Kurzfassung

It is widely held that spike responses of single neurons to sensory stimulation are noisy and uninformative. Contrary to this notion, recent studies showed that electrical activation of single cortical neurons can indeed have behavioral relevance. For example, stimulation of single neurons in rat primary motor cortex generates movements of the facial whiskers, and stimulation of single neurons in somatosensory cortex yields a behavioral response. These studies together suggest that the...It is widely held that spike responses of single neurons to sensory stimulation are noisy and uninformative. Contrary to this notion, recent studies showed that electrical activation of single cortical neurons can indeed have behavioral relevance. For example, stimulation of single neurons in rat primary motor cortex generates movements of the facial whiskers, and stimulation of single neurons in somatosensory cortex yields a behavioral response. These studies together suggest that the influence of an individual cortical neuron on the local neural network is stronger than commonly thought. However, the mechanism by which the activity of a single neuron is amplified and propagated through the network to eventually generate behavior is unknown. We aim to elucidate some of the mechanisms underlying the phenomenon of single-cell induced behavioral responses, using juxtacellular recordings and nanostimulation of single neurons in anesthetized, awake, and eventually trained animals.» weiterlesen» einklappen