 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||
Previous Article | Next Article
The Journal of Neuroscience, May 15, 2000, 20(10):3761-3775
Encoding of Tactile Stimulus Location by Somatosensory Thalamocortical Ensembles
Asif A. Ghazanfar, Christopher R. Stambaugh, and Miguel A. L. Nicolelis Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710
The exquisite modular anatomy of the rat somatosensory system makes it an excellent model to test the potential coding strategies used to discriminate the location of a tactile stimulus. Here, we investigated how ensembles of simultaneously recorded single neurons in layer V of primary somatosensory (SI) cortex and in the ventral posterior medial (VPM) nucleus of the thalamus of the anesthetized rat may encode the location of a single whisker stimulus on a single trial basis. An artificial neural network based on a learning vector quantization algorithm, was used to identify putative coding mechanisms. Our data suggest that these neural ensembles may rely on a distributed coding scheme to represent the location of single whisker stimuli. Within this scheme, the temporal modulation of neural ensemble firing rate, as well as the temporal interactions between neurons, contributed significantly to the representation of stimulus location. The relative contribution of these temporal codes increased with the number of whiskers that the ensembles must discriminate among. Our results also indicated that the SI cortex and the VPM nucleus may function as a single entity to encode stimulus location. Overall, our data suggest that the representation of somatosensory features in the rat trigeminal system may arise from the interactions of neurons within and between the SI cortex and VPM nucleus. Furthermore, multiple coding strategies may be used simultaneously to represent the location of tactile stimuli.
Key words: population coding; multi-electrode; temporal code; ventral posterior medial nucleus; barrel cortex; primary somatosensory cortex
Copyright © 2000 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/00/20103761-15$05.00/0
This article has been cited by other articles:
G. Foffani, M. L. Morales-Botello, and J. Aguilar
Spike Timing, Spike Count, and Temporal Information for the Discrimination of Tactile Stimuli in the Rat Ventrobasal Complex
J. Neurosci., May 6, 2009; 29(18): 5964 - 5973.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
K. A. Moxon
Natural Whisking. Focus on "Variability in Velocity Profiles During Free-Air Whisking Behavior of Unrestrained Rats"
J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2008; 100(2): 551 - 553.
[Full Text] [PDF]
G. Foffani, J. K. Chapin, and K. A. Moxon
Computational Role of Large Receptive Fields in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex
J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2008; 100(1): 268 - 280.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
A. Pereira, S. Ribeiro, M. Wiest, L. C. Moore, J. Pantoja, S.-C. Lin, and M. A. L. Nicolelis
Processing of tactile information by the hippocampus
PNAS, November 13, 2007; 104(46): 18286 - 18291.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
M. I. Daw, N. V. Bannister, and J. T. R. Isaac
Rapid, activity-dependent plasticity in timing precision in neonatal barrel cortex.
J. Neurosci., April 19, 2006; 26(16): 4178 - 4187.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
M. J. Lehmkuhle, R. A. Normann, and E. M. Maynard
Trial-by-Trial Discrimination of Three Enantiomer Pairs by Neural Ensembles in Mammalian Olfactory Bulb
J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2006; 95(3): 1369 - 1379.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
R. Gutierrez, J. M. Carmena, M. A. L. Nicolelis, and S. A. Simon
Orbitofrontal Ensemble Activity Monitors Licking and Distinguishes Among Natural Rewards
J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2006; 95(1): 119 - 133.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
M. A. L Nicolelis
Computing with thalamocortical ensembles during different behavioural states
J. Physiol., July 1, 2005; 566(1): 37 - 47.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
M. C. Wiest, N. Bentley, and M. A. L. Nicolelis
Heterogeneous Integration of Bilateral Whisker Signals by Neurons in Primary Somatosensory Cortex of Awake Rats
J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2005; 93(5): 2966 - 2973.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
N. S. Narayanan, E. Y. Kimchi, and M. Laubach
Redundancy and Synergy of Neuronal Ensembles in Motor Cortex
J. Neurosci., April 27, 2005; 25(17): 4207 - 4216.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
V. Ego-Stengel, T. Mello E Souza, V. Jacob, and D. E. Shulz
Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Neuronal Sensory Integration in the Barrel Cortex of the Rat
J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2005; 93(3): 1450 - 1467.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
G. Foffani, B. Tutunculer, and K. A. Moxon
Role of Spike Timing in the Forelimb Somatosensory Cortex of the Rat
J. Neurosci., August 18, 2004; 24(33): 7266 - 7271.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
M. A. Castro-Alamancos
Role of Thalamocortical Sensory Suppression during Arousal: Focusing Sensory Inputs in Neocortex
J. Neurosci., November 15, 2002; 22(22): 9651 - 9655.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
M. A Castro-Alamancos and E. Oldford
Cortical sensory suppression during arousal is due to the activity-dependent depression of thalamocortical synapses
J. Physiol., May 15, 2002; 541(1): 319 - 331.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
S. Furukawa and J. C. Middlebrooks
Cortical Representation of Auditory Space: Information-Bearing Features of Spike Patterns
J Neurophysiol, April 1, 2002; 87(4): 1749 - 1762.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
L. M. Chen, R. M. Friedman, B. M. Ramsden, R. H. LaMotte, and A. W. Roe
Fine-Scale Organization of SI (Area 3b) in the Squirrel Monkey Revealed With Intrinsic Optical Imaging
J Neurophysiol, December 1, 2001; 86(6): 3011 - 3029.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
H. E. Wheat and A. W. Goodwin
Tactile Discrimination of Edge Shape: Limits on Spatial Resolution Imposed by Parameters of the Peripheral Neural Population
J. Neurosci., October 1, 2001; 21(19): 7751 - 7763.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
R. Sosnik, S. Haidarliu, and E. Ahissar
Temporal Frequency of Whisker Movement. I. Representations in Brain Stem and Thalamus
J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2001; 86(1): 339 - 353.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|