Cybernetics (() Springer-Verlag 1993 Cortical column design: a link between the maps of preferred orientation and orientation tuning strength?

Abstract. We demonstrate that the map of the preferred orientations and the corresponding map of the orienta-tion tuning strengths as measured with optical imaging are not independent, but that band-pass filtering of the preferred orientation map at each location yields a good approximation of the orientation tuning strength. Band-pass filtering is performed by convolving the map of orientation preference with its own autocorrelation func-tion. We suggest an interpretation of the autocorrelation function of the preferred orientations as synaptic cou-pling function, i.e., synaptic strength as a function of intracortical distance between cortical cells. In develop-mental models it has been shown previously that a "Mexican hat"-shaped synaptic coupling function (with a shape similar to that of the autocorrelation function