Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2020.05.04.077693v1?rss=1 Authors: Brackbill, N., Rhoades, C., Kling, A., Shah, N. P., Sher, A., Litke, A. M., Chichilnisky, E. J. Abstract: The visual message conveyed by a retinal ganglion cell (RGC) is often summarized by its spatial receptive field, but in principle should also depend on other cells' responses and natural image statistics. To test this idea, linear reconstruction (decoding) of natural images was performed using combinations of responses of four high-density macaque RGC types, revealing consistent visual representations across retinas. Each cell's visual message, defined by the optimal reconstruction filter, reflected natural image statistics, and resembled the receptive field only when nearby, same-type cells were included. Reconstruction from each cell type revealed different and largely independent visual representations, consistent with their distinct properties. Stimulus-independent correlations primarily affected reconstructions from noisy responses. Nonlinear response transformation slightly improved reconstructions with either ON or OFF parasol cells, but not both. Inclusion of ON-OFF interactions enhanced reconstruction by emphasizing oriented edges, consistent with linear-nonlinear encoding models. Spatiotemporal reconstructions revealed similar spatial visual messages. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info