STIMULUS CODING IN TOPOGRAPHIC AND NON-TOPOGRAPHIC AFFERENT MODALITIES - ON SIGNIFICANCE OF ACTIVITY OF INDIVIDUAL SENSORY NEURONS

Discusses 2 related problems in the neural handling of sensory information. The 1st is the meaning of the varieties of breadth of responsiveness, or differing levels of specificity, of individual afferent neurons; reasons are discussed why, for example, visual receptors and neurons are responsive to nearly the total visual spectrum, whereas tactile neurons respond to very limited proportions of the skin surface. The broadly tuned neurons constitute 1 class of afferent modality labeled nontopographic, the narrowly tuned neurons constituting the topographic modalities. 2nd, some common principles of encoding sensory stimuli in both classes of modalities are developed. (45 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.