The contribution of the corpus callosum to receptive fields in the lateral suprasylvian visual areas of the cat

In both ordinary cats and 'Boston' Siamese cats the visual areas in the lateral parts of the middle and posterior suprasylvian gyri (LSA) contain an extensive representation of the ipsilateral half of the visual field. In addition, in both groups of cats the overwhelming majority of neurons in LSA can be driven from both eyes. In Siamese cats this binocular interaction is in marked contrast with what is found in area 17 where neurons are almost exclusively activated through the contralateral eye. Transection of the posterior 1 3 to 1 2 of the corpus callosum had a different effect on the physiological organization of LSA in the two types of cats. In ordinary cats it caused the loss of the ipsilateral hemifield representation in the eye ipsilateral to the side of recording and reduced this representation in the other eye. However, after the section of the corpus callosum LSA neurons remained binocular. In Siamese cats the callosal transection left the representation of the ipsilateral hemifield in LSA unaffected, but totally abolished the input from the ipsilateral eye. These findings suggest that the visual callosal input to LSA has a different functional significance in ordinary and Siamese cats. In the former cats it may be related to perceptual equivalence across the vertical meridian of the visual field, whereas in the latter cats it may subserve interocular equivalence. © 1982.