Research and Describe How the Cortex Processes Sensory Information?

Neurology
Student Name
Institution Affiliation
Neurology
How the Cortex Processes Sensory Information?
Retina Layer 1


The above grid is found in the retina and represents neurons and cells. One cell can stimulate one neuron that will illuminate one dot of light and subsequently stimulate another neuron that will illuminate another using a single point light to stimulate one photoreceptor. In the cortex, the researchers found the first layer of information from the eye (Sapolsky). The eye in this process sends its projections to the photoreceptors and in the process projects several synapses that form the first layer in the cortex.
The figure above demonstrates the activity that occurred when was one photoreceptor was stimulated and in turn excited a single neuron in the first layer. It is described as a point for point stimulation. The light was then shifted and the parallelism was observed significantly in the points on the grid. The researchers also found out that the receptors respond to different lines in different angles (Sapolsky). The figure below demonstrates that only after the illumination of light in the last box of the first column does the second layer respond. Therefore, conclusively, for every neuron in the layers, there exists one photoreceptor in the cortex.



Over time, the interpretations of images in lines and dots were dismissed and Dr Robert Sapolsky elaborates that researchers found that the neurons are a network, enabling them to interpret all forms of illumination. The figure below is a simple elaboration explaining the interconnections and overlapping of the neurons. The first neuron sends its projections to A, B and C. The second neuron sends its projections to B, C, and D (Sapolsky). The third neuron sends information to C, D and E. C received projections from all the neurons. In the network, it uses all of the information to interpret information that has been received. The neuron C after obtaining the information is the determinant of the understanding of an individual. Both neurons B and D receive information, but they are not as good as C in interpretation (Sapolsky).

<...