Bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculus
Detection of salient objects in the visual scene is a vital aspect of an animal’s interactions with its environment. Here, we show that neurons in the mouse superior colliculus (SC) encode visual saliency by detecting motion contrast between stimulus center and surround. Excitatory neurons in the mo...
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doaj-496c08b3175a45aeb86ebbed2691ca132021-05-05T15:59:22ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2018-07-01710.7554/eLife.35261Bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculusJad Barchini0Xuefeng Shi1Hui Chen2Jianhua Cang3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0760-7468Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States; Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, United StatesDepartment of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Tianjin Eye Institute, Clinical College of Ophthalmology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China; Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Tianjin Eye Hospital, Tianjin, ChinaDepartment of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States; Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, United States; Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, United StatesDepartment of Neurobiology, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States; Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, United States; Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, United StatesDetection of salient objects in the visual scene is a vital aspect of an animal’s interactions with its environment. Here, we show that neurons in the mouse superior colliculus (SC) encode visual saliency by detecting motion contrast between stimulus center and surround. Excitatory neurons in the most superficial lamina of the SC are contextually modulated, monotonically increasing their response from suppression by the same-direction surround to maximal potentiation by an oppositely-moving surround. The degree of this potentiation declines with depth in the SC. Inhibitory neurons are suppressed by any surround at all depths. These response modulations in both neuronal populations are much more prominent to direction contrast than to phase, temporal frequency, or static orientation contrast, suggesting feature-specific saliency encoding in the mouse SC. Together, our findings provide evidence supporting locally generated feature representations in the SC, and lay the foundations towards a mechanistic and evolutionary understanding of their emergence.https://elifesciences.org/articles/35261direction selectivitysaliencyvisioncenter-surround interactionstwo-photon imagingsuperior colliculus |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Jad Barchini Xuefeng Shi Hui Chen Jianhua Cang |
spellingShingle |
Jad Barchini Xuefeng Shi Hui Chen Jianhua Cang Bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculus eLife direction selectivity saliency vision center-surround interactions two-photon imaging superior colliculus |
author_facet |
Jad Barchini Xuefeng Shi Hui Chen Jianhua Cang |
author_sort |
Jad Barchini |
title |
Bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculus |
title_short |
Bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculus |
title_full |
Bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculus |
title_fullStr |
Bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculus |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculus |
title_sort |
bidirectional encoding of motion contrast in the mouse superior colliculus |
publisher |
eLife Sciences Publications Ltd |
series |
eLife |
issn |
2050-084X |
publishDate |
2018-07-01 |
description |
Detection of salient objects in the visual scene is a vital aspect of an animal’s interactions with its environment. Here, we show that neurons in the mouse superior colliculus (SC) encode visual saliency by detecting motion contrast between stimulus center and surround. Excitatory neurons in the most superficial lamina of the SC are contextually modulated, monotonically increasing their response from suppression by the same-direction surround to maximal potentiation by an oppositely-moving surround. The degree of this potentiation declines with depth in the SC. Inhibitory neurons are suppressed by any surround at all depths. These response modulations in both neuronal populations are much more prominent to direction contrast than to phase, temporal frequency, or static orientation contrast, suggesting feature-specific saliency encoding in the mouse SC. Together, our findings provide evidence supporting locally generated feature representations in the SC, and lay the foundations towards a mechanistic and evolutionary understanding of their emergence. |
topic |
direction selectivity saliency vision center-surround interactions two-photon imaging superior colliculus |
url |
https://elifesciences.org/articles/35261 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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