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The scale of the visual pathways of mouse and rat

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Abstract

Photoreceptors and neurons at various levels to cortex have been counted in mouse and rat. The ratios of neuron numbers (rat/mouse) are similar to the ratio of retinal areas or the squared ratio of eye sizes; so to a first approximation the two species have linearly scaled eyes, equal photoreceptor spacings (in μm), and visual pathways scaled numerically by the number of photoreceptors. With supplementary data from the literature, some of the functional implications of the design can be evaluated level by level. Overall, there is structural and computational economy, or even parsimony.

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  1. Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, M5S 1A8, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    P. E. Hallett

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A8

    P. E. Hallett

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, M5S 1A8, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    P. E. Hallett

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Hallett, P.E. The scale of the visual pathways of mouse and rat. Biol. Cybern. 57, 275–286 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00338820

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