A micro-architecture for binocular disparity and ocular dominance in visual cortex

An added dimension How does the brain encode depth (or 3D) information without confusing it with other visual cues in the environment? Depth perception in animals that use binocular vision is achieved by comparing differences between the images received by each eye. Some neurons in the visual cortex respond to such disparities while others have a preference for inputs from one or other eye (ocular dominance). Using two-photon calcium imaging Prakash Kara and Jamie Boyd were able to map the response of nearly every neuron in a small region of the cat visual cortex, and found that the responses to ocular dominance and binocular disparity exist on defined axes within the brain: the map that encodes 3D information is aligned at right-angles to another functional map that signals the relative strength of visual inputs arriving at each eye. The relative arrangement of the two maps provides important clues as to how local circuits in the brain can simultaneously and seamlessly process multiple sensory features in the environment.