Question

7. Describe the role of lateral inhibition in sensation. How does this relate to the on center off surround in the retina?

Answer 1

Lateral inhibition is the capacity of an excited neuron to reduce the activity of its neighbors

Lateral inhibition disables the spreading of action potentials from excited neurons to neighboring neurons in the lateral direction

This creates a contrast in stimulation that allows increased sensory perception

The center-surround receptive field organization in retinal ganglion cells is widely believed to result mainly from lateral inhibition at the first synaptic level( in the outer retina). Inhibition at the second synaptic level (in the inner retina) is thought to mediate more complex response properties

Here we show that much of the sustained surround antagonism in certain on-center ganglion cells results from lateral inhibition in the inner retina, via GABAergic amacrine cells and that lateral conduction of this signal requires voltage gated sodium currens

Blocking lateral inhibition in the inner retina eliminates the preference of small center ganglion cells with large receptive field centers