Dataset Information

Multiplexing stimulus information through rate and temporal codes in primate somatosensory cortex.

ABSTRACT: Our ability to perceive and discriminate textures relies on the transduction and processing of complex, high-frequency vibrations elicited in the fingertip as it is scanned across a surface. How naturalistic vibrations, and by extension texture, are encoded in the responses of neurons in primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is unknown. Combining single unit recordings in awake macaques and perceptual judgments obtained from human subjects, we show that vibratory amplitude is encoded in the strength of the response evoked in S1 neurons. In contrast, the frequency composition of the vibrations, up to 800 Hz, is not encoded in neuronal firing rates, but rather in the phase-locked responses of a subpopulation of neurons. Moreover, analysis of perceptual judgments suggests that spike timing not only conveys stimulus information but also shapes tactile perception. We conclude that information about the amplitude and frequency of natural vibrations is multiplexed at different time scales in S1, and encoded in the rate and temporal patterning of the response, respectively.

SUBMITTER: Harvey MA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3646728 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Multiplexing stimulus information through rate and temporal codes in primate somatosensory cortex.

Harvey Michael A MA Saal Hannes P HP Dammann John F JF Bensmaia Sliman J SJ

PLoS biology 20130507 5

Our ability to perceive and discriminate textures relies on the transduction and processing of complex, high-frequency vibrations elicited in the fingertip as it is scanned across a surface. How naturalistic vibrations, and by extension texture, are encoded in the responses of neurons in primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is unknown. Combining single unit recordings in awake macaques and perceptual judgments obtained from human subjects, we show that vibratory amplitude is encoded in the strength ...[more]

PMID: 23667327

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Project description:Studies in vision show that attention enhances the firing rates of cells when it is directed towards their preferred stimulus feature. However, it is unknown whether other sensory systems employ this mechanism to mediate feature selection within their modalities. Moreover, whether feature-based attention modulates the correlated activity of a population is unclear. Indeed, temporal correlation codes such as spike-synchrony and spike-count correlations (r(sc)) are believed to play a role in stimulus selection by increasing the signal and reducing the noise in a population, respectively. Here, we investigate (1) whether feature-based attention biases the correlated activity between neurons when attention is directed towards their common preferred feature, (2) the interplay between spike-synchrony and rsc during feature selection, and (3) whether feature attention effects are common across the visual and tactile systems. Single-unit recordings were made in secondary somatosensory cortex of three non-human primates while animals engaged in tactile feature (orientation and frequency) and visual discrimination tasks. We found that both firing rate and spike-synchrony between neurons with similar feature selectivity were enhanced when attention was directed towards their preferred feature. However, attention effects on spike-synchrony were twice as large as those on firing rate, and had a tighter relationship with behavioral performance. Further, we observed increased r(sc) when attention was directed towards the visual modality (i.e., away from touch). These data suggest that similar feature selection mechanisms are employed in vision and touch, and that temporal correlation codes such as spike-synchrony play a role in mediating feature selection. We posit that feature-based selection operates by implementing multiple mechanisms that reduce the overall noise levels in the neural population and synchronize activity across subpopulations that encode the relevant features of sensory stimuli.

Dataset Information

Multiplexing stimulus information through rate and temporal codes in primate somatosensory cortex.

Publications

Multiplexing stimulus information through rate and temporal codes in primate somatosensory cortex.

Similar Datasets

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