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Directional hyperacuity in ganglion cells of the rabbit retina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Norberto M. Grzywacz ,
Franklin R. Amthor  and
David K. Merwine
Norberto M. Grzywacz
Affiliation:
The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, 2232 Webster Street, San Francisco
Franklin R. Amthor
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology and Neurobiology Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham
David K. Merwine
Affiliation:
Department of Physiological Optics, School of Optometry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham
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Abstract

Biological visual systems can detect positional changes that are finer than these systems' acuity to sine-wave gratings, a property known as hyperacuity. Some systems can even detect changes finer that the photoreceptor spacing. We report here that rabbit's directionally selective ganglion cells not only detect positional changes in the hyperacuity range, but also discriminate the direction of their motion. Our experiments show that directional selectivity occurs for edges of light moving as little as 1.1 μm (26” of visual angle) across the retina. This distance corresponds to a hyperacuity, since the acuity to sine-wave gratings of rabbit's On-Off DS ganglion cells is about 125 μm (50′). In addition, this distance is smaller than the minimal spacing between rabbit photoreceptors (1.9 μm or 46”), as estimated from cell-density studies (Young & Vaney, 1991). Such a hyperacuity suggests low-noise high-gain signal transmission from photoreceptors to ganglion cells and that directional selectivity can arise in small portions of retinal dendritic processes.

Keywords

HyperacuityDirectional selectivityGanglion cellRetinaRabbit
Type
Short Communications
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 11 , Issue 5 , September 1994 , pp. 1019 - 1025
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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