Complementary global maps for orientation coding in upper and lower layers of the cat striate cortex and their possible functions.

Preferred stimulus orientations of striate cortical cells in the cat were analyzed for possible isotropic or anisotropic distributions. We separated the data twice, into central (0-5 degrees) vs. peripheral subgroups and into upper vs. lower layer cells. In the central group, absolute orientations were counted; in the periphery, a radial test was adopted by normalizing the preferred stimulus orientation of a cell to the line connecting the receptive field center to the retinal center. We found that in the center, vertical and horizontal orientations are overrepresented. In the periphery, the histograms show complementary anisotropies for upper and lower layers, favoring a map for radial orientation detection in upper layers and a more concentric map for orientation detection in lower layers. These results are possibly related to the probabilities of different optic flow fields on the retina under natural conditions of stimulation. They are discussed as possible neuronal structures supporting figure-ground discrimination, the distinction of self motion from object motion, and the location of objects in three-dimensional space.