Abstract
One reason for a visual computation to reside in the retina rather than in the brain is speed. Behaviors that rely on rapid visual processing should naturally involve few synaptic steps from phototransduction to action. The most critical visual behavior with a speed constraint is threat detection since failure to quickly identify threats, like approaching predators, is often fatal. Thus many, if not all, animals with visual systems have dedicated threat-detection circuits from the retina to brain targets with short neural pathways to the motor system, circumventing conscious perception. From the perspective of retinal computation, the central questions are "What features of a visual stimulus specify a threat?" and "What mechanisms do retinal circuits use to detect those features both reliably and quickly?".
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | Retinal Computation |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Pages | 260-274 |
Number of pages | 15 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780128198964 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 17 2021 |
Keywords
- Approaching motion
- Escape behavior
- Fear
- GABA receptors
- Looming stimuli
- OFF transient alpha RGC
- Overhead predators
- PV-5 RGC
- Phototransduction
- Superior colliculus
- Synchrony
- Threat
- Visual computation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Medicine
- General Neuroscience