Article
Neurosciences
Alan W. Freeman
Summary: Motion perception is crucial for navigation, object recognition, and communication. A model of the cat's visual system suggests that the direction selectivity in carnivores and primates is a result of the orientation selectivity of inhibitory neurons, leading to spatially asymmetric inhibition. The timing of excitatory and inhibitory inputs to neurons determines direction selectivity, with inhibitory inputs being spatially displaced in the preferred direction.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Giulio Matteucci, Benedetta Zattera, Rosilari Bellacosa Marotti, Davide Zoccolan
Summary: Inferring motion direction of visual objects is challenging due to multiple oriented features in natural objects. While neurons in low-level visual areas detect local features, higher-order visual areas integrate motion signals to represent global motion direction. Our study with rats demonstrated their ability to perceive global motion direction of complex visual patterns, consistent with representation by pattern cells.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Logan Chariker, Robert Shapley, Michael Hawken, Lai-Sang Young
Summary: This paper investigates the neural mechanisms of direction selectivity (DS) in the macaque primary visual cortex, V1. The authors present data showing strong DS in a majority of simple cells in V1 layer 4C alpha, which receives input from the magnocellular division of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). They built a large-scale, recurrent model called DSV1 to understand the mechanisms of DS and found that DS is initiated by dynamic differences in the visual responses of OFF and ON Magnocellular LGN cells, and the increase in DS in model cells is achieved through the interaction of feedforward and intracortical currents without direction-specific connections. The model's simulations match experimental data well, suggesting similar neural mechanisms in DSV1 and the real visual cortex.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jan H. Kirchner, Julijana Gjorgjieva
Summary: The organization of synaptic inputs on cortical dendrites at different spatial scales emerges during early postnatal development. A biophysically motivated computational model proposed by Kirchner and Gjorgjieva explains different types of organization in mouse and ferret based on activity-dependent synaptic competition and species-specific receptive fields.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Mang Gao, Sukbin Lim, Alexander A. Chubykin
Summary: Neural oscillations are crucial for information processing, communication between brain areas, learning, and memory. Familiar visual stimuli can induce 5-Hz oscillations in the primary visual cortex of awake mice. Visual experience affects the visual orientation and selectivity of V1 neurons, as well as membrane potential and firing rates.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Logan Chariker, Robert Shapley, Michael Hawken, Lai-Sang Young
Summary: This paper proposes a theory for the origin of direction selectivity in the macaque primary visual cortex, suggesting that DS is initiated in feed-forward LGN input and achieved through the interplay of ON and OFF LGN cells and their connections to cortex. The authors present data on Simple cells in layer 4C alpha in response to drifting gratings to support the proposed theory.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Grace F. DiRisio, Yongsoo Ra, Yinghui Qiu, Akiyuki Anzai, Gregory C. DeAngelis
Summary: Smooth eye movements are essential for natural visual processes, and they can be guided by both visual cues and extraretinal signals. This study focuses on how the brain processes and integrates these signals during smooth pursuit eye movements. The researchers investigate the responses of neurons in the MSTd area of rhesus monkeys and find that most neurons have preferences for the direction of eye rotation based on both visual and extraretinal signals. This suggests that area MSTd plays a crucial role in integrating these signals and representing the velocity of smooth eye movements.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Tomaso Muzzu, Aman B. Saleem
Summary: This article is a commentary on the response written by Vasilevskaya et al., 2023, published concurrently in Cell Reports, for our recent article "Feature selectivity can explain mismatch signals in mouse visual cortex." We found that the results in the response supported many of our findings, and with their new results, we argue for the need to redefine sensorimotor mismatch selectivity in the mouse visual system.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Miriam Henning, Giordano Ramos-Traslosheros, Burak Guer, Marion Silies
Summary: Self-motion generates important visual patterns for navigation, which are encoded by the population of cells in the visual system. In flies, T4/T5 cells can encode complex global motion patterns, while in mice, the retina only encodes local patterns.
Article
Neurosciences
Christian Quaia, Incheol Kang, Bruce G. Cumming
Summary: Direction selective neurons in macaque primary visual cortex are narrowly tuned for orientation, but are affected by the aperture problem. In the middle temporal (MT) area, some cells are able to solve this problem and respond to pattern motion direction. This study shows that a pattern motion signal is present at the population level, revealing the diversity of single-cell responses.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Mianzhe Han, Yuki Todo, Zheng Tang
Summary: The study proposed a mechanism for motion direction detection based on Barlow's inhibitory scheme, showing good performance and high detection accuracy in experiments, outperforming traditional Convolution Neural Network (CNN) in terms of accuracy, calculation speed, and cost.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Destinee A. Aponte, Gregory Handy, Amber M. Kline, Hiroaki Tsukano, Brent Doiron, Hiroyuki K. Kato
Summary: The study found that the direction selectivity of frequency modulation is not due to temporal offsets, but to an asymmetry in total synaptic charge between preferred and non-preferred directions. Inactivation of cortical somatostatin-expressing interneurons was shown to play a role in this process. Theoretical models suggest that charge asymmetry arises from the broad spatial topography of inhibitory neurons.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
W. Jeffrey Johnston, Stefano Fusi
Summary: Humans and animals can generalize knowledge across different contexts and objects during natural behavior. This ability arises from abstract representations, observed in recent neurophysiological studies, that emerge through the learning of multiple tasks using neural networks. These abstract representations enable few-sample learning and reliable generalization on novel tasks, and may be pervasive in high-level brain regions. Specific predictions are made about which variables will be represented abstractly.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Zhe-Xin Xu, Gregory C. DeAngelis
Summary: There are two sources of retinal image motion: objects moving in the world and observer movement. Neurons in the middle temporal (MT) area combine eye velocity and retinal velocity, potentially through a partial coordinate transformation or a multiplicative gain interaction, to compute head-centered object motion and depth information.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Developmental Biology
Natalie R. Hamilton, Andrew J. Scasny, Alex L. Kolodkin
Summary: Direction-selective (DS) circuits are evolutionarily conserved retinal circuits specialized for motion detection, forming precise connections through cellular, molecular, and activity-dependent mechanisms. These circuits regulate specific speeds and directions of motion in the retina, providing an ideal model system for studying neural connectivity development.
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Rune Rasmussen, Akihiro Matsumoto, Monica Dahlstrup Sietam, Keisuke Yonehara
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2020)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Rune Nguyen Rasmussen, Akihiro Matsumoto, Simon Arvin, Keisuke Yonehara
Summary: The study found that there are many neurons in the visual cortex that are selective to translational or rotational optic flow, with more neurons suppressed by binocular motion in the primary visual cortex. Disrupting retinal direction selectivity affects the number of neurons in different visual areas, blurring the functional distinction between primary and higher visual areas. Optic flow representations in specific areas of the visual cortex rely on binocular integration of motion information from the retina.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Santhosh Sethuramanujam, Akihiro Matsumoto, Geoff deRosenroll, Benjamin Murphy-Baum, J. Michael McIntosh, Miao Jing, Yulong Li, David Berson, Keisuke Yonehara, Gautam B. Awatramani
Summary: The study reveals that acetylcholine signals are transmitted through a rapid co-activation mechanism, activating receptors on multiple neurons surrounding the release site. Additionally, while acetylcholine signals are direction-selective locally, they do not show global directionality, facilitating information transfer at a local scale.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Correction
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Santhosh Sethuramanujam, Akihiro Matsumoto, Geoff deRosenroll, Benjamin Murphy-Baum, Claudio Grosman, J. Michael McIntosh, Miao Jing, Yulong Li, David Berson, Keisuke Yonehara, Gautam B. Awatramani
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Akihiro Matsumoto, Weaam Agbariah, Stella Solveig Nolte, Rawan Andrawos, Hadara Levi, Shai Sabbah, Keisuke Yonehara
Summary: Through two-photon glutamate imaging, it was discovered that direction selectivity arises early at bipolar cell outputs, with individual bipolar cells containing distinct populations of axon terminal boutons with different preferred directions. Tuning at these boutons relies on cholinergic excitation and GABAergic inhibition, contributing to the incremental refinement of directional tuning in the excitatory visual pathway.
Editorial Material
Cell Biology
Eva Maria Meier Carlsen, Rune Nguyen Rasmussen
Summary: This study reveals that prolonged food restriction leads to reduced energy consumption in neurons in the visual cortex, resulting in a loss of response selectivity and visual performance.
Editorial Material
Neurosciences
Nathan Anthony Smith, Rune Nguyen Rasmussen
Summary: A recent study revealed the presence of varicose projection astrocytes, a rare form of astrocyte, exclusively in the brains of hominoids while being absent in other primate brains.
TRENDS IN NEUROSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Simon Arvin, Rune Nguyen Rasmussen, Keisuke Yonehara
Summary: EyeLoop is an open-source eye tracker that provides high accuracy online analysis with a highly efficient vectorized pupil detection method, running at over 1,000 frames per second on consumer-grade hardware. It is suitable for a wide range of species, including rodents, humans, and non-human primates.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Tobias Ruff, Christian Peters, Akihiro Matsumoto, Stephan J. Ihle, Pilar Alcala Morales, Louise Gaitanos, Keisuke Yonehara, Daniel del Toro, Ruediger Klein
Summary: The study introduced a novel genetic Flrt3-CreERT2 knock-in mouse that labels a specific subtype of RGC, and found that these RGC subtypes project to a part of the accessory optic system (AOS) called MTN and preferentially respond to downward motion in an ON-fashion.
FRONTIERS IN MOLECULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Mathias L. Heltberg, Hussein N. Awada, Alessandra Lucchetti, Mogens H. Jensen, Jakob K. Dreyer, Rune N. Rasmussen
Summary: Parkinson's disease is caused by the loss of dopaminergic neurons. This study investigates the breakdown of neuronal signaling and proposes a cellular strategy for maintaining normal dopaminergic signaling. The research provides a new conceptual framework for understanding the impaired dopaminergic signaling in Parkinson's disease.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Simon Arvin, Keisuke Yonehara, Andreas Norgaard Glud
Summary: Neuromodulation is an effective method for treating brain diseases by modulating the activity of specific neuronal regions. Recent research has shown that the short- and long-range connections in neural networks play different roles in maintaining the critical state of the brain. By introducing topological and dynamical system concepts, therapeutic neuromodulation can be guided and improved.
Article
Biology
Prerna Srivastava, Geoff de Rosenroll, Akihiro Matsumoto, Tracy Michaels, Zachary Turple, Varsha Jain, Santhosh Sethuramanujam, Benjamin L. Murphy-Baum, Keisuke Yonehara, Gautam Bhagwan Awatramani
Summary: In this study, the input kinetics across individual starburst dendrites were directly measured using a two-photon glutamate sensor. The study found that signals from proximal dendrites were relatively sustained, mainly influenced by excitatory network interactions. Computational modeling demonstrated the importance of input kinetics in shaping direction selectivity. These results provide support for the "space-time wiring" model.
Article
Neurosciences
Akihiro Matsumoto, Keisuke Yonehara
Summary: The retinal neuronal circuit in the central nervous system is the first stage of visual processing. Recent advances in understanding direction-selectivity circuits have revealed that the retina utilizes complex mechanisms for encoding motion information. These discoveries of computational motifs in the retina contribute to our understanding of how sensory systems establish feature selectivity.
NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH
(2023)