Millisecond-scale differences in neural activity in auditory cortex can drive decisions.
Neurons in the auditory cortex can lock to the fine timing of acoustic stimuli with millisecond precision, but it is not known whether this precise spike timing can be used to guide decisions. We used chronically implanted microelectrode pairs to stimulate neurons in the rat auditory cortex directly and found that rats can exploit differences in the timing of cortical activity that are as short as 3 ms to guide decisions.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, USA.
Yang
Y
Yang
Michael R
MR
DeWeese
Gonzalo H
GH
Otazu
Anthony M
AM
Zador
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D011336:Probability; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013997:Time Factors; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014868:Water Deprivation / Q000502:physiology