title: Delayed maturation of receptive field center/surround mechanisms in V2.
abstract: Neurons in the adult visual cortex are capable of integrating signals over a large area that surrounds their classic receptive field (RF), and this ability of cortical neurons is thought to be intimately involved in perceptual binding. It is not known, however, at what age these long-range signal interactions emerge. Here, we report that qualitatively adult-like center/surround interactions are already present in the primary visual cortex as early as postnatal day 14 in macaque monkeys. However, the RF surrounds of visual area 2 (V2) neurons were largely absent until 4 weeks of age and, as late as 8 weeks of age, center/surround signal interactions in V2 neurons were immature. Our results suggest that the cortical circuits underlying the RF center/surround of individual neurons mature considerably later in V2 than in the primary visual cortex and give critical evidence for the hypothesis that the functional maturation of the primate visual brain proceeds in a hierarchical manner.
authors.affiliation: College of Optometry, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204-2020, USA.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jianghe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maruko
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.forename: Earl L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Yuzo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chino
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology