Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Riehle, Alexa
• Grün, Sonja
• Diesmann, Markus
• Aertsen, Ad

Titel

Spike Synchronization and Rate Modulation Differentially Involved in Motor Cortical Function

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 1997-12, Vol.278 (5345), p.1950-1953

Ort / Verlag

Washington, DC: American Society for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

1997

Quelle

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• It is now commonly accepted that planning and execution of movements are based on distributed processing by neuronal populations in motor cortical areas. It is less clear, though, how these populations organize dynamically to cope with the momentary computational demands. Simultaneously recorded activities of neurons in the primary motor cortex of monkeys during performance of a delayed-pointing task exhibited context-dependent, rapid changes in the patterns of coincident action potentials. Accurate spike synchronization occurred in relation to external events (stimuli, movements) and was commonly accompanied by discharge rate modulations but without precise time locking of the spikes to these external events. Spike synchronization also occurred in relation to purely internal events (stimulus expectancy), where firing rate modulations were distinctly absent. These findings indicate that internally generated synchronization of individual spike discharges may subserve the cortical organization of cognitive motor processes.