QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, March 31, 2004, 24(13):3295-3303; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4098-03.2004

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (24) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Reutimann, J. Articles by Senn, W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Reutimann, J. Articles by Senn, W.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Climbing Neuronal Activity as an Event-Based Cortical Representation of Time

Jan Reutimann,¹ Volodya Yakovlev,² Stefano Fusi,¹ and Walter Senn¹

¹Institute of Physiology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland, and ²Department of Neurobiology, Institute of Life Science, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel

The brain has the ability to represent the passage of time between two behaviorally relevant events. Recordings from different areas in the cortex of monkeys suggest the existence of neurons representing time by increasing (climbing) activity, which is triggered by a first event and peaks at the expected time of a second event, e.g., a visual stimulus or a reward. When the typical interval between the two events is changed, the slope of the climbing activity adapts to the new timing. We present a model in which the climbing activity results from slow firing rate adaptation in inhibitory neurons. Hebbian synaptic modifications allow for learning the new time interval by changing the degree of firing rate adaptation. This event-based representation of time is consistent with Weber's law in interval timing, according to which the error in estimating a time interval is proportional to the interval length.

Key words: delay activity; neuronal clock; firing rate adaptation; Hebbian synaptic plasticity; learning cellular timers; Weber law in interval timing

---

Received Sep 4, 2003; revised January 5, 2004; accepted January 30, 2004.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				N. S. Narayanan and M. Laubach Delay Activity in Rodent Frontal Cortex During a Simple Reaction Time Task J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2009; 101(6): 2859 - 2871. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. P. Gavornik, M. G. H. Shuler, Y. Loewenstein, M. F. Bear, and H. Z. Shouval Learning reward timing in cortex through reward dependent expression of synaptic plasticity PNAS, April 21, 2009; 106(16): 6826 - 6831. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. K. Berdyyeva and C. R. Olson Monkey Supplementary Eye Field Neurons Signal the Ordinal Position of Both Actions and Objects J. Neurosci., January 21, 2009; 29(3): 591 - 599. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. A. Lebedev, J. E. O'Doherty, and M. A. L. Nicolelis Decoding of Temporal Intervals From Cortical Ensemble Activity J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2008; 99(1): 166 - 186. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Okamoto, Y. Isomura, M. Takada, and T. Fukai Temporal Integration by Stochastic Recurrent Network Dynamics With Bimodal Neurons J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2007; 97(6): 3859 - 3867. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. La Camera, A. Rauch, D. Thurbon, H.-R. Luscher, W. Senn, and S. Fusi Multiple Time Scales of Temporal Response in Pyramidal and Fast Spiking Cortical Neurons J Neurophysiol, December 1, 2006; 96(6): 3448 - 3464. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. Praamstra, D. Kourtis, H. Fei Kwok, and R. Oostenveld Neurophysiology of implicit timing in serial choice reaction-time performance. J. Neurosci., May 17, 2006; 26(20): 5448 - 5455. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Singh and C. Eliasmith Higher-dimensional neurons explain the tuning and dynamics of working memory cells. J. Neurosci., April 5, 2006; 26(14): 3667 - 3678. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help