Maximizing Sensory Dynamic Range by Tuning the Cortical State to Criticality.

ABSTRACT: Modulation of interactions among neurons can manifest as dramatic changes in the state of population dynamics in cerebral cortex. How such transitions in cortical state impact the information processing performed by cortical circuits is not clear. Here we performed experiments and computational modeling to determine how somatosensory dynamic range depends on cortical state. We used microelectrode arrays to record ongoing and whisker stimulus-evoked population spiking activity in somatosensory cortex of urethane anesthetized rats. We observed a continuum of different cortical states; at one extreme population activity exhibited small scale variability and was weakly correlated, the other extreme had large scale fluctuations and strong correlations. In experiments, shifts along the continuum

SUBMITTER: Gautam SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4666488 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature