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Central vision is substantially over represented in the lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) and striate cortex. The over representation could be accompanied by a selective expansion of central vision in parvocellular dLGN, in which case the ratio of parvocellular to magnocellular inputs to striate cortex should change with retinal eccentricity. To test this, sample ratios were determined from counts of neurons in dLGN labelled retrogradely with WGA-HRP from striate cortex at the cortical representations of various eccentricities. Parvocellular to magnocellular ratios decreased from a mean of 35:1 at the fovea to 5:1 at 15 degrees eccentricity. Furthermore, they exceeded the ratio of P beta to P alpha ganglion cells in central retina, but not in peripheral retina, showing that the uneven P to M ratio in the LGN does not merely mirror the distribution of ganglion cells in the retina. This provides direct evidence for selective over representation of central vision in parvocellular dLGN.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/s0042-6989(98)00319-8

Type

Journal article

Journal

Vision Res

Publication Date

06/1999

Volume

39

Pages

2179 - 2189

Keywords

Animals, Brain Mapping, Geniculate Bodies, Horseradish Peroxidase, Macaca mulatta, Neural Pathways, Retinal Ganglion Cells, Visual Cortex