Ebook: Parallel Processing in the Visual System: The Classification of Retinal Ganglion Cells and its Impact on the Neurobiology of Vision
Author: Jonathan Stone (auth.)
- Tags: Animal Physiology, Biophysics and Biological Physics, Neurosciences
- Series: Perspectives in Vision Research
- Year: 1983
- Publisher: Springer US
- Edition: 1
- Language: English
- pdf
In the mid-sixties, John Robson and Christina Enroth-Cugell, without realizing what they were doing, set off a virtual revolution in the study of the visual system. They were trying to apply the methods of linear systems analysis (which were already being used to describe the optics of the eye and the psychophysical performance of the human visual system) to the properties of retinal ganglion cells in the cat. Their idea was to stimulate the retina with patterns of stripes and to look at the way that the signals from the center and the antagonistic surround of the respective field of each ganglion cell (first described by Stephen Kuffier) interact to generate the cell's responses. Many of the ganglion cells behaved themselves very nicely and John and Christina got into the habit (they now say) of calling them I (interesting) cells. However. to their annoyance, the majority of neurons they recorded had nasty, nonlinear properties that couldn't be predicted on the basis of simple summ4tion of light within the center and the surround. These uncoop erative ganglion cells, which Enroth-Cugell and Robson at first called D (dull) cells, produced transient bursts of impulses every time the distribution of light falling on the receptive field was changed, even if the total light flux was unaltered.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xvi
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
From the Beginning....Pages 3-31
The Y/X/W Classification of Cat Retinal Ganglion Cells....Pages 33-81
Ganglion Cell Classification in Other Species....Pages 83-119
Front Matter....Pages 121-121
Toward Certainty, Objectivity, or Testability?....Pages 123-134
Epistemological Background....Pages 135-145
Front Matter....Pages 147-147
On the Understanding of Visual Processing in the Diencephalon....Pages 149-193
On the Understanding of the Visual Centers of the Midbrain....Pages 195-216
On the Understanding of Visual Cortex....Pages 217-263
On the Understanding of Retinal Topography....Pages 265-323
On the Understanding of the Visual Pathways’ Dependence on the Visual Environment....Pages 325-351
On the Understanding of Visual Psychophysics and Behavior....Pages 353-373
Extensions and Limits of the Parallel Processing Analysis....Pages 375-397
Back Matter....Pages 399-438
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xvi
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
From the Beginning....Pages 3-31
The Y/X/W Classification of Cat Retinal Ganglion Cells....Pages 33-81
Ganglion Cell Classification in Other Species....Pages 83-119
Front Matter....Pages 121-121
Toward Certainty, Objectivity, or Testability?....Pages 123-134
Epistemological Background....Pages 135-145
Front Matter....Pages 147-147
On the Understanding of Visual Processing in the Diencephalon....Pages 149-193
On the Understanding of the Visual Centers of the Midbrain....Pages 195-216
On the Understanding of Visual Cortex....Pages 217-263
On the Understanding of Retinal Topography....Pages 265-323
On the Understanding of the Visual Pathways’ Dependence on the Visual Environment....Pages 325-351
On the Understanding of Visual Psychophysics and Behavior....Pages 353-373
Extensions and Limits of the Parallel Processing Analysis....Pages 375-397
Back Matter....Pages 399-438
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