= ON and OFF receptive-field subregions
{c}
<ON and OFF receptive-field subregions> distinguish locations by response polarity. In the classic mapping experiment, a bright spot in an ON region increased firing during illumination; illumination in an OFF region suppressed maintained firing and/or evoked a discharge when the light disappeared. If maintained firing was very low, suppression could be hard to see. The recorded decrease alone did not distinguish direct inhibition at a <synapse> from reduced excitation. https://xbio-live.s3.amazonaws.com/narratives/57358/Hubel%20and%20Wiesel%201959_Guided%20paper.pdf[Hubel and Wiesel (1959), pp. 576–577: response polarity and inferential limits]{ref} These are functional regions in visual space, not compartments of a <cell body>.
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