Electrical coupling of photoreceptors in retinal network models

The spatial width of photoreceptor receptive fields affects the processing of signals in neural networks of the retina. This effect has been examined using the simple recurrent and non-recurrent network models, where lateral interaction strength was adjusted to approximate a prescribed receptive field profile. The results indicate that the optimal performance of the networks is obtained with photoreceptor receptive fields wider than the ganglion cell separation. It is thus concluded that while electrical coupling of photoreceptors in the retina reduces the intrinsic noise in the system, it also improves the sampling efficiency of the laterally coupled neural network of the retina.