Figure 7.

Schematic Model of the Role of NMDAR in Circuit Patterning

As an animal moves past a landmark object, from position A, behind the landmark, to position F, in front of the landmark, RGCs from temporal to nasal positions are sequentially activated (left). Consequently, as the animal moves from position A to F, information about the landmark object in the RGCs' receptive fields is transcribed into the temporal sequence of the RGC activity (middle). This sequential activity pattern in retinotectal afferents is transformed into a visuotopic spatial map (f⁻¹, right, top), but the temporal to spatial transformation is inverted when NMDAR signaling is decreased (right, bottom).