Recognizing the visual stimulus from neuronal discharges.
In this article, experiments are reviewed that have a bearing on the question of how 'meaning' is related to neuronal activity in the mammalian cortex; there is evidence that the excitation time pattern plays a major role. We suggest that 'objective meaning' is related to spatiotemporal activity distributions, whereas spike counts indicate the importance of the contribution of a given neurone to that meaning. Such a 'dual-coding' principle allows the visual system to emphasize selected activity components by central messages. The feature to be noted is that the objective meaning remains largely unaltered.
Krüger
J
J
Neurologische Universitätsklinik, Freiburg, FRG.
Becker
J D
JD
D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000502:physiology; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009482:Neurophysiology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013997:Time Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*