Temporal characteristics of visual receptive fields in primary visual cortex and medial superior temporal cortex...

We mapped the receptive fields of 49 cells from primary visual cortex and 19 cells from medial superior temporal cortex in two awake monkeys. The receptive field structures we obtained lasted a mean time of 32.7 ms in primary visual cortex and 38.4 ms in medial superior temporal cortex, showing no statistical difference. This result suggests that both areas have the same time requirements for processing visual information. In primary visual cortex, 100% of cells had conformed the receptive field structure at 65 ms pre-spike, whereas in medial superior temporal cortex it occurred at 150 ms. In both areas, cells with shorter response latencies had receptive field structures with longer durations. This may indicate that cells tend to synchronize their output to other areas.