Interocular mismatch in spatial frequency and directionality characteristics of striate cortical neurones

Spatial-frequency dependence of directional tuning and directional bias was compared, for both eyes, in four previously established discrete classes of binocular feline striate cortical neurones. Two classes (respectively direction-selective or bidirectional at optimal spatial frequency) were directionality invariant at all spatial frequencies. In the remaining two classes, both direction-biased at optimal spatial frequency, directional bias either altered or reversed with change in spatial frequency. In all four classes, the directional tuning of a majority of neurones sharpened at high spatial frequency through either eye, although the bandpass characteristics were sometimes dissimilar for the two eyes. All neurones were of the same type through either eye. Amongst the two classes of direction-biased neurones, the strength of bias was commonly different through the two eyes. Where reversal of bias occurred, that reversal took place at different spatial frequencies for each eye. Thus, the direction and orientation preferences of cortical neurones are fixed at optimal spatial frequency, but their envelope of tuning to a gamut of spatial frequencies is not. These differences are potentially related to binocular coding of visual perspective, including dynamic object rotation in visual space.