Local field potentials are induced by visually evoked spiking activity in macaque cortical area MT

Local field potentials (LFP) have been the focus of many recent studies in systems neuroscience. However, the exact neural basis of these signals remains unclear. To address this question, we determined the relationship between LFP signals and another, much better understood, signature of neural activity: action potentials. Specifically, we focused on the relationship between the amplitude of stimulus-induced LFPs and the magnitude of spiking activity in visual cortex of non-human primates. Our trial-by-trial correlation analyses between these two components of extracellular signals in macaque visual cortex show that the spike rate is coupled to the LFP amplitude with a surprisingly long latency, typically 50 ms. Our analysis shows that the neural spike rate is a significant predictor of the LFP amplitude. This limits the functional interpretation of LFP signals beyond that based on spiking activities.