Orientation map emerges in parallel with the formation of receptive fields in a feedforward neurotrophic model

Abstract

A feed-forward neurotrophic model has been shown to generate realistic receptive field (RF) profiles for simple cells that show smooth transitions between subregions and fade off gradually at the boundaries [1]. RF development in the neurotrophic model is determined by diffusive cooperation and resource limited competition guided axonal growth and retraction in the geniculocortical pathway. Simple cells developed through the model are selective for orientation (OR) [1] and capture a wide range of spatial frequency properties of cortical cells [2]. Here, we show that the development of spatial receptive structure of the cells through the phenomena of competition and cooperation is also accompanied with formation of an orientation map (ORmap). Once these maps appear they remain stable. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004.