Thalamus exhibits less sensory variability quenching than cortex.

ABSTRACT: Spiking activity exhibits a large degree of variability across identical trials, which has been shown to be significantly reduced by stimulus onset in a wide range of cortical areas. Whether similar dynamics apply to the thalamus and in particular to the pulvinar is largely unknown. Here, we examined electrophysiological recordings from two adult rhesus macaques performing a perceptual task and comparatively investigated trial-to-trial variability in higher-order thalamus (ventral and dorsal pulvinar), the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and visual cortex (area V4) prior to and following the presentation of a visual stimulus. We found spiking variability during stable fixation prior to stimulus onset to be considerably lower in both pulvinar and the LGN as compared to area V4. In contrast

SUBMITTER: Poland E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6527544 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature