Orthogonal micro-organization of orientation and spatial frequency in primate primary visual cortex

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Abstract
In this study, the authors used two-photon imaging in macaque monkey to show that orientation and spatial frequency maps are intimately related at a fine spatial scale. They find that the map gradients have a striking tendency toward orthogonality and co-vary negatively from cell to cell at the spatial scale of cortical columns. Orientation and spatial frequency tuning are highly salient properties of neurons in primary visual cortex (V1). The combined organization of these particular tuning properties in the cortical space will strongly shape the V1 population response to different visual inputs, yet it is poorly understood. In this study, we used two-photon imaging in macaque monkey V1 to demonstrate the three-dimensional cell-by-cell layout of both spatial frequency and orientation tuning. We first found that spatial frequency tuning was organized into highly structured maps that remained consistent across the depth of layer II/III, similarly to orientation tuning. Next, we found that orientation and spatial frequency maps were intimately related at the fine spatial scale observed with two-photon imaging. Not only did the map gradients tend notably toward orthogonality, but they also co-varied negatively from cell to cell at the spatial scale of cortical columns.

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