Neural correlates of motion after-effects in cat striate cortical neurones: monocular adaptation

Abstract

Motion after-effects were elicited from striate cortical cells in lightly-anaesthetized cats, by adapting with square-wave gratings or randomly textured fields drifting steadily and continuously in preferred or null directions. The time-course and recovery of responsiveness following adaptation were assessed with moving bars, gratings or textured fields. Results were compared with controls in which the adapting stimulus was replaced by a uniform field of identical mean luminance, and also assessed in relation to the strength and time course of adaptation. Within 30-60 s adaptation, firing declined to a steady-state. Induced after-effects were direction-specific, and manifest as a transitory depression in response to the direction of prior adaptation, recovering to control levels in 30-60 s. Maximal after-effects were induced by gratings of optimal drift velocity and spatial frequency. With rare exceptions after-effects were restricted to driven activity; no consistent effects on resting discharge were observed. The onset of adaptation, and the recovery period, were more rapid in simple cells, although after-effects of comparable strength were elicited from simple and from standard complex cells. Special complex cells, including many of the more profoundly texture-sensitive neurones in the cortex, were more resistant to adaptation. The results support the conclusion that psychophysically measured adaptation and induced motion after-effect phenomena reflect the known properties of cortical neurones.