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Biological Cybernetics

, Volume 100, Issue 6, pp 427–446 | Cite as

Neural coding and contextual influences in the whisker system

  • Rasmus S. PetersenEmail author
  • Stefano Panzeri
  • Miguel Maravall
Review
First Online:

Abstract

A fundamental problem in neuroscience, to which Prof. Segundo has made seminal contributions, is to understand how action potentials represent events in the external world. The aim of this paper is to review the issue of neural coding in the context of the rodent whiskers, an increasingly popular model system. Key issues we consider are: the role of spike timing; mechanisms of spike timing; decoding and context-dependence. Significant insight has come from the development of rigorous, information theoretic frameworks for tackling these questions, in conjunction with suitably designed experiments. We review both the theory and experimental studies. In contrast to the classical view that neurons are noisy and unreliable, it is becoming clear that many neurons in the subcortical whisker pathway are remarkably reliable and, by virtue of spike timing with millisecond-precision, have high bandwidth for conveying sensory information. In this way, even small (~200 neuron) subcortical modules are able to support the sensory processing underlying sophisticated whisker-dependent behaviours. Future work on neural coding in cortex will need to consider new findings that responses are highly dependent on context, including behavioural and internal states.

Keywords

Neural coding Barrel cortex Information theory Vibrissa 
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© Springer-Verlag 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  • Rasmus S. Petersen
    • 1
    Email author
  • Stefano Panzeri
    • 1
    • 2
  • Miguel Maravall
    • 3
  1. 1.Faculty of Life SciencesUniversity of ManchesterManchesterUK
  2. 2.Robotics, Brain and Cognitive Sciences DepartmentItalian Institute of TechnologyGenoaItaly
  3. 3.Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante UMH-CSICSant Joan d’AlacantSpain

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