Abstract
The abiding challenge in vision is to unravel the role of the extensive feedback systems that parallel the ascending feed-forward pathways. Feed-forward projections in the cerebral cortex, which transmit bottom-up information away from sensory receptors, are matched by feedback projections that can transmit top-down signals. The role of layer 6 feedback cells in visual processing is of particular appealing for those cells in the visual cortex sit in a crucial place in the circuitry involved in the early processing of the visual input in higher mammals such as cats and primates [1,2,3]. They make connections that straddle both the relay of information from retinal afferents to LGN cells and the transfer of information from LGN cells to layer 4 of the visual cortex. In simple numerical terms the connections from layer 6 cells to LGN and layer 4 of the visual cortex greatly exceed the contribution from the axons carrying the ascending input [5,4,6,7,8}. This suggests that layer 6 cells play a special role in controlling the access of the visual input to the cortex. The question is what is this role?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Sillito AM, Cudeiro J and Jones HE (2006). Always returning: feedback and sensory processing in visual cortex and thalamus. Trends Neurosci. 29: 307–316.
Wang W, Jones HE, Andolina IM, Salt TE, Sillito AM (2004). Functional alignment of feedback effects from visual cortex to LGN. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts: 409.11.
Wang W, Jones HE, Andolina IM, Salt TE, Sillito AM (2006). Functional alignment of feedback} effects from visual cortex to thalamus. Nature Neurosci. Oct; 9(10): 1330–6.
Ahmed B, Anderson JC, Douglas RJ, Martin KAC, Nelson JC (1994). Poly neuronal innervations} of spiny stellate neurons in cat visual cortex. J Comp Neurol 341, 39–49
Erisir A, et al. (1997). Relative numbers of cortical and brainstem inputs to the lateral geniculate} nucleus. PNAS, 1517–1520.
Relative distribution of synapses in the A-laminae of the lateral geniculate nucleus of the cat. J Comp Neurol Jan 24, 416 (4): 509–20.
Murphy PC, Duckett SG & Sillito AM (1999). Feedback connections to the lateral geniculate nucleus and cortical response properties. Science 286, 1552–1554.
morphology of the feedback pathway from area 17 of the cat visual cortex to the lateral geniculate nucleus. J Neurosci Feb 1, 16(3): 1180–92.
Wang W, Jones HE, Andolina IM, Salt TE, Sillito AM (2000). Influence of enhanced feedback from V1 on visual responses in the LGN. Society for Neurosci Abstracts 162.9.
Wang W, Jones HE, Andolina IM, Salt TE, Sillito AM (2001). Focal activation of feedback from V1 to LGN shifts cell firing patterns between bursting and tonic modes. Society for Neurosci Abstracts 27: 723.3.
Sherman SM (2001). Tonic and burst firing: dual modes of thalamocortical relay. Trends Neurosci. 24, 122–126.
Crick F (1984). Function of the Thalamic Reticular Complex: The Searchlight Hypothesis. PNAS vol. 81, no. 14: 4586–4590.
Hubel DH & Wiesel TN (1962). Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat’s visual cortex. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 160, 106–154.
Andolina IM, Jones HE, Wang W and Silito AM (2007). Cortico-thalamic Feedback Enhances Stimulus Response Precision in the Visual System. PNAS Jan 30, vol. 104, no. 5: 1685–16901.
Sillito AM, Jones HE, Gerstein GL & West DC (1994). Feature-linked synchronization of thalamic relay cell firing induced by feedback from the visual cortex. Nature 369, 479–482.
Cudeiro J & Sillito AM (1996). Spatial frequency tuning of orientation-discontinuity-sensitive corticofugal feedback to the cat lateral geniculate nucleus. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 490, 481–492.
Wörgötter, F. et al. (1998). The influence of corticofugal feedback on the temporal structure of visual responses of cat thalamic relay cells. J. Physiol. 509, 797–815.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Wang, W. (2008). The Role of Layer 6 Feedback Cells in the Primary Visual Cortex. In: Wang, R., Shen, E., Gu, F. (eds) Advances in Cognitive Neurodynamics ICCN 2007. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8387-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8387-7_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8386-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8387-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)