Disinhibition Among the Extra-Classical Receptive Field of Retinal Ganglion Cells Contributes to Color Constancy Y Li1, X Tang2, C-Y Li3 |
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1University of Elec Science and Tech of China, China |
| The retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) of monkeys have a difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) shaped classical receptive field (CRF). We have found that the region beyond the CRF center is quite extensive, and this region shows disinhibitory effect, which reduces the strength of surround inhibition exerted on the CRF center. We have previously proposed that this extensive region (named extra-classical receptive field, ERF) is comprised of many inhibitory subunits, which first inhibit each other, and then inhibit the classical RF center. In this study, we further propose that ERF of single-opponent color RGCs is also composed of subunits. For example, for a RGC with R+G- single-opponency, the subunits in its surround (inhibitory Green component) first inhibit each other, and then the inhibited Green subunits inhibit the response of classical RF center to the Red channel. Our simulation results show that for a color-biased scene, the disinhibition in ERF has the potential to remove the unwanted (inhibitory) effect of the extensively spread external light in the extensive ERF, and hence keeps the color component in the RF center unbiased as much as possible. We suggest that the disinhibition property in single-opponent RGCs contributes substantially to the perceptual ability of color constancy. |
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