| ISLE | Chapter 8
| Reichardt Detectors
Reichardt Detectors are hypothetical neural circuits postuated for how the brain can track motion. In a Reichard detector, a cell in the brain receives input from two receptors in the eye, call them A and B. The input from A is delayed. If the motion from A to B receptors is timed in such a way that the cell in the brain recieves the inputs from both A and B at the same time then the cell in the brain will fire.
In this activity, you can explore how three different Reichardt Detectors operate to repond to different speeds of motion.
To see the illustration in full screen, which is recommended, press the Full Screen button, which appears at the top of the page.
On the Illustration tab, you can stimulate a region of the retina and see the effect on the single cell you are recording from.
Below is a list of the ways that you can alter the model. The settings include the following:
Screen Area: The black area on the screen to the left is a screen that the
eye of your animal is seeing. On it are drawn three Reichardt Detectors. The A and
the B cells refer to the receptors and the M cell is the Rechardt Detctor.
A bar moves across from left to right.
Bar Graph: in the middle of the screen is a bar graph with one bar
for each of the three M cells.
Stimulus Speed: choose the speed of the stimulus.
Pressing this button restores the settings to their default values. It also gets you a new cell which might have a different receptive field.