Tuning neocortical pyramidal neurons between integrators and coincidence
detectors
Michael Rudolph and Alain Destexhe
Journal of Computational Neuroscience 14: 239-251, 2003.
Abstract
Do cortical neurons operate as integrators or as coincidence
detectors? Despite the importance of this question, no definite
answer has been given yet, because each of these two views can
find its own experimental support. Here we investigated this
question using models of morphologically-reconstructed neocortical
pyramidal neurons under in-vivo--like conditions. In agreement
with experiments we find that the cell is capable of operating in a
continuum between coincidence detection and temporal integration,
depending on the characteristics of the synaptic inputs. Moreover,
the presence of synaptic background activity at a level comparable
to intracellular measurements in vivo can modulate the operating
mode of the cell, and act as a switch between temporal integration and
coincidence detection. These results suggest that background activity
can be viewed as an important determinant of the integrative mode of
pyramidal neurons. Thus, background activity not only sharpens cortical
responses but it can also be used to tune an entire network between
integration and coincidence detection modes.
return to
publication list
return to main page