Effects of early experience upon orientation sensitivity and binocularity of neurons in visual cortex of cats.

Abstract

The class of neurons within the visual cortex of normal adult cats that had the smallest receptive fields (.ltoreq. 2.25 degrees2) and that responded only to low rates of stimulus motion (.ltoreq. 50.degree./s) responded preferentially to lines oriented about either the horizontal axis (.+-. 22.5.degree.) or the vertical axis (.+-. 22.5.degree.). In animals reared without exposure to patterned visual stimulation, many of these cells displayed orientation preferences but were activated monocularly. In normal animals, neurons that had larger receptive fields or that responded to higher rates of stimulus motion did not exhibit a similar bias in the distribution of their orientation preferences. Cells of this type, studied in animals reared without exposure to patterned visual stimuli, were activated binocularly but did not display orientation preferences.