The connectivity principles underlying the emergence of orientation selectivity in primary visual cortex (V1) of mammals lacking an orientation map (such as rodents and lagomorphs) are poorly understood. We present a computational model in which random connectivity gives rise to orientation selectivity that matches experimental observations. The model predicts that mouse V1 neurons should exhibit intricate receptive fields in the two-dimensional frequency domain, causing a shift in orientation preferences with spatial frequency. We find evidence for these features in mouse V1 using calcium imaging and intracellular whole-cell recordings.
Keywords: balance of excitation and inhibition; conductance-based modeling; orientation selectivity; recurrent neuronal networks; visual cortex.
Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.