Abstract
Neurons in the visual cortex are selectively responsive to light or dark bars presented at particular orientations1. On the basis of physiological data, this orientation selectivity is hypothesized as being due at least partially to intracortical inhibitory mechanisms2–6. But this hypothesis has been challenged by intracellular recordings indicating that excitatory inputs themselves are orientation-selective, so inhibition may not contribute to the observed selectivity7. Also, there is controversy about the presence of intracortical horizontal connections mediating inhibition for selectivity8–11 and about the theoretical validity of such inhibitory connections12–14. Using cross-correlation analysis of the activities of two neurons recorded simultaneously, we find that inhibitory interactions exist between cells with somewhat different, but not orthogonal, orientation preferences. This suggests that intracortical horizontal inhibition operates between 'orientation columns' to sharpen the orientation tuning of cortical neurons.
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Hata, Y., Tsumoto, T., Sato, H. et al. Inhibition contributes to orientation selectivity in visual cortex of cat. Nature 335, 815–817 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/335815a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/335815a0
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