Visual field specializations in mouse dLGN

Neural circuits throughout the visual system process features differently depending on where they appear in the visual field. While such location-specific processing exists in retina and in superior colliculus, the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) is thought to lack this specialization. Here, we show systematic visual field biases in dLGN’s representation of spatial frequency, orientation, direction, and temporal frequency. Using axon-localized calcium indicators and widefield imaging, we discovered that dLGN boutons show systematic gradients in feature selectivity across the visual cortex (V1), while its retinal inputs lack such gradients for these features. Selective disruption of V1 feedback to dLGN perturbed gradient structure and magnitude. These results suggest that dLGN circuits transform uniformly distributed retinal feature inputs into spatially-biased representations along with cortical feedback. dLGN feature biases would allow a functional stream to detect ethologically salient visual inputs.