Sensory representation in reptilian optic tectum: some comparisons with mammals.

The sensory representations in the tectum of Iguana iguana were studied with electrophysiological recording techniques, and visual, somatic, and auditory cells were found to be represented here. These cells were not equally distributed throughout the tectal laminae. Upper tectal laminae were populated exclusively by visual cells, and deeper laminae were primarily nonvisual. The intermediate laminae had nonvisual, as well as visual, cells. Maps of the visual and somatic representations were constructed, and both representations were topographic and in register with no another. When electrical stimulation was presented via implanted electrodes, orientation responses were evoked that were predictable on the basis of the visuotopic and somatotopic maps. The organizational features of the iguana tectum are strikingly similar to those described in various mammalian species. It is suggested that the pattern of sensory and motor representation used in the midbrain of mammals is an ancient scheme that was retained during the transition from reptilian to mammalian forms more than 180 million years ago.