[The sensitivity of the cat visual cortex neurons to cruciform figures during stimulation of the central and peripheral receptive fields].

The role of the central and peripheral zones of the receptive field (RF) in sensitivity to cruciform figures was studied in 29 neurons of the cat primary visual cortex. Separated or combined stimulation of these zones revealed summation, reciprocity response interaction, or the absence of their interaction by the sensitivity index (ratio between response magnitudes to a cruciform figure and a bar). Stimulation of only central or only peripheral zone of the RF in nearly equal number of cases increased or decreased the sensitivity index in comparison with full cruciform figure. The neurons were found which did not change their sensitivity to cruciform figure under conditions of its partial masking. Mechanisms and functional significance of the interaction between the central and peripheral zones of RF for selection of line crossing in the striate cortex are discussed.