Dependence of center radius on temporal frequency for the receptive fields of X retinal ganglion cells of cat

Abstract

We examined the dependence of the center radius of X cells on temporal frequency and found that at temporal frequencies above 40 Hz the radius increases in a monotonic fashion, reaching a size ~30% larger at 70 Hz. This kind of spatial expansion has been predicted with cable models of receptive fields where inductive elements are included in modeling the neuronal membranes. Hence, the expansion of the center radius is clearly important for modeling X cell receptive fields. On the other hand, we feel that it might be of only minor functional significance, since the responsivity of X cells is attenuated at these high temporal frequencies and the signal-to-noise ratio is considerably worse than at low and midrange temporal frequencies. © 1989, Rockefeller University Press., All rights reserved.