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The adaptive trade-off between detection and discrimination in cortical representations and behavior
Douglas R Ollerenshaw1, He J V Zheng1, Daniel C Millard1
1Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, 313 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
Neuron
|March 11, 2014
Summary
Sensory adaptation improves the ability to distinguish similar stimuli but impairs the detection of weak sensory inputs. This study provides behavioral evidence for this trade-off in the rodent vibrissa system.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Sensory Perception
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Sensory adaptation is hypothesized to trade detectability for discriminability.
- The behavioral and neural underpinnings of this trade-off are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the behavioral evidence for the detectability-discriminability trade-off.
- To explore the role of sensory adaptation in this trade-off.
- To examine the neural coding changes associated with this phenomenon.
Main Methods:
- Ideal observer analysis of cortical activity using voltage-sensitive dye imaging.
- Behavioral detection and discrimination tasks in rodents.
- Thalamic recordings in awake animals.
- Computational modeling.
Main Results:
- Spatial discrimination performance improved after adaptation.
- Detectability of weak stimuli decreased following adaptation.
- Adaptation modulated the detectability-discriminability trade-off.
- Changes in thalamocortical coding properties were observed.
Conclusions:
- Direct behavioral evidence supports the detectability-discriminability trade-off.
- Bottom-up sensory adaptation modulates this trade-off.
- The findings correlate with significant alterations in neural coding within the thalamocortical pathway.
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