Fig. 4: Construction of mouse visual cortical hierarchy.

a Estimated hierarchical levels obtained using a beta regression model such that the level value of V1 is set at 0, and differences between any two hierarchical level values best predict the ODR for pathways connecting the respective areas. Vertical lines demarcate 90% confidence intervals. The areas have been divided into previously described dorsal and ventral streams^21,25. b Hierarchical distance values between all pairs of areas estimated by the beta regression model show a high goodness of fit with the logit of the measured ODRs (r = 0.85). c The Akaike information criterion (AIC) values for eight models in which different combinations of areas were constrained to be part of the same level, and the beta regression fit performed for each such model. The lowest AIC value occurs for the model with five levels (V1, LM/RL, A/AL/PM/P, LI/AM, and POR), indicating that this is the hierarchical model with the best predictive power. Hierarchical models: 2, 2 levels (all higher-order areas combined into one level, and V1 as a separate level); 3a, 3 levels (V1, LM, all higher areas merged into one level); 3b, 3 levels (V1, LM–LI, POR); 4a, 4 levels (V1, LM, RL–LI, POR); 4b, 4 levels (V1, LM/RL, A–LI, POR); 5, 5 levels (V1, LM/RL, A–P, LI/AM, POR); 6, 6 levels (V1, LM, RL, A–P, LI/AM, POR); and 10, all 10 areas considered as separate levels. d Hierarchical levels similar to Fig. 4a, but scaled to values between 1 and 10. Black lines interconnect pairs of areas that show a significant difference in their hierarchical levels (p < 0.05, two-sided Wald test for multiple coefficients). Blue lines interconnect areal pairs that lack a statistical significance in their hierarchical level. e Illustration of the overlapping hierarchy of the network. All pairs of areas within each colored box lack a statistically significant hierarchical separation, and pathways interconnecting these areas can therefore be considered to be lateral (i.e. neither FF nor FB). f Frequency distribution of ODRs for FF, lateral, and FB pathways. p = 3 × 10⁻²⁴, one-way ANOVA; n = 161 laminar patterns from 20 injections. g. Box plots of ODR values for FF, lateral (‘LAT’), and FB pathways. FF vs LAT, p = 4 × 10⁻⁷; LAT vs FB, p < 2 × 10⁻¹⁶; one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey’s range test; n = 44, 66, and 50 for FF, LAT, and FB pathways, respectively, from 20 injections. Box plots denote the median and are bound by the 25th and 75th percentile values, with whiskers denoting the 5th and 95th percentiles. h Receptive field diameters recorded in each area in anesthetized mice. Within each processing stream, RF diameters show an overall increase in areas at increasingly higher hierarchical levels for both dorsal and ventral streams (p < 2 × 10⁻¹⁶, one-way ANOVA; n = 142 and 164 neurons for the dorsal and ventral stream, respectively). This increase is more prominent in the ventral stream. Data are presented as mean values ± SEM. i Statistical significance of differences in RF diameters between all pairs of areas. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey’s range test. Gray blocks indicate no statistical significance (n.s.). Text (asterisks and n.s.) colors indicate whether the corresponding areas are connected by either lateral (red) or FF/FB (blue) pathways based on the anatomical hierarchy (Fig. 4d, e). Text in black indicates areal pairs that lack a connection in both directions. j Hierarchical level values are significantly correlated with RF diameters (p = 0.001, r = 0.87, Pearson’s correlation; n = 308 neurons from 98 mice). Data are presented as mean values ± SEM.