Sensory information in local field potentials and spikes from visual and auditory cortices: time scales and frequency bands

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sensory information in local field potentials and spikes from visual and auditory cortices: time scales and frequency bands

AU - Belitski, Andrei

AU - Panzeri, Stefano

AU - Magri, Cesare

AU - Logothetis, Nikos K

AU - Kayser, Christoph

PY - 2010/12

Y1 - 2010/12

N2 - Studies analyzing sensory cortical processing or trying to decode brain activity often rely on a combination of different electrophysiological signals, such as local field potentials (LFPs) and spiking activity. Understanding the relation between these signals and sensory stimuli and between different components of these signals is hence of great interest. We here provide an analysis of LFPs and spiking activity recorded from visual and auditory cortex during stimulation with natural stimuli. In particular, we focus on the time scales on which different components of these signals are informative about the stimulus, and on the dependencies between different components of these signals. Addressing the first question, we find that stimulus information in low frequency bands (<12 Hz) is high, regardless of whether their energy is computed at the scale of milliseconds or seconds. Stimulus information in higher bands (>50 Hz), in contrast, is scale dependent, and is larger when the energy is averaged over several hundreds of milliseconds. Indeed, combined analysis of signal reliability and information revealed that the energy of slow LFP fluctuations is well related to the stimulus even when considering individual or few cycles, while the energy of fast LFP oscillations carries information only when averaged over many cycles. Addressing the second question, we find that stimulus information in different LFP bands, and in different LFP bands and spiking activity, is largely independent regardless of time scale or sensory system. Taken together, these findings suggest that different LFP bands represent dynamic natural stimuli on distinct time scales and together provide a potentially rich source of information for sensory processing or decoding brain activity.

AB - Studies analyzing sensory cortical processing or trying to decode brain activity often rely on a combination of different electrophysiological signals, such as local field potentials (LFPs) and spiking activity. Understanding the relation between these signals and sensory stimuli and between different components of these signals is hence of great interest. We here provide an analysis of LFPs and spiking activity recorded from visual and auditory cortex during stimulation with natural stimuli. In particular, we focus on the time scales on which different components of these signals are informative about the stimulus, and on the dependencies between different components of these signals. Addressing the first question, we find that stimulus information in low frequency bands (<12 Hz) is high, regardless of whether their energy is computed at the scale of milliseconds or seconds. Stimulus information in higher bands (>50 Hz), in contrast, is scale dependent, and is larger when the energy is averaged over several hundreds of milliseconds. Indeed, combined analysis of signal reliability and information revealed that the energy of slow LFP fluctuations is well related to the stimulus even when considering individual or few cycles, while the energy of fast LFP oscillations carries information only when averaged over many cycles. Addressing the second question, we find that stimulus information in different LFP bands, and in different LFP bands and spiking activity, is largely independent regardless of time scale or sensory system. Taken together, these findings suggest that different LFP bands represent dynamic natural stimuli on distinct time scales and together provide a potentially rich source of information for sensory processing or decoding brain activity.

KW - Acoustic Stimulation

KW - Algorithms

KW - Animals

KW - Auditory Cortex/physiology

KW - Data Interpretation, Statistical

KW - Electroencephalography/statistics & numerical data

KW - Evoked Potentials, Auditory/physiology

KW - Evoked Potentials, Visual/physiology

KW - Macaca mulatta

KW - Photic Stimulation

KW - Reproducibility of Results

KW - Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted

KW - Visual Cortex/physiology

U2 - 10.1007/s10827-010-0230-y

DO - 10.1007/s10827-010-0230-y

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 20232128

VL - 29

SP - 533

EP - 545

JO - J COMPUT NEUROSCI

JF - J COMPUT NEUROSCI

SN - 0929-5313

IS - 3

ER -