title: Motor control by precisely timed spike patterns.
abstract: A fundamental problem in neuroscience is understanding how sequences of action potentials ("spikes") encode information about sensory signals and motor outputs. Although traditional theories assume that this information is conveyed by the total number of spikes fired within a specified time interval (spike rate), recent studies have shown that additional information is carried by the millisecond-scale timing patterns of action potentials (spike timing). However, it is unknown whether or how subtle differences in spike timing drive differences in perception or behavior, leaving it unclear whether the information in spike timing actually plays a role in brain function. By examining the activity of individual motor units (the muscle fibers innervated by a single motor neuron) and manipulating patterns of activation of these neurons, we provide both correlative and causal evidence that the nervous system uses millisecond-scale variations in the timing of spikes within multispike patterns to control a vertebrate behavior-namely, respiration in the Bengalese finch, a songbird. These findings suggest that a fundamental assumption of current theories of motor coding requires revision.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Doctoral Program, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: Kyle H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.|Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: Caroline M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5230 Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Michiel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vellema
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.|Neuroscience Doctoral Program, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: Andrea R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Pack
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5230 Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Coen P H
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Elemans
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.|Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: Ilya
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nemenman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322; samuel.j.sober@emory.edu.
authors.forename: Samuel J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Sober
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003472:Curare / Q000494:pharmacology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D046369:Finches / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008839:Microelectrodes; D008954:Models, Biological; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology*; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D011312:Pressure; D011930:Reaction Time; D012119:Respiration; D012132:Respiratory Muscles / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003472:Curare
keywords: computational neuroscience; information theory; motor systems; neurophysiology; songbird