Visual Response Properties In The Three Layer Turtle Visual Cortex

Abstract

Turtle dorsal cortex provides us with unique insights into cortical processing. It is known to share many features with the mammalian hippocampus and olfactory cortex as well as geniculo-cortical areas in stem amniotes from which mammals evolved. To this end, we have used data from extracellular recordings from microelectrode arrays to study spatial and temporal patterns of responses to visual stimuli as seen in both local field potential and action potentials. We discovered surprisingly large receptive fields, responsiveness to a broad range of stimuli, and high correlation between distant neural ensembles across recording array. Moreover, we found significant response variability regarding latency and strength in the presence of adaptation to both ongoing and visually evoked activity.