PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Martin Vinck
AU  - Bruss Lima
AU  - Thilo Womelsdorf
AU  - Robert Oostenveld
AU  - Wolf Singer
AU  - Sergio Neuenschwander
AU  - Pascal Fries
TI  - Gamma-Phase Shifting in Awake Monkey Visual Cortex
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1623-09.2010
DP  - 2010 Jan 27
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 1250--1257
VI  - 30
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/4/1250.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/4/1250.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.2010 Jan 27; 30
AB  - Gamma-band synchronization is abundant in nervous systems. Typically, the strength or precision of gamma-band synchronization is studied. However, the precise phase with which individual neurons are synchronized to the gamma-band rhythm might have interesting consequences for their impact on further processing and for spike timing-dependent plasticity. Therefore, we investigated whether the spike times of individual neurons shift systematically in the gamma cycle as a function of the neuronal activation strength. We found that stronger neuronal activation leads to spikes earlier in the gamma cycle, i.e., we observed gamma-phase shifting. Gamma-phase shifting occurred on very rapid timescales. It was particularly pronounced for periods in which gamma-band synchronization was relatively weak and for neurons that were only weakly coupled to the gamma rhythm. We suggest that gamma-phase shifting is brought about by an interplay between overall excitation and gamma-rhythmic synaptic input and has interesting consequences for neuronal coding, competition, and plasticity.