Motion processing with wide-field neurons in the retino-tecto-rotundal pathway

The retino-tecto-rotundal pathway is the main visual pathway in nonmammalian vertebrates and has been found to be highly involved in visual processing. Despite the extensive receptive fields of tectal and rotundal wide-field neurons, pattern discrimination tasks suggest a system with high spatial re...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Dellen, Babette, Wessel, Ralf, Clark, John W., Wörgötter, Florentin
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2010
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/12355
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/12355
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10827-009-0186-y
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Predictive control
Visual motion - Retino-tecto-rotundal pathway - Optic tectum - Nucleus rotundus - Optic flow
Control predictiu
Classificació INSPEC::Cybernetics::Artificial intelligence::Planning (artificial intelligence)::Path planning
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Informàtica::Intel·ligència artificial artificial
Descripción
Sumario:The retino-tecto-rotundal pathway is the main visual pathway in nonmammalian vertebrates and has been found to be highly involved in visual processing. Despite the extensive receptive fields of tectal and rotundal wide-field neurons, pattern discrimination tasks suggest a system with high spatial resolution. In this paper, we address the problem of how global processing performed by motion-sensitive wide-field neurons can be brought into agreement with the concept of a local analysis of visual stimuli. As a solution to this problem, we propose a firing-rate model of the retino-tectorotundal pathway which describes how spatiotemporal information can be organized and retained by tectal and rotundal wide-field neurons while processing Fourier-based motion in absence of periodic receptive-field structures. The model incorporates anatomical and electrophysiological experimental data on tectal and rotundal neurons, and the basic response characteristics of tectal and rotundal neurons to moving stimuli are captured by the model cells. We show that local velocity estimates may be derived from rotundal-cell responses via superposition in a subsequent processing step. Experimentally testable predictions which are both specific and characteristic to the model are provided. Thus, a conlusive explanation can be given of how the retino-tecto-rotundal pathway enables the animal to detect and localize moving objects or to estimate its self-motion parameters.