Summary
We investigated responses of neurones in cortical areas 17 and 18 and in the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) of the cat to a phase shift in a moving line pattern forming a border without a luminance gradient (“subjective contour”). In both areas 17 and 18, S cells and B cells respond only slightly or not at all along the phase shift while C cells respond strongly. The response of C cells is strongest for line patterns with medium line separation and decreases with smaller and larger separation. In the dLGN the relative magnitude of neuronal responses along a phase shift is similar to that of C cells. However, C cells respond uniformly along the entire phase shift, whereas geniculate cells merely respond to individual line ends along the phase shift. In addition we compared responses along a phase shift and those to a luminance gradient formed by a dotted line whose dots were separated by the same distance as the line ends along the phase shift. S cells and B cells respond preferentially to dotted lines whereas C cells and geniculate cells respond equally well along both phase shifts and dotted lines. Possible explanations for these results in terms of receptive field structure and differences in inhibitory input to the cells are discussed. Differential neurone responses may account for the perceptual distinctness of the contours with and without luminance gradients.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Becker MF, Knopp J (1978) Processing of visual illusions in the frequency and spatial domains. Percept Psychophys 23: 521–526
Creutzfeldt OD, Kuhnt U, Benevento LA (1974) An intracellular analysis of visual cortical neurones to moving stimuli: responses in a co-operative neuronal network. Exp Brain Res 21: 251–274
Creutzfeldt OD, Nothdurft HC (1978) Representation of complex visual stimuli in the brain. Naturwissenschaften 65: 307–318
Day RH, Jory MK (1978) Subjective contours, visual acuity, and line contrast. In: Armington JC, Krauskopf JE, Wooten B (eds) Visual psychophysics: its physiological basis. Academic Press, New York, pp 331–340
Dean AF, Tolhurst DJ (1983) On the distinctness of simple and complex cells in the visual cortex of the cat. J Physiol 344: 305–325
Ehrenstein W (1941) Über Abwandlungen der L. Hermannschen Helligkeitserscheinung. Z Psychol 150: 83–91
Fukuda Y, Saito H (1972) Phasic and tonic cells in the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus. Tohoku J Exp Med 106: 209–210
Ginsburg AP (1975) Is the illusory triangle physical or imaginary? Nature (London) 257: 219–220
Gregory RL (1972) Cognitive contours. Nature (London) 238: 51–52
Hammond P, MacKay DM (1977) Differential responsiveness of simple and complex cells in cat striate cortex to visual texture. Exp Brain Res 30: 275–296
Henry GH (1977) Receptive field classes of cells in the striate cortex of the cat. Brain Res 133: 1–28
Hubel DH, Wiesel TN (1962) Receptive fields, binocular interaction and functional architecture in the cat's visual cortex. J Physiol 160: 106–154
Kanizsa G (1974) Contours without gradients or cognitive contours? Ital J Psychol 1: 93–112
Kanizsa G (1976) Subjective contours. Sci Am 234 (4): 48–52
Kanizsa G (1979) Organization in vision. Essays on Gestalt perception. Praeger, New York
Lawson RB, Gulick WL (1967) Stereopsis and anomalous contours. Vision Res 7: 271–297
Nothdurft HC, Lee BB (1982) Responses to coloured patterns in the macaque lateral geniculate nucleus: pattern processing of single neurones. Exp Brain Res 48: 43–54
Nothdurft HC, Li CY (1984) Representation of spatial details in textured patterns by cells of the cat striate cortex. Exp Brain Res 57: 9–21
Orban GA, Kennedy H (1981) The influence of eccentricity on RF types and orientation selectivity in areas 17 and 18 of the cat. Brain Res 208: 203–208
Redies C (1982) Zur Psychophysik und Neurophysiologie der Neontäuschung und verwandter Linienkontrast-Phänomene. Med Dissertation, Universität Göttingen
Redies C, Spillmann L (1981) The neon color effect in the Ehrenstein illusion. Perception 10: 667–681
Redies C, Spillmann L, Kunz K (1984) Colored neon flanks and line gap enhancement. Vision Res 24: 1301–1309
Robson JG, Enroth-Cugell C (1978) Light distribution in the cat's retinal image. Vision Res 18: 159–173
Schumann F (1900) Einige Beobachtungen über die Zusammenfassung von Gesichtseindrücken zu Einheiten. Z Psychol 23: 1–27
Sillito AM (1975) The contribution of inhibitory mechanisms to the receptive field properties of neurones in the striate cortex of the cat. J Physiol 250: 305–329
Van Tuijl HFJM (1975) A new visual illusion: neonlike color spreading and complementary color induction between subjective contours. Acta Psychol (Amsterdam) 39: 441–445
Von der Heydt R, Peterhans E, Baumgartner G (1984) Illusory contours and cortical neuron responses. Science (New York) 224: 1260–1262
Wässle H, Creutzfeldt OD (1973) Spatial resolution in visual system: a theoretical and experimental study on single units in the cat's lateral geniculate body. J Neurophysiol 36: 13–27
Zucker S (1983) Cooperative grouping and early orientation selection. In: Braddick O, Sleigh A (eds) Physical and biological processing of images. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 326–334
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
JMC was in receipt of a postdoctoral fellowship from the Max-Planck-Society
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Redies, C., Crook, J.M. & Creutzfeldt, O.D. Neuronal responses to borders with and without luminance gradients in cat visual cortex and dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus. Exp Brain Res 61, 469–481 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237572
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237572