Contrast-dependent OFF-dominance in cat primary visual cortex facilitates discrimination of stimuli with natural contrast statistics

被引:20
作者
Liu, Kefei [1 ,2 ,3 ]
Yao, Haishan [1 ,2 ]
机构
[1] Chinese Acad Sci, Shanghai Inst Biol Sci, Inst Neurosci, Shanghai, Peoples R China
[2] Chinese Acad Sci, Shanghai Inst Biol Sci, State Key Lab Neurosci, Shanghai, Peoples R China
[3] Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Shanghai, Peoples R China
关键词
efficient coding; log ON; OFF ratio; multi-filter linear-nonlinear model; natural scenes; RECEPTIVE-FIELD; SIMPLE CELLS; STRIATE CORTEX; RETINOTOPIC ORGANIZATION; SPATIAL-FREQUENCY; LOCAL CONTRAST; COMPLEX CELLS; V1; NEURONS; IMAGES; ORIENTATION;
D O I
10.1111/ejn.12567
中图分类号
Q189 [神经科学];
学科分类号
071006 ;
摘要
Both theoretical and experimental studies suggest that response properties in the visual system are shaped by signals in the natural environment. Recent studies showed that, in the primary visual cortex (V1), neurons preferring light decrements (OFF stimuli) outnumber those preferring light increments (ON stimuli). However, it is not clear whether the OFF-dominance in V1 neurons is related to the contrast statistics in natural images. By analysing the distribution of negative and positive contrasts in natural images at several spatial scales, we showed that optimal coding of the natural contrast signals would lead to a contrast-dependent OFF-dominant response, with a stronger degree of OFF-dominance at a higher contrast. Using bright and dark stimuli at various contrast levels to measure the receptive fields of neurons in cat V1, we found an increasing degree of OFF-dominance of the neuronal population as the contrast was increased. By modeling receptive fields exhibiting OFF- and ON-dominance, we found that contrast-dependent OFF-dominance facilitated the discrimination of stimuli with natural contrast distribution. Thus, by matching contrast-dependent OFF-dominance to the statistics of contrast distribution in natural images, V1 neurons may better discriminate contrast information in natural scenes.
引用
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页码:2060 / 2070
页数:11
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