Quantitative studies of single-cell properties in monkey striate cortex. III. Spatial frequency.

1. The response properties of single cells in monkey striate cortex were examined using moving bars, square-wave gratings, and sine-wave gratings. 2. The moving of cells studied were not selective for bar width or for the spatial frequency of square-wave gratings. 3. Most cells responded selectively to the spatial frequency of the sine-wave gratings. 4. The spatial frequency of the sine-wave grating eliciting the optimal response could not be predicted from the organization of the receptive field of each cell as determined by stationary or moving stimuli. 5. The sharpness of spatial-frequency selectivity is only slightly more pronounced in S-type cells than in CX-type cells. 6. S-type and CX-type cells differ significantly in the temporal modulation of their discharges to gratings. S-type cells discharge in sharp bursts to each cycle which traverses the receptive field. CX-type cells discharge in a rather continuous fashion. This measure can be used reliably to classify cells as S or CS type.