Wylie D R, Frost B J
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Exp Brain Res. 1991;86(1):229-32. doi: 10.1007/BF00231059.
Using standard extracellular techniques, the response properties of neurons in the vestibulocerebellum of the pigeon to movement of a wholefield visual stimulus were determined. Complex spike activity of Purkinje cells was modulated in a direction-selective manner by the stimulus and 94% of cells were binocularly driven. Some neurons preferred the same direction of wholefield motion in both eyes, simulating optic flow which results from self-translation, while others preferred the opposite direction in each eye, simulating optic flow resulting from rotation. Four functional classes of neurons were found: (1) Descent cells preferred upward motion in both eyes; (2) Ascent neurons preferred downward motion in both eyes; (3) Roll cells preferred upward and downward motion in the ipsilateral and contralateral eyes respectively; and (4) Yaw cells preferred forward (temporal to nasal) and backward motion in the ipsilateral and contralateral eyes respectively. The observation that these neurons clearly distinguish rotational and translational optic flow patterns suggest they may play an important role in controlling locomotor activities of the pigeon.
运用标准的细胞外记录技术，测定了鸽子前庭小脑神经元对全视野视觉刺激运动的反应特性。浦肯野细胞的复合锋电位活动受刺激的调制呈现出方向选择性，94%的细胞受双眼驱动。一些神经元双眼偏好相同方向的全视野运动，模拟自我平移产生的视觉流，而另一些神经元双眼偏好相反方向的运动，模拟旋转产生的视觉流。发现了四类功能性神经元：（1）下降细胞双眼偏好向上运动；（2）上升神经元双眼偏好向下运动；（3）滚转细胞分别偏好同侧眼向上运动和对侧眼向下运动；（4）偏航细胞分别偏好同侧眼前向（从颞侧到鼻侧）运动和对侧眼后向运动。这些神经元能清晰区分旋转和平移视觉流模式的观察结果表明，它们可能在控制鸽子的运动活动中发挥重要作用。
