Neuronal variability and tuning are balanced to optimize naturalistic self-motion coding in primate vestibular pathways.

ABSTRACT: It is commonly assumed that the brain's neural coding strategies are adapted to the statistics of natural stimuli. Specifically, to maximize information transmission, a sensory neuron's tuning function should effectively oppose the decaying stimulus spectral power, such that the neural response is temporally decorrelated (i.e. 'whitened'). However, theory predicts that the structure of neuronal variability also plays an essential role in determining how coding is optimized. Here, we provide experimental evidence supporting this view by recording from neurons in early vestibular pathways during naturalistic self-motion. We found that central vestibular neurons displayed temporally whitened responses that could not be explained by their tuning alone. Rather, computational modeling and analys

SUBMITTER: Mitchell DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6312400 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature