A Synaptic Explanation of Suppression in Visual Cortex

Carandini, Matteo; Heeger, David J; Senn, Walter (2002). A Synaptic Explanation of Suppression in Visual Cortex. Journal of neuroscience, 22(22), pp. 10053-10065. Society for Neuroscience 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-22-10053.2002

[img] Text
10053.full.pdf - Published Version
Restricted to registered users only
Available under License Publisher holds Copyright.

Download (477kB)

The responses of neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1) are suppressed by mask stimuli that do not elicit responses if presented alone. This suppression is widely believed to be mediated by intracortical inhibition. As an alternative, we propose that it can be explained by thalamocortical synaptic depression. This explanation correctly predicts that suppression is monocular, immune to cortical adaptation, and occurs for mask stimuli that elicit responses in the thalamus but not in the cortex. Depression also explains other phenomena previously ascribed to intracortical inhibition. It explains why responses saturate at high stimulus contrast, whereas selectivity for orientation and spatial frequency is invariant with contrast. It explains why transient responses to flashed stimuli are nonlinear, whereas spatial summation is primarily linear. These results suggest that the very first synapses into the cortex, and not the cortical network, may account for important response properties of V1 neurons.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

04 Faculty of Medicine > Pre-clinic Human Medicine > Institute of Physiology

UniBE Contributor:

Senn, Walter

Subjects:

600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health

ISSN:

0270-6474

Publisher:

Society for Neuroscience

Language:

English

Submitter:

Virginie Sabado

Date Deposited:

18 Jan 2023 15:00

Last Modified:

18 Jan 2023 15:36

Publisher DOI:

10.1523/JNEUROSCI.22-22-10053.2002

PubMed ID:

12427863

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/177226

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/177226

Actions (login required)

Edit item Edit item
Provide Feedback