2007 Sensory Physiology

Edge perception and motion

A hierarchical model of information processing in visual cortex was proposed by Hubel and Wiesel in the 1960's (1981 Nobel prize) - although some aspects of this theory have been disproved, the fundamentals of their model can be used to demonstrate how information from ganglion cells can be translated into the perception of moving objects.

  • simple cells respond to rectangular antagonistic on/off zones corresponding to bars of particular orientations - this represents the simultaneous responses from adjacent ganglion cells, whose output converge onto a simple cell

  • complex cells respond to bars of a particular orientation, moving in a particular direction - this corresponds to sequential activation of simple cells
 Responses of simple and complex stimuli
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