The Dynamical Regime of Sensory Cortex: Stable Dynamics around a Single Stimulus-Tuned Attractor Account for Patterns of Noise Variability.

ABSTRACT: Correlated variability in cortical activity is ubiquitously quenched following stimulus onset, in a stimulus-dependent manner. These modulations have been attributed to circuit dynamics involving either multiple stable states ("attractors") or chaotic activity. Here we show that a qualitatively different dynamical regime, involving fluctuations about a single, stimulus-driven attractor in a loosely balanced excitatory-inhibitory network (the stochastic "stabilized supralinear network"), best explains these modulations. Given the supralinear input/output functions of cortical neurons, increased stimulus drive strengthens effective network connectivity. This shifts the balance from interactions that amplify variability to suppressive inhibitory feedback, quenching correlated variability arou

SUBMITTER: Hennequin G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5971207 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature