Accuracy of subspace mapping of spatiotemporal frequency domain visual receptive fields

Orientation and spatial frequency selectivities are fundamental properties of cells in the early visual cortex. Although they are customarily tested with drifting sinusoidal gratings, a recently developed subspace reverse correlation method may be a better replacement for obtaining a selectivity map in a joint orientation and spatial frequency domain at higher resolution efficiently. These two methods are examined for their accuracy and data compatibility for cells in areas 17 and 18 of anesthetized and paralyzed cats. Peaks and bandwidths of tuning curves from these two methods are highly correlated. However, spatial frequency bandwidths obtained by reverse correlation tend to be slightly narrower for the subspace reverse correlation than those from the drifting grating tests. Consistency between the two methods is improved if the entire duration of data containing signal are taken into account for the subspace reverse correlation rather than using the map only at the optimal correlation delay. Examination of convergence of the subspace mapping process shows that reliable 2-day profiles can be obtained within 5-10 min. for the majority of cells. Temporal dynamics of tuning properties are also examined more directly with the subspace mapping than with the drifting gratings. For many cells, the optimal spatial frequency shifts substantially, measured as a fraction of tuning bandwidth, over the time course of response. In comparison, the optimal orientation remains highly stable throughout the duration of response. Overall, these results suggest that the subspace reverse correlation is a better substitute for the conventional method.