[Neuronal organization of the central mechanisms of reflexes from vibrissae]

Functional characteristics (size of receptive fields, directional sensitivity, threshold sensitivity to amplitude, and speed of vibrissae deflection) of neurons in the rat cortical zone of vibrissae representation, were studied. Histological control showed that in the IV cortical layer these neurons form somatotopically structured barrel-shaped cytoarchitectonic clusters. It was found that each "barrel" consisted of several neuronal groups--elementary neuronal ensembles--which selectively detected different stimulus parameters: direction, speed, and amplitude of deflection of the corresponding vibrissa. The data obtained show that temporal and power competition of adjacent ensembles, on the basis of lateral inhibition, is an important mechanism for signal processing and selection of dominant afferent inputs.