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Cells In the Retina Tile Like Puzzle Pieces

Posted by timothy on from the rather-than-scrabble-tiles dept.

tim writes "Recent work at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. shows that cells in the retina sample visual space like a multi-layered jigsaw puzzle. High resolution measurements of light response reveal that individual cells have irregular shapes, but together their shapes coordinate to tightly cover visual space. This type of large scale, exquisite coordination could be a general organizing principle of the brain, but no one has seen it previously because technical obstacles typically prevent recording from large cell populations." Here's a link to full paper.

9 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. Puzzle Pieces by Jack9 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Fits together like puzzle pieces? I think the dames call it "Tessalation"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessellation

    --

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    1. Re:Puzzle Pieces by iminplaya · · Score: 2, Funny

      I would suggest that anybody with a serious case of OCD stay away from that page.

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      What?
    2. Re:Puzzle Pieces by Mozk · · Score: 2

      I suggest that they stay away from these pages as well.

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      No existe.
  2. Let the flamewar begin! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That sounds so complex, it's almost as if it could only have been created by god. ...

    (I'm kidding. Please be gentle!)

    1. Re:Let the flamewar begin! by Timberwolf0122 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      God lives in my pocket, it's the only way I can explain how a simple piece of straight string can tie it's self into such a complex ball of knots, Kent Hovind told me that extra information (such as knots) can't form naturally and adding energy (by say walking) is destructive ergo god is in my pocket tangling all my strings. Bastard.

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      In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
  3. Today is a Great Day for /. by phantomcircuit · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is this?

    Not only is there a link directly to the article, but there is a link to the actual paper!?

  4. Re:So do other types of cells by interkin3tic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the breakthrough here is not that the cells themselves fit together but that the individual fields they each sense are coordinated. Like one cell type senses a field that is circle shaped, the one right next to it, if it sensed a circle, would have overlap and would cause imaging problems, instead the cell right next to it senses a crescent shape, fitting with the one next to it to avoid overlap.

    FTA

    These regions fit together like pieces of a puzzle, preventing "blind spot" and excessive overlap that could blur our perception of the world.

    How the cells come together is regulated but it still isn't like pixels, the junctions between the cells are not a perfect grid, there are irregularities. The cells compensate for that. I haven't read in depth but that seems to be the gist.

  5. Re:Maybe it is like corals by Ichoran · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The output cells of the retina use inputs from lots of primary detector cells (rods and cones) through several layers. They also do not fill space, but send slender processes around contacting neighbors.

    Whether it's cooperative coordination or some sort of competition, it is exquisite in that this is not something that is obviously easy to coordinate (unlike cells growing in a sheet which tile space because they get in each others' way).

  6. so that's why tetris is so damn addictive by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Interesting

    you're eye is just organically attracted, narcissistically, to patterns that resemble itself

    beauty is in the eye of the beholder

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