[Role of the contralateral cortex on the receptive field properties in the visual cortex of cats].

Abstract

The aim of this series of experiments was to evaluate the receptive field properties of visual cells receiving part of their input the corpus callosum. Normal (control) and chiasma sectioned cats were recorded using conventional methods. The recording sites were the 17-18 border and the lateral suprasylvian (LS) cortex. The results indicated (a) the ocular dominance distribution was shifted towards the ipsilateral eye in the split chiasma cats; (b) orientation tunning and/or directional specificity were identical for the two eyes; (c) R.F. positions of binocular cells were also similar for each eye and were clustered near the vertical meridian, which they sometimes straddled; (d) R.F. sizes were larger in L.S. than in primary visual cortex but generally of equal dimensions for each eye. The results are interpreted with respect to the various functions which have been postulated for the corpus callosum.