Velocity sensitivity mechanisms in cat visual cortex.

To understand why some cells in the visual cortex respond to high stimulus velocities while other fail to do so, a sample of 71 of such cells were examined for their responses to stationary presented stimuli as well as to moving edges or slits of different widths. When presented with stationary stimuli it was found that cells which respond best to slowly moving stimuli generally have tonic discharges, long time to peak latencies and often long minimal durations of stimulation. In contrast, cells which respond preferentially to fast stimuli have phasic discharges, short latencies and short critical durations of stimulation when presented with stationary flashed slits. In the latter type of cells the responses to very fast stimulus movement were abolished selectively when contrast and width of the stimulus were not optimal. A few cells exhibited a velocity-response (VR) curve with a central dip indicating good responsiveness to either slow or fast movement but little to medium velocities. These cells responded both phasically and tonically to stationary slits and the latency of the tonic and phasic responses at low and high velocities, respectively. It is suggested that the ability of phasic cells to respond to high velocities is linked to their limited need for temporal summation.