[Laminar distribution of neurons with different types of receptive fields in the visual cortex of the rabbit]

232 neurons of rabbit visual cortex were classified as cells with simple (34.1%), complex (16.4%), hypercomplex (18.5%), non-oriented (21.1%) receptive fields and other (9.9%). Some quantitative characteristics of cellular responses (background activity, velocity and tuning of orientation selectivity) correlated with these receptive field properties. Cells with non-oriented receptive fields were predominant in layer IV and occurred very rarely in layer VI. Cells with simple receptive fields were found in all layers, but were predominant in layer VI. Cells with complex receptive fields occurred with greater frequency in layer V and VI and less commonly in layer IV. Cells with hypercomplex receptive fields occurred frequently in layers II + III and IV but very rarely in layers V and VI. The rate of the background activity of layer II + III cells was the lowest and that of layer V cells--the highest. Tuning of orientation selectivity of simple and complex cells was narrower in layers II + III and V than in layers IV and VI.