title: Adaptive changes in neuronal synchronization in macaque V4.
abstract: A fundamental property of cortical neurons is the capacity to exhibit adaptive changes or plasticity. Whether adaptive changes in cortical responses are accompanied by changes in synchrony between individual neurons and local population activity in sensory cortex is unclear. This issue is important as synchronized neural activity is hypothesized to play an important role in propagating information in neuronal circuits. Here, we show that rapid adaptation (300 ms) to a stimulus of fixed orientation modulates the strength of oscillatory neuronal synchronization in macaque visual cortex (area V4) and influences the ability of neurons to distinguish small changes in stimulus orientation. Specifically, rapid adaptation increases the synchronization of individual neuronal responses with local population activity in the gamma frequency band (30-80 Hz). In contrast to previous reports that gamma synchronization is associated with an increase in firing rates in V4, we found that the postadaptation increase in gamma synchronization is associated with a decrease in neuronal responses. The increase in gamma-band synchronization after adaptation is functionally significant as it is correlated with an improvement in neuronal orientation discrimination performance. Thus, adaptive synchronization between the spiking activity of individual neurons and their local population can enhance temporally insensitive, rate-based-coding schemes for sensory discrimination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Texas-Houston Medical School, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bogdan F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Iliescu
authors.forename: Jianfu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Krešimir
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Josić
authors.forename: Valentin
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dragoi
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D058256:Brain Waves / Q000502:physiology*; D003344:Cortical Synchronization / Q000502:physiology*; D008251:Macaca; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D013997:Time Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology