title: The stabilized supralinear network: a unifying circuit motif underlying multi-input integration in sensory cortex.
abstract: Neurons in sensory cortex integrate multiple influences to parse objects and support perception. Across multiple cortical areas, integration is characterized by two neuronal response properties: (1) surround suppression--modulatory contextual stimuli suppress responses to driving stimuli; and (2) "normalization"--responses to multiple driving stimuli add sublinearly. These depend on input strength: for weak driving stimuli, contextual influences facilitate or more weakly suppress and summation becomes linear or supralinear. Understanding the circuit operations underlying integration is critical to understanding cortical function and disease. We present a simple, general theory. A wealth of integrative properties, including the above, emerge robustly from four cortical circuit properties: (1) supralinear neuronal input/output functions; (2) sufficiently strong recurrent excitation; (3) feedback inhibition; and (4) simple spatial properties of intracortical connections. Integrative properties emerge dynamically as circuit properties, with excitatory and inhibitory neurons showing similar behaviors. In new recordings in visual cortex, we confirm key model predictions.
authors.affiliation: Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Swartz Center for Theoretical Biology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Van Hooser
authors.affiliation: Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA; Department of Neuroscience, Swartz Program in Theoretical Neuroscience, Kavli Institute for Brain Science, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. Electronic address: ken@neurotheory.columbia.edu.
authors.forename: Kenneth D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D025461:Feedback, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D005289:Ferrets; D016014:Linear Models; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D066194:Olfactory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*