Orientation preference patterns in mammalian visual cortex: A wire length minimization approach

Koulakov, A. A., Chklovskii, D. B. (February 2001) Orientation preference patterns in mammalian visual cortex: A wire length minimization approach. Neuron, 29 (2). pp. 519-527. ISSN 0896-6273

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11239440
DOI: 10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00223-9

Abstract

In the visual cortex of many mammals, orientation preference changes smoothly along the cortical surface, with the exception of singularities such as pinwheels and fractures. The reason for the existence of these singularities has remained elusive, suggesting that they are developmental artifacts. We show that singularities reduce the length of intracortical neuronal connections for some connection rules. Therefore, pinwheels and fractures could be evolutionary adaptations keeping cortical volume to a minimum. Wire length minimization approach suggests that interspecies differences in orientation preference maps reflect differences in intracortical neuronal circuits, thus leading to experimentally testable predictions. We discuss application of our model to direction preference maps.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: OCULAR-DOMINANCE COLUMNS MONKEY STRIATE CORTEX RECEPTIVE-FIELD FUNCTIONAL ARCHITECTURE CORTICAL MAPS CAT AREA-17 OWL MONKEY ORGANIZATION TOPOGRAPHY NEURONS
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > computers
bioinformatics > computational biology
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > neural networks
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > visual cortex
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Koulakov lab
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: February 2001
Date Deposited: 19 Dec 2013 19:42
Last Modified: 22 Jul 2015 20:25
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/29121

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