Push-Pull Receptive Field Organization and Synaptic Depression: Mechanisms for Reliably Encoding Naturalistic Stimuli in V1.

ABSTRACT: Neurons in the primary visual cortex are known for responding vigorously but with high variability to classical stimuli such as drifting bars or gratings. By contrast, natural scenes are encoded more efficiently by sparse and temporal precise spiking responses. We used a conductance-based model of the visual system in higher mammals to investigate how two specific features of the thalamo-cortical pathway, namely push-pull receptive field organization and fast synaptic depression, can contribute to this contextual reshaping of V1 responses. By comparing cortical dynamics evoked respectively by natural vs. artificial stimuli in a comprehensive parametric space analysis, we demonstrate that the reliability and sparseness of the spiking responses during natural vision is not a mere consequence

SUBMITTER: Kremkow J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4862982 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature