Spatiotemporal response properties of direction-selective neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract and dorsal terminal nucleus of the wallaby, Macropus eugenii

Abstract

1. The spatial and temporal response characteristics of direction- selective neurons in the nucleus of the optic tract and dorsal terminal nucleus of the accessory optic system (NOT-DTN) of the wallaby were established using moving sinusoidal gratings. This is the first comprehensive investigation of the spatiotemporal response characteristics of NOT-DTN neurons in any species. 2. The analysis revealed two main classes of cells. The first class, referred to as slow neurons, are maximally sensitive to mo- tion at low temporal frequencies ( 10 Hz) and moderate to low spatial frequencies (0.1-0.5 cpd). The fast neurons also have a domain of high sensitivity at low temporal frequencies and high ..