[Processing of functional maps obtained by intrinsic optical signals from the cat visual cortex]

For the study of primary visual cortex functional structure, particularly its inherent orientation columns, the so-called intrinsic optical signal is often used. Intrinsic signal displays changes of the local neuronal metabolism and brain blood flow, induced by functional load. Apart from the advantages of the technique, the mapping of neuronal groups can be impeded by the noise caused by the global components of optical signal corresponding to the ongoing physiological processes in the organism. Because of that the elimination of global effects becomes crucial. The article presents a new method of processing the functional images that enables revealing of global components of the optical signal via approximation, and deleting them from the original images. The results obtained by using the method under discussion are compared to those obtained via the conventional method.