Neurons with stereotyped and rapid responses provide a reference frame for relative temporal coding in primate auditory cortex
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Neurons with stereotyped and rapid responses provide a reference frame for relative temporal coding in primate auditory cortex. / Brasselet, Romain; Panzeri, Stefano; Logothetis, Nikos K; Kayser, Christoph.
In: J NEUROSCI, Vol. 32, No. 9, 29.02.2012, p. 2998-3008.Research output: SCORING: Contribution to journal › SCORING: Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Neurons with stereotyped and rapid responses provide a reference frame for relative temporal coding in primate auditory cortex
AU - Brasselet, Romain
AU - Panzeri, Stefano
AU - Logothetis, Nikos K
AU - Kayser, Christoph
PY - 2012/2/29
Y1 - 2012/2/29
N2 - The precise timing of spikes of cortical neurons relative to stimulus onset carries substantial sensory information. To access this information the sensory systems would need to maintain an internal temporal reference that reflects the precise stimulus timing. Whether and how sensory systems implement such reference frames to decode time-dependent responses, however, remains debated. Studying the encoding of naturalistic sounds in primate (Macaca mulatta) auditory cortex we here investigate potential intrinsic references for decoding temporally precise information. Within the population of recorded neurons, we found one subset responding with stereotyped fast latencies that varied little across trials or stimuli, while the remaining neurons had stimulus-modulated responses with longer and variable latencies. Computational analysis demonstrated that the neurons with stereotyped short latencies constitute an effective temporal reference for relative coding. Using the response onset of a simultaneously recorded stereotyped neuron allowed decoding most of the stimulus information carried by onset latencies and the full spike train of stimulus-modulated neurons. Computational modeling showed that few tens of such stereotyped reference neurons suffice to recover nearly all information that would be available when decoding the same responses relative to the actual stimulus onset. These findings reveal an explicit neural signature of an intrinsic reference for decoding temporal response patterns in the auditory cortex of alert animals. Furthermore, they highlight a role for apparently unselective neurons as an early saliency signal that provides a temporal reference for extracting stimulus information from other neurons.
AB - The precise timing of spikes of cortical neurons relative to stimulus onset carries substantial sensory information. To access this information the sensory systems would need to maintain an internal temporal reference that reflects the precise stimulus timing. Whether and how sensory systems implement such reference frames to decode time-dependent responses, however, remains debated. Studying the encoding of naturalistic sounds in primate (Macaca mulatta) auditory cortex we here investigate potential intrinsic references for decoding temporally precise information. Within the population of recorded neurons, we found one subset responding with stereotyped fast latencies that varied little across trials or stimuli, while the remaining neurons had stimulus-modulated responses with longer and variable latencies. Computational analysis demonstrated that the neurons with stereotyped short latencies constitute an effective temporal reference for relative coding. Using the response onset of a simultaneously recorded stereotyped neuron allowed decoding most of the stimulus information carried by onset latencies and the full spike train of stimulus-modulated neurons. Computational modeling showed that few tens of such stereotyped reference neurons suffice to recover nearly all information that would be available when decoding the same responses relative to the actual stimulus onset. These findings reveal an explicit neural signature of an intrinsic reference for decoding temporal response patterns in the auditory cortex of alert animals. Furthermore, they highlight a role for apparently unselective neurons as an early saliency signal that provides a temporal reference for extracting stimulus information from other neurons.
KW - Acoustic Stimulation/methods
KW - Action Potentials/physiology
KW - Animals
KW - Auditory Cortex/cytology
KW - Macaca mulatta
KW - Male
KW - Neurons/classification
KW - Random Allocation
KW - Reaction Time/physiology
KW - Time Factors
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5435-11.2012
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5435-11.2012
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 22378873
VL - 32
SP - 2998
EP - 3008
JO - J NEUROSCI
JF - J NEUROSCI
SN - 0270-6474
IS - 9
ER -