Out of the single-neuron straitjacket: Neurons within assemblies change selectivity and their reconfiguration...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience

Background:

• Neuronal coding properties are traditionally assessed using all neural activity.
• The role of neuronal coordination within cell assemblies remains less understood.
• Investigating how neurons contribute to coding within dynamic neural networks is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how neuronal contributions to coding change when neurons coordinate within cell assemblies.
• To differentiate between isolated neuronal coding and collective coding within assemblies.
• To explore the relationship between neuronal assembly reconfiguration and dynamic versus static coding.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of neural activity from the frontal cortex of macaques during discrimination tasks.
• Extraction of neuronal spikes specifically during cell assembly activation (assembly-spikes).
• Comparison of coding properties using full neuronal activity versus assembly-specific activity.

Main Results:

• Neuronal contribution to coding differs when coordinating within an assembly versus acting in isolation.
• Neurons flexibly participating in multiple assemblies encode information not captured by individual neurons.
• Even non-selective neurons gain selectivity through collective assembly activity, demonstrating dynamic coding during goal-action transformation.

Conclusions:

• Cell assemblies enable neurons to process distinct information and encode new variables through coordinated activity.
• Dynamic coding arises from the reconfiguration of neuronal participation in different assemblies.
• An assembly-centered approach reveals a more nuanced understanding of neuronal coding flexibility and information processing.