Freeman
Chapter for "The Visual Neurosciences"
Chalupa, Werner, Ed. M.I.T. Press.
There are two major physiological transformations that occur in central pathways in the primary visual cortex. The first is that receptive field (RF) structure, which consists of concentric center-surround patterns for ganglion and LGN cells, becomes elongated, rectangular and orientation specific in striate cortex. The second transformation is that input from left and right eyes, which is essentially segregated in peripheral pathways, becomes integrated at the level of V1 which is therefore the first stage of binocular visual processing.
This review provides a selected coverage of the physiological elements of binocular vision. An attempt is made to identify central areas that have been addressed, and to consider certain problems with some experimental approaches. For the most part, theoretical investigations are not covered. The most functionally relevant application of binocular function, i.e., stereoscopic depth discrimination, is not dealt with here except in a cursory fashion. These topics are covered in other chapters in this volume (e.g. by Clifton Schor, Andrew Parker, Randolph Blake).
Finally, it should be stated at the outset that this review is heavily influenced by the work on this subject that has been conducted in my laboratory. No attempt is made to give equal weight to all reports in the literature. An attempt is made to discuss work that is directly relevant to the topics that are covered here.