title: Stimulus onset quenches neural variability: a widespread cortical phenomenon.
abstract: Neural responses are typically characterized by computing the mean firing rate, but response variability can exist across trials. Many studies have examined the effect of a stimulus on the mean response, but few have examined the effect on response variability. We measured neural variability in 13 extracellularly recorded datasets and one intracellularly recorded dataset from seven areas spanning the four cortical lobes in monkeys and cats. In every case, stimulus onset caused a decline in neural variability. This occurred even when the stimulus produced little change in mean firing rate. The variability decline was observed in membrane potential recordings, in the spiking of individual neurons and in correlated spiking variability measured with implanted 96-electrode arrays. The variability decline was observed for all stimuli tested, regardless of whether the animal was awake, behaving or anaesthetized. This widespread variability decline suggests a rather general property of cortex, that its state is stabilized by an input.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA. church@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Mark M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Churchland
authors.forename: Byron M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: Leo P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Sugrue
authors.forename: Marlene R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: Greg S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Corrado
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Newsome
authors.forename: Andrew M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Paymon
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.forename: Benjamin B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kohn
authors.forename: J Anthony
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Movshon
authors.forename: Katherine M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.forename: Tirin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Steve W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Lawrence H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.forename: Stephen G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lisberger
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Priebe
authors.forename: Ian M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ferster
authors.forename: Stephen I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: Gopal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Santhanam
authors.forename: Maneesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sahani
authors.forename: Krishna V
authors.initials: KV
authors.lastname: Shenoy
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000758:Anesthesia; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D008252:Macaca fascicularis; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008254:Macaca nemestrina; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D008839:Microelectrodes; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013997:Time Factors; D014741:Video Recording; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014851:Wakefulness / Q000502:physiology