ISSN:
1432-1351
Keywords:
Tectal neurons
;
Textured background
;
In-/anti-phase movements
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
,
Medicine
Notes:
Summary A total of 56 tectal neurons in toads (Bufo japonicus) were quantitatively analyzed to study the influences of the moving background texture on the response of tectal neurons to moving objects. The tectal neurons responded not only to the black object but also to the textured one (8×8 ° square). Whilst the background texture (D=100 °) was moving synchronously with the object (i.e., in the “in-phase” movement condition), 53.5% of neurons were completely inhibited in response to the moving object. However, in the anti-phase movement condition, only 10% of neurons were completely inhibited and even 21.6% of neurons were facilitated. After masking the textured background in the central area of the ERF, some tectal neurons were slightly disinhibited in the “in-phase” condition, however, the strength of inhibition seemed to be increased slightly in the anti-phase condition. When the background of the surrounding area of the receptive field was masked, all tectal neurons clearly responded to the moving textured background in the central area of the excitatory receptive field alone and, therefore, it was rather difficult to discriminate between the spikes elicited by the moving object and those elicited by the moving background in both in-phase and anti-phase conditions. Some possible mechanisms are discussed.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00189774
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