Ocular Dominance Maps Research Articles

Organisation and Interrelationships of Functional Maps in Cat and Monkey Striate Cortex

Optical imaging of intrinsic signals allows mapping of the cortical functional architecture in vivo at high spatial resolution. The ability to image activity patterns evoked by many different stimuli in the same piece of cortex can provide information on the spatial relationships between different functional maps. Our findings on the organisation of multiple functional maps in cat and monkey striate cortex are reviewed. The main focus is on the recent finding in cat of two subsystems differing in their response to spatiotemporal aspects of the stimulus. We used grating stimuli of different spatial frequencies in an attempt to verify the existence of spatial frequency columns in cat area 17. Rather than observing a map of continuously changing spatial frequency across the cortical surface we found two distinct sets of domains, one preferring low and one preferring high spatial frequencies. By using different drift velocities we also found that the low-spatial-frequency domains preferred higher speeds than the high-spatial-frequency domains. Comparison of these spatiotemporal frequency domains with the cytochrome oxidase staining pattern revealed that the cytochrome oxidase blobs in cat striate cortex coincide with domains devoted to the processing of the low-spatial-frequency and high-temporal-frequency contents of the visual scene. Together with recent anatomical results these data suggest that spatiotemporal frequency domains are the manifestation of parallel streams in cat visual cortex with distinct patterns of thalamic inputs and extrastriate projections. In the same experiments we also imaged the orientation preference and ocular dominance maps. We investigated the relationships between these three columnar systems, and compared them to an earlier study of orientation, ocular dominance, and blobs in macaque striate cortex. We found systematic relationships between the three systems. While some of these relationships were much weaker than those found in monkey, the organisational principles are similar.

Phase diagrams of self-organizing maps.

We present a method which allows the analytic determination of phase diagrams in the self-organizing map, a model for the formation of topographic projection patterns in the brain and in signal processing applications. The method only requires an ansatz for the tesselation of the data space induced by the map, not for the explicit state of the map. We analytically obtain phase diagrams for various examples, including models for the development of orientation and ocular-dominance maps. The latter phase diagram exhibits transitions to broadening ocular-dominance patterns as observed in a recent experiment. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.

Single unit recording capabilities of a 100 microelectrode array

We have developed a three-dimensional silicon electrode array which provides 100 separate channels for neural recording in cortex. The device is manufactured using silicon micromachining techniques, and we have conducted acute recording experiments in cat striate cortex to evaluate the recording capabilities of the array. In a series of five acute experiments, 58.6% of the electrodes in the array were found to be capable of recording visually evoked responses. In the most recent acute study, the average signal-to-noise ratio for recordings obtained from 56 of the electrodes in the array was calculated to be 5.5:1. Using standard window discrimination techniques, an average of 3.4 separable spikes were identified for each of these electrodes. In order to compare the two-dimensional mapping capabilities of the array with those derived from other technologies, orientation preference and ocular dominance maps were generated for each of the evoked responses. Histological evaluation of the implant site indicates some localized tissue insult, but this is likely due to the perfusion procedure since high signal-to-noise ratio neural responses were recorded. The recording capabilities of the Utah Intracortical Electrode Array in combination with the large number of electrodes available for recording make the array a tool well suited for investigations into the parallel processing mechanisms in cortex.

Models of orientation and ocular dominance columns in the visual cortex: a critical comparison.

Orientation and ocular dominance maps in the primary visual cortex of mammals are among the most thoroughly investigated of the patterns in the cerebral cortex. A considerable amount of work has been dedicated to unraveling both their detailed structure and the neural mechanisms that underlie their formation and development. Many schemes have been proposed, some of which are in competition. Some models focus on development of receptive fields while others focus on the structure of cortical maps, i.e., the arrangement of receptive field properties across the cortex. Each model used different means to determine its success at reproducing experimental map patterns, often relying principally on visual comparison. Experimental data are becoming available that allow a more careful evaluation of models. In this contribution more than 10 of the most prominent models of cortical map formation and structure are critically evaluated and compared with the most recent experimental findings from macaque striate cortex. Comparisons are based on properties of the predicted or measured cortical map patterns. We introduce several new measures for comparing experimental and model map data that reveal important differences between models. We expect that the use of these measures will improve current models by helping determine parameters to match model maps to experimental data now becoming available from a variety of species. Our study reveals that (1) despite apparent differences, many models are based on similar principles and consequently make similar predictions, (2) several models produce orientation map patterns that are not consistent with the experimental data from macaques, regardless of the plausibility of the models' suggested physiological implementations, and (3) no models have yet fully accounted for both the local and the global relationships between orientation and ocular dominance map patterns.

Organization of ocular dominance and orientation columns in the striate cortex of neonatal macaque monkeys.

Previous work has shown that small, stimulus-dependent changes in light absorption can be used to monitor cortical activity, and to provide detailed maps of ocular dominance and optimal stimulus orientation in the striate cortex of adult macaque monkeys (Blasdel & Salama, 1986; Ts'o et al., 1990). We now extend this approach to infant animals, in which we find many of the organizational features described previously in adults, including patch-like linear zones, singularities, and fractures (Blasdel, 1992b), in animals as young as 3 1/2 weeks of age. Indeed, the similarities between infant and adult patterns are more compelling than expected. Patterns of ocular dominance and orientation, for example, show many of the correlations described previously in adults, including a tendency for orientation specificity to decrease in the centers of ocular dominance columns, and for iso-orientation contours to cross the borders of ocular dominance columns at angles of 90 deg. In spite of these similarities, there are differences, one of which entails the strength of ocular dominance signals, which appear weaker in the younger animals and which increase steadily with age. Another, more striking, difference concerns the widths of ocular dominance columns, which increase by 20% during the first 3 months of life. Since the cortical surface area increases by a comparable amount, during the same time, this 20% expansion implies that growth occurs anisotropically, perpendicular to the ocular dominance columns, as the cortical surface expands. Since the observed patterns of orientation preference expand more slowly, at approximately half this rate, these results also imply that ocular dominance and orientation patterns change their relationship, and may even drift past one another, as young animals mature.

Optical imaging of bipolar cortical stimulation.

In order to better understand the degree of cortical activation that occurs during bipolar surface stimulation, the authors stimulated monkey visual cortex while monitoring the degree of activation with optical imaging. Optical imaging of intrinsic signals in monkey visual cortex during visual stimulation resulted in functional maps of ocular dominance and orientation selectivity. After functional maps of ocular dominance and orientation preference were obtained, bipolar surface stimulation was applied to activate just the cortical areas around the bipolar electrodes. Graded responses to changes in the stimulation intensity and duration were found. These findings demonstrate the reliability of bipolar cortical surface stimulation in localizing functional regions of cortex. The area of activation, at least in the region around the bipolar stimulating electrodes, did not appear to activate nearby ocular dominance columns or orientation patches. Intraoperative bipolar surface stimulation continues to be a consistently reliable technique for localizing rolandic cortex and essential language sites.

Functional organization of the cortical 17/18 border region in the cat

The representation of the visual field in the 17/18 border region of the cat's visual cortex, and the layout of orientation and ocular dominance columns, were studied by making many closely spaced electrode penetrations into the superficial layers of the flattened dorsal region of the marginal gyrus and recording response properties at each location. The 17/18 border region was defined by measuring the change in the horizontal component of receptive field position within the gyrus: as the position of the recording electrode moved from medial to lateral, the receptive fields moved towards the vertical midline, indicating that the electrode was in area 17; as penetrations were made in increasingly lateral positions, the trend reversed, and receptive field positions moved away from the midline, indicating that the electrode was in area 18. The receptive fields of cells close to the border straddled, or lay within 2 degrees-3 degrees on either side of the vertical midline. In addition, patches of cortex were sometimes encountered in which cells had receptive field centers located up to 7 degrees in the ipsilateral visual field. Experiments in which maps were made in the left and right hemispheres of a single animal showed that these patches had a complementary distribution in the two hemispheres. Cells within the patches behaved as though driven by Y-cell inputs: they usually had large receptive fields and responded to rapidly-moving stimuli. They were broadly tuned for orientation and strongly dominated by the contralateral eye. Fourier spectral analysis of orientation selectivity maps showed that iso-orientation bands had an average spacing of 1.14 +/- 0.1 mm and tended to be elongated in a direction orthogonal to the 17/18 border. Individual bands crossed the border without obvious interruption, although singularities (points of discontinuity in the layout of orientations) were more frequently observed in the border region than in adjacent areas. Two dominant periodicities could be measured in the maps of ocular dominance, one at around 0.8 +/- 0.2 mm and a second at 2.0 +/- 0.3 mm. No constant direction of elongation was noted. These are close to the periods present within areas 17 and 18 respectively.