Response properties of cat AMLS neurons to optic flow stimuli

Spiral and translation stimuli were used to investigate the response properties of cat AMLS (anteromedial lateral suprasylvian area) neurons to optic flow. The overwhelming majority of cells could be significantly excited by the two modes of stimuli and most responsive cells displayed obvious direction selectivity. It is the first time to find a visual area in mammalian brain preferring rotation stimuli. Two representative hypotheses are discussed here on the neural mechanism of optic flow analysis in visual cortex, and some new viewpoints are proposed to explain the experimental results.