Horwitz Gregory D
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA; email:
Washington National Primate Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98121, USA.
Annu Rev Vis Sci. 2020 Sep 15;6:287-311. doi: 10.1146/annurev-vision-121219-081801.
Visual images can be described in terms of the illuminants and objects that are causal to the light reaching the eye, the retinal image, its neural representation, or how the image is perceived. Respecting the differences among these distinct levels of description can be challenging but is crucial for a clear understanding of color vision. This article approaches color by reviewing what is known about its neural representation in the early visual cortex, with a brief description of signals in the eye and the thalamus for context. The review focuses on the properties of single neurons and advances the general theme that experimental approaches based on knowledge of feedforward signals have promoted greater understanding of the neural code for color than approaches based on correlating single-unit responses with color perception. New data from area V1 illustrate the strength of the feedforward approach. Future directions for progress in color neurophysiology are discussed: techniques for improved single-neuron characterization, for investigations of neural populations and small circuits, and for the analysis of natural image statistics.
视觉图像可以根据对到达眼睛的光线起因果作用的光源和物体、视网膜图像、其神经表征，或者图像是如何被感知来进行描述。认识到这些不同描述层次之间的差异可能具有挑战性，但对于清晰理解色觉至关重要。本文通过回顾早期视觉皮层中关于颜色的神经表征的已知信息来探讨颜色，并简要描述眼睛和丘脑中的信号作为背景。该综述聚焦于单个神经元的特性，并提出一个总体观点，即基于前馈信号知识的实验方法比将单个单元反应与颜色感知相关联的方法更能促进对颜色神经编码的理解。来自V1区的新数据说明了前馈方法的优势。文中还讨论了颜色神经生理学未来的进展方向：用于改进单个神经元表征的技术、用于研究神经群体和小回路的技术，以及用于分析自然图像统计数据的技术。
