model, the spatial statistical model can explain all of the orientation adaptation effects in the context of neuronal output using small and large grating observed in neurophysiological experiments in V1. The “state” of the model represents the internal parameters such as the prior and the covariance trained on a mixed dataset that totally determine the response of the model. These two parameters, respectively, reflect the probability of the orientation component and the connectivity among neurons between CRF and nCRF. Specifically, we have two key findings: First, neural adapted results using a small grating that just covers the CRF can be predicted by the change of the prior of our model. Second, the change of the prior can also predict most of the observed results using a large grating that covers both CRF and nCRF of a neuron. However, the prediction of the novel attractive adaptation using large grating covering both CRF and nCRF also necessitates the involvement of a connectivity change of the center-surround RFs. In addition, our paper contributes a new prior-based winner-take-all (WTA) working mechanism derived from the statistical-based model to explain why and how all of these orientation adaptation effects can be predicted by relying on this spatial model without modifying its structure, a novel application of the spatial model. The research results show that adaptation may link time and space by changing the “state” of the neural system according to a specific adaptor. Furthermore, different forms of stimulus used for adaptation can cause various adaptation effects, such as an a priori shift or a connectivity change, depending on the specific stimulus size.

Surround Modulation Properties of Tectal Neurons in Pigeons Characterized by Moving and Flashed Stimuli.

Simple SummarySurround modulation is a basic visual attribute of sensory neurons in many species and has been extensively characterized in mammal primary visual cortex, lateral geniculate nucleus, and superior colliculus. Little attention has been paid to birds, which have a highly developed visual system. We undertook a systematic analysis on surround modulation properties of tectal neurons in pigeons (Columba livia). This study complements existing studies on surrounding modulation properties in non-mammalian species and deepens the understanding of mechanisms of figure–background segmentation performed by avians.Surround modulation has been abundantly studied in several mammalian brain areas, including the primary visual cortex, lateral geniculate nucleus, and superior colliculus (SC), but systematic analysis is lacking in the avian optic tectum (OT, homologous to mammal SC). Here, multi-units were recorded from pigeon (Columba livia) OT, and responses to different sizes of moving, flashed squares, and bars were compared. The statistical results showed that most tectal neurons presented suppressed responses to larger stimuli in both moving and flashed paradigms, and suppression induced by flashed squares was comparable with moving ones when the stimuli center crossed the near classical receptive field (CRF) center, which corresponded to the full surrounding condition. Correspondingly, the suppression grew weaker when the stimuli center moved across the CRF border, equivalent to partially surrounding conditions. Similarly, suppression induced by full surrounding flashed squares was more intense than by partially surrounding flashed bars. These results suggest that inhibitions performed on tectal neurons appear to be full surrounding rather than locally lateral. This study enriches the understanding of surround modulation properties of avian tectum neurons and provides possible hypotheses about the arrangement of inhibitions from other nuclei, both of which are important for clarifying the mechanism of target detection against clutter background performed by avians.

Coding of chromatic spatial contrast by macaque V1 neurons.

Color perception relies on comparisons between adjacent lights, but how the brain performs these comparisons is poorly understood. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we recorded spiking responses of individual V1 neurons in macaque monkeys to pairs of stimuli within the classical receptive field (RF). We estimated the spatial-chromatic RF of each neuron and then presented customized colored edges using a closed-loop technique. We found that many double-opponent (DO) cells, which have spatially and chromatically opponent RFs, responded to chromatic contrast as a weighted sum, akin to how other V1 neurons responded to luminance contrast. Yet other neurons integrated chromatic signals nonlinearly, confirming that linear signal integration is not an obligate property of V1 neurons. The functional similarity of cone-opponent DO cells and cone non-opponent simple cells suggests that these two groups may share a common underlying circuitry, promotes the construction of image-computable models for full-color image representation, and sheds new light on V1 complex cells.

Contextual Modulation of Feedforward Inputs to Primary Visual Cortex.

Throughout the brain, parallel processing streams compose the building blocks of complex neural functions. One of the most salient models for studying the functional specialization of parallel visual streams in the primate brain is the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the dorsal thalamus, through which the parvocellular and magnocellular channels, On-center and Off-center channels, and ipsilateral and contralateral eye channels are maintained and provide the foundation for cortical processing. We examined three aspects of neural processing in these streams: (1) the relationship between extraclassical surround suppression, a widespread visual computation thought to represent a canonical neural computation, and the parallel channels of the LGN; (2) the magnitude of binocular interaction in the parallel streams; and (3) the magnitude of suppression elicited by perceptual competition (binocular rivalry) in each stream. Our results show that surround suppression is almost exclusive to Off channel cells; further, we found evidence for two different components of monocular surround suppression—an early-stage suppression exhibited by all magnocellular cells, and a late-stage suppression exhibited only by Off cells in both the parvocellular and magnocellular pathways. This finding indicates that stream-specific circuits contribute to surround suppression in the primate LGN and suggests a distinct role for suppression in the Off channel to the cortex. We also examined the responses of LGN neurons in alert macaque monkeys to determine whether neurons that supply the cortex with visual information are influenced by stimulation of both eyes. Our results demonstrate that LGN neurons are not influenced by stimulation of the non-dominant eye. This was the case when dichoptic stimuli were presented to classical receptive fields of neurons, extraclassical receptive fields of neurons, and when stimuli were appropriate to produce the perception of binocular rivalry.

Columnar processing of border ownership in primate visual cortex.

To understand a visual scene, the brain segregates figures from background by assigning borders to foreground objects. Neurons in primate visual cortex encode which object owns a border (border ownership), but the underlying circuitry is not understood. Here, we used multielectrode probes to record from border ownership-selective units in different layers in macaque visual area V4 to study the laminar organization and timing of border ownership selectivity. We find that border ownership selectivity occurs first in deep layer units, in contrast to spike latency for small stimuli in the classical receptive field. Units on the same penetration typically share the preferred side of border ownership, also across layers, similar to orientation preference. Units are often border ownership-selective for a range of border orientations, where the preferred sides of border ownership are systematically organized in visual space. Together our data reveal a columnar organization of border ownership in V4 where the earliest border ownership signals are not simply inherited from upstream areas, but computed by neurons in deep layers, and may thus be part of signals fed back to upstream cortical areas or the oculomotor system early after stimulus onset. The finding that preferred border ownership is clustered and can cover a wide range of spatially contiguous locations suggests that the asymmetric context integrated by these neurons is provided in a systematically clustered manner, possibly through corticocortical feedback and horizontal connections.

Contribution of receptive field center and surround to repetition suppression in macaque visual area V2

Monkey inferotemporal cortex (ITC) neurons respond with declining strength to repeated presentations of relatively large and complex natural images. This phenomenon – repetition suppression – has often been assumed to arise at the level of ITC because ITC neurons possess the large receptive fields and sophisticated stimulus selectivity necessary for recognizing the image as a repetition. It has been recently discovered, however, that neurons in V2 exhibit repetition suppression under conditions identical to those in studies of ITC. This raises the question: How do V2 neurons, with classical receptive fields encompassing only a small fraction of the image, recognize it as a repetition? One possibility is that they are sensitive to repetition of image content not only in the classical receptive field but also in the receptive field surround. To assess this possibility, we monitored neuronal responses to sequential displays in which we controlled independently the repetition of elements in the classical receptive field and in the surround. Each stimulus consisted of a disk scaled to and centered on the classical receptive field and an adjoining annulus (8° outer diameter). The disks and annuli were taken from different natural scenes. The display on each trial consisted of a prime, a delay, and a probe, each 300 ms in duration. We found that repetition of the central disk was sufficient to produce repetition suppression but that suppression was enhanced by simultaneous repetition of the annulus. Suppression arising from repetition of the annulus occurred in a relatively late phase of the response, in accordance with the idea that it might have been mediated by horizontal connections in V2 and/or feedback from downstream areas. Overall, this work demonstrates that sensitivity to content outside the classical receptive field contributes to the image specificity of repetition suppression observed in V2 neurons to large natural images.

Chromatic Induction in Migraine.

The human visual system is not a colorimeter. The perceived colour of a region does not only depend on its colour spectrum, but also on the colour spectra and geometric arrangement of neighbouring regions, a phenomenon called chromatic induction. Chromatic induction is thought to be driven by lateral interactions: the activity of a central neuron is modified by stimuli outside its classical receptive field through excitatory–inhibitory mechanisms. As there is growing evidence of an excitation/inhibition imbalance in migraine, we compared chromatic induction in migraine and control groups. As hypothesised, we found a difference in the strength of induction between the two groups, with stronger induction effects in migraine. On the other hand, given the increased prevalence of visual phenomena in migraine with aura, we also hypothesised that the difference between migraine and control would be more important in migraine with aura than in migraine without aura. Our experiments did not support this hypothesis. Taken together, our results suggest a link between excitation/inhibition imbalance and increased induction effects.