Visual signals converge through the layers of the retinal circuitry from the photoreceptor cells to the retinal ganglion cells such that nearby ganglion cells are driven by essentially the same visual stimulus. We use computational modeling to address the question whether the experimentally observed degree of synchrony in nearby ganglion cells is due to the common visual stimulus or whether active network circuitry is necessary.

PACS numbers: 89.19.La, 87.17.Nn, 05.45.--a, 05.40.Ca