Multiplexed computations in retinal ganglion cells of a single type. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Deny, Stéphane; Ferrari, Ulisse; Macé, Emilie; Yger, Pierre; Caplette, Romain; Picaud, Serge; Tkačik, Gašper; Marre, Olivier
• Is Part Of: Nature communications. Volume 8:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 17
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Biology -- Periodicals; Physical sciences -- Periodicals; 505
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02159-y
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-1723

Abstract

Abstract In the early visual system, cells of the same type perform the same computation in different places of the visual field. How these cells code together a complex visual scene is unclear. A common assumption is that cells of a single-type extract a single-stimulus feature to form a feature map, but this has rarely been observed directly. Using large-scale recordings in the rat retina, we show that a homogeneous population of fast OFF ganglion cells simultaneously encodes two radically different features of a visual scene. Cells close to a moving object code quasilinearly for its position, while distant cells remain largely invariant to the object's position and, instead, respond nonlinearly to changes in the object's speed. We develop a quantitative model that accounts for this effect and identify a disinhibitory circuit that mediates it. Ganglion cells of a single type thus do not code for one, but two features simultaneously. This richer, flexible neural map might also be present in other sensory systems. Retinal ganglion cell subtypes are traditionally thought to encode a single visual feature across the visual field to form a feature map. Here the authors show that fast OFF ganglion cells in fact respond to two visual features, either object position or speed, depending on the stimulus location.