Article,
The representation of the visual field on the cerebral cortex in monkeys
The Journal of Physiology, (December 1961)
Abstract
On the basis of his extensive and elegant anatomical investigations on
the visual cortex, Poliak (1932) suggested that a mathematical projection
of the retina on the cerebral cortex must exist. Talbot & Marshall (1941)
used physiological methods to map the central part of the visual field on to
the posterolateral surface ofthe cortex in the monkey. They devised an index
of cortical representation expressed as the increment of the angle, measured
radially from the centre of gaze, which is represented on each millimetre of
cortex. We have confirmed their observations and have extended the mapp-
ing to the buried visual cortex in the horizontal and vertical calcarine
fissures. We have preferred to use the reciprocal of their index and to call
it the cortical magnification, M. When this is measured along radii and at
right angles to them, it provides the empirical quantitative relation which
Polyak wanted. It also defines the shape and size of the visual receptive
field. We have made such a surface, folded it and compared it with the
calcarine cortex of the monkey. A preliminary account of this work has
been published (Daniel & Whitteridge, 1959).
