Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Decoding temporally encoded sensory input by cortical oscillations and thalamic phase comparators

E Ahissar1, S Haidarliu, M Zacksenhouse

  • 1Department of Neurobiology, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel. bnehud@wiccmail.weizmann.ac.il

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|October 23, 1997
PubMed
Summary

Active decoding of vibrissal touch information is supported by neural oscillations in the somatosensory cortex. Thalamocortical loops act as phase-locked loops, efficiently processing temporal sensory data.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Robust versus optimal strategies for two-alternative forced choice tasks.

Journal of mathematical psychology·2012
Same author

Do we know how to set decision thresholds for diabetes?

Medical hypotheses·2009
Same author

Oscillatory neural networks for robotic yo-yo control.

IEEE transactions on neural networks·2008
Same author

One whisker whisking: unit recording during conditioned whisking in rats.

Somatosensory & motor research·2005
Same author

Speech comprehension is correlated with temporal response patterns recorded from auditory cortex.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2001
Same author

Figuring space by time.

Neuron·2001

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Sensory Processing
  • Computational Neuroscience

Background:

  • Temporally encoded information from vibrissal touch can be decoded passively or actively.
  • Previous research indicated rat trigeminal somatosensory system does not follow passive decoding predictions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if the rat trigeminal somatosensory system adheres to active decoding principles.
  • To explore the role of intrinsic neural oscillations in processing vibrissal touch information.

Main Methods:

  • Recorded cortical single units in anesthetized rats and guinea pigs.
  • Investigated spontaneous oscillations and their modulation by glutamate and rhythmic whisker movements.
  • Analyzed multiunit response intensities and latencies at varying input frequencies.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Approximately 25% of cortical units exhibited spontaneous oscillations, often near whisking frequencies (~10 Hz).
  • Oscillation frequencies were locally controllable via glutamate.
  • Induced rhythmic whisker movements could entrain these oscillations with frequency-dependent phase differences.
  • Response intensity decreased and latency increased with higher input frequencies.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support the active decoding model for vibrissal touch.
  • Thalamocortical loops likely function as phase-locked loops for efficient temporal information processing.
  • Thalamic relay neurons may act as phase comparators, encoding timing differences in their output rate.