In cerebellum-like circuits in fish, anti-Hebbian LTD is beautifully suited to explain

sensory cancellation, but causal evidence is again lacking. Proof will not come from selective blockade of STDP (which lacks unique cellular plasticity mechanisms), so clever strategies must be developed. One strategy is already apparent but is rarely used: to measure the precise temporal patterns of spiking associated with learning in vivo, to see if they are consistent with STDP. Another approach may be to use optogenetic manipulations to edit spike selleck chemical timing during natural learning. D.E.F. is supported by NSF grant #SBE-0542013 to the Temporal Dynamics of Learning Center, and NIH R01 073912. I thank Daniel Shulz, Vincent Jacob, Vanessa Bender, and Kevin Bender for many discussions. I apologize for omitting important studies due to space limitations. “
“In determining

how the brain codes for sensory inputs and motor outputs two types of measurement dominate the literature: the outputs (action potentials or units) of identified neurons or groups thereof and the local mean synaptic find more inputs (local-, far- or extracranial field potentials). Patterns observed in either measurement are clearly related; being dependent on the computational processes occurring in compartments of individual neurons and distributed networks. However, which, if any, of the patterns of activity observed in either type of measurement correspond to psychophysical performance in an organism remains open to a great deal of debate. This review attempts to put forward a synergistic view whereby the interrelationship between rates of neuronal output are considered with respect to the frequencies and types of synaptic input in neocortex. We first consider whether the first behavior of individual neocortical neurons may relate to cognitive and/or motor performance, arguing that the interconnectedness of neurons strongly

favors population coding. Working from this argument we then consider how many neuron’s outputs may constitute such a population code, what brings the population together, what features of the population’s inputs and outputs are most psychophysically salient, and finally how this relates to patterns of short and long term plasticity in cortex. Individual neurons make a quantifiable contribution to the function of simple nervous systems (e.g., McAllister et al., 1983). But when a nervous system consists of not ca. 102 neurons but 1011 neurons, as in man, do individual neurons still matter? It is well recognized that single neuron spiking contributes to the code for specific orientations of features in specific regions of the visual field (Hubel and Wiesel, 1959). Similarly, discrete spectrotemporal properties of auditory sensory presentations can be seen to be represented by the spiking of individual cortical neurons (Fritz et al., 2003; Figure 1).