Sparse spatial sampling for the computation of motion in multiple stages.
The avian retino-tecto-rotundal pathway plays a central role in motion analysis and features complex connectivity. Yet, the relation between the pathway's structural arrangement and motion computation has remained elusive. For an important type of tectal wide-field neuron, the stratum griseum centrale type I (SGC-I) neuron, we quantified its structure and found a spatially sparse but extensive sampling of the retinal projection. A computational investigation revealed that these structural properties enhance the neuron's sensitivity to change, a behaviorally important stimulus attribute, while preserving information about the stimulus location in the SGC-I population activity. Furthermore, the SGC-I neurons project with an interdigitating topography to the nucleus rotundus, where the direction of motion is computed. We showed that, for accurate direction-of-motion estimation, the interdigitating projection of tectal wide-field neurons requires a two-stage rotundal algorithm, where the second rotundal stage estimates the direction of motion from the change in the relative stimulus position represented in the first stage.
Mahani
Alireza S
AS
Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Khanbabaie
Reza
R
Luksch
Harald
H
Wessel
Ralf
R
D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002645:Chickens / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D002772:Cholera Toxin; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008239:Lysine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D018408:Patch-Clamp Techniques; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology; D013788:Thalamus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*
D002772:Cholera Toxin; C013411:biocytin; D008239:Lysine