Correlated neuronal variability in monkey visual cortex revealed by a multi-microelectrode

Recordings from the visual cortex of anaesthetized monkeys taken with a 30-fold multi-microelectrode demonstrate that the neuronal variability, defined as the change in response strength over time spans of a few seconds to several minutes, is highly correlated within groups of neurones. Several such groups exhibiting independent variability between groups, coexist within the area recorded. This within-group covariance suggests that a major part of neuronal variability is due not to a noise process in the cells, but rather to additional inputs to the neurones, which are not under control of the experimenter.