Abstract
VISUAL perception can be viewed as a transformation and a distortion of the spatial patterns which exist in the outside world. The transformation of external objects into neural images is accomplished by the summation of excitatory and inhibitory influences over the visual field of each neurone. Distortion occurs when the neural response is not simply proportional to the sum of excitation and inhibition because of nonlinear mechanisms in spatial summation. If the responses of all visual cells were distorted by such nonlinear summation, fine visual discriminations like those necessary for reading Nature would be impossible. Nonlinear mechanisms do however, seem to be important in one class of visual neurone, perhaps for signalling change or motion in the external world. We have attempted to understand the importance of the different kinds of spatial summation by studying single cells in the cat visual system.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Enroth-Cugell, C., and Robson, J. G., J. Physiol., Lond., 187, 552 (1966).
Cleland, B. G., Dubin, M. W., and Levick, W. R., J. Physiol., Lond., 217, 473–496 (1971).
Cleland, B. G., Levick, W. R., and Sanderson, K. J., J. Physiol., Lond., 228, 649–680 (1973).
Hoffman, K. P., Stone, J., and Sherman, S. M., J. Neurophysiol., 35, 518–531 (1972).
Stone, J., and Hoffman, K. P., Brain Res., 32, 460–466 (1971).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
SHAPLEY, R., HOCHSTEIN, S. Visual spatial summation in two classes of geniculate cells. Nature 256, 411–413 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1038/256411a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/256411a0
This article is cited by
-
The Dorsal Nucleus of the Lateral Geniculate Body: Anatomy, Histology, Ontogenesis
Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology (2023)
-
Visual classification of X and Y perigeniculate neurons of the cat
Experimental Brain Research (1994)
-
Spatial summation by simple cells in the striate cortex of the cat
Experimental Brain Research (1987)
-
Spatio-temporal organization of receptive fields of the cat striate cortex
Biological Cybernetics (1982)
-
Structure of the simple receptive field of the cat visual cortex
Neurophysiology (1982)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
