Model studies of the mechanisms of the dynamics of double orientation tuning of visual cortex neurons

A geometrical computer model was used to study the dynamics of double orientation tuning of visual cortex neurons, which occurs in the visual cortex of the cat. Modeling confirmed the role of the shapes, relative positions, and weightings of the excitatory and inhibitory zones of the receptive field and the dynamics of these properties for generating this effect. It was shown that acute and selective orientation tuning with two peaks could be formed dynamically only by means of changes in the weightings of zones in a receptive field containing terminal and lateral inhibitory zones, while changes in the positions and areas of zones in the receptive field required the receptive field to contain only a terminal inhibitory zone.