The orientation bias of LGN neurons shows topographic relation to area centralis in the cat retina

SummaryThe orientation sensitivity of LGN cells to flickering square-wave gratings was measured in urethane-anaesthetized paralyzed cats. The mean ratio of the amplitude of peak responses to optimally oriented gratings to that elicited by gratings of the least effective orientation was 3.0 ± 0.3 (S.E.). 58% of the recorded neurons responded best to orientations within 30° of the meridional line joining their receptive field center with the fixation points (area centralis), implying that they were more sensitive to visual contours pointing to the center of the retina.

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