How spike synchronization among olfactory neurons can contribute to sensory discrimination.
Recent studies in honeybees have demonstrated that, when odor-evoked action potentials in antennal lobe neurons are pharmacologically desynchronized, the bees are impaired in their ability to discriminate chemically similar odor stimuli. Using a reduced computational model of the honeybee antennal lobe, we show how changes in spike-synchronization properties alone, independent of changes in overall spike-discharge rate or differences in activity levels among responsive neurons, can produce changes in associative learning similar to those observed experimentally.
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Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. cl243@cornell.edu
Cleland
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D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D009833:Olfactory Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012679:Sense Organs / Q000294:innervation; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*