PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Jin, Jianzhong AU - Wang, Yushi AU - Lashgari, Reza AU - Swadlow, Harvey A. AU - Alonso, Jose-Manuel TI - Faster Thalamocortical Processing for Dark than Light Visual Targets AID - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2456-11.2011 DP - 2011 Nov 30 TA - The Journal of Neuroscience PG - 17471--17479 VI - 31 IP - 48 4099 - 4100 - SO - J. Neurosci.2011 Nov 30; 31 AB - ON and OFF visual pathways originate in the retina at the synapse between photoreceptor and bipolar cells. OFF bipolar cells are shorter in length and use receptors with faster kinetics than ON bipolar cells and, therefore, process information faster. Here, we demonstrate that this temporal advantage is maintained through thalamocortical processing, with OFF visual responses reaching cortex ∼3–6 ms before ON visual responses. Faster OFF visual responses could be demonstrated in recordings from large populations of cat thalamic neurons representing the center of vision (both X and Y) and from subpopulations making connection with the same cortical orientation column. While the OFF temporal advantage diminished as visual responses reached their peak, the integral of the impulse response was greater in OFF than ON neurons. Given the stimulus preferences from OFF and ON channels, our results indicate that darks are processed faster than lights in the thalamocortical pathway.