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The Journal of Neuroscience, August 15, 1998, 18(16):6583-6598
Robust Temporal Coding of Contrast by V1 Neurons for Transient
But Not for Steady-State Stimuli
Ferenc
Mechler1, 2,
Jonathan D.
Victor1,
Keith
P.
Purpura1, and
Robert
Shapley2
1 Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Cornell
University Medical College, New York, New York 10021, and
2 Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York,
New York 10003
We show that spike timing adds to the information content of spike
trains for transiently presented stimuli but not for comparable steady-state stimuli, even if the latter elicit transient responses. Contrast responses of 22 single neurons in macaque V1 to periodic presentation of steady-state stimuli (drifting sinusoidal gratings) and
transient stimuli (drifting edges) of optimal spatiotemporal parameters
were recorded extracellularly. The responses were analyzed for
contrast-dependent clustering in spaces determined by metrics sensitive
to the temporal structure of spike trains. Two types of metrics,
cost-based spike time metrics and metrics based on Fourier harmonics of
the response, were used. With both families of metrics, temporal coding
of contrast is lacking in responses to drifting sinusoidal gratings of
most (simple and complex) V1 neurons. However, two-thirds of all
neurons, mostly complex cells, displayed significant temporal coding of
contrast for edge stimuli. The Fourier metrics indicated that different
response harmonics are partially independent, and their combined use
increases information about transient stimuli. Our results demonstrate
the importance of stimulus transience for temporal coding. This finding
is significant for natural vision because moving edges, which are
present in moving object boundaries, and saccades induce transients. We
think that an abrupt change in the adapted state of the local visual circuitry triggers the temporal structuring of spike trains in V1
neurons.
Key words:
temporal coding; primary visual cortex; transient
stimuli; steady-state stimuli; edges; gratings; contrast response; simple cell; complex cell; metric spaces
Copyright © 1998 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/98/18166583-16$05.00/0
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