| Abstract: | The effect of parameters of local photic stimulation of different points of the receptive field on the characteristics of dynamic reorganization of receptive fields of cortical and geniculate visual neurons within microintervals of time observed previously was studied in computer-controlled experiments on unanesthetized, curarized cats. Dependence on the degree of widening of the receptive field and the temporal characteristics of this process on the background illumination level, intensity, contrast, area, duration, energy, and orientation of a local rectangular or circular photic stimulus flashing in random order at 100 points of the tested part of the visual field was studied. It was concluded that the background illumination level and the intensity, size, duration, and orientation of the stimulus have a specific effect on dynamic reorganization of the receptive field. The effects of all the parameters studied on the dynamics of the receptive field were shown to be nonlinear functions with optimal values that differed for different cells. The possible functional role of this effect and also the probability that it may participate in information coding in the visual system are discussed.Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. Translated from Neirofiziologiya, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 339–346, July–August, 1983. |
