Neuronal correlates of pop-out in cat striate cortex

Neuronal responses to static and moving texture patterns were investigated in the striate cortex of anaesthetized and paralysed adult cats. Texture patterns were composed of a central light bar presented in the excitatory receptive field of a cell and an array of many similar elements in the surround. For the static condition, elements in the surround were either parallel or orthogonal to the centre line (orientation test). For the moving condition, centre and surround elements (all at same orientation) moved either in the same or in the opposite directions (motion test). Thirty-six percent (31/86) of the neurons tested for motion and 24% (24/99) of the neurons tested for orientation responded more strongly to the patterns displaying feature contrast than to the uniform patterns. These neurons may form a neural basis for visual pop-out of orientation and motion.