Sensory integration across space and in time for decision making in the somatosensory system of rodents.

ABSTRACT: Environment is represented in the brain by a neural code that is a result of the spatiotemporal pattern of incoming sensory information. Sensory neurons encode inputs across space and in time such that activity of a given cell inhibits the ability of near-simultaneously arriving sensory stimuli to excite the cell. At the behavioral level, consequences of such suppression are unknown. We investigated the contribution of spatially distributed, near-simultaneous sensory inputs to decision making in a whisker-dependent learning task. Mice learned the task with a single whisker or multiple whiskers alike. Both groups of mice had similar learning curves and final success rates. However, multiple-whisker animals had faster response times than single-whisker mice, requiring only about half the tim

SUBMITTER: Celikel T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1783091 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature