Receptive field properties of V3 neurons in monkey

Receptive field properties of cells deep in the posterior bank of lunate sulcus and on the annectant gyrus (V3) were studied in the awake, fixating monkey. Properties of these cells were compared with those of a population of cells recorded in V2. Receptive fields of cells in V3 were larger than field of V2 cells at comparable eccentricities. Cells were classified according to their sensitivity to the orientation and direction of motion of rectangular stimuli. Nonoriented cells were most common (39/75, 52%); the next largest class consisted of cells sensitive to stationary stimulus orientation (25/75, 33%); the third class consisted of directionally selective cells (11/75, 15%). No cells in V3 showed color-opponent responses. Comparison of the orientation-sensitive population in V3 and V2 showed V3 cells more broadly tuned for orientation than V2 cells. These results suggest that V3 and V2 serve different functions in the analysis of the visual world. Neither area, however, is devoted to the analysis of only one stimulus parameter.