title: Variability of visual responses of superior colliculus neurons depends on stimulus velocity.
abstract: Visually responding neurons in the superficial, retinorecipient layers of the cat superior colliculus receive input from two primarily parallel information processing channels, Y and W, which is reflected in their velocity response profiles. We quantified the time-dependent variability of responses of these neurons to stimuli moving with different velocities by Fano factor (FF) calculated in discrete time windows. The FF for cells responding to low-velocity stimuli, thus receiving W inputs, increased with the increase in the firing rate. In contrast, the dynamics of activity of the cells responding to fast moving stimuli, processed by Y pathway, correlated negatively with FF whether the response was excitatory or suppressive. These observations were tested against several types of surrogate data. Whereas Poisson description failed to reproduce the variability of all collicular responses, the inclusion of secondary structure to the generating point process recovered most of the observed features of responses to fast moving stimuli. Neither model could reproduce the variability of low-velocity responses, which suggests that, in this case, more complex time dependencies need to be taken into account. Our results indicate that Y and W channels may differ in reliability of responses to visual stimulation. Apart from previously reported morphological and physiological differences of the cells belonging to Y and W channels, this is a new feature distinguishing these two pathways.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mochol
authors.forename: Daniel K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Wójcik
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wypych
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wróbel
authors.forename: Wioletta J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Waleszczyk
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004594:Electrophysiology; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D053444:Inhibitory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D016012:Poisson Distribution; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013477:Superior Colliculi / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*