Decoding temporally encoded sensory input by cortical oscillations and thalamic phase comparators

摘要

The temporally encoded information ob- tained by vibrissal touch could be decoded "passively," in- volving only input-driven elements, or "actively," utilizing intrinsically driven oscillators. A previous study suggested that the trigeminal somatosensory system of rats does not obey the bottom-up order of activation predicted by passive decoding. Thus, we have tested whether this system obeys the predictions of active decoding. We have studied cortical single units in the somatosensory cortices of anesthetized rats and guinea pigs and found that about a quarter of them exhibit clear spontaneous oscillations, many of them around whisking frequencies (≈10 Hz).