{
  "abstract": "Figure-ground discrimination via relative motion represents a highly conserved visual computation essential for uncovering camouflage \\citep{reichardt1983figure,Egelhaaf1985}. Over forty years ago, the Reichardt-Poggio-Hausen (RPH) model proposed a circuit architecture to explain this phenomenon, relying on an inhibitory wide-field pool cell to aggregate global motion and subsequently inhibit elementary motion detectors. Here we combine a whole-brain connectome of Drosophila with biophysical simulations to identify a reciprocal connection between T4a motion detectors and the wide-field ventral Centrifugal Horizontal cell. The anatomical feedback from vCH lands on T4a axon terminals; simulated dendrites generate local direction-selective responses, whereas the terminals become selective for relative motion. The isolated reciprocal circuit is sufficient for this selectivity which is abolished by removing the return inhibition. Opponent-motion and interocular pathways strengthen the same computation. Thus, a single neuron using the biophysical mechanism of shunting inhibition, corresponding to an equilibrium potential close to the resting potential, can support distinct visual operations in separate compartments: local motion in its dendrites and relative motion in its axon.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Massachusetts Institute of Technology"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "L. Ziyin"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Lu"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Borst"
    },
    {
      "name": "S. Dorkenwald"
    },
    {
      "name": "T. Poggio"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fgkwrer8t55r9.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.09.17.752514",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752514v1.full",
  "id": "fgkwrer8t55r9",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752514v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "neuroscience"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Visual perception and processing mechanisms"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214161747",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752514v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-17",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fgkwrer8t55r9.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:24:23Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.09.17.752514",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752514v2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Connectome-based biophysical modeling of a figure-ground discrimination circuit",
  "title_text": "Connectome-based biophysical modeling of a figure-ground discrimination circuit",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:29:58Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/fgkwrer8t55r9",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}