title: Multiplexed coding by cerebellar Purkinje neurons.
abstract: Purkinje cells (PC), the sole output neurons of the cerebellar cortex, encode sensorimotor information, but how they do it remains a matter of debate. Here we show that PCs use a multiplexed spike code. Synchrony/spike time and firing rate encode different information in behaving monkeys during saccadic eye motion tasks. Using the local field potential (LFP) as a probe of local network activity, we found that infrequent pause spikes, which initiated or terminated intermittent pauses in simple spike trains, provide a temporally reliable signal for eye motion onset, with strong phase-coupling to the β/γ band LFP. Concurrently, regularly firing, non-pause spikes were weakly correlated with the LFP, but were crucial to linear encoding of eye movement kinematics by firing rate. Therefore, PC spike trains can simultaneously convey information necessary to achieve precision in both timing and continuous control of motion.
authors.affiliation: Computational Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Sungho
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6905-7932
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Computational Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan.|Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Negrello
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Junker
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Smilgin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cognitive Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thier
authors.affiliation: Computational Neuroscience Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Schutter
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D056228:Feedback, Sensory; D000882:Haplorhini; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D012438:Saccades
keywords: Purkinje cell; cerebellum; neural coding; neuroscience; rhesus macaque; sensorimotor system