Detecting the direction of motion of an object is essential for our representation of the visual environment. The visual cortex is one of the main stages in the mammalian nervous system in which the direction of motion may be computed de novo. Experiments and theories indicate that cortical neurons respond selectively to motion direction by combining inputs that provide information about distinct spatial locations with distinct time delays. Despite the importance of this spatiotemporal offset for direction selectivity, its origin and cellular mechanisms are not fully understood. We show that approximately 80 ± 10 thalamic neurons, which respond with distinct time courses to stimuli in distinct locations, excite mouse visual cortical neurons during visual stimulation. The integration of thalamic inputs with the appropriate spatiotemporal offset provides cortical neurons with a primordial bias for direction selectivity. These data show how cortical neurons selectively combine the spatiotemporal response diversity of thalamic neurons to extract fundamental features of the visual world.Direction selectivity emerges de novo in layer 4 neurons of primary visual cortex through the convergence of synaptic inputs from thalamic neurons that respond with distinct time courses to visual stimuli in distinct locations.

中文翻译：

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皮质方向选择性出现在丘脑突触会聚处

检测物体的运动方向对于我们表示视觉环境至关重要。视觉皮层是哺乳动物神经系统的主要阶段之一，可以从头计算运动方向。实验和理论表明，皮层神经元通过组合输入来选择性地响应运动方向，这些输入提供有关具有不同时间延迟的不同空间位置的信息。尽管这种时空偏移对方向选择性很重要，但其起源和细胞机制尚未完全了解。我们展示了大约 80 ± 10 个丘脑神经元，它们以不同的时间进程对不同位置的刺激做出反应，在视觉刺激过程中激发小鼠视觉皮层神经元。丘脑输入与适当时空偏移的整合为皮层神经元提供了方向选择性的原始偏差。这些数据显示了皮层神经元如何选择性地结合丘脑神经元的时空反应多样性来提取视觉世界的基本特征。方向选择性在初级视觉皮层的第 4 层神经元中从头出现，通过来自丘脑神经元的突触输入的汇聚，这些神经元以不同的方式作出反应。不同位置的视觉刺激的时间课程。