Coding of the spatial period of gratings rolled across the receptive fields of somatosensory cortical neurons in awake monkeys.

In order to measure the texture coding capabilities of motion-, direction-, and orientation-sensitive neurons in SI cortex, we rolled wheels with surface milled gratings across their receptive fields. Gratings of spatial periods 0.8-9.6 mm were presented in pseudorandom order; each was tested 5-20 times in the distal, proximal, radial, and ulnar directions. Thirty eight cortical neurons were studied with three to eight different gratings in order to determine the effect of spatial period on neuronal firing rates. While all 38 cells had their firing rates modulated by motion of the gratings, only 11 neurons were able to distinguish changes in its spatial period. These cells had small receptive fields located on the hand. Most motion-sensitive neurons showed little effect of spatial period on firing rates and had relatively flat frequency response curves. One showed decreased firing to spatial periods over the range 0.8-6.4 mm; three others increased their firing rates over the range 0.8-3.2 mm, followed by a decline in activity to larger spatial periods. Direction- and orientation-sensitive neurons showed only minor changes in firing rates as a function of spatial period. Sixteen cells showed flat frequency response functions, three showed increased firing rates, and four decreased firing rates as spatial period of the grating increased. Direction and orientation preferences were maintained over the range 0.8-9.6 mm for all 23 neurons tested. Although four cells showed a drop in direction index (DI) as the spatial period was increased, none showed a loss of direction sensitivity, as DI was greater than 35 for all gratings tested. Two neurons showed increased firing to motion in the last-preferred direction and two others decreased firing in the best direction. The remaining 19 neurons showed parallel effects of texture in all directions. Some motion-sensitive neurons showed weak direction preferences when tested with fine gratings; these preferences disappeared with coarser gratings, due to increased responsiveness to motion in the least-preferred direction. These data demonstrate that movement-sensitive neurons do not require continuous trajectories across the skin but instead sequential activation of points aligned in a specific path. Cortical neurons appear capable of integrating information from points separated by up to 9 mm, as long as they are presented in the appropriate temporal sequence. Firing rates of direction- and orientation-sensitive neurons are more profoundly modified by changes in the direction of motion across the skin, and the temporal order of stimulation, than by alterations in the spatial characteristics of the moving stimulus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)