The representation of the visual field on the cerebral cortex in monkeys

On the basis of his extensive and elegant anatomical investigations on the visual cortex, Poliak (1932) suggested that a mathematical projection of the retina on the cerebral cortex must exist. Talbot & Marshall (1941) used physiological methods to map the central part of the visual field on to the posterolateral surface ofthe cortex in the monkey. They devised an index of cortical representation expressed as the increment of the angle, measured radially from the centre of gaze, which is represented on each millimetre of cortex. We have confirmed their observations and have extended the mapping to the buried visual cortex in the horizontal and vertical calcarine fissures. We have preferred to use the reciprocal of their index and to call it the cortical magnification, M. When this is measured along radii and at right angles to them, it provides the empirical quantitative relation which Polyak wanted. It also defines the shape and size of the visual receptive field. We have made such a surface, folded it and compared it with the calcarine cortex of the monkey. A preliminary account of this work has been published (Daniel & Whitteridge, 1959).

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